Fall 2001 State of the University Address to the Faculty

WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
President Karen W. Morse
Fall State of the University Address to the Faculty
September 20, 2001
(prepared remarks)

I. Welcome

Welcome.  As we begin a new academic year, many of us are understandably having some difficulty bringing our thoughts to the task at hand after the devastation our nation experienced on September 11.

I strive, as many of you do, to resume life as usual.  Most likely we will never do so -- even though our daily routines will reestablish themselves.  And we must live full lives -- in part as a tribute to those our country lost.   In our minds, however, the depth of the tragedy, the emotion and the loss experienced by so many, will always be with us.

Let us remember those whose lives have been lost with a moment of silence.

As part of the long, painful process of coming to grips with the horrible events of last week, it is appropriate to consider our special responsibilities as our students return to campus.

America's colleges and universities are the envy of the world. They occupy a special place in our democracy where intellectual inquiry, free and open dialogue and energetic debate flourish and grow. Our campuses are beacons of liberty and hope, particularly today, when we are engulfed in terrible sadness and face solving complex national problems.

You, who challenge, formulate and forge ideas are key to a more peaceful future.

I ask each of you to reflect on our special responsibilities as we welcome young people back to this campus. I ask you to reach out to them as never before to help them through the uncertainty of the days ahead.  As faculty members and administrators, we must all, first and foremost, be teachers.

In our words and our actions, we must:

    Teach the values of democracy and freedom;
 
    Teach the importance of citizenship and civic involvement; and
 
    Teach the indispensable strength and richness of ethnic diversity and religious tolerance.
 
And I ask you to reach out to each other, as colleagues and friends, to comfort one another and preserve and strengthen all that is so very special here at this university.  We have an unusual opportunity -- which we must seize -- to provide an  environment that will help our students grow and mature intellectually and emotionally.  I have confidence that you will accept this challenge and responsibility as part of our mission and in dedication to those who lost their lives in this terrible tragedy.

II. Introduction – “A look ahead”

We have challenges and opportunities ahead.  In order to be confident about how we proceed in the days to come, we need to know where we are and where we're going.  That is what I want to share with you today.

I want to begin with a few special introductions.

• First, I want to recognize the retired faculty who contributed so very much to what Western has become.
• And I welcome the 53 faculty who are new to the Western community. You are an immensely talented group and an important part of our future.  I join the rest of the faculty in thanking you for joining our efforts!
• And of course, all returning faculty.  My thanks to each one of you -- you have established and defined the quality of this university!

I also want to introduce, very briefly, our new freshmen so that we may be reminded of who will be learning from us and from whom we  will learn.  They are so eager to begin their Western Experience!  Let's make it a good one.

Our first year students are very bright.  Most of them could go just about anywhere to college. For 87%,  Western is their first choice.

Most of them were born in 1983.  We need to remember that most of them are only 18 years old.  When they were born,  Ronald Reagan was president and the Vietnam War was already history.   They were born the same year as the PC and the Mac.  They have always used email and to them a browser is not someone relaxing in a bookstore.   The only national enemy they've really known is defined only by probable ethnicity or fanaticism.

Does this give you a bit of perspective?  Let's remember that we're preparing a new generation of students who have different experiences than we have had.  This is an insight we can not take lightly!

III. RECENT PAST

Let's look at where we are.  The achievements of our students and faculty are consistently outstanding. You have given me a great deal to talk about as I travel around the city, state, region and country representing Western.

Western's academic reputation continues to grow.  I'm sure you see evidence of this at the conferences you attend, through your own publications and contacts; and through the awards received by so many faculty and students:

National awards were received by Chemistry professor David Patrick as a Presidential Medalist for Research and Education, and by VRI Director Michael Seal, who received the Excellence in Engineering Education award for being an inspiration to students for a quarter century.

We recognized our own scholars, teachers and mentors each spring -- Thor Hansen, Angela Harwood, Karen Hoelscher, and John Purdy;

Students received awards as a result of our teaching, such as the national award received by Huxley students' publication, The Planet from the American Scholastic Press Association for producing the nation’s most outstanding university environmental magazine.

And there are many, many more faculty accomplishments that time precludes mentioning.  You are all contributing to Western's success and to the success of generations of students, and I thank you.

Among our impressive accomplishments as an institution this past year was completion of a solid 2001 legislative session.  Working with Vice Presidents Edie and Pierce, Judy McNickle, Renee Roberts, and Jack Cooley, and with support of Professor Barbara Mathers-Schmidt, we communicated Western’s strong reputation and needs for the future.  This work ultimately resulted in the legislature's strong vote of confidence for our moderate, sensible growth plans that respond to state needs while offering quality in education.  Thus, we received good operating and capital budgets for the coming biennium, particularly in view of the pressures the legislature faced.

