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KPI – Part IX: Higher Education in Colonial America

Photographic print of elevation perspective of Harvard College or “Old College” (1636 – 1670) used in an article by Samuel E. Morison, published in 1920. The image is in the public domain. Image is used by courtesy of Samuel E. Morison, Harvard University Archives and Wikimedia Commons.

There are five distinct periods in the history of American higher education. In this post, we will look at the initial stage, which we will call the Colonial Period. The beginning date is easy to set. It starts with the founding of the first American college, Harvard College, in 1636. The end date is much harder to define. We will arbitrarily set the ending date of this stage as 1776, the start of the Revolutionary War. As we shall see, using these dates makes the Colonial Period the longest and least active stage in the history of American higher education.

The academy is well known for its showy, even often ostentatious traditions and “pomp and circumstance.” By “pomp and circumstance” I don’t mean the Elgar military marches played at graduation or commencement ceremonies.

One long-standing tradition of the academy involves the ceremonial inauguration of new presidents or the opening of a new college. To celebrate this joyous occasion, other colleges are invited to send a representative to share in the festivities.

An image of part of the academic procession at the opening of the new University of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland with the historic Inverness Castle as a background feature. The event took place on August 25, 2011. The photograph is by David Watmough. The image is courtesy of Dreamstime (ID #208851111)

 

These visiting representatives are expected to wear appropriate academic garb (their caps and gowns) and march into the ceremonial arena following the representatives of the new college or institution installing its new president. These representatives include the governing board, the president, high ranking officers of the college and the college faculty.

The representatives of guest colleges are lined up according to the founding date of the particular institution, with oldest first. Thus it becomes a bragging point to be near the beginning of the line. Many institutions take this so seriously that they “may stretch the truth a little.”

My alma mater, the University of Delaware, could be accused of falling prey to this practice. It lists its date of origin as 1743, which is embossed on its seal. This date would make it the eighth oldest college in the United States. In reality, according to its website the University of Delaware:

One of the oldest universities in the U.S., the University of Delaware traces its roots to 1743 when a petition by the Presbytery of Lewes expressing the need for an educated clergy led the Rev. Dr. Francis Alison to open a school in New London, Pennsylvania.

Newark Academy Building on Main Street in Newark, DE. The photograph is by a photographer identified as “smallbones” and is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. Image courtesy of “smallbones” and Wikimedia Commons.

In 1765, Rev. Alison’s elementary and secondary school relocated to Newark, DE, as the Newark Academy. It wasn’t until 1834 when the name was changed to Newark College that the institution offered college degrees. In 1843, the name of the institution was changed to Delaware College. Throughout all of its earliest history, the institution was opened only to men. In 1914, a women’s college was opened in Newark. The two colleges merged in 1921 to become the University of Delaware. I’ll let you decide: What date should the University of Delaware use as its date of founding?

So as to not be accused of just jumping on the University of Delaware, of the 18 American colleges or universities that list a founding date prior to 1776, only ten were actually conferring college degrees in 1776. These ten colonial colleges with dates of their founding are:

  • Harvard University. MA (1636)
  • College of William and Mary, VA (1693)
  • Yale University, CT (1701)
  • University of Pennsylvania, PA (1740)
  • Princeton University, NJ (1746)
  • Columbia University, NY (1754)
  • Brown University, RI (1764)
  • Rutgers University, NJ (1766)
  • Dartmouth College, NH (1769)
  • Hampden-Syndey College, VA (1775)

The eight institutions which list a date of origin prior to 1776, but didn’t offer programs leading to college degrees until after 1776, are the following:

  • St. Johns’ College, MD (Est 1693/ College 1785)
  • Washington College, MD (Est 1723/ College 1782)
  • Moravian College, PA (Est 1742/ College 1863)
  • University of Delaware, DE (Est 1743/ College 1843)
  • Washington & Lee University, PA (Est 1749/ College 1813)
  • College of Charleston, SC (Est 1770/ College 1790)
  • Salem College, NC (Est 1772/ College 1890)
  • Dickinson College, PA (Est 1773/ College 1783)
A photograph of the doomers, gables, and spires of Salem College. The photograph was taken by Larry F. Lamb and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. The image is used by courtesy of Larry F. Lamb and Wikimedia Commons.

