Considering College – New Home
First in a series on what to look for in a college. What should students and families look for as they consider college? In the coming weeks, insights from the South Plains of Texas will be shared. New Home, Texas,…
Category Leadership
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…
A Tale of Two Cities and One University
Buffalo Stadium on the campus of West Texas A&M University Sir William Herschel wrote in 1802, “If, on the contrary, two stars should really be situated very near each other, and at the same time so far insulated as not to be…
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…
Student Parents
“Johnny, have you seen my backpack?” “Mom, I told you to keep track of your school stuff.” My junior year in college, there were approximately one hundred students studying architecture in my class. I remember two of those students were…
Local Universities, Broad Value
There are more than 4,000 postsecondary institutions of higher education in the United States. Of those, more than 400 are regional universities. Regional universities, West Texas A&M University for example, contribute to local economies, cultural and civic life in…
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…
The Real Problem with Student Debt
While West Texas A&M University and its generational plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World, are the basis for these reflections, the thoughts have value in many settings. Healthy organizations thrive on integrity and transparency. Since the White…
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.…
Coordination of Higher Education in Texas
Raymund Paredes, the Commissioner of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB), recently announced his resignation, effective August 31, 2019. This announcement caused me to reflect on the complexity of the enterprise and the importance of the coordination among the…
WTAMU 2019—A Look Ahead
WTAMU was busy last year, and we look ahead in 2019 with great anticipation. In order to understand our future, it is worthwhile to reflect on our past. The Agricultural Sciences Complex opened on campus, consisting of the Happy State…
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…
Love
Jesus Christ responded to a question from a student regarding the greatest commandment in the Law: “And he said to him, ’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all…
Looking for a University? Four Suggestions
As the new year begins, scores of students and their families will make choices about where to study next fall. Affordability, location and degree offerings should be serious considerations. No one should ever say, “It is worth it no matter…
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…
The Integration of Military Service and Personal Study
In 1783, New York Governor George Clinton, proposed that in every state at least one public college should train people for entry into military service. In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed into law the Morrill Act that said in part…
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…
Public Confidence in Higher Education
There is a shifting public perception regarding the value of universities both to society in general as a public good, and to individuals as a private good, according to a recent Gallop study. It is sad for me. I have…
Rural Kids in College
Contrary to predispositions, some rural kids do very well in universities. A recent Opportunity Insights study reports that rural students from many areas of the country are as upwardly mobile as their contemporaries from urban or suburban communities. However,…
Regional Universities and Economic Development
All universities have economic impact on the regions and communities in which they are located. Changing views of higher education have affected the role of the university as an economic development engine. A university education is a combined public and…
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…
New Student Success – Discipline
Photo Credit: In Texas 52.2% of the college students initially enrolled in 2009 had graduated with a bachelor’s degree by the year 2015, according to the most recent data available at the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems…
New Student Success – Discipline
In Texas 52.2% of the college students initially enrolled in 2009 had graduated with a bachelor’s degree by the year 2015, according to the most recent data available at the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems Information Center. I bet…
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…
Two Worlds
There are multiple views of the university and its purpose. Uncle Johnny remembers fraternity parties, the “gentleman’s C” and leisurely student life as the be-all and end-all. Aunt Susie reminisces of working 40 or 50 hours a week on top…
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…
Corporate Confidence
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. Second in a series of reflections on corporate culture Any…
Yes-Men/Women and Corporate Citizenship
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. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. This is the first in a series of reflections on corporate…
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…
Veterans as Students
America’s universities are the best in the world. This is so for many reasons, but primary among them is that we live in a free and open society. Two and one-half centuries of freedom and individual independence have allowed and…
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,…
OJT
That’s what they used to call it: on-the-job training. In the professional discipline of architecture, it was common for people to become architects by being an apprentice in an architectural office. After 12 years of apprenticeship, a candidate could…
Measures of Excellence
