In the current Time Magazine, President Gee of Ohio State University is being recognized for his leadership. (“The Big Man on Campus”, p. 44, Nov. 23, 2009)
In the article, Pres. Gee is reported as recognizing that “change is the whole ball game”; that “higher education has become too expensive”; and that ”Departments fail to colloborate”. And most important, that ” The tenure system too often rewards useless publication over real-world impact. ‘We crush the enthusiasm out of our young faculty, says Gee’ ”
When the recession hit this past year, many colleges and universities continued to raise tuition as if it was “business as usual”. It is not, and many families are being challenged by the high cost of college. Pres. Gee has managed to hold tuition at the same rate –this is a major accomplishment. In addition he recognizes the strength of community colleges and is calling for a partnership with them to enable students to transfer to OSU from a community college and earn their Bachelors degree. In many states, this transfer is more difficult than it should be and discourages students from enrolling. With more families being challenged by the high cost of higher education, the community colleges’ enrollment has skyrocketed. In the next year, the higher education community will need to put more thought and resources into helping community college students successfully transition to the research universities.
Pres. Gee’s effort at streamlining the College of Arts and Sciences is an example of an effort by a university to change its organization, and as a result have a leaner process that promotes both more collaboration and student success. This change may even have the consequence of leading to a higher rate of student retention.
Pres. Gee has talked in recent months and in this article about the criteria for tenure and how it needs to change. Of course, the criteria for tenure includes the three categories of accomplishment: research, teaching and service . It is well-recognzed that in large research universities like OSU, these three categories are not equal; that the faculty tenure committee tends to place much higher weight on research, and much less on teaching and service. At all research universities, teaching and service to the community DO NEED more emphasis if there is to be increased student engagement and retention and outreach to the community. In interpreting Pres. Gee’s comments, it seems that he is advocating for more emphasis on quality of research (and less emphasis on the number of research papers as a measurable quantity) and communicating the impact of this research to industry and the community. He has also talked about connecting with the community and the real need for universities to help their local region improve their economy. This is all very refreshing to hear!
Cindy