As a mathematician, I am always looking for patterns. In the case of these pre-revolutionary war colleges, several patterns are immediately obvious. All 18 institutions were founded by clergy or religious organizations for partially sectarian reasons. The primary religious reason was to provide an educated clergy for the churches. Since the pre-revolutionary war clergy was all male, it should not be surprising that 16 of the 18 colleges were strictly male institutions. The only two schools which enrolled women were the two Moravian institutions, Moravian College and Salem College.

Photograph of Randolph Hall, the main academic building of the College of Charleston. The photograph was taken by a photographer identified as Lkeadle who licensed its use under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Image courtesy of Lkeadle and Wikimedia Commons.

Interestingly those are only two that have maintained their religious affiliations. The other 16 either dropped their religious ties or had their support cut off by their founding denominations. Thirteen of these schools changed their classification to “private, non-profit“.  Two of the schools, Rutgers University (NJ) and the University of Delaware (DE) became public institutions supported by their respective states. The College of Charleston (SC) became the first college in the United States to be recognized as a municipally supported school.

Later, when the State of Delaware cut its monetary support of the University to less than 50% of the University’s budgeted income, it took a drastic step which defined a new status of educational institutions. The University of Delaware became the first college to become a private institution with limited state support. It was now known as a “state-supported institution.” Since that event, many other public schools have taken the same stance.

Another characteristic shared by all 18 pre-revolutionary war colleges is that they all began as exclusively residential or boarding schools. Most of the founding fathers of these schools were educated in England or Europe or were swayed by teachers or mentors who were trained in the “old-school” tradition.

William and Mary College 1898 postcard. The hand-written note says this main building was built in 1693 when the college opened. This image is available from the New York Public Library’s Digital Library under the digital ID 0ad0c090-c62c-012f-9c5a-58d385a7bc34: digitalgallery.nypl.org → digitalcollections.nypl.org. Image courtesy of New York Public Library and Wikimedia Commons.

The “old-school” traditions imparted two patterns into the fabric of these schools. The first was the idea that these schools were not about promoting or advocating social mobility. These schools were not founded to change society, but to maintain the social status of the day. After their religious ties were severed, their students were strictly the sons of the wealthy, politically connected, and social elite of the day.

These were the only families that could afford the cost of such an education. These families were also the most interested in preparing their sons to claim their birthright and seize their rightful place as leaders of the church, government, and business. It is interesting to read excerpts of early promotional pieces of these institutions and see how many advertised the alumni who were instrumental in the founding of America. They listed the signers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, as well as federal, state and municipal elected and appointed officials as their most distinguished graduates.

The second pattern inherently obvious among the colonial colleges is the emphasis of their curricula on the liberal arts. Many of these colleges evolved from institutions that were called “Free Academies.”  The term free definitely did not refer to the cost of attending the school. The term refers to the liberal arts or those subjects which humanize people and make them more human.

The curricula were heavily loaded with rhetoric, languages, religion, philosophy, history, music, mathematics and elementary science. In the colonial period, there were no professional schools. The professional disciplines were not taught at the colonial colleges.

Students who were interested in business, law, and medicine learned these “trades” by serving as interns to accomplished masters. The professional schools entered the American higher education scene in the next period of American higher education history, the Period of Post-Revolutionary War Expansion. That period will be the subject of my next blog post, due to be published, Tuesday, April 9th.

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KPI – Part VI: Difference Between Governance and Management

Many within higher ed think management theory is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, trying to sneak into the sheepfold and devour the sheep. Image courtesy of Dreamstime, ID 28175702 © Debspoons | Dreamstime.com

In this post, I return to looking at Key Performance Indicators in a higher ed setting. While this gentle approach may seem innocuous to most individuals outside of the insular world of higher education, it is sure to raise the hackles of many of my higher ed colleagues. They will accuse me of trying to sneak the wolf (management theory) dressed in sheep clothing into the sheepfold (the university) through a back door.

