JMU - 2005 Opening Faculty Meeting
2005 Opening Faculty Meeting
Opening Faculty Meeting
August 26, 2005
Welcome to the new academic year! I hope your summer has been pleasant, and I know that you join me in looking forward to a great year at James Madison University.
To those of you who are new to Madison, a special “welcome.” It is my hope and expectation that you will find this to be a friendly and nurturing environment for your professional development. To those of you who are returning for another year, “welcome back.” To those of you who never left, there is always the midterm break!
Our upperclassmen have been moving back to Harrisonburg all week. And the check-in of freshman on Wednesday went quite well. I want to thank all who contributed to that success. It helped to have a cool and cloudy day! We expect that we will enroll about 3,800 freshmen.
I especially wish to thank all those faculty who served as Freshman advisors, faculty who participated as speakers in the summer orientation program, and those who assisted with the “Conversations with Faculty program” and the freshman reading program. All one has to do is look at this list of faculty to see that at JMU our faculty contribute significantly beyond what is asked of them in the classroom or the laboratory.
Dr. Brown, thank you for your comments and leadership. And Dr. Zimmerman, thank you for your willingness to serve as the Speaker of the Senate and for your remarks today. I will respond to some of the points you made in my comments this morning. Thanks also to the Foucar- Szockis for their direction of the faculty and staff fund-raising effort!
I would like to talk with you this morning about what we have accomplished, and a little about where we are going. The best place to start is a quick review of some fundamentals.
Those of you who are fairly new to Madison may be seeing this for the first time. To others this will be familiar, but a quick review won’t hurt.
We envision a future for Madison in which we are a new type of American university. We might be described as possessing the best aspects of larger doctoral-research universities as well as the best features of smaller liberal arts colleges.
Our mission is to prepare students to be educated and enlightened citizens who will lead productive and meaningful lives. We want our graduates to be engaged in the communities in which they work and live. We want them to be successful in providing for their own needs as well as their family’s. We want them to make a difference to those whose lives they touch.
In carrying out our mission, I hope we never lose sight of the common values that brought us together, and that provide the underpinning to our work.
There are about 2,600 of us who come together as one to carry out the mission, and to accomplish the vision. There is something that I believe we all share no matter our specific role.
I don’t think that any of us get up in the morning and come to JMU with the thought, “I am going to be mediocre today!”
I am convinced that not even one of us drives in to the campus thinking “Today, I will pursue the ordinary!”
No, I prefer to believe that most of you approach your work with a little different attitude. I believe that you want to make a difference in the lives of your students, in your field of study, and in this university. I believe that you want to contribute to the growth and development of others.
Most of us want to do great things.
Greatness is not a function of circumstance, luck, or fortune. It is rarely achieved as the result of an accident or serendipity. Rather, it is the derivative of wise decisions and hard work. It is about ambition and an awareness of what can be. And importantly, as Jim Collins has observed, “…it is typically a product of those
who love what they do.”
Some of you who are new may still be thinking about our vision of becoming a new American university. You may be thinking “What are they talking about?” There are about 3,600 institutions of higher learning. How could JMU possibly bethat much different than all the rest? Can this university really be an exceptional institution? What characteristics does JMU possess that distinguish it from other schools?
Those of you who know me well know that I am not one who appreciates selfaggrandizement. I have just never thought it right or proper to call oneself great, or the best, though we live in a world where it seems to have become the norm.
Certainly, we work to achieve excellence, and we like it when we are recognized for it. It’s just that our excellence should be judged and then communicated by others. Unless you are Muhammad Ali, self-proclaimed greatness seems a little hollow.
So, I am not going to call us “great,” but I am prepared to call us “exceptional.” I have thought for some years now that we, while perhaps not absolutely unique, are certainly among a small cohort of institutions in our Nation. I believe this to be the case because of the vision we pursue.
To those of you who require the company of others to feel secure, this notion of institutional uniqueness, or exceptional status, may be a bit disconcerting. But, I have an idea that most of you find the concept invigorating. Let me explain further.
Businesses, hospitals, colleges and universities, and, in fact, most enterprises develop lists of peer organizations so that they might compare and contrast themselves, hopefully in the spirit of using the information to improve themselves.