In fact, Western received the largest percentage increase in operating support among Washington's public four-year institutions and the largest capital budget in University history.  We received:

• Full funding for all major capital projects and endorsement of the University's campus master plan for a new south quad: a new building, pre-design for another, and the infrastructure needed for both;
• Tuition rates and authority sufficient to help Western address most major fiscal challenges in 2001-03;
• Enrollment increases of 150 FTE per year, fully funded at the highest rate ever received, allowing us to cover enrollment already here and control our rate of growth;
• Last, but not least, the legislature approved general fund faculty and staff salary increases averaging 3.7% for the coming year (though it funded only 3.1%) with the potential of an additional increase next year, and we received flexibility to spend other revenue to meet faculty and staff salary goals.
• With that flexibility, I proposed and the Board of Trustees approved, supplementing salaries up to an average of 4.5 per cent, with an additional .5 percent of the funds available to address recruitment and retention, which is vital to our future.  The 1.9% gap between the legislature's appropriation and 5.0% will be funded again from reallocation, new enrollment funding and tuition revenue.

Salary increases have been awarded to all those who qualified for general merit increases, because those faculty who served here through the lean salary years in the early and mid 1990s had not yet caught up with inflation.  You deserve this increase because you have played a key role in bringing Western to its present standard of excellence.   Next year, anticipating that we will have caught up with inflation, we want to provide more merit- based salary increases, and will work with the Faculty Senate to provide a clearer reward system.

III.  The Future 

Recounting our recent achievements and immediate plans is interesting and gratifying.  But we need to look ahead and know where we are going.  What lies ahead for Western?   What is our vision for the future, a future that is exciting to contemplate.  With careful strategic planning, we will be

A.   A slowly growing university

B.   A competitive university

C.   A focused university that is engaged with its students

I ask you to consider these concepts and to think about how each will affect what we need to do in the future.

A.      A Vision for Growth

Let's consider what I mean by growth.  If you were a new student or faculty member fifteen years from now… stepping on the campus for the first time, you would immediately experience a visual impact that this year's newcomers will not.  What would you see?

• A “south academic quad” of the campus consisting of a Communications Building and a new Academic Instructional Center.  In addition you see a student recreation center, relocated roadways, play fields, new parking structures and the Administrative Services Center);
• The new buildings accommodate a total student body of 12,500 FTE’s, allowing growth, therefore, of only 150 student per year.  You will meet new faculty to teach the students and staff to support them;
• You see increased diversity  -- more closely mirroring the state's demographic makeup and changes.
• In addition to the visual impact, you realize growth in the essence of the campus -- its programs and learning opportunities,
• Its faculty have been carefully chosen for their teaching and scholarship or creative ability.
• You see intellectual growth -- students integrally involved in the learning experience in classrooms, in research and creative projects, and with faculty and each other;
• You see innovation and maturity -- the liberal arts core continues to flourish within an innovative general education curriculum, and major fields of study are strong -- many are exceptional.
• You see flexibility and strength -- co-curricular and interdisciplinary programs and projects.

Will we achieve this vision?  Yes.  But only with your efforts.  We know that growth and diversity to date have made Western a better center of intellectual endeavor, one that promotes curiosity, creativity, questioning and learning.  We offer a rich educational experience now, but this envisioned future will happen only if you, as faculty, are successful, because it is through our academic programs that we succeed as a university.

B.      A Competitive University

Well managed growth is a necessary component in securing an attractive future for Western, but it is not sufficient.  Growth must be coupled with competitiveness if the quality of Western is to remain strong and its reputation is to be enhanced.  We must become a better institution as we change.

We must be competitive in many different ways.  The first, and most important is to have top notch faculty, faculty dedicated to the intellectual environment, faculty dedicated to the life of the mind for themselves and their students.  Faculty who want to be a part of Western, who want to interact with students, who want to be engaged in the scholarly pursuit of research and teaching and bring the results of those pursuits into the classroom.

To be competitive nationally, nothing is more important than reaching our goal of rewarding you for your efforts -- foremost, to achieve faculty pay in the top quartile of all public comprehensive universities in the country.  We have made solid progress toward this goal, but we must remain committed to it and use all of our revenue sources -–state funds, tuition, local revenue, reallocated resources and private giving – to ensure that this goal is met.

We must be competitive in giving faculty and students not just the intellectual environment to learn, but the resources to do so.  This year, with Stephanie Bowers as the Executive Director of the Western Foundation, we will begin to strategize and plan an ambitious private fund-raising campaign to help achieve a more secure financial future. We will target our efforts to obtain resources for scholarships, fellowships, professorships and program improvements – that will enhance the special educational experience that Western provides.

At the same time, we will continue working in close partnership with the Governor and the legislature to ensure that Western is adequately supported at the state level.  There are no guarantees; the “partnership” that Western has formed with our elected leaders must be strengthened so that it continues to serve us well in the years ahead.   This partnership is built on our demonstration of excellence in teaching and preparing students to enter society.  The demonstration is most often communicated by the daughters and sons, nephews, nieces and grandchildren of legislators and their friends.  This should give us all pause…….  Our task is to show, especially through our students, that we are efficient, accountable and totally devoted to our educational mission.

Unfortunately, I cannot guarantee what the next year's budget will bring, particularly following last week's events.  But I will guarantee that I will continue aggressive efforts to obtain the resources we need.