Welsh Corgi working as sheepdog with a flock of sheep. Image courtesy of Dreamstime and Natalia Yaumenenka. ID 104389610 © Natallia Yaumenenka | Dreamstime.com

I am going to be bold enough to take that next step and publicly declare that I do not see management theory as a wolf trying to devour the sheep. I believe it can be viewed more like a sheepdog, herding the sheep to safety through the one and only door of the sheepfold. The sheepdog then lies down at that entrance and guards the fold and the sheep against all predators.

 

Education is a process that can’t be measured in financial returns. Image courtesy of Presenter Media

Many of the most familiar performance indicators are business-oriented outcome measurements. How many widgets were produced? How much did it cost to produce each widget? How much income did the firm make from the sale of those widgets? Higher education for years has claimed that since education is a process, we shouldn’t focus on or speak of educational outcomes, especially financial ones.

As I noted in my post K PI Part III, A University Should Be Managed as If It Were a Business  Milton Greenberg in his seminal essay “The University Is Not a Business (and Other Fantasies)” published in EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 39, no. 2 (March/April 2004), argues forcefully and persuasively that a university should be managed as if it were a business.

Very early in his essay, Greenberg proclaims, “ Presumably, a ‘business’ involves the hierarchical and orderly management of people, property, productivity, and finance for profit.” The primary counterarguments of academicians to Greenberg’s position hinge on three concepts in this sentence.

We need to dig further into the idea of “Hierarchical Management” and the difference between governance and management. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

 

In this post, I will begin to address the first of these counterarguments, the concept of “hierarchical management.” To understand the problems created by the use of the term hierarchical management we need to have some familiarity with the difference between the general concepts of governance and management.  We also need to look at the typical governance structures of colleges and universities, and the usual management formats of colleges and universities. These two topics are too involved to address in depth in this one blog post. I will take each of them up in subsequent posts. This idea will require more in-depth excavation.

Governance refers to the relationships among people in an organization. Image courtesy of Presenter Media

The origins of the two terms automatically set the stage for a huge battle in the academy over their applicability to higher education. The term governance historically came from the disciplines of social and political sciences. Without digging into the finer points of the definition, this ancestry would usually imply that it must primarily deal with relationships.

Governance has many definitions, but most center on two related ideas. The first idea concerns how decisions are made. What are the processes of decision making within the organization? Who has a voice in making decisions? The second changes the focus to how those decisions are implemented. How is power or control exercised within the organization? What is the locus of authority within the organization?

The typical view of the concept of management is to get employees to work harder to make more money for the company. Image courtesy of Presenter Media

On the other hand, the term management originated within the realm of the business world and was then fine-tuned within the disciplines of economics and business. This ancestry automatically makes it suspect to the academy, which believes that given its origin, it must naturally deal with productivity and finances. These concepts are antithetical to many citizens of the academy.

The four tasks of management. Image courtesy of the author, created by using ClickCharts.

Most modern definitions of management view it as a process of four interwoven tasks. The first of these tasks is Planning, the selection of appropriate organizational goals and the best array of actions to achieve those goals. The second task is Organizing, the establishment of assignments and an aura of authority that encourage and allow people to work together to achieve the organization’s goals.

The third task is Leading which involves motivating, coordinating, inspiring and energizing individuals and groups to work together to achieve the organization’s goals. The fourth task is Controlling which has two primary aspects. The first is assessing situations by establishing accurate systems of measuring and monitoring how well the organization has achieved its goals. The second is redirecting the course of operations when it is apparent that the organization is not achieving its goals.

Modern universities consist of four major groups of individuals. These groups are students, faculty, administration, and governing boards. In subsequent posts, we will examine the historical development of these groups, their relationships with each other, and their roles in governance and management.

From the definitions of governance and management, we see much common ground with one major difference. The major difference is their primary focus. Governance focuses on relationships, while management focuses on tasks. In subsequent posts, I will deal with the idea of shared governance and hierarchical management. I hope to convince you that the two concepts are not mutually exclusive.