A recent commentary in the Chronicle of Higher Education, a trade publication for university personnel, says that a “tyranny of metrics” undermines higher education. The thought has enough truth in it to command attention. Yes, a metric focused environment might…
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…
Student Debt: Hard-Nosed Suggestions for Students
Student debt for college is a twisted labyrinth of complexities. Clarity is hard to find. In 2015, two of three student loan balances were less than $25,000. That sounds bearable. The chillingly high debt loads of $100,000 occur in only…
Higher Education – Turning the Corner on a New Year
“The American Dream … is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they…
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.…
Resource Flows – Higher Education
from www.businessinsider.com State funding to universities over the past 50 years has decreased. As one example of this state and national trend, West Texas A&M University received 49% of its total budget from the state treasury in 1968. By 2017,…
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…
Education and Progress
Eighth in a series on why U.S. Universities are great Pragmatism in U.S. higher education calls for faculty and students to address real problems. Paul Simon, former Illinois Senator and presidential candidate, told me he viewed the Paul Simon Public…
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…
Educational Philanthropy
Sixth in a series on why U.S. Universities are great Only religious organizations benefit from American philanthropy more than universities. The causes for this are manifold, but the effect is that universities have become excellent because of philanthropy. Generosity ceases…
Campus Competition
Fifth in a series on why U.S. Universities are great U.S. universities exist in a highly competitive three-party environment: Public, private not-for-profit and private for-profit universities all share the market. The for-profit sector is not new to the landscape of…
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…
No Two Alike
Third in a series on why U.S. Universities are great U.S. universities have traditionally held to the concept of mission differentiation. Clark Kerr, former president of the University of California, cemented this idea into state policy through the 1960 California…
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…
Why U.S. Universities Are Great
American universities are the best in the world. This is widely recognized by experts in higher education from every nation. Seventeen of the world’s top 20 universities worldwide are in the United States. Assessment and ranking systems in the U.S.,…
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…
College Affordability
The value of an education is difficult to measure because it is tied to each person’s aspirations, abilities, resources and life circumstances as well as the state a student lives in. These attributes and conditions create opportunity and community benefit. …
“…Gently Rapping, Rapping at My Chamber Door.”
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 institutions as they long for what used to be. Leadership grapples with a…
Vision and Resources
This reflection is an extension of a reflection from January 7, 2010. If you pay any attention to anything regarding higher education, things are getting tough. They have been since the turn of this century when nearly all states stopped…
Trump U and You Too
Trump University, not conceived as an educational institution, paid no attention to the sincere aspirations of students. Trump treated it like a real estate venture without real property. He may have thought, “This is too good to be true.” He…
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…
Students and Institutions Struggle through Change
Tenth and final in a series on university struggles Human nature is human nature to be sure, but Students of the 21st century are not students of the 20th century. Educational models from 50 to 75 years ago don’t…
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…
Community Economic Health and the Campus
Eighth in a series on university struggles The welfare of the city that hosts a university campus is married to institutional progress. Universities are becoming “go to” economic development agents based on the number of people hired, the toilet paper…
Trends For 2016
This piece originally ran in 2014. I am running it again. The basics don’t change much. WVW Every sector of the nation’s economy is in flux. Change breeds strength, but if pursued for its own sake may pervert primary purpose. …
Strictly Business
This reflection was originally published on November 13, 2012. Some circumstances have changed regarding veterans, but the thrust of treating learners correctly continues to have value considering debt and underemployment of college graduates are both at record highs as we start…
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…
Counting the Costs
Second in a series on university struggles American universities are struggling. Many U.S. universities, public and private, are built on a faulty financial footing. Nearly 50% of U.S. universities are in danger of insolvency without dramatic changes to how they…
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…
Ways to Study
The doom and gloom of Steven Strahler’s predictions regarding Illinois’ public universities in Crain’s is real. Universities in Illinois must change. Politicians, unions, campus leaders, faculty and boards have watched a precipitous decline in effectiveness as they cling to the…
Community College: A Place to Start
College costs and student debt burdens are on the rise. The cost effectiveness of all post secondary education is being scrutinized. President Obama’s plan for free community college is a politically tempting, fiscally irresponsible overreaction to that scrutiny and the…
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…