The truth, I think, is that most organizations participate in data collection for these comparisons to determine which institution is the “best” of its type, and to establish some aspirant targets to more easily define what they want to be like when they “grow up.”
We have a number of peer groups and, frankly, it can be a bit confusing. We negotiate a peer institution list with the State Council of Higher Education for the purposes of faculty salary comparisons. Some of the institutional matches are pretty close; others are questionable. Our assigned position in the current Carnegie typology of colleges and universities is Masters I. However, examination reveals the inclusion of more universities unlike, than like us.
Some would compare us to other “comprehensive” universities, whatever they are anymore. Some look more like Doctoral Intensive universities while others still resemble Liberal Arts colleges.
Because we have been so frustrated with seeking out commonalities with supposed peers, we decided to take a slightly different approach to this comparison business. We asked ourselves, “How are we different than many of the universities in our commonly used peer lists? What makes us exceptional?”
First, we looked at the universe of Carnegie Masters I and Doctoral Intensive institutions. We narrowed that list down to those institutions that had enrollments of 12,000 students or more, and graduation rates of 60 percent or higher. As a point of reference, JMU has approximately 16,000 students and a graduation rate of 80 percent. Finally, we sorted the list by percent of full-time undergraduates in descending order.
That analysis left only eleven universities.
If one then qualifies the list by excluding private institutions, it gets shorter.
Limiting the list to those with undergraduate populations of more than 80 percent of the enrollment makes it shorter still.
Finally, if one narrows student persistence measured by graduation rate (a surrogate for student quality) to 75 percent or higher, the list gets shorter still. Only two institutions in the entire Nation remain.
Miami of Ohio was the only other institution that seemed to have a similar profile to JMU, at least as defined by the criteria we used. As alike as we are, the big difference between us is the level of operating resources available at Miami. To summarize, they are rich and we are poor. This difference is reflected in their percentage of full time faculty, their salaries, and their endowment. Working to ultimately reach their level of support would be a challenging, but very appropriate, goal.
We may not be unique, but we are certainly exceptional by the first definition of the word!
I happen to believe that we are “exceptional” by the second definition of the word as well. Our significant constituents recognize what we do, and their expressions of satisfaction suggest the “exceptional” nature of your university.
U.S. News and World Reports has identified us at the number 1 public university in the South for twelve years in a row.
We had a student satisfaction rate of ninety-four percent. That is, students who were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with their experience.
More than three-quarters of the alumni report satisfaction with the way in which the University prepared them for their current work assignments.
More than ninety percent of employers surveyed have noted that JMU graduates had the attributes necessary for success in their organizations. Seventy-five percent of those same employers said that our graduates were superior or above average when compared to other employees in their organization.
Todd Rogers from Lockheed-Martin said, “JMU’s Career Development and OCI Center provide one of the best services of all of the universities in the country--a cut above such schools as MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Rutgers, and Notre Dame. Your students are high quality and so fully prepared for interviews and their careers that it makes it easy to hire JMU grads.”
Parents who write letters like this are so pleased with their son or daughter’s experience that they want to enroll:
| “Dear President Rose: We would like to take this opportunity to say what a wonderful institution James Madison University is! Our daughter is currently a sophomore at JMU studying Communicative Disorders as a major. She absolutely LOVES JMU! From the very first moment we stepped into JMU on a college tour, we were hooked! The students are the most enthusiastic and dedicated students we have ever encountered. From your detailed orientations to the FROGS, and beyond—each and every student, staff member, faculty member has been there for our daughter helping her to ease into the transition from high school to college student! We are proud to say she is doing extremely well, and has become so involved at JMU! She volunteered for the FROG program this year—to give back what she felt helped her through the homesickness she felt in the beginning of her freshman year. If it were not for this program, we think she would have been a great deal more upset for a longer period of time her freshman year! She is also in the Honors Scholar Program—which gave her the self confidence she needed to become the student that she is! We truly cannot state all the things she is involved in—but each and every program she is involved in has helped her grow to become a truly independent and wonderful human being! Your teaching staff is second to none! Last year, and this year, she feels that each and every Professor she has encountered has been there for her so she can SUCCEED!! Whenever she was nervous or concerned about something and spoke to her professors—they took the time to speak with her with the utmost respect and sincerity. We commend you President Rose and THANK YOU and the entire JMU staff for this wonderful experience that our daughter is having.” |
This is but one example of the many letters like this that we receive on a regular basis.