To get to the point of being able to discuss these topics, my next post will be this Friday, March 29. It will be a short history of the development of the modern university and the four major groups of individuals that comprise the university.

 

 

 

 

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What would you do with an extra 10 years of life?

Celebrating my 73rd birthday was very special. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

In my previous post, I originally announced that this post would be entitled “What would make a 73rd birthday special?” However, as I wrote this post, I decided on a new title. The essence of the post is unchanged, but I thought the new title would challenge both me and my readers more.

This past week I observed the 73rd anniversary of my birthday. It was a very special day for me. The 73rd birthday is usually not one that is wildly celebrated. What would make a 73rd birthday special? My 73rd birthday represented ten extra years of life that most people, especially medical experts, didn’t expect that I would have.

In the early afternoon of March 16, 2009, less than a week after my 63rd birthday, I was milling about the university’s conference room, having coffee with colleagues and discussing the agenda for our upcoming business meeting, my last scheduled cabinet meeting as provost of the university.  Suddenly, without warning, I suffered a traumatic brain episode. A cerebral aneurysm burst triggering the implosion of a previously undetected, benign meningioma, which was attached to my right frontal lobe.

The headache was excruciating and I was almost completely incapacitated. Due to this experience, I know what the “10” on a pain scale feels like. Everyone in the meeting, except me, thought that I was experiencing a stroke. They immediately called 911. The EMTs arrived within five minutes and loaded me on their gurney for transport to the hospital.

I remember asking someone to call my wife Elaine to let her know what was happening. However, before the EMTs could wheel the gurney out of the conference room, I lost consciousness. I was in a coma for the next four days. My next memory after that request for someone to call Elaine was when I woke up in an ICU hospital bed with gauze bandages all over my head and wires everywhere.

The attending nurse called the on-duty neurologist who just happened to be the surgeon who had performed emergency surgery on me, the evening of that March 16. He rushed to my room and explained what had happened to me in the conference room and the first full day at the hospital. He didn’t pull any punches with a graphic description of the explosion of a cerebral aneurysm and the resultant implosion of a benign meningioma. Twice in the 30 minutes or so that he spent in my room, he spoke the same words: “There are no scientific or medical reasons to explain why you are alive and so alert.”

After the neurologist left I had the first opportunity to talk to Elaine. She told me a tale of terror for her. When she got the call from the university that I was on my way to the hospital, she was too upset to drive herself. She called our pastor who rushed her to the hospital.

By the time she got there, she was not allowed to see me. I was already being prepped for surgery. The ER doctor that she met at the hospital entrance didn’t do much to calm her nerves. She told Elaine to gather the family together. This would be a difficult task since both of our daughters with their families lived in Pennsylvania, a ten-hour drive to where we were living in Western Michigan.

When Elaine asked why she should alarm the family, the doctor indicated that if I survived the operation, which was doubtful, I would never be the same. The doctor said if it were her family she knew they would appreciate the opportunity to say goodbye.

The intervening ten years between March 2009 and 2019 is a tale of roaring firestorm after firestorm and miracle after miracle. During those ten years, I had dozens of medical setbacks. However, I am still alive and able to walk somewhat awkwardly and write somewhat haltingly. Due to my medical problems, I have interacted with scores of doctors who have all said essentially the same thing: “There are no scientific or medical reasons to explain why you are walking and talking.” They all use the same two words to describe me and my conditions: miracle and enigma.

I believe the story of those ten years is one that is crying to be told and I intend to do just that. I am currently working on a separate book-length manuscript which I have tentatively entitled Has anyone seen my life? It was here a minute ago.

The purpose of this post is three-fold. The first is to celebrate an extra 10 years of life that no one in the medical profession expected me to experience. The second purpose is to offer you a dozen of the many lessons that I learned or relearned during the extra 10 years that I have been given. The third and final purpose is to challenge you with the significant question: “What would you do with an extra 10 years of life?

Since this posting is special, I am going to dispense with my self-imposed 1,000-word limit just for this post. I trust you understand my desire to put it all out there in one shot instead of doling it out small piece by small piece.

