UB Buzz

Warming Up to Winter Writings

Thawing out from recent snowstorms? Warm up to these web exclusives accompanying the February issue of University Business magazine that provide informative fodder: 

• "Leading Your Campus Disaster Efforts"

It's known that disasters, whether natural or man-made, cause immediate damage and can leave a strong impact for months or years afterward. This point leads to another question: how can leaders be effective during this crisis? Dan S. Ramsey, senior consultant and project manager at Adjusters International Inc., tells higher ed administrators to start with the premise that disasters pose serious challenges and problems for institutional leadership. His piece gives recommendations for handling a number of tests. It includes advice on maintaining effective leadership before and after a disaster strikes, expediting institutional recovery, and maximizing the financial recovery process.

• "Deploying Secure Guest Access at the University of San Diego"

During summer, the University of San Diego Wireless Team doesn't get much vacation time. The season brings more than 12,000 visitors on campus for events, sports camps, and conferences. Each year, the Team faces many challenges in supporting these visitors, especially with providing secure wireless internet access. So, team members began to search for a solution that would allow users to easily create temporary log-in accounts for its guest network and protect the network from anonymous users.

• "Sacred Spaces"

In this economic pinch, what can universities do to create a new class of donors? The answer: sacred spaces. As a place, and not a collection of buildings, a college or university creates special memories for students, finds Earl Broussard, president and co-founder of TBG Partners, a landscape architecture and planning firm. These memories can provide a cornerstone for lifelong connections. Broussard emphasizes that it is the connective tissue between buildings—the landscape—in which sacred spaces are found. Not sure where to look? Broussard provides a number of directions to take.

E for an Environmental Generation

“Generation E” is a newly coined term for an age group that is passionate about promoting and pursuing solutions to environmental problems. A new report explains how they are taking a collegiate lead.

Released this week by the National Wildlife Federation's Campus Ecology program, the report lists 35 sustainability efforts under taken by students at 165 U.S. higher ed institutions in an “idea book” format with accompanying photos, graphics, and anecdotes.

During a conference call Wednesday, Julian Keniry, NWF's senior director, campus and community leadership, explained the report shows sustainability is an issue that today's students collectively agree on. “We’re discovering the values of sustainability define and unite the current generation like no other issues of our time,” she said.

Such is the case for Jason Sanders, a Texas State University grad student involved in a cafeteria compost program. He explained student interest in the program increased when they learned about the project’s end result: using the organic material to fuel campus vehicles and power facilities.

However, certain barriers can put a damper on starting and continuing sustainability efforts. Christina Erikson, the report’s coauthor, says students often carry out these initiatives as a form of community service or through an internship, but are willing to see sustainability become part of their academics. “I think faculty are creating some opportunities, and students are pushing faculty to add these opportunities [to the classroom].”

Adam Yarnell, a Brown University (R.I.) student active in a program for community carbon use reduction, pointed out a "strong feeling of social responsibility" among fellow students but found their efforts can be hindered by lack of training or knowledge to successfully carry out their ideas.

Ayodele Akinpelu, who attends Wayne State University (Mich.) and participates in student delegations, recommended getting outside help: to ask community leaders for their support in student initiatives.

What is the best way to increase student involvement? Erikson suggested promoting a fun factor in efforts and make sure certain issues can connect to a variety of academic interests. “We need to show this is an upbeat movement.”

The 70-page report can be downloaded here.

Clunkers for Steel at Stonehill

Using recycled materials on campus construction projects is an aspect of building green that doesn't seem to get as much attention as more visible, cutting-edge features and systems. Taking a "clunkers for steel" approach, Stonehill College (Mass.) got 95 percent of the structural steel framing for its new $34 million science center from recycled old cars. (And for that more visible "we take recycling seriously" piece, the building's carpets and countertops are comprised of 40 percent recycled materials.)

The facility, with nearly 90,000 square feet, houses the departments of biology, chemistry, physics, and psychology and includes labs, classrooms, and faculty offices.

Read more about the sustainable features of the building here.

The online version of a March 2009 University Business article on adaptive reuse of buildings included some additional examples of re-using materials for building projects. That article can be viewed here.

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.”

350.org’s Day of Action Sweeps College Campuses

        Living on a college campus, it seems all the rage to be an environmental activist these days. To students, making their university greener is as trendy as wearing Uggs or sporting a North Face jacket. This movement, however, goes beyond one student environmental group’s activities on campus. On October 24^th more than 5,000 groups—many of which were American colleges and universities— in 181 countries participated in 350.org’s first annual Day of Action. 

350.org, an international environmental organization, works to pressure governments to lower the amount of carbon emission in the atmosphere from 390 parts per million to the scientifically recognized safe amount of 350PPM.

Grassroots Communications Coordinator Matt Fitzgerald says, “This is not the environmental movement of stereotypes. We have a diverse constituency of participants of all economic and faith backgrounds—students as well as staff and professors.”

On the Day of Action, groups were called upon to creatively spell out 350, take a picture, and send it to the organization to be distributed to the press, politicians, and environmental action groups showing the universal support behind the mission. (Participants in Germany spell out their message. Right.)

