A Broad Education More Narrowly Defined

My first full-time teaching schedule was a four course, Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule where I taught my first class at 9AM and my last class (a once a week graduate course ) ended shortly after 8 PM.  For as long as I was a full time faculty member, my schedule was virtually identical.  Only once did I complain to my department chair about my schedule – in my second year he presented me with a schedule that started at 8 AM and ended (one day a week) at 11PM.  I thought the hours were unreasonable and he agreed and modified it back to the way it had always looked.  My courses during those early years were filled regardless of the time. Many students, especially those who worked in addition to going to school, favored early classes or late classes and consequently almost every time slot had a robust enrollment.  The expectation was clear that as a faculty member I would be teaching an evening class virtually every semester and a relatively early morning class as well.

Title Wave

Just recently I came across an organizational structure for a School that had both Directors and Associate Directors as well as Associate and Assistant Deans (plus, of course the Dean).  The individuals holding the various dean and director positions were all very clear as to who did what and who reported to whom.  The question was whether anyone outside of the administration had the same level of clarity.  As it turned out, Assistant Deans reported to Directors but how would anyone know that or even expect it? .  For many outsiders looking  into higher education, the assumption is that anyone with a dean title has more of an academic leadership role. How did this happen ?  The answer often is that a prior dean favored the dean title and the current dean favors the director title  but so as to not make anyone feel bad, the current dean has decided not to take away the dean title from anyone who already had it.

Undercover Economics

Given the severity of our current recession, everyone I know has either been touched directly by this economic malaise or knows someone who has been adversely impacted – jobs lost or not found, salaries reduced or not increased, houses lost or not purchased, health insurance foregone, vacations foregone and the list goes on and on.  People are clearly hurting.  But the impact of this and any recession is on more than people; colleges and universities are good examples of institutions adversely impacted. The adverse impact can happen in many ways and take many forms; some are almost invisible with a price to be paid only over a long term time period.

We know that support from governments for public higher education has declined in many parts of the country.  As support has declined, tuition has increased and often there have been major increases in fees as well. In community colleges where the cost of education is lower (both for the supplier and the consumer) there have been some dramatic increases in enrollment.  In four year and graduate public institutions, enrollments are more likely capped and in some areas reduced.  Often at the same time that tuition is rapidly increasing, so is the use of adjuncts and the average class size. Faculty travel and sabbaticals in support of research are often also adversely impacted.

Private higher education faces many of the same challenges.  The difference between public higher education tuition (where there are varying degrees of government support) and private higher education tuition (where such support is much more limited and most likely tied to financial need) prompts some families, especially during economic uncertainty, to favor the lower priced alternative (even if they clearly recognize the benefits of private higher education).  Or the uncertainty could lead to more commuter students rather than residential students. Private higher education’s response, almost across the board is to increase need and or merit based financial aid, which requires almost across the board tuition increases as the funding source.  And here too, adjunct usage is increasing as is average class size.

The economic consequences of these actions are visible to either a greater or lesser degree to the student and his or her family.  Tuition increases are clear to everyone; increased class size is clear only if you have a basis for comparison; and increased use of adjuncts is much less visible.  But there are other effects which are even more undercover.  First of all, what is taking place is a fundamental shift in the allocation of resources away from the classroom.  Because funding has declined or because more dollars need to be allocated to financial aid, the dollars spent on education have been constrained. There is no alternative but unless too many resources were originally allocated to direct classroom education something has been lost. And it remains to be seen whether the allocation will shift back again to the classroom experience either in the short term or in the longer term.  For faculty, and faculty clearly are the heart of the education we provide, the lack of job opportunities for new faculty, the increased economic uncertainly for continuing faculty, larger classes and the reduced level of support for research can result in a morale problem that could extend past the current recession.  All at the same time as we look to faculty to play an increased role in retention.

Overall, as we move forward, we need to objectively look at what we have enhanced and what we have compromised.  And where compromises have been made, we must look for opportunities to restore what has been lost.

Sober Times

Earlier this week a relatively junior administrator asked me if there was any advice I could give him regarding a career in higher education administration.  Wanting to resist  stating the obvious (find what you feel really passionate about and devote your time, attention, and energy to that area), I thought about the crucial advice given to me early in my career and two specific pieces of advice came immediately to mind.

Level Playing Field

Early this week, a graduating senior came to my office to ask for a recommendation to Law School.  Since I had known the excellent work done by this student since he entered Hofstra, I was pleased to say yes.  In the course of the conversation, I asked about his LSAT score which turned out to be OK but not spectacular and then asked whether he had taken an LSAT review course.  I ask any student who contacts me about coming to Hofstra and any student who talks to me about graduate school or Law School after Hofstra, the same question: have you taken a review course.  When I was taking the SATs or the GREs, I just showed up for the exam.  None of my friends took review courses and as far as I can remember, none of my friends ever studied for these exams.  The world has clearly changed.

A Real Snow Job

My kids love the snow.  They can’t wait to have another snow storm after which they will spend hours snowboarding and just return home for periodic snacks and meals.  My feelings are not quite as positive.  I love the beauty of newly fallen snow; I hate driving in it, walking in it, and I equally hate the after snow clean up of my walkway and driveway.  The more snow, often the greater the beauty and inevitably the greater the hatred.

Searching for Deans

The dean position has become one of the most challenging administrative positions in higher education. Not only does a dean need to provide long term as well as day to day academic leadership but the dean also needs to be a willing and, over time, successful fundraiser.  To find a good dean, colleges and universities typically undertake a national search and often use a “head hunter” to help make sure that the effort is as comprehensive as possible.  I am presently involved in two deans’ searches, both for very important schools at Hofstra University. We are looking for a business school dean and also a communication dean.  We started with almost 250 candidates for these positions.  As in any search, it takes almost no time to dramatically reduce the number.  The reality is that almost two thirds of the applicants for these positions have almost no qualifications whatsoever for the job.  The best example comes not from this search but from an earlier search where a brand new college graduate wrote that he wanted to work in higher education and felt that dean would certainly be a good starting position.  Who could argue with logic like this?