Due to my medical problems I had to retire from full-time academic employment. This break from 50 or 60 hour work weeks gave me much time to reflect and write. What follows are a dozen of the many lessons that I have learned or relearned through this experience, intensive study, and much contemplation and reflection.

1. God is in control.

There are four scriptural passages that I have kept returning to during this past decade. I challenge you to reflect on each of them and how they apply to your life.

17And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: (Revelations 1:17, KJV)

22 And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. 23 The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. 24 Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls? 25 And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit? 26 If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest? (Luke 12:22-26, KJV)

10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. (Isaiah 41:10, KJV)

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; 3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. 4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. 5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. 6 The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted. 7 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. (Psalm 46:1-7, KJV)

2. Retirement is not necessarily in God’s plan for us. 

Our modern view of retirement is just that – a recent idea, historically speaking. It was introduced to America in the mid-1930s with the passage of the Social Security legislation. Most of the heroes of the faith found God’s calling to ministry to be a lifetime enlistment. Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, John the Baptist, John the Apostle, Peter and Paul all were faithful servants until they were called home. I can find only one scriptural passage that directly speaks of retirement.

24 This is it that belongeth unto the Levites: from twenty and five years old and upward they shall go in to wait upon the service of the tabernacle of the congregation: 25 And from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the service thereof, and shall serve no more: 26 But shall minister with their brethren in the tabernacle of the congregation, to keep the charge, and shall do no service. Thus shalt thou do unto the Levites touching their charge. (Numbers 8:24-26)

The Levites were charged with serving the people of Israel by caring for the tabernacle, preparing and administering the sacrifices, packing up, moving and reassembling the tabernacle. This was extremely heavy labor and was reserved for the young and strong. The older Levites were given the task of ministering, guarding and advising the younger Levites who were doing the heavy lifting that required the strength of young bodies.

3. There is a special place in God’s economy for seniors.

Beside the Numbers passage above where the senior Levites were called to minister, guard and advise the younger Levites, there are other passages that indicate what the elders in the congregation should do.

17 O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works. 18 Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come. 19 Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, who hast done great things: O God, who is like unto thee! 20 Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth. 21 Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side. (Psalm 71:17-21, KJV)

12 The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13 Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. 14 They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; 15 To shew that the Lord is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. (Psalm 92:12-15, KJV)

3 Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb: 4 And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar [gray] hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you. 5 To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like? (Isaiah 46:3-5, KJV)

4. Obey the scriptural commandments and commissions.

It matters not how old we are, God expects us to obey all of his commandments. However, there are some that are very special and deserve our utmost attention.

35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Great Commandment – Matthew 22:35-40, KJV)

18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Great Commission – Matthew 28:18-20, KJV)

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Creation Mandate – Genesis 1:27-28, KJV)

5. Watch carefully. Always be on guard.

You need to constantly take stock of your surroundings. Know your friends, coworkers, and enemies. Praise them when they do something right. Admonish them when they are wrong. Be patient with everyone in all circumstances. Pray without ceasing and give thanks without regard to your condition.

11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. 12 And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; 13 And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves. 14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. 15 See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. 16 Rejoice evermore. 17 Pray without ceasing. 18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 19 Quench not the Spirit. 20 Despise not prophesyings. 21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 22 Abstain from all appearance of evil. 23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Watch carefully – I Thessalonians 5:11-21, KJV)

6. Equip yourself for the coming battle.

Whether we are talking about a job, a ministry, or even just everyday living, it can and will at some point become a battle. We need the whole armour of God to fight the battle.

11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: 18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; ( Whole armour of God – Ephesians 6:11-18, KJV)

7. Memorize and meditate on scriptures.

The only offensive weapon in the listing of the armour of God was the scriptures. Always have it handy. Be ready to depend on it in every circumstance.

10 With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. 11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. 12 Blessed art thou, O Lord: teach me thy statutes. 13 With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth. 14 I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches. 15 I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways. 16 I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word. 17 Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word. 18 Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. 19 I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me. (Memorize and meditate on scriptures – Psalm 119:10-19, JKV)

8. Give yourself to God, since He gave himself for you.

We must present ourselves as a sacrifice, willing to do anything we are asked to do. It is our reasonable service.