In the late summer of each year, I compile an annual progress report for the Board of Visitors. Each year I am amazed by the list of achievements that have led to improvements in the university. The academic year beginning in 2004 was no different!
Only people who know their purpose, who have a common understanding of where they are headed, and who know how to execute with passion could reap such a list.
Last year we developed our Strategic Plan to help us focus our efforts so that we might be the institution we said we wanted to be in 2008 – our Centennial. I have met with the vice presidents, deans, assistant vice presidents, directors, and department heads to discuss the Plan. This year I will visit with many of you in departmental meetings.
Later this semester, I will appoint a new Planning Commission under the leadership of Dr. Warner. The Madison Commission, as we are calling it, will help us chart a path to the end of the decade. The world will not stop when we blow out the 100 candles on our Centennial birthday cake in March 2008, so we must be looking beyond that time.
The Commission will be broad-based, much like the Centennial Planning Commission I appointed in 1999. Many of you will be asked to participate.
As Dr. Brown mentioned, working with the faculty in related departments, last year we created the new College of Visual and Performing Arts. The College will no doubt bring the excellence and vitality that exists in the arts at Madison to the forefront.
No one believes university presidents when they say, “I would rather build programs than buildings.” But, it is the truth. All college and university presidents must be focused on securing sufficient and quality space for faculty and staff to do their work, and for students to learn and develop. On that front, we made unbelievable progress last year. We completed or are currently constructing:
| • The Harrison Hall renovation and addition • The Athletic Performanc Center • The Chemestry/Physics Building or the Physics/Chemistry Building if you ask the physics • The Financial Services Building on Main Street • The PC Dukes ballroom conversion to a dining facility • The steam-line renewal project • Rockingham Hall, previously Howard Johnson’s • The Quad Pedestrian walkway project • And, a new parking lot at CISAT A-2 |
We obtained approval to purchase Rockingham Memorial Hospital and we executed an agreement for the leasing of Harrisonburg Memorial High School. Those two properties will ultimately provide as much as 800,000 square feet of space.
I am not sure if Charlie King and Jenny Lyons should receive honorary law degrees or real estate licenses for all they did. We certainly appreciate their efforts.
We have some time to plan for the best use of the hospital space as we will not actually have the keys to the building for about five years. We anticipate a mixed-use facility, taking advantage of naturals such as the cafeteria and the emergency department. Much of the space will be devoted to academic purposes. Although the buildings themselves are in very good condition, we will need to refurbish most of the space, as it is not configured as we would use it. Some of the space we will likely demolish.
We will use the fall semester to get the high school ready for our occupancy in the spring. It will be used primarily for academic expansion, as the classrooms and labs are nicely configured for that use. Again, as Dr. Brown indicated, the College of Education and the Geology department will relocate to Memorial Hall, as we will refer to it. We will need to create some office spaces for faculty since the building does not have much of that type of space. The gymnasiums and fields will be wonderful additions for student recreation and intercollegiate athletics.
Architectural/engineering planning is also underway for:
| • The Miller Hall Renovation • The East Campus Library construction • The Main Street Parking Deck •The Center for the Performing Arts |
Last year, we improved our base educational and general funding by $14 million over the preceding year, and sponsored program activity grew to more than $21 million. Our national ranking in the NSF R&D expenditures moved from 352 to 317. Student financial aid increased by $554,000 and athletic fund raising increased to $1.7 million, which is possibly connected to a national championship!
Our endowment increased from $28 million to more than $35 million. We received funding for our first two academic chairs. As has been noted in the media recently, through the generosity of a local music lover who made a $1 million dollar gift commitment, we are acquiring over 100 Steinway pianos for the School of Music. We are now recognized as a Steinway School!
And, employee giving to Madison increased last year from 9.75% to 15.2%. To their great credit, giving in the division of administration and finance increased from 6.99% to 20.47%. I thank all of you for your support of the University.
