Respect
Fifth in a series of how universities can help build character. R-E-S-P-E-C-T. If you hummed that along in your head, you probably know where this is going. Respect is a commodity. It is traded like baseball cards. It’s a give…
Category Faculty
Innovation
Fourth in a series of how universities can help build character. University innovation is often, and appropriately, viewed as the work of faculty and students fueling discovery through individual scholarship, research, and creative activity. Universities must innovate corporately, too. Resource…
Pragmatism
Third in a series of how universities can help build character. WT values the practical framing of intellectual work. Being pragmatic does not mean big ideas or the big picture are avoided. When carried out faithfully, being pragmatic is a…
Service
Second core value in a series regarding character Service presents itself in many ways at public universities. Members of university communities understand the three-legged stool of responsible teaching, scholarly work and service. I recently reflected on the power of customer…
Academic Freedom
Core Value One Second in a series of how universities can help build character. Academic freedom is a defining core value at WT. Last week the U.S. Department of Education tried to clarify a burgeoning cadre of rules and regulations…
Culture and Energy on Campus
Seventh in a series on the reopening of West Texas A&M University in the midst of COVID-19 Written a number of years ago and updated for its value as we return to campus. A culture is created and sustained by…
Life on Campus
Second in a series on the reopening of West Texas A&M University in the midst of COVID-19. A valuable part of attending a university for many college students, particularly those in their late teens or early 20s, is the experience…
Strength of Working Together Overcomes Fear
First in a series on the reopening of West Texas A&M University in the midst of COVID-19. In the coming weeks, I will address a number of issues regarding our return to campus—things such as residential life, classroom and community…
The New Normal
The concept of “new normal” is wearisome. Enterprises of every kind falter assuming there was an old normal. Normalcy is an innovation-robbing concept. In February, I reflected on demographics and their impact on shaping a regional research university like West…
Customer Service
People working in higher education, whether in the classroom, research lab, dance studio, library, and various business support offices or even maintaining buildings and grounds, are all involved in customer service. Many resist seeing students as customers; however, students pay…
A Well Knitted University
West Texas A&M University is becoming a regional research university. Defined in WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World, it means in part, ”Our focus will be on community life, schools in rural settings, enriched enterprise, beef, rural health…
A Crisis that Teaches
This draws from a series of reflections on excellent teaching published a decade ago. The COVID-19 crisis has created unimaginable hardships for individuals, families, small businesses and international behemoths. Crisis knows no boundaries in how it impacts people and their…
The Crisis and Purposeful People
Excellent staff are important at any time in the life of any enterprise. In a crisis, purposeful people, excellent people, allow organizations to thrive. I didn’t say survive because many organizations will whimper out of the COVID-19 doghouse and simply…
Considering College – Field of Dreams: Gruver, Texas
Eleventh in a series on what to look for in college. Looking for a college? Gruver, Texas, can teach us something. A small but remarkable community in Hansford County, Gruver is home to about 1,200 souls. The community wanted to…
Who Are They, and What Do They Want?
This was originally released in September 2014. Given the challenges that universities are facing with the COVID-19 pandemic that may extend well into the future, the times are a barometer of purpose. I walked into a room full of…
The Middle Class Stretched Thin
In January 2019 the median household income in the United States was $63,688, a 0.3% increase over the December 2018 estimate. The growth rate of the median household income is substantial; however, according to Seeking Alpha, purchasing power for certain…
Demographics Shape Universities
The U.S. birth rate is at its lowest recorded level. Since the 2008 economic recession, fertility rates have decreased by nearly 20%. The population of students for universities to draw from is shrinking. At the same time, the age of…
Why do students go to college?