What does all of this mean for American colleges and universities? 350.org was founded by author Bill McKibben and a student group at Middlebury College. It is now recognized as the organizer of the largest-scale climate rally in history. Like Middlebury, administrators at every university can further student interest by incorporating the mission of groups such as 350.org into course curriculum. From my experience, students quickly become more passionate about course material if they can relate it to a movement they’ve seen on campus—especially if it’s one they’ve participated in. Administrators can also show support by going to student-led events such as 350.org’s Day of Action, campus awareness raising campaigns, or club meetings.

        Perhaps the best means of administrative support, however, is by bringing dynamic and engaging lecturers to campus. Presenters who are young, energetic, and close to the university community relate well to undergraduates and will engage the student body, maximizing students’ retention of material and interest in the issues. It is evident by the high level of interest and dedication on college campuses that young adults already care about these issues. It is now up to administrators, faculty, and staff to use the momentum of this movement to its maximum potential.

A New Normal for Higher Ed

What is the “new normal” for higher education in the 21st century? That question was the topic for the first session at the 2009 TIAA-CREF Institute Higher Education Leadership Conference Thursday and Friday.
This talk comes at a time when institutional leaders are being forced to make critical decisions for their colleges and universities, cites moderator Muriel Howard, resulting from a shaken economy and a decrease in funding from traditional sources such as state budgets and endowments.
In her opening remarks, Howard referred to the “new normal” as higher ed institutions not being able to count on traditional levels of financial support. “At the same time,” she continued, “colleges and universities have to take the lead in ensuring that America’s economy just doesn’t recover but increases prosperity, grows jobs and creates knowledge.”
Howard, president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, also referred to a global challenge for the United States in degrees completed, as its foreign competitors are producing more college graduates than ever before. “America’s future economic success requires that we add millions more highly skilled workers equipped with college degrees – and we are not getting the job done.”
Joining Howard for the discussion were Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University; Bobby Fong, president of Butler University (Ind.); and Charles Reed, chancellor of the California State University System.
Asked if institutions will return to business as usual as they ride out the economy, Crow said they need to move forward instead. “There should be no conversation about the way it ought to be,” he explained. “There should only be a conversation about what do we need to be as competitive as we can be as a country going forward. … The last thing we need to do is to think about a normal series of assumptions about what institutions are supposed to be or behave like.”
Reed brought up another point about differentiation: The future of America’s college student population will be students of color in underserved communities. “The new normal is going to be one of figuring out how do we serve this new population, and this new population needs to be well educated,” explained Reed. “They need to be competitive on a worldwide basis, and they need to be the best employees that our businesses and industries can hire.”
This new group, Reed explained, has very little idea about what it takes to go to college. "And we kept it a secret pretty much as long as we could,” he said. “That [group] is going to be the new normal for higher education.”
Crow said his institution is increasing minority student enrollment by two and a half times the rate of growth of majority students. A program has been put forward where incoming freshmen from families making under $60,000 in income will pay nothing to attend.
Fong said that it is also crucial for leaders to reach out to high school and middle school students, as his university is doing, to encourage enrollment: "You don't wait for students to come to you. You need to break the barriers down." The same is true for Reed, who added, "Institutions are going to have to partner with K12 and the community colleges" in areas such as transfer agreements and lower division courses.
Another area that Fong thinks higher ed officials collectively are struggling with what factors may count in defining higher education. “I don’t think there’s one answer,” he said. "There are many different kinds of degrees. What I worry about sometimes is that liberal [arts] education traditionally has been the equivalent of customized tailored clothes rather than off the rack. We have to rethink what it means to deliver an education that is not only of mind but also of character for all of our students."
Each of the three officials was asked what advice he would give his constituents on innovative thinking for their missions. Crow suggested that their college has to be a top guiding factor to all other institutional purposes while Reed offered two points: to never give up and have the passion to represent every best of that institution and keep going forward.
With the theme "Smart Leadership in Difficult Times," the two-day seminar also featured sessions on leadership, revenue sources, and business models.

Getting Real about Alcohol Awareness

Tying in with the 2009 National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week (October 18-24), Choose Responsibility, a non-profit organization, has launched an initiative for student body presidents to get their peers talking openly and honestly about alcohol-related issues.
Titled "Get REAL," the campaign is set to encourage these student leaders to sign on to this task of fostering education, leadership, and responsibility on subjects such as binge drinking, the legal drinking age, and campus alcohol policies. In the coming months, Get REAL signatories are expected to collaborate on stimulating discussions about alcohol that emphasize peer-to-peer accountability and explore possible alternatives to make their campuses safer, according to a media release.
"The time has come to treat college students as the young adults the law says they are," states John McCardell, Choose Responsibility's president and president emeritus of Middlebury College (Vt.), in the release.
McCardell adds the campaign will provide students with "an opportunity to influence the debate and show leadership on alcohol issues."
Learn more about the Get REAL campaign here.

Online in October

Five web exclusives are available on University Business' website this month.