We established new majors in Biotechnology and Justice Studies. Even in these uncertain times, we had over 800 students study abroad in 85 countries. I want to thank Dr. Brown, Ms. Bell, Mr. Mitchell, and others who worked hard last year on a plan to enhance our student academic advising. This was our only significant weakness in terms of student satisfaction with the university. I’m not counting parking, of course. Much remains to be done but we are off to a good start.
Over 1,200 students were involved in community service last year and we sponsored 28 alternative spring break trips – all to the benefit of others. Our faculty and staff also serve unselfishly in our community.
Last year, we noted the exceptionally high student and faculty satisfaction ratings afforded the library staff. This year I am pleased to report that the service provided by our Information Technology staff has yielded similar results. Ninety-six percent of faculty and staff report that they are satisfied or very satisfied with technology at JMU! Likewise, ninety-five percent of our students said they were
satisfied or very satisfied with technology at JMU. I would challenge any organization, of any type, to do better than that. I would like to ask Dale Hulvey, our Assistant Vice President for IT to stand and let us recognize you!
Responding to the mandates of our Strategic Plan, we funded and created a University Training Office and Director. Dr. Wubah led our efforts to put a series of new programs in place to enhance the diversity of the student body as well as the faculty and staff. I am pleased to report some very favorable results in just one year. For example, we doubled the number of African-American freshman this year, as compared to last year. We have a long way to go, but this establishes the proper trajectory.
These are only highlights! So much has been left out. It is this amount and type of activity that makes us an exceptional University. I think you satisfy the second definition of the term, “exceptional.”
I will get in trouble doing this, because I cannot possibly recognize everyone who had notable accomplishments over the last year. But I do want to recognize a few people if they are here so we can thank them for their work.
When I call on you, please stand up and take a bow. You can leave your shirts on!
Please remain standing, and please hold your applause, until all are recognized.
| • Laura Taalman was recognized by the Mathematical Association of America for distinguished teaching. • Grace Wyngaard was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. • Linda Bradley received the Virginia Association of Colleges for Teacher Education’s “Teacher of the Year Award.” • Rory DePaolis was awarded a Marie Curie International Fellowship. • Craig Shealy was selected as one of 18 psychologists for the “Legacy of Excellence” series by the National Register of Psychology. • Sharon Strang won the 2005 Distinguished Nurse Practitioner Award from the Virginia Council of Nurse Practitioners. • Harry Reif and Mike Mitri led an effort to obtain accreditation for the Computer Information Systems and Management Science Department from ABET. That is no easy task, but we heard last week that they were successful! • Rich Ingram and Ralph Alberico led an effort that resulted in a half-million dollar grant from the Microsoft Corporation to implement a certification program for teachers in educational technology. • Glenn Hastedt and Tony Eksterowicz were named co-editors of the Journal of White House Studies. • Kristen McCleary won the Hanke Prize awarded by the National Council of Latin American History. • Gabrielle Lanier, Sallie King, Ben Hutchens all authored new books in their fields of study. • Peter Pham, in addition to writing the book, Heirs of the Fisherman: Behind the Scenes of Papal Death and Succession, appeared nearly 30 times on radio and television broadcasts during the death of the Pope and the papal succession. • Barkley Rosser’s international accomplishments reflected positively on the College of Business and the University. Among other recognitions, he was appointed to the committee that will re-examine the Kyoto Protocol, the international treaty on global warming. • Tim Louwers, holder of the Ramsey Centennial Chair, was selected chairelect of a section of the American Accounting Association. • Brad Roof was elected chair-elect of the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants. |
Please give a round of applause for these outstanding professionals who have represented us in such a positive way.
I might also mention that the students who operate the Madison Investment Fund in the JMU Foundation, were selected #1 in the country in the value investment category.
At a Capitol Hill briefing, JMU was honored as having the greatest number of meritorious new teachers in Virginia.
And, our information security programs were once again recognized by the National Security Agency as a Center of Academic Excellence in Information Security.
The staff we have in facilities management amaze me every year. They complete all of our summer projects in addition to maintaining your buildings, keeping them clean, and manicuring the grounds. I have already listed the big projects, and there were countless smaller ones. They never got the message that Rome wasn’t built in a day. We are so fortunate to have them taking care of our needs. Associate Vice President Towana Moore and Director Mike Davis lead their efforts and I would like them to stand and be recognized as well.