I will not pretend to know the answer to this question for every individual; however, two ideas are repeatedly reinforced to me. First, students are interested in getting a job. A university that neglects this will falter. Second, students are…
Intercollegiate Athletics
No matter the size of the university or college, its mission, its status as public or private, flagship or regional, intercollegiate athletics plays an important role in how the institution is perceived. For almost 150 years, intercollegiate athletics has created…
The Biggest Idea
Organizations flourish or perish based on big ideas that address issues of importance. Enterprises thrive through big ideas alone: their lack is toxic. Sony, Kodak, Apple, Disney, Walmart, and universities respond to big ideas shaping organizational culture. Snuffing out ideation…
University Realities for 2020
Universities face issues spawned during the past half-century that will cripple effectiveness if unaddressed. The standing and ranking perception of campuses will always be important. The best campuses will attend to excellence in teaching and scholarly work, affordability and rigorous…
Considering College – Pragmatism in the Texas Panhandle and on the South Plains
Ninth in a series on what to look for in college. Seventy percent of college students graduated with debt last year—on average $30,000. Some will repay that debt with Social Security checks voluntarily or through garnishment. Of Americans over 60,…
A New World Order in Higher Education
The Nifty Fifty/Fifty Enrollments at universities around the United States are shrinking—down 1.7 and 1.8 percent this year and last. Master’s and comprehensive universities, private liberal arts colleges, rural universities and a multitude of others that are not state flagships,…
Considering College – Clean Restrooms
Second in a series on what to look for in college. Tahoka, Texas, the county seat of Lynn County, is a small town of 3,000 souls. In spirit, it is bigger than the South Plains skies that crown it. Maybe…
Panhandle Pioneers
The passing of T. Boone Pickens, with his colorful relationship to West Texas A&M University, affords consideration of two great Panhandle pioneers. J. A. Hill became president of West Texas State Teachers College in 1918, having joined the campus in…
Summer Graduation 2.0
Posted last year on the occasion of summer graduation. The advice is still sound. West Texas A&M University had its summer graduation last week, as did many universities around the nation. People are always willing to give advice to recent…
Regionalism Reinvented
Regional Universities are the core of educational opportunity for many students who choose lower-cost, locally-focused study opportunities. These same universities provide regional economies with a shot in the arm. They not only promote new businesses serving campus students, faculty and…
Trouble in Paradise
Corporations, public and private; bureaucracies, large and small; and families, whether two or 100 members, rise and fall based on mission acuity. A few things irrevocably impede mission attainment, and fear of change tops the list. Unwillingness to change –…
Keeping Graduates Close
[Fourth in a series about WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World.] Universities desire to keep alumni close by. Graduates are a testimony to an institution’s progress and effectiveness—or not. More Harvard graduates live in Boston than any other…
Health Through Vision
In the coming months, means to develop healthier, stronger organizations will be examined. While West Texas A&M University and WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World are the basis for these reflections, the thoughts may have value in many…
Reaching a Region on Handshakes
The majority of college recruiting in the United States is focused on urban and suburban high schools. On the surface, given that approximately 80% of the U.S. population resides in metropolitan regions, it seems a plausible approach. However, the 20%…
Serving Locally—Pride of Place
The Texas Panhandle appreciates hard work, persistence and commitment to family and community. This value system should never be taken for granted. It oozes from the ground and sprinkles from the sky. Those who inhabit the space between live it.…
A University and a Way Forward
Universities, like all human organizations, need a passion for purpose coupled to a plan for the future. Without such a commitment, reactionary leadership and management follows. Such passion for purpose and a future grows from an institution’s people, its purpose…
Changing Times
As we begin 2019 anyone involved in higher education, student or family member, spouse or friend, high school principal or daycare worker, instructor or president, knows things are changing at universities. Whether a public or private, for-profit or not-for-profit, online…
Why U.S. Universities Are Good
Photo: Paul Engler College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences WTAMU This reflection was originally published on April 10, 2016. I believe it is worth a second look, and it appears here with only a few modest updates. WVW American universities are the…
Clicks or Bricks
With the growing pervasiveness of online and distance education opportunities (Clicks), future students will have transcripts peppered with courses from different modes of instructional delivery at different institutions. At West Texas A&M University, rarely will a student’s academic record come…
Teaching First