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Be a living sacrifice – Romans 12:1-2, KJV)

9. Do everything as unto the Lord.

Whatever we do should be done as if we were doing it to honor and praise God.

14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. (Colossians 3:14-17, KJV)

This is not just meant for our “religious life.” It carries over to our everyday life. Translating it into “plain English” I believe the message is simply

    • Work hard
    • Play hard
    • Eat well
    • Sleep well
    • Watch carefully
    • Listen intently
    • Be accountable
    • Give credit where credit is due
    • Love deeply

10. Be where you are until you leave.

I wish I could take credit for this saying, but I can’t. Christ used a similar statement in instructing his disciples.

7 And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits; 8 And commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse: 9 But be shod with sandals; and not put on two coats. 10 And he said unto them, In what place soever ye enter into an house, there abide till ye depart from that place. 11 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city. (Mark 6:7-11, KJV)

Christ was trying to teach his disciples not to go from house to house seeking better accommodations, but to be satisfied with what they had. I first heard it from a wealthy Christian businessman, financier, and philanthropist, who was known as a generous but demanding boss. When he used it, he was suggesting that people in a given position should do the job they were hired to do until they left for another position.

I met this gentleman only once. The occasion was at a luncheon given in his honor by a college for which I was serving as the chief academic officer. In addition to honoring this individual for his service to the Christian community, the college was also asking him for a significant donation.

When we were introduced at the luncheon, the first thing he said to me was, “I’ve heard about you, and I like you.” I must have had a perplexed look on my face because he continued by saying, “You follow what I have tried to teach all of my employees: “Be where you are until you leave.”

As a college administrator and cabinet officer, I have always served at the pleasure of the President of the institution I was serving. I changed institutions four times during my career and was in the midst of a fifth change when I had the traumatic brain incident in March 2009. For each change, the president and I were on different sides of at least one question.

When the president and a subordinate disagree, the subordinate never “wins.” Even if the president loses, the subordinate doesn’t win. With each change, I had the privilege of continuing to serve the institution for a period of time until I could find another position. While I remained at the institution from which I was departing, I always did my job to the best of my ability. Every one of the presidents that I served commended me for that quality. The Christian businessman, in his due diligence of checking out our institution as a prospective recipient of one of his gifts, had asked two of those presidents about me.

Wherever you are, do the job that God has given you until He assigns you another task. It is the right thing to do. At some time in the future, you will be rewarded for your diligence.

11. Leave people or a place better than you found them.

There are many forms of this quotation. One form attributed to the legendary football coach Vince Lombardi is the following:

The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.

Jesus always left those with whom he encountered in a better place or position than when he first met them. Consider the woman at the well, the woman taken in adultery, the blind beggar, Zaacheus in the tree, the 10 lepers, the woman with the issue of blood, Jarius and his daughter, the demon-possessed man named Legion.

The parables of the talents and the unjust steward help us understand that we need to be faithful in the little things.

10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. 11 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12 And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own? (Luke 16:10-12, KJV)

12. Help fellow pilgrims along the road.

We are called to minister to others and help them find the straight and narrow way. The apostle Paul in writing to the Christians in Rome let them know that they should follow Christ’s example. They were definitely called to be “their brothers’ keepers,” just as we are.

1We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. 3 For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me. (Romans 15:1-3, KJV)

These are some of the lessons that I have learned or relearned in the extra 10 years that I have been given. I hope and pray that at the conclusion of my life on this earth, I will be able to echo the words of Paul to the young Timothy:

5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. 6 For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. (II Timothy 4:5-8, KJV)

In conclusion, what would you do if you were given another 10 years of life? How would you spend that precious time? By’s Musings returns to its regular publishing schedule next Tuesday, March 26 with a  post entitled KPI – Part VI: Hierarchical Management.

