It All Revolves Around Economics

When I was in college, it took me a long time to decide what to major in.  I started thinking about Psychology; next considered Philosophy; and ultimately settled on Economics.  Actually there were a few more disciplines along the way that I considered.  When I encountered a terrific teacher, that swayed me toward a particular major and, not surprisingly, when the faculty member was the opposite, my reaction was also the opposite.  What finally convinced me, and it is still true today, is that I found my passion in economics, and I remain convinced that Economics is the key factor in many of the formidable problems that our country and our globe are continuously confronting.

As an economist and as a long time educator, I often dwell on the economic benefits of education, especially higher education, that accrue to the person being educated.  The data is compelling and clearly demonstrates that in terms of benefits to the person and benefits to society, education matters a great deal.  Not surprising to me at all, and I’m convinced we aren’t even capturing all the benefits that education provides to the person and to society.

But there is another economic benefit of education and higher education that we also need to acknowledge.  That benefit is the contribution that schools make to the local, state, and national economy.  For example, at the end of last week, New York’s Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (CICU) released their annual calculation of the economic impact of New York’s independent higher education sector.  New York’s 100+ independent colleges and universities contributed $54.3 billion to NY State’s economy.  The CICU study also noted that NY’s private colleges and universities provided on-campus employment for 174,000 people.  For Long Island, where Hofstra is located, the overall private college impact is $2.8 billion with more than 22,600 jobs.  Hofstra alone provides over 2,700 of these jobs.  How known is it and how appreciated is it that private higher education is one of the engines that drives New York State’s and Long Island’s economy?

These numbers reflect only one important sector of education in one state.  Add to these numbers the national dollar  impact of k-12 public education as well as public higher education, and you start to approach the major magnitude of our education industry.  And remember, that we are a clean and relatively green industry so our impact on the environment is another plus.  And we are often a cultural center for the communities in which we are located, which is still another plus.  And I could go on and on.  And once again, how known is it and how appreciated is it that education is a key engine for our national economy?

The conclusion is clear.  The benefits of education, economic and otherwise, surround all levels of education and all facets of education.  In this holiday season, as in all the other times of the year, education is truly the gift that keeps giving. Happy Holidays.

Tis the Season

It is typical at the end of both the fall and spring semesters that there are extra meetings as every committee and aspect of University governance does all it can to complete the semester’s agenda.  And, of course, the tempo in courses is similar; as hard as we try to maintain an even pace in our courses, very often we accelerate at the end to cover all the material that should be covered.

At the end of fall semesters there is another happening that coincides with the end of the semester and that’s the holiday parties that inevitably take place this time of year.  For me this cycle of parties begins this week with the annual University alumni holiday party that takes place every year in Manhattan.  This party is usually followed by the University Holiday Party for all employees as well as various school, college, office, and related organization’s holiday parties.

There are individuals I work with that love this cycle of holiday parties and there are those that have no use for these events. After decades in higher education and decades of attending these events, where am I on the spectrum of party love/hate relationships.  I started my career as a fan, and yes, after all these decades I am still a fan.  I thoroughly enjoy attending these events.  Why is that?  And why do I not have this feeling of diminishing returns with each additional party?  The reason is simple.  I get a chance to talk to people I don’t normally see or get an opportunity to talk with.  At the alumni party, I am certain that there will be one or more of my former students, students I may have had in class decades ago.  I love having the opportunity to reconnect and get caught up on what they have been doing.  Similarly, I know many of the student leaders that have been active over the decade; with certainty, some of them will attend.  There are other alums that I don’t know who are interested in  getting caught up on what has been happening at the University; we have a lot going on in our efforts to enhance Hofstra’s growing reputation and I love to talk about what’s new.  Even the ride into this party, where the provost’s office and the deans go together is a chance to socialize in a way we don’t normally do.

I have the same feeling about the University Holiday Party.  Though there is a large percentage of the Hofstra community that I interact with continuously, there is also a large percentage that I rarely see.  All these individuals are crucial to the well being and smooth operation of Hofstra.  I love getting caught up at the University Holiday party.  I love reconnecting with colleagues and I love the holiday spirit.

Is there anything about these parties that I don’t like?  There is and it’s the tempting extra calories.  I can resist most and just spend my time sipping club sodas.  But if there is a chocolate dessert as part of the offerings, a club soda doesn’t do it.  In those cases I try the chocolate and if it is good, I try it again.  Good chocolate enhances a good holiday party; it’s a shame it enhances the waist line at the same time.

To Waive or Not to Waive; That is the Question

I am not in a position to gauge whether Cathleen P. Black should or should not be granted a waiver from the normal credential required by NY State law in order to serve as New York City Schools Chancellor. That responsibility lies with New York Commissioner of Education.  If she is qualified, she should receive the waiver.  If she is not qualified, the waiver should not be granted.  And yet, the actual conclusion regarding the granting of a waiver is neither the first alternative stated above nor the second.  It seems she will be granted a waiver on condition she appoint an experienced schools’ educator as the chief academic officer of the City schools. But is she qualified or is she not qualified?

When I arrived at Hofstra many years ago, there were a number of tiny departments—one such department was Art History and Humanities.  Yes there was already an Art department and yes, the Humanities person previously had a home in the English department. Why was this tiny four person department created?   The answer is simple; there were personality conflicts in the Art Department and there was a difficult tenure case in the English department.  The end result was that a new department was created which brought together the Art Historians, who were at odds with the Fine Arts faculty, and the Humanities faculty member who was the successful candidate for tenure in a very difficult tenure case in the English department.  Rather than try to resolve these differences (and perhaps they could not be resolved) another department was created. With this new department came the inevitable extra costs including a part-time secretary and extra compensation for the Chair.

A number of years later, when I became Dean of the Business School, I must admit I did something similar.  The computer center at the time was not particularly responsive to faculty needs and I was unsuccessful in getting them to change.  I traded in a new faculty line for a computer facilitator line.  Computer applications were becoming more and more critical in the education of our students.  Faculty needed support to build these applications into the curriculum.  I couldn’t get the support needed from the Computer Center so I provided the support in a different way.  I had no regrets then (and now) but there was a loss in terms of additional faculty.

There are often situations in education when confronting an issue is so difficult that we select a work around in order to resolve the situation.  We are all aware of such situations on our campuses and many of us have been involved in creating these scenarios.  In robust economic times, prosperity masks the actual costs involved.  But we are not in a prosperous situation today and as I have stated in multiple blogs, most of higher education (and public K-12 education) is considerably constrained.  We all need to stop creating cost increasing work arounds.  And though it is easier said than done (and will likely take a lot of time and patience), we also need to dismantle some of the existing work arounds.  It just makes good common sense that when resources are scarce we look first to trim those extra costs that will not adversely impact on the quality of education we provide our students.