Originally published on November 30, 2015. As we begin this season of reflection, “Teaching First” is worthy of another look as we focus on the first purpose of the university and the importance of staying true to our roots. Forward…
Scholarships and Student Support
As the cost of college attendance continues to escalate, private support through both need- and merit-based scholarships is more important than ever. The sources for private giving available to students continue to multiply. Last year, in federal grant money alone,…
College Readiness
When colleges are confronted regarding low six-year graduation rates (52% in Texas) and low persistence rates—the rate at which freshman continue into the second year of college (about 73% nationally), the immediate response of too many in leadership positions is…
Purpose and Place
The roots of higher education in the United States are knotted into purpose and place. From a functional standpoint, all universities, public and private, existed for producing ministers. At Harvard, three in four graduates in the seventeenth century became working…
The Squeeze
The birthrate in America has been on the decline. In 2016, with slightly less than 60 births per 1000 women, a historic low was realized. This marks universities. Those most affected by decreasing birthrates will be regional campuses like West…
You, You, You, not Me, Me, Me
An effective leader must do everything within his or her power to create a strong organizational culture. Teamwork, knowledge of process, values shared by all workers, a clear understanding of organizational purpose, and a shared goal of attaining that purpose…
New Directions in Higher Education Philanthropy
Funding for higher education is down over 20% in a few decades and continues to decrease. Institutional philanthropy designed to add dimensions of excellence to university life in support of students or simply to sustain steady quality is required. Impact…
Summer Graduation
West Texas A&M University had its summer graduation last week, as did many universities around the nation. People are always willing to give advice to recent graduates, and I am no exception. Hold on to your hat. Don’t delay paying…
No Two Alike – Purpose, Population and Place
One of the challenges for students and parents trying to select a place of study is that no two postsecondary institutions are the same. If for no other reason, the laws of physics assert that two things cannot occupy the…
Serving Students First
For universities job one is serving students one at a time, but they are not customers. Patients maybe, clients perhaps, hopefully subscribers, but there is no fixed product or performance guarantee. Only hope, and servicing hope requires several basic understandings.…
Treasure Trust, Transparency and Truth
Universities have lost the public trust. Pew, Gallop, and a number of other assemblers of public opinion have studied and reported findings that suggest public trust in Higher Education is eroding. University of Oregon president Michael Schill in a University…
“…Gently Rapping, Rapping at My Chamber Door.”
This was originally posted March 20, 2016. It is the last summer rerun… The changing student demographics and accompanying changes in expectation from higher education come with no “gentle rapping.” Rather a thunderous pounding that is wished away by many…
Creating a Powerful Corporate Culture
This series of six reflections on corporate culture was originally published in October and November 2013. I am on summer break but I think these still have some value. WVW. Sixth and final reflection on corporate culture… Nurturing a strong…
Place and Culture
This series of six reflections on corporate culture was originally published in October and November 2013. I am on summer break but I think these still have some value. WVW. Fifth in a series on Corporate Culture… Where we work…
People, Purpose, Principle
This series of six reflections on corporate culture was originally published in October and November 2013. I am on summer break but I think these still have some value. WVW. Fourth in a series on Corporate Culture… Rules without relationships guide…
Culture and Energy
This series of six reflections on corporate culture was originally published in October and November 2013. I am on summer break but I think these still have some value. WVW. Third in a series on Corporate Culture… A culture is…
How I Spent My Summer Vacation
Graduates – In a few months, millions of people like you, full of hope and anticipation, will transition from high school to college. Privilege may have provided engaged deliberative parenting and quality primary and secondary educational opportunities, and you may have…
Universities and Citizenship
A Continued reflection on citizenship from last week. There are significant relationships between education and citizenship. I am, before anything else, a professor—a teacher. I work to provide students the opportunity to learn. For me, this relationship between opportunity as…
Radical Individualization
On the very best days, the very best universities treat each student distinctively. Universities are in the business of creating, developing and nurturing human capital. This is true when faculty and staff are hired for their unique skill sets to…
Micromanagement
Originally published March 26, 2013. Slightly updated and worth a second look. Real leadership liberates, never limits: it unleashes people to work with passion. Effective universities recognize that strength in academic programs exists on the ground, with engaged faculty,…
Online or On-Campus?