 

 

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KPI – Part V: Scoring Rubric for Guiding Principles Factor

Scoring Rubric for Baylis/Burwell VMI. Image courtesy of Presenter Media

This post is a continuation of my previous post [KPI – Part IV: Guiding Principles]. It will describe the scoring rubric we selected to use to assign points to institutions on the Guiding Principles Factor of the Baylis/Burwell Vitality/Morbidity Model.

Two different approaches to building our scoring rubric. Image courtesy of Presenter Media

There are two different directions which we could have taken to develop our scoring rubric. The first way was an ultra-quantitative, spreadsheet approach attempting to measure the quality of the statements of institutional Mission, Vision, and Core Values, and the institution’s efforts to live out those statements in their actions.

This type of approach is typically called the objective approach. However, if by objective you mean “not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts,” this direction is far from being truly objective. There are many points of subjectivity present in the quantitative scoring of the various components and in the weighting factors used in combining component scores to obtain a final score, where the raters’ biases and opinions enter into the equation.

A panel of higher education experts weigh the evidence and make judgments on each aspect of a particular factor. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

The second approach is a more holistic approach which is typically labeled as a subjective approach. It relies on the use of higher education experts, who have had years of training and experience in the field of higher education, to evaluate the institution in a number of ways.

The first thing these experts are asked to do is to read the institution’s published documents and judge whether they believe the institution has selected values and behaviors that represent those of a quality institution of higher education. The institutions are scored on the following three-point scale:

Is the institution a stellar citizen of the higher education community or a devil in disguise? Image courtesy of Presenter Media

-1   Totally inadequate for a quality institution of higher education

0   Barely adequate for a quality institution of higher education

+1  Describes a high performing institution of higher education

The higher education experts are then asked to judge whether the behavior of a given institution matches its stated beliefs using the following scale:

In the opinion of the higher education experts does the institution’s behavior match its stated values. They will weigh the evidence and make their decision on their training and experience in higher education. Image courtesy of Presenter Media

-1  Behavior doesn’t come close to its stated values. The institution fails to meet its own stated standards

0   Behavior barely meets its stated values or standards.

+1  Behavior exceeds the expectations set by its stated values.

A quality institution of higher education should be beyond reproach. In light of this, the panel of higher education experts is asked to make two more judgments.  The first judgment involves the institution’s track record with those entities and agencies to which the institution is responsible. Does the institution meet all of its required reporting deadlines and fulfill all obligations to federal and accrediting agencies? Institutions will be scored on the following scale:

The institution has done everything it could to move it to the top of its class. Image courtesy of Presenter Media

-1  The institution has failed to meet more than one reporting obligation or legal requirements.

0  The institution has met all requirements and obligations but has occasionally been late or hesitant in making results public.

+1 The institution has gone of out its way in meeting requirements and obligations. It has made been completely transparent in all of its operations.

The final area of concern for the panel of experts deals with the reputation of the institution. The panel will judge whether the institution is held in high esteem by various entities such as higher education as a whole, the general public, students and prospective students, and employers of the institution’s graduates.

Is the institution a stellar citizen of the higher education community or a devil in disguise? Image courtesy of Presenter Media

The scoring scale for this area of concern is as follows:

  -1  The reputation of the institution is tarnished in a number of areas with a number of groups.

0  The reputation of the institution is considered “run-of-the-mill.” It is not outstanding in any area.

+1  The reputation of the institution is stellar with all groups with which it deals.

To determine a factor score for Guiding Principles, the sub-factor scores are summed. Total scores are assigned as follows:

If the total sub-factor score is -3 or less, the assigned factor score is -1. Any institution in this area should be considered in trouble and possibly dying.

If the total sub-factor score is -2 to +2, the assigned factor score is 0. An institution with a score in this area is just hanging on and should be considered just surviving.

In institution in this category is considered a top-tier or elite institution. It is truly thriving. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

If the total sub-factor score is +3 or more, the assigned factor score is +1. An institution with a score in this area is doing well and should be considered to be thriving.