Finally, I want to call your attention to the excellent work performed by those who lead Orientation, Advising, General Education, Residence Life, Dining Services, Card Services, Facilities Management, and everyone else who helped to prepare for the freshman class.
I especially want to thank Dr. Halpern, Dean of General Education, the other deans, and the department heads who worked to secure faculty and open more class sections. As I said previously, we have a few more than we had planned to enroll. But, thanks to you they will be treated as if there were 38 arriving, not 3,800! This is a copy of a letter I received that I would like to share with you:
| “Dr. Halpern: How are you? I just wanted to thank you once again for helping me with my schedule. If you don’t remember me, I’m sure it will help to tell you that I was the girl crying hysterically in the computer lab. It really meant a lot that someone as high up as you took time to help me. It makes me love JMU and appreciate the community even more. It’s hard to feel like a number when the Dean of General Education comes to you personally and helps out with your schedule. I can’t express enough how you’ve made me feel welcome and wanted at JMU. Thank you.” |
We owe a debt of gratitude to all the departments and individuals who worked to prepare for this year’s freshman class.
To all of you I recognized “thank you.” To those of you who may not have had the opportunity to stand up, I thank you also, because it takes us all to be “exceptional.” We appreciate your talent and what you bring to James Madison University.
Let me turn to institutional size, or total enrollment, for a few minutes. Many think, I am sure, that we are going to grow substantially. They observe the acquisition of the hospital, the rental of the high school, the large freshman class, and the large numbers of students in the middle and high schools around the
state and assume the stars are aligned for growth.
In the last half of the nineties, we grew by 3,500 students with insufficient space, faculty, and operating budgets to properly take care of them. It put tremendous stresses and strains on the university. I think we learned a lesson and I swore then that if I had anything to do with it, we would not let that happen again.
These people didn’t learn the lesson!
Thinking bigger is better, they had the solution:
And, I think you know what happens! Being Smarter is just as important as being bigger.
I view it as my job to do everything I can to ensure that we have sufficient space and operating resources to provide a high quality product. We purchased the hospital, rented the high school, and undertook the most aggressive capital outlay program for new construction in our history to ensure that we had enough space for our current student population, and that we have some flexibility if we should choose to expand.
As to the size of the freshman class, we had planned for 3,500 students, not 3,800. The rate at which student applicants accept our offer of admission went up unexpectedly. Last year, we were actually 100 freshmen below where we projected to be. As you might imagine, it is difficult to anticipate with precision what prospective students will decide. Amazingly, the admissions folks do routinely come very close to their target numbers. Our plan is to reduce the class
by 100 next year.
Our enrollment projections through 2012 have been approved by the State Council of Higher Education. They have us at a total enrollment of 17,398 in 2012, and we anticipate being at approximately 16,450 this fall. With some increase in graduate numbers, primarily because of 5-year programs in education and accounting, we will reach the 17,398 number without any additional increases in our freshman class.
Whether we should enroll more than 17,398 by 2012 is a question that needs more hard thought. Asking the question, “What size should we be?” oversimplifies a complicated issue. I believe the better question is, “If we can preserve and even enhance quality, what obligation do we have to serve?” We are a public university with a codified purpose of serving the higher educational needs of the Commonwealth. We are selective, but we have never been elitist.
A few weeks ago while vacationing on the Eastern Shore in Maryland, I went to a little bakery that I had heard was great! I bought an apple pie that looked particularly good. And pleasantly, when we heated it, cut it, and served it, we found it to be the best apple pie any of us had ever had. Needless to say, it didn’t last long.
If you scratch the screen you can smell the aroma! The apple slices were tender, plump, and plentiful as if fresh from the orchard – more apple that syrup. It was sweet and rich with brown sugar and just a hint of cinnamon. The filling was so tempting, bubbling up through the slits in the buttery crust, and baked to a golden hue like the sunset on the Bay. It literally melted in your mouth.
The next morning I went back to the little shop to get another. It was about 9:00 and they were all sold. I went back the next day at around 8:00 to get one. Again, they were sold out.
I shared with the baker that I thought their apple pie was great. That it was the best apple pie my family had ever had.