pinterest.com cdfd802216040079fc70c1e3cb899f3a–young-frankenstein-mad-scientists Every high school and college student, every working professional engaged in continuing education and every educational leader and faculty member will address this question every day: “What is the correct mix of face-to-face and online instruction?” According to…
The Core of Any College Curriculum
image from The Market of Ideas www.college.columbia.edu. The center of every university experience worth its salt is a grounding in the fundamentals of the human condition. For full and lasting impact on students, it should also be rigorous and challenging.…
Student Debt
image from o-MONEY-facebook.jpg-photos Universities endeavor to transfer the burden of blame to bankers and politicians. Sallie Mae holds almost $200 billion dollars of the debt. Like the housing bubble, much of the student debt problem involves politically driven, unsecured, unchecked…
Admissions, Resources and Quality
Final installment in a series on why U.S. Universities are great Considerations beyond standardized test scores and high school GPAs, the rule in many nations, are common in admissions processes at U. S. institutions. Holistic admissions, when properly managed and…
Moral and Spiritual Growth
Ninth in a series on why U.S. Universities are great “Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil.” — C.S. Lewis U.S. universities, until the time of the Morrill Act of…
Freedom’s Fervor and Force
Seventh in a series on why U.S. Universities are great American universities attract internationally excellent scholars. The strength of our universities is one factor, but the overarching concept of a free society, and the egalitarian nature of individuals succeeding…
Freedom for, or from, Ideas
Fourth in a series on why U.S. Universities are great Free expression, a concept woven into the muscle of America through constitutionally protected speech and rugged individualism remains the international benchmark made possible by a republican form of government. Freedom…
Effective Bachelor’s Degrees
Second in a series on why U.S. Universities are great Columbia University’s 1880 core curricula required a general understanding of the human condition. Coupled with training in specific disciplines it was the Holy Grail for U.S. universities. It may be…
AAAAABBBBCCDF
Of all the grades given at U. S. universities in 2013 — I know they all can’t be earned, so many must be given: a gift or show of appreciation for the ever escalating tuition and fees? The title says…
A Respite
I returned to teaching in SIU’s School of Architecture at the conclusion of a six-year contract as Chancellor on July 1, 2007. I began writing columns and posting them to in November 2007. The experience as chancellor prepared me…
Teaching – The Genesis of Reputation
Marc Edwards, MacArthur Fellow, and Charles P. Lunsford Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech, created consternation regarding the polluted water supply of Flint, Michigan by telling the truth. His water research and expertise predicted the lead laden…
A Job
Some colleges and universities show indifference to employment prospects for their graduates, almost callousness, as hoards of students receive degrees, accompanied by too many promissory notes and too few job prospects. Students almost unanimously choose to pursue a particular career…
In Over Our Head, with Overhead
Ninth in a series on university struggles Administrative and bureaucratic operatives at universities have grown at rates that exceed even the rates of cost increases experienced by students and families. Rules rather than academic purpose govern too many institutions. Bureaucratic…
A Personal Reflection for the Season
This reflection was originally published on December 15, 2008. It is worth a second look. Christmas memories are personal, deep and important for me. My family’s New York Christmases with the strong, first generational, influence of Western Europe; Cajun Christmases…
Standards, Favoritism, and Cronyism
Seventh in a series on university struggles University leadership often genuflects toward personal and institutional survival tolerating the push and pull of “special interests” and cronyism. Putting anything ahead of academic purpose undermines effectiveness and consequently causes universities to…
Study Value, Value Study
Sixth in a series on university struggles Study value. In universities, all should speak the truth to one another in spite of political and university leadership relentlessly peddling the idea that any university degree has value. It is clear by…
Teaching First
Fifth in a series on university struggles Forward focus is essential. Over the past four decades, many faculty and university leaders have begun to believe that research and scholarly activity are more important than teaching. Graduate assistants, adjunct, and non-tenure-track…
Unprepared: Be Prepared!
