Second in a series on rural universities Rural higher education faces unique challenges and opportunities. In 2025, several trends will shape the landscape of colleges and universities in rural areas, and in every aspect, WT will be responsive. Rural institutions,…
This reflection was originally published on December 15, 2008. It is refreshed and worth another look. Christmas memories are personal, deep and important to me. My family’s New York Christmases, with their strong, first generational influence of Western Europe; Cajun…
First in a series on Rural Universities. Rural regions of the United States make significant contributions to the economic well-being of the nation. Rural America is the backbone of U.S. agriculture. In 2023, the agriculture, food and related industries contributed…
As we approach the end of the year and the holiday season, I find myself reflecting on both personal challenges and the growth we see on our campus. While the world focuses on larger shifts, what matters is the progress…
WT will be updating the long-range plan WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World. The origins of the plan began in the fall of 2016 upon my arrival with the goal to cast a vision for what West Texas…
Originally posted a few years ago. When confronted with challenging times like ours, it is easy to lose heart, appreciation, gratefulness and admiration—in a word, thanksgiving—for the people and places we call home. Our University has been fortunate to have…
Penned a decade ago, modified slightly here. Too many universities accept unprepared students. Regardless of status — public, private non-profit or for-profit — motivation is suspect and results debilitating. Institutions know it, but bureaucracies need to be fed. Federally insured loans…
This essay was written on June 9, 2014, and is modified here. Universities and lenders must be more transparent regarding costs, opportunities and likelihoods of success for students. John Hutton, of the British Labor Party made this observation: “Greater personal choice,…
Penned a decade ago, still relevant, slightly modified here. Threats to higher education primarily come not from shady lenders, crass bankers and bureaucrats focused on turning government-subsidized, student-borrowed dollars into operating capital, nor from elected officials who seek to use…
Penned over a decade ago, modified slightly here. The number and value of college degrees produced in the U.S. will be a bone of contention for a long time, and the marrow of that bone is that the cost of…
This essay was written a decade ago and is modified here. The thoughts still have value in helping students plot productive futures. The higher education marketplace is special and unique and provides something unlike any other enterprise. But, it…
The excerpt is from a speech I gave on March 26, 2004, at a Naturalization Ceremony on the campus of Southern Illinois University Carbondale recognizing the culmination of years of effort for many to become U.S. citizens. Naturalization is the process…
West Texas A&M University has set a goal to become the most homeschool-friendly University in Texas. Michelle Quirk, writing on the Psychology Today website, shared thoughts regarding the value of homeschooled settings for many students, including her children. She is…
Good leaders act as lightning rods, attracting both criticism and praise otherwise directed toward their organizations or members of their team. Leaders absorb pressure, good and bad, guiding and protecting while exercising responsibility and transparency. Actions and decisions draw scrutiny…
Predatory gambling occurs when corporate gambling interests, sometimes coupled with government, exploit citizens and their communities. Universities are communities, and students are their primary citizens. Universities and the people that populate them recognize the deleterious impact of predatory gambling on…
Originally penned on February 19, 2020, but is possibly more valuable now than it was then. One of the greatest challenges for leadership is to get people, in all parts of any organization, to tell the truth about how things…
Originally published in the Dallas Morning News on August 28, 2024. College debt is suffocating. Students take on lifelong commitments too burdensome for degrees that may not have substantial value. That, in turn, diminishes the integrity and worth of the…
This was originally written nine years ago and was tuned up as a new school year begins. I am reminded of how important these fundamentals are and the value of new students reflecting on them as the school year gets…
A benefit of being involved with universities as a faculty member and administrator for nearly a half-century is the opportunity to work with generations of students. I began teaching baby boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964, characterized by popular…
A predicted “enrollment cliff” is on the horizon for higher education. The national birthrate is the lowest in recorded history. Fewer college-ready high school graduates are being produced, and fewer of those are enrolling. Reality coupled with skepticism regarding the…
Originally posted a decade ago. Worth another look. Leadership in any organization implies and requires transformation. Change in purposeful groups of people, large and small, creates discomfort. Organizational discomfort sometimes matures into a labyrinth of processes that stymie evolution in…
Written almost 15 years ago these points are still relevant. National economic growth requires education beyond high school. College, in the conventional sense, is not always the answer to a stronger economy. Neither the traditional 20th-century view of higher education from the…
Originally penned on July 8, 2015 this reflection reminds us of the impact that universities have on local economies. Little has changed since that time regarding these insights. Universities impact regional economies. In rural areas where economic diversity is scant,…
I frequently challenge public higher education. I am occasionally cynical. Even critical. Not today. The impact of public universities on economic progress varies widely by the specific institution, and the economic sector being considered. But, almost every university contributes to…
What follows is extracted from testimony provided to the 1836 Project Advisory Committee at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum on July 1, 2024. The 1836 Advisory Committee was established by HB No. 2497 in May 2021 and signed into law by…
Originally posted on December 18, 2009, but given the nature of the times, it’s worth a look. Knife edges are the places where greatness lives in organizations. The sides of a knife don’t cut, but the well-whetted edge of a knife…