She said, “Well, we would like to think that it is ‘exceptional,’ but if you want to call it ‘great’ that is up to you. We use only the best ingredients and we give each pie a lot of personal attention.”
I told her that I was frustrated that I hadn’t been able to buy one in the last twodays.
She responded, “Yes, you do have to get here early, as they disappear quickly.”
I became distrustful. Who was getting these pies? Did they have some prearranged deal? Were people paying deposits? Did the locals get better treatment than the out-of-state vacationers? Could you place your order ahead of time? I asked her why she didn’t charge more.
She replied, “Now, that just wouldn’t be fair, would it? Then only my rich customers could afford to buy a pie. Shouldn’t anyone who appreciates an exceptional apple pie be able to buy one?”
Finally, I said, “Why don’t you just make more of them?”
“Well, the shop would need to be bigger,” she replied. “Although, I guess I could rent that old school next to my shop. It would work with some modification
I would need additional equipment--you know, more spectrometers, I mean ovens. I would need another baker or two. I would have to find more faculty, I mean apples. You know the really good ones aren’t easy to find, and they are key to the result. I would need more of the other ingredients as well.
While you have to have exceptional apples to make an exceptional apple pie, it is the combination of those other ingredients with the apples that really make the pie great.”
I said, “Okay, I get your point. It is a big step to expand, and you definitely don’t want to reduce your quality. You need the best apples and other ingredients, because if you just made more pies with fewer apples and more filling, pretty soon people wouldn’t be flocking in here to buy your pies anymore.”
She winked and said, “You are really insightful; you must be a college president.”
As I left the bakery, she called to me, “I will make you a deal. Be here at 7:30 tomorrow and you will have a pie. And, while I am comfortable with the current size of my bakery, I will give some more thought to growing if I believe I can maintain my quality and if you really believe more people want my apple pies.”
Folks, with 19,000 applications this year, you are that great apple pie!
Like the baker, we aren’t going to sacrifice quality. But we need to give more thought to addressing student needs, if we can maintain our quality. The additional students we have this year give us the opportunity to find out if the Commonwealth will step up and fund the enrollment growth as it should. Knowing how the state responds this February will put us in a better position to consider our growth options for the future. If these students are not funded as they should be, then we cannot maintain our quality, and it would be a mistake to grow.
So, other than size, where are we headed?
In 1999 the Centennial Planning Committee concluded, and the Board of Visitors concurred, that we should continue to primarily focus on undergraduate education, but that we should develop a small cadre of truly superlative graduate programs in addition to those programs that meet a service need for our region.We have done just that, and it is both my recommendation and hope that the new Madison Planning Commission will confirm the path we have chosen as the right path for our future. A graduate enrollment that is approximately 10-15 percent of the total enrollment will maintain our campus culture, but provide sufficient
growth opportunity for the graduate program.
Instead of changing our direction, let’s enhance our exceptional status, using both definitions of the word. Let’s get our salaries where they need to be. Let’s reduce the percentage of our credit hours taught by part-time faculty from 20 percent to 15 percent. Let’s help our students win more national awards and scholarships. Let’s support our faculty by bringing a Phi Beta Kappa chapter to
Madison. Let’s make sure our students are “automatics” when they apply to graduate school – just because they came from here! Let’s make sure you have the travel and operating support you need to realize your goals, and ours.
If we could get all that done, I might even be willing to call us “great!”
Our Strategic Plan identifies six priorities that we must all address if we are to be the institution we want to be by 2008.
They are: Diversity, Financial resources, Private support, Graduate programs of distinction, Professional development, and Institutional planning. We have made good progress on some of these issues but more remains to be done.
I look forward to visiting with you in your departments to discuss these priorities, the remaining defining characteristics that we have identified, and most importantly, what role you might play in helping us achieve them.
Your hard work has resulted in the creation of a truly exceptional institution. I hope that you are proud of what you have created. Your love for what you do is obvious to others and the envy of institutions throughout the country.
I look forward to another year of accomplishment, for each of you and for the University!
Our students thank you, and I thank you.
Publisher:
Office of the President
For Information Contact:
Donna Burch
James Madison University
Alumnae Hall, 91 Alumnae Drive, MSC 7608
Phone: (540) 568-6868
Fax: (540) 568-2338
Last Modified: 10/5/2009
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