Rumors, Rumors Everywhere

Actively working to dispel rumors that may be festering across campus is always a good idea. During last week’s 2009 TIAA-CREF Institute Higher Education Leadership Conference in New York City, Devorah Lieberman, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Wagner College on Staten Island, N.Y., shared how her monthly “Open Conversation with the Provost” gathering helps.

A small group of faculty and staff meets for each conversation, held in Lieberman’s home. Everyone is asked to answer two questions: “What have you heard?” and “What do you want to know?”

“Then it’s open season,” Lieberman says, joking that as the wine flows the honesty really comes forth.

The conversations are also about collaboration building, how the concept of silos can be broken down in higher education. For Wagner, this means reaching out together to help the underserved in the local community. One example: the nursing and language departments have partnered to set up a storefront where community members can come in for health care or language training.

As each gathering comes to a close, Lieberman states that no one can leave the room until they’ve each told her something that she doesn’t already know. “That leads to amazing openness.”