December 07 Presidential Update

I am writing this update from New Orleans at the conclusion of the annual meetings of the Southern Association of Colleges and Universities. Provost Brubaker and Dean Morris also attended the meetings, all of which are important to help us prepare for our 10-year reaccreditation process. We heard a number of presentations from other universities regarding their Quality Enhancement Plans (QEP); faculty and staff will recall that later this year we will select a QEP for us to work on over the next number of years. It is clear from SACS that the QEP must enhance student learning and that it must be a plan that can be measureably assessed.

We heard presentations from a number of nationally prominent speakers. The presidents heard a panel of Louisiana and Mississippi presidents reflect on their experiences with managing the emergencies caused by Hurricane Katrina. Dr. Ben Carson, world famous pediatric neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins and motivational speaker addressed the entire group, sharing personal stories of moving from failure as a student in fifth grade to top of the class two years later. His mother, one of 24 children and 3rd grade educated, required Ben and his brother to read two books from the public library every week and to write book reports on each of them.

He noted that she marked up the papers, though it was some years later when they learned she was functionally illiterate and wasn't actually reading their papers! Carson is particularly concerned that too many role models are athletes, celebrities, and "American Idols," and far too few are successful scholars. For that reason he and his wife funded a foundation to promote learning among children, accomplished by giving scholarships (with trophies as big as for any sports team) and by establishing reading rooms in formerly underperforming schools.

Dr. Beheruz Sethna, native of India, electrical engineer, president of the University of West Georgia, spoke to the presidents on, "Implications of a Flattening World on Higher Education." He showed the number of days spent in the K-16 years by students in India compared to the number in the U.S., and argued it is time for parents to throw out the video games, limit television viewing, and quit feeling sorry for the kids when they are taking difficult courses. He grew up in a family with a monthly income equivalent to $12 U.S. His parents highly valued education and essentially told him when he complained about difficult math courses, "You'll just have to go to bed later and/or get up earlier, but you have no choice but to study hard." Both Carter and Sethna acknowledged being sports fans, but agree that much more must be done to elevate the rewards for scholarly achievement. Sethna concluded his presentation by showing pictures of the old cars his two children drive, "Because they were more eager to get into medical and law school (which they did) than they were to drive good cars." As one would expect, both Carter and Sethna received enthusiastic responses from the educators present!

Dr. Larry Sabato, political scientist and analyst at the University of Virginia, offered some rather humorous reflections on the current presidential race in the U.S. While he refused to make many predictions, he did note it is the most unpredictable race he's seen in many years. His most recent book is about the U.S. Constitution in which he argues that the framers anticipated that the Constitution, as a living document, would be revised by every generation to keep it current. He doesn't believe that the Baby Boomer generation can come to agreement on what changes should be made, but he does predict that the present generation of college students will get this accomplished by the year 2050.

Last evening a number of attendees from Christian colleges heard a federal legislative update from Paul Corts, president of the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities. Of primary interest this year is the Higher Education Reauthorization Act which impacts all of us directly. Of considerable interest are matters related to our legal ability to hire faculty and staff who fit the mission of the institution.

This morning the featured speaker for the plenary session was Lt. Gen. Russell Honore, commander in charge of the military rescue operations following Katrina. One of his suggestions was that every college graduate should know how to administer basic forms of first aid simply because a most basic human task is to save lives. Forty-two percent of the population in the U.S. lives within 20 miles of a large body of water; we can expect many more natural disasters and we can do much more to be better prepared.

And speaking of natural weather phenomena, I was to be in Kansas City later today for meetings of the Mennonite college/seminary presidents starting tomorrow, but the ice storm throughout the Midwest is making travel very difficult. One of the topics slated for conversation is a report from the November meeting of the Educational Opportunities Task Force and summit meeting which Marie Morris and I attended. We will also be reviewing articles scheduled for publication in The Mennonite regarding the affordability of Mennonite colleges and reflections on contributions being made by our alumni. I hope to be back home late Thursday night.

The Provost Search Committee has received a number of applications and we are proceeding to gather references, even as we invite additional folks to consider submitting letters of interest. We will hold our last meeting of this semester next Monday.

As we approach the end of the first term, I pray for good health of all faculty, staff, and students, and for a good break from the normal routines during the weeks ahead. Pat and I are looking forward to staying in Harrisonburg and to entertaining our children and their spouses on Christmas Day. We are also thankful for the joy of celebrating our 38th wedding anniversary on Christmas Eve.

Books I'm reading: Making Sense of the Journey: The Geography of our Faith, published by the EMU Anabaptist Center for Religion and Society; Emma: A Widow of the Amish by seminary dean Ervin Stutzman; Faith-Based Diplomacy: Trumping Realpolitick edited by Douglas Johnston.

I particularly recommend the first two books for making great Christmas gifts. The ACRS book is a collection of personal stories and reflections by former EMU faculty members and administrators. All of them were first presented in one of the monthly breakfast meetings sponsored on campus by the ACRS. Dean Stutzman's book is the story of his mother, following an earlier book, Tobias of the Amish, the life story of his father who was killed in traffic accident when Ervin was just three years old.

Loren

Back to presidential updates list