- "Preventing Targeted Violence in Our Academic Institutions"
From the campus shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University to the student attack at a UCLA chemistry lab, targeted violence is a growing concern in higher education. However, administrators might not be aware of numerous resources that can aid in minimizing the risks of these events. Co-authors Arnette Heintze and Matthew Doherty of Hillard Heintze, a security advising firm, argue that the bulk of officials are missing the mark because most of them are focused on making certain the right measures are taken after a crisis has occurred. Instead, Heintze and Doherty write that they need to shift from a strategy based purely on response to one based much more strongly on prevention. They also offer their insight and factual data on this matter.

- "10 Tips for a Meaningful Campus Tour"
There's more to the campus tour that meets the eye, particular with a student's first impression. Mother/daughter writers Pamela and Margaret Rew offer 10 helpful tips administrators perhaps should consider to enhance this common admissions practice. (The Behind the News section in UB's current issue features a brief on this topic.) Margaret draws from her experience as a student and campus tour leader at Tufts University (Mass.) Pamela, a partner at KSS Architects, has designed academic buildings and master plans for a number of higher ed institutions.

- "More Than an Access Program: The Emerald Eagle Scholars at the University of North Texas"
Gretchen M. Bataille, president of the University of North Texas, writes about the students who have been helped by Emerald Eagle Scholars, with more than 1,200 students being able to receive an education at her institution. The program is aimed at students whose families earn $40,000 or less and most of which are often the first in their families to attend college. Instead of merely focusing on costs, Bataille explains the program was founded on three philosophical pillars—financial support, academic success, and engagement—so the participants "have the full breadth of education to succeed."

- "Laying a Secure Foundation for Student Privacy and Assessment"
The IT department not only has to protect the institution's networks from viruses and other malicious code, but also ensure that students don’t access illegal content or have their privacy jeopardized. This is a pretty tall order for groups often tight on money and staffing. Monique Lucey, senior manager, Solutions Marketing, for 3Com, offers advice from higher ed IT personnel on laying the groundwork for a safe and secure higher education enterprise.

- "Digitally Connected Learning Environments to Enhance Communication and Collaboration"
To support the variety of today’s various learning styles in digitally connected settings, community college buildings must have a robust technology backbone for channeling data to multiple locations—and in more ways than what was required in the past. Jim Luckey, director of design at SHW Group, provides examples on how three schools found architectural solutions that are doing just that.

Technology vs. H1N1

Flu coverage in the media has gone from reporting on every new case to focusing on the debate over the vaccine. But college and university health centers are still dealing with sick students and preventing the virus from spreading further. Many are realizing digital thermometers aren’t the only technology at their disposal for coping with the situation.

“We hope it hits a level where cases fall off,” says Bruce Wright, executive director for health and counseling services Washington State University, which has had the highest reported number of infections. “I anticipate we’ll continue to see cases during the semester.”

At most higher ed institutions, faculty are being encouraged to be lenient when students are ill, not require doctor’s notes for absences, and make arrangements for students to catch up. WSU leaders are among those planning to leverage the campus’s existing lecture capture technology while the flu runs its course.

“Using Mediasite to capture lectures is a prominent part of our contingency plan, among a number of other things,” says Saleh Elgaidi, director of IT services for academics and research at WSU Spokane. “We are working with faculty to build an archive of rich classroom experiences that we can extend to students who become ill or if we have an outbreak and there is mandated social distancing.”

Looking Up

NASA crashed two probes into the moon this morning in an attempt to find water. The University of Puget Sound (Wash.) must be eagerly awaiting the results, considering their admissions office began a recruiting campaign in that region over the summer.
The university had a toe hold in the area through an incoming freshman’s father—American astronaut John Phillips.

(Photo Courtesy of Nasa. John Phillips at the window of the Space Shuttle Discovery with his University of Puget Sound cap. He is in the Japanese “Kibo” laboratory. Outside the window are the rest of us. [the earth!])

Phillips admitted his daughter Alli last fall and volunteered to take the college’s baseball cap with him on the Space Shuttle Discovery’s April 2009 flight to the International Space Station.  Phillips says the photo session ran slightly amock.

“The cap’s a ‘one size fits most,’ which doesn’t work well on my oversized orb, even with a skinhead
haircut,” he wrote in an email. “I have symptoms of space ‘pumpkinhead’ in both photos; for the first few days in orbit, you feel like you’re standing on your head, with a red and puffy face.”

Apparently the college’s colors of maroon and white travelled at up to 17,500 miles per hour, or ten times the speed of a rifle bullet. It spent 13 days in outer space, circling the earth 202 times.

Phillips, a NASA science officer and flight engineer, met Puget Sound Vice President for Enrollment George Mills in Houston when his Lillis Scholar daughter Alli Phillips ‘12 was interviewing to study molecular and cellular biology at Puget Sound.

Mills says, “This was my first opportunity to work with an astronaut parent. John’s suggestion that he take Puget Sound memorabilia into space was an exciting one since it would extend the reach of Puget Sound.”

The college is getting some earthly good out of this by posting the space photo on its Facebook page and in alumni magazine Arches. So far though, no new enrollment queries have come in from the virgin territory.