In the recent presidential debates, more than one moderator tried to get the candidates to explain how they could fulfill all of their campaign spending promises in the face of our present economic situation. After attempts to avoid direct answers, finally the two men provided contrasting strategies. John McCain said he would freeze all spending except for defense, veterans and entitlement programs, while Barack Obama proposed taking a “scalpel” to government programs that aren’t working well. Both men faced skepticism that they could accomplish all the good things they were promising without driving us further into debt or doing further damage. In short, we all wondered (and now continue to wonder in the case of President-elect Obama), how can they possibly do it all?
This is not unlike the question many of us are asking ourselves these days: How can we do it all? Economically, the university is looking into a bleaker funding future than we have enjoyed the past few years. FY10 promises to be a lean year for state funding, and even this year state revenues are running behind projections. Perhaps even more pressing is the feeling that our time and energy resources are insufficient for doing it all. And what is “all,” anyway? Does “all” really have to be done?
The presidential candidates, of course, had different definitions for “all” as well as for how much of it had to be done. But on many points the disagreement was not so much over what needed to be accomplished but over how best to go about it. Job creation, stabilization of financial markets, and a satisfactory outcome in Iraq are on everyone’s list, we just disagree on whose strategies will be most effective.
So what about here at MSU? Of everything we are being asked to accomplish, what really has to be done, and why? And what instrument should we use, a scalpel or a hatchet?
During the first three years of President Nietzel’s administration we spent a lot of time on finances. We switched to the cost center model and colleges had to learn to deal differently with salary savings, carry forward, and funding. We overhauled the compensation system. The Extended Campus was reorganized, affecting various funding models that had been in place for years. These were dramatic changes, and we still are adjusting. Although the system is not perfect, I believe academic units are better off under this model than we were before.
This year there are two phrases dominating campus activity: student success and public affairs. The emphasis really began last year, but now many more of us are engaged in work related to these areas. Student success and public affairs are not concerned directly with finances, yet both directly affect the financial health of the university. They also give us some clues as to what “all” should include.
Student success encompasses several outcomes, including learning, retention, graduation rates, and student engagement. Certainly our primary purpose is for students to learn. But learning is not just our philosophical mission, it is the outcome upon which our institutional health depends. Just as employee turnover and low productivity increase the cost of operating a business, poor student retention and academic failure increase the financial, as well as time and energy, costs for us in the university. Earlier this semester Dr. Nietzel shared at a Town Hall meeting the financial implications of enrollments, and the best way to maintain enrollments is for students who choose Missouri State to be successful here and persist through to graduation. Again, as in business, it is much less expensive to retain a good employee or customer than it is to replace one.
Similarly, public affairs is more than insider jargon. We are branded by our statewide mission; it both appeals to people outside the university and sets up expectations for what students will experience when they choose Missouri State over other schools. There was a time when we were on the cutting edge of movements like service learning and civic engagement, but no longer. As we move forward, what will distinguish a Missouri State education from what students can find elsewhere?
These two initiatives have resulted in a flurry of activity and administrative expectations. I am so appreciative of the many Arts and Letters faculty and staff who have stepped up to take leadership roles, serve on committees, or just participate constructively in departmental discussions. It is not as if you were not busy enough already. I hope you can see student success and public affairs as overarching concerns that relate to everything else that we are working so hard to accomplish, even if things you have been asked to do seem to be stacked on top of an already tall pile of tasks.
So, how do we tackle doing it all? I offer a few modest suggestions.
- Use a scalpel. Political affiliations aside, simply pulling financial support or withdrawing our energies from the great majority of what we do would cause more harm than good. But we should be examining continually what we have “always done” to assure that priorities set a decade ago still should be priorities, and we must put resources where they can accomplish the most.
- Stay centered. The core of what we do always will be to educate and contribute to knowledge in our disciplines. Focusing on public affairs elements or adopting new instructional approaches is part of accomplishing goals we already have set for ourselves.
- Seize opportunities. We seldom change just because we want to. Usually there must be some impetus or prompting, even a crisis, for us to question how we have been doing things.
- Follow your bliss. Anything becomes tiresome when it ceases to provide intrinsic satisfaction. There are some things that we will be required to do, but in most cases there is great latitude to accomplish them in ways that are most appealing and appropriate in our own areas. What would be worth doing if it could be done? What would become less important or necessary if you were focused on a greater goal? Of course, sometimes the challenge is that your bliss conflicts with someone else’s bliss. What I am really getting at is discovering what you and others share that would excite you all.
On November 21 there will be a university-wide town hall meeting on the topic of student success at 2:00 p.m in Meyer Library 101. I hope you will plan to attend so that you will become directly informed and involved. If you have not met the new Associate Provost for Student Development and Public Affairs, Dr. Rachelle Darabi, this will be an excellent chance to become acquainted with her, as well.
As usual, the fall semester has flown by in a blur. Thank you for your efforts and your excellent work. Before we know it December will be here, then finals, then the work of gearing up for a new semester. But in between there sometime I hope you have time to rest, reflect, and take satisfaction in all that you have accomplished. This is a great college, and you are the reason.