Fourth in a series on university struggles Students should work hard, study, and accept responsibility for results. Too many are not prepared. While this is true regarding critical thinking skills, basic mathematical abilities, and reading comprehension, these deficiencies are not…
Evolution in Purpose: Distinctiveness
Third in a series on university struggles American universities are all different. All, accordingly, struggle differently. For complex bureaucratic and political reasons, it becomes easy to treat all public universities similarly. Apples to apples comparison is the only sensible…
Higher Education in America – Struggling
American universities are struggling. Rethinking purpose, attention to mission, and refreshed understanding of value are required. Ten forces at work on higher education will be addressed in the coming months. One – A foolish man builds his house on a…
Leading Learning Laboratory
Organizations train leaders, for better or worse. Various enterprises are hotbeds for positive leadership training: manufacturing, public service, retail, professional services, and universities provide examples. Effective leadership causes people to change their perspective, to do what they otherwise wouldn’t or…
Bend or Break
Free community college, whether completely free or only low-cost, is a powerful way for students to reduce the price of a bachelor’s degree or expedite entry into the workforce. Governor Bill Haslam’s Tennessee Promise has created an enrollment surge…
A Ton of Coal, a Steel Ingot and a V-8
These three disparate items have a common characteristic. They are all produced by people to create profit. If production is halted by a strike corporate profit is diminished. In addition, strikers withholding sweat, and therefore product, may even…
University Performance and the State
Richard Wagner and Paul Lingenfelter are distinguished educational leaders, with a view towards better addressing the needs of higher education in Illinois. Recently they presented a case for a statewide model of higher education that is clear and rational. A…
Four Rough C’s
Student life on university campuses should be challenging and rewarding. The honing of the student mind into a unique and individually tailored instrument of thought is a noble aim. That result helps create educated human beings who enhance personal and…
The Big Puzzle
Clinton’s “New College Compact” a ten-year, $350 billion federal commitment to higher education is appealing to people in universities. It is a detailed plan with many moving parts. To Clinton’s credit it’s a big picture approach, to solve a big…
Reputation Matters and is Earned Never Given
University reputation determines whether or not students want to study there. The Independent of the United Kingdom conducted a survey of college graduates in Europe, and 62% said it was important for a university to be well-known to create better…
Process is not Leadership
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 every corner of the hierarchy. Numerous excuses…
Senses of Urgency
McDonald’s is closing hundreds of restaurants this year, according to Fortune. Gallup claims America now ranks 12th on the planet in new businesses. Startups exceeded closures by 100,000 in 2008, and in 2014 closures exceeded startups by 70,000. Cause for…
Variety and Vitality
Sixth in a series on public/private higher education. A private nonprofit structure for higher education in Illinois as proposed by State Sen. Bill Brady, in SB1565, is appealing because it might provide more choices for students. Vanilla offerings abound…
Elitist and Homogeneous?
Fourth in a series on public/private higher education. A common fear regarding Illinois Senator Brady’s idea (SB1565) for transitioning from public to private higher education in Illinois is that it will drive universities to elitism and homogeneity. Wrong on both…
State Funding for Higher Education
Illinois State Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, started a discussion with SB1565 that could return the prestige of the higher education enterprise to one of the best in the nation. The not-ready-for-prime-time proposal calls for a conversion of universities to a…
Rivers of Responsibility
The crust of the biscuit, the place where the rubber hits the road, the lick log in learning, is the exercise of free will that breeds personal responsibility. And nurturing responsibility in its manifold dimensions is the purpose of a…
Fast and Furious
The German polytechnic universities of the 19th century were the model and the genesis for the power and explosion of the U.S. land-grant universities in the 20th. What’s required of universities in the 21st century will be as markedly different…
Student Leadership
Overwhelmingly, the 7400 state lawmakers nationwide attended and graduated from public universities. Again overwhelmingly, these elected officials attended schools in their home states. All but four of the 535 members of the United States Congress have a post-secondary education. A…
Free College: Marketing 101 or Mythology 101
President Obama recently proposed America’s College Promise, free community college to qualified students. Great marketing, even greater mythmaking. I recently reviewed the 2015 budget for John A. Logan College in Carterville, Illinois; a similar budget would be at found at…
Our University: Transfer Students
This was originally posted on February 18, 2011. The importance of effective 2+2 transfer agreements grows. This is a worthwhile reflection although 4 years old. Sixth in a series on who our students are and how they perform. Quality transfer…
Jews, WASPS, and Catholics
Last week at UCLA, a student government committee disturbingly attempted to bar a student from a spot on the Judicial Board. Her transgression? She is a Jew, which might create a conflict of interest. The Daily Bruin got it right: …
“(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”
According to M. Jagger that is. From every corner of the universe of universities, dissatisfaction with campus climate abounds. The costs, the social climate, the impact, the value, and nearly every other aspect of university life are maligned by one…
Decimated Disbursements Demand Different Designs
According to the higher education leaders, many elected officials, faculty, students, staff and the general public, higher education budget cuts will send universities, and therefore their states, into decline. Wisconsin’s Governor Scott Walker’s budget proposal last week included a decrease…