This was written on December 4, 2009, as one of a series of thoughts regarding the intersection of faith and reason in university life. I was reminded of the durability of this thought as we recently celebrated the beautifully renovated…
Originally posted 15 years ago on July 17, 2009, it rings truer now than then. So, here we go again with modest modification. Clarion calls for the rights of every stripe fill the air on our university campuses across the…
Originally posted on June 15, 2009, modified slightly. Old hat? Nope, never more important. I know I am in trouble with that title, but hear me out. For all the discourse about universities being like businesses, they are not run…
Originally posted on June 19, 2009, a decade and one half ago, but still as fresh as a cool afternoon in June in the Texas Panhandle. Updated modestly here. There was a cloister of monks that made wooden bowls from…
Originally posted on June 10, 2015. Worth thinking about in our contemporary circumstances. Modified slightly here. Too many public organizations gravitate towards performance at the lowest common denominator. Private organizations do too, but mediocrity’s poison is more prevalent in public settings. There…
Originally published nearly a decade ago, on March 30, 2015, it has a ring of interest for current students and students of current events. Slightly modified here. Overwhelmingly, the 7,400 state lawmakers nationwide attended and graduated from public universities. Again, overwhelmingly, these…
Originally written on August 21, 2012, with continued interest in the value equation for higher education this is worth looking at again. No two universities are the same. No university was the same last year as it will be next…
Written a decade ago, current events suggest a second look is valuable and is presented here slightly modified. Communities of every type, near and far — social, geographic, political and professional — have legitimate expectations about the universities they are…
This was originally penned on February 27, 2009. It is, by contemporary definition, old hat. It’s worth another look and appears here slightly modified. The most powerful stimulus ever invented, used for good and evil since the beginning of time,…
In 1959, when Vince Lombardi had his first team meeting with the Green Bay Packers as their new head coach, he said, “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.” A culture of excellence is…
Thoughts from a Principled Conservative Outpost—Tenth and last in a series on the aspects of Panhandle conservativism. First, a principled conservative outpost values free thought. Free thought is not an intellectual straight-jacket of conforming to laws, rules, ideas, concepts or traditions without…
Thoughts from a Principled Conservative Outpost—Ninth in a series on the aspects of Panhandle conservativism. Some of what follows is post commentary found in The Hill Institute. Joseph A. Hill advocated for what has been called a “performance culture” within…
Thoughts from a Principled Conservative Outpost—Eighth in a series on the aspects of Panhandle conservativism. The place where people live makes an indelible impact on how and what people think. To borrow a line from Winston Churchill, “We shape our…
Thoughts from a Principled Conservative Outpost—Seventh in a series on the aspects of Panhandle conservativism. Patriotism is a feeling of love, devotion and a sense of attachment to a nation or homeland. The foundation of patriotism is citizenship. It may…
Thoughts from a Principled Conservative Outpost—Sixth in a series on the aspects of Panhandle conservativism. In free societies, and constitutional republics, individual identity and merit, plus the equality of all in the pursuit of life’s aspirations, must be recognized as…
Thoughts from a Principled Conservative Outpost—Fifth in a series on the aspects of Panhandle conservativism. “Whiteface, Texas, is a small community located in Cochran County (sharing a border with New Mexico). Its neighbor, Sundown, Texas, is located in Hockley County.…
Thoughts from a Principled Conservative Outpost—Fourth in a series on the aspects of Panhandle conservativism. Society functions best when individuals have the freedom to pursue, without undue coercion, their interests within the bounds of law, ethics and morality determined by…
Thoughts from a Principled Conservative Outpost—Third in a series on the aspects of Panhandle conservativism. “Patton Springs ISD in Afton, Texas, had 96 students for the 2017-2018 school year. It is small. It is old—established in 1910, the same year…
Thoughts from a Principled Conservative Outpost—Second in a series on the aspects of Panhandle conservativism. “Early morning on September 24, 2019, in New Home, Texas, I watched with deep appreciation the order and discipline of students exiting a bus. Most…
Over the next few weeks, I will address aspects of Panhandle conservativism. Simpleminded definitions or broad abstractions fail and are devoid of context. Thought applied to action creates results: life lived with purpose and independence. First in a series on…
Sixth in a series on the culture of engagement. According to Gallup, a work environment that fosters personal responsibility requires a combination of strategies, cultural norms and structural elements. Rewarding and retaining people, a strong sense of personal responsibility, independence…
Fifth in a series on the culture of engagement. Encouraging people in any enterprise, public or private, profit or nonprofit, volunteer or professional, to maintain a healthy balance between their work engagements and personal lives leads to lower stress levels…
Fourth in a series on the culture of engagement. Acknowledging and rewarding the hard work, contributions and achievements of all associated with any enterprise is essential, according to Mike Robbins. Recognition can be in various forms, from verbal praise and…
Third in a series on the culture of engagement. A work environment where people feel respected and valued regardless of who they are, where they come from, their role or their viewpoints is important to create an engaged workplace culture.…
Creating a positive engaged working culture is crucial for the success and well-being of any organization. Trust and transparency should imbue all human interaction and both require open communication, honesty, integrity and a tolerance for risk-taking. People should feel confident…
Any organization that attempts to serve people in any way—A hospital, an automotive service center, a mom-and-pop candy shop or a big box behemoth, a family-owned bank, a public library, a doctor’s office, an automotive manufacturing facility like GM, a…