C.     A Focused, Engaged University

Even while Western grows and changes, we must remain true to our core mission and core values.  We must remain focussed and engaged.   Given our strong reputation and public support,  we can choose our future to a great extent, if we have the will to do it.

Too often people voice the perception that we have no control over our destiny, that decisions are made outside of our campus in Olympia or in the business sector.  But faculty and administration -- as partners in fulfilling our mission -- do have control of very important decisions, changes in curriculum, investments in faculty, technology, equipment.

We must be even more disciplined to keep our focus and maximize our own resources, and have the will to strengthen our investments in our academic programs.

The issues that will demand your attention this year relate to the curriculum, to retention and advising, and to defining your needs for the funds we will raise.   Addressing these issues will make the difference in the quality of the Western experience -- and they are in your domain.  Our key to success is your commitment and will to change where change is needed.

We know that Western occupies a very special “niche” in the higher education system in our state: as the undergraduate university of choice.

We must not lose this focus on our special niche -- which is shaped by the active involvement of faculty with students.  It would be very easy to become enamored with developing programs or areas of expansion that are not the source of our strength.

We should work to continually improve and build on our strengths, rather than blithely expand beyond our borders.   Reforms of undergraduate education and increased attention to our advising and mentoring programs to enhance retention and student progress -- these are areas where your intellect and dedicated effort are needed and where we should concentrate new resources and attention.

This fall, a special task force will work to design the architecture of a revised general education program.  You have a big part to play in assisting the efforts of the task force.

• This fall, special forums on general education will be open to the campus community -- come and participate.
• Calls will go out to serve on work groups associated with issues identified by the task force charge -- respond positively.
• Requests will be issued for feedback on the recommendations of the task force as they unfold -- answer them.

This academic year promises to be one of the most important years to enhance the undergraduate experience at Western. Please join the Provost and be a part of this process.

IV.      SUMMARY – “WESTERN FUTURES”

A Western degree has come to symbolize the very best this state has to offer in undergraduate public education.  It is no accident that we have achieved this status. We have directed scarce resources toward our faculty and their needs and you have responded.  This must not change.  We must also remain unwavering in our dedication to our mission, our values and our tradition.

The future of Western is very bright if we:

• grow sensibly -- grow not just in numbers and square footage, but in depth, as a mature and healthy living organism;
• remain competitive -- for excellent students, faculty and staff;
• focus our energies on the characteristics we value, and.
• engage our students in the excitement of an intellectual environment.

Each of us has an important role in my vision for Western's future, individually and collectively.  But I want to emphasize that this is not just my University, it's your university…it's our university.  It's not just the Board of Trustees' University, it's our University.  It's not just the administration's, it's yours, and we will need to work together to fulfill our mission.

I issue four challenges to you, as a group and as individuals, that I believe will help make a difference in the Western Experience:

I challenge you to have those interactions with students that you hoped for as you entered academia -- interactions that create an intellectual environment that will enable our students to think, analyze, compare and contrast, and communicate effectively -- to have a life changing experience.  Particularly as we enter a period of global uncertainty, it seems all the more important to have that life changing experience in a supportive learning environment.

I challenge you to interact with each other as a community of scholars.   We have much to learn from each other.

I challenge you to give back to the larger community.  Many of you do this -- it enhances you and makes this a better place to live.

I challenge you to participate in curricular reform and to consider your reactions to change, to provide constructive criticism, whether you agree or disagree, and offer solutions. Curricular reform is not unlike the noise and disruption of construction that will produce more academic space on campus……Necessary, messy, but ultimately satisfying.

 Finally, I challenge you to respond in a way that remembers the events of last week.

 If last week's events teach us anything, it is that we should commit to making this a more just and peaceful world through the magnificent organization of minds known as the university.  And our anger and grief must not be about ethnicity or religious fervor.  Our anger should be directed at an act by individuals who lost all sense of human perspective and any belief in the possibility of peaceful long-lasting solutions.  Through our educational efforts we must maintain that human perspective.

As an institution of higher education, the work that each of us does is more crucial now than ever.  Teaching and learning and critical thinking are powerful contributions to the evolution of a world in which acts of terrorism are inconceivable and where peace and freedom are valued by everyone.

With students returning soon -- with even more reasons to be apprehensive about beginning a new journey and about their own future, we all have a tremendous responsibility to go forth sharing a new resolve for life, as we understand anew its brevity and uncertainty.  And we must not forget that our country and our community face crucial challenges that can divide us -- challenges that will bring a war home as much as the terrorist acts last week.  As you review the curriculum and general education requirements, as you consider your approaches to teaching, no matter what discipline -- physics, sociology, business, art, engineering --  as you reflect on the campus climate to which we all contribute, please consider the immediacy of this challenge.

You, the faculty, are the heart and soul of any great university.  Individually, you will each experience your own version and vision of Western's future.  But collectively those individual “futures” will meld together to create a wonderful mosaic of the very best that higher education has to offer.

I'm proud of what we've accomplished, of what you've accomplished. I am excited about our future together, and I believe we can achieve our vision.  I am proud to be the President of this very special university.