With the institutions we have examined we have found a predisposition away from the thriving side of the scale. It should not be surprising. Most observers will readily say that the overwhelming majority of colleges and universities are either in trouble or just surviving. There are few elite, or top tier institutions that are really thriving.

Next Tuesday, March 19, I will take a break from this series of post on Key Performance Indicators and publish a special post inspired by the scores of birthday wishes that I received this past week. It may be unusual to throw a big celebration for someone’s 73rd birthday. However, after a series of traumatic brain incidents more than a decade ago, scores of doctors wouldn’t have given you a plug nickel that I would make my 73rd birthday. Thus I will publish a post celebrating an unexpected decade of extra life. What would you do with an extra decade of life?

 

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KPI – Part IV: Guiding Principles

We want our college built upon a rock solid foundation so that it will withstand all the storms that come its way. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

In this post, the fourth in a series on Key Performance Indicators, I continue my consideration of the eight factors of the Baylis/Burwell Vitality/Morbidity Model. This post focuses on the factor Guiding Principles (GP).  The Guiding Principles of any organization, particularly Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL), form the foundation upon which that organization is built.

The Guiding Principles of an organization are the basis of the blueprint for its current and future success. Image courtesy of Presenter Media

However, Guiding Principles are not just the foundation. They also provide the basis for the plans and blueprints on which a thriving organization can be built. The current and future success of any organization is dependent on that organization staying committed to the foundational principles upon which it is built.

 

The three pillars of an Organization’s Guiding Principles are a Mission Statement, a Vision Statement, and a list of Core Values. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

Typically, the foundational principles of an organization are bound together as a set of three statements which form the pillars which support the organization. The three pillars consist of a Mission Statement, a Vision Statement, and a list of Core Values. Although closely related, these three statements are distinctly different in their purpose, format, and point of view. In what follows, I will address these three pillars in a university setting.

Mission Statement

A mission statement holds the key to a university’s place in the world and its reason to exist. Image courtesy of Presenter Media

A Mission Statement articulates a university’s reason for being, or raison d’être. A mission statement looks outward and justifies the existence of the university based upon its external environment. A university can only survive and thrive if it has a reason to exist within its environment.

A good mission statement should be simple and concise but at the same time elegant. It must be well-publicized internally and externally. Everyone in the university should recognize and accept the mission. This includes the board, the administration, faculty, staff, and students. It should be easy for individuals outside the university, particularly prospective students, to find and understand the mission.

Vision Statement

A Vision Statement is an explicit announcement of what a university wants to and is committed to becoming. Image courtesy of Presenter Media

A Vision Statement is an explicit announcement of what a university desires to be and what it wants to accomplish. It is a forward-looking proclamation of the university’s mid-term and long-term objectives. It is meant to serve as a guide or roadmap for internal decision-making. Strategic and tactical plans and initiatives should align with and adhere to the tenets of the vision statement. These include staffing, facility, programmatic, and budget decisions.

A good vision statement should be precise, concise, and most definitely memorable. All constituencies of the university should know and be able to recall the major points, if not the exact wording, of the vision statement.

A good vision statement should be aspirational. It should drive the university to reach beyond its current status. It should also be inspirational, pushing all constituencies to action on behalf of the university.

Core Values

The Core Values of a university are the fundamental beliefs that the university collectively holds. They are derived from the university’s mission statement and they dictate how the university behaves. Core Values look inward and describe the nature of the organization.

Core values are those central beliefs and behaviors around which the university community aligns. Image courtesy of Presenter Media

The expression of a core value should be a descriptive statement of a collective belief of the university. Core values serve as self-guiding principles that dictate how the university should act and behave as an organization. As collective values, it is expected that all constituencies individually give assent to and agree to conduct themselves accordingly.

It is important and imperative that individual and collective agreement with the beliefs and behaviors included in the core values be verifiable. The university should have the ability to demonstrate that, as an organization, it is upholding its core values. For all individuals who chose to align themselves with the university, the university is entitled to expect that they will abide by and exhibit the stated core values. This includes the board, administration, faculty, staff, and students.

Examples of common organizational core values include honesty (tell the truth), integrity (know and do what is right), respect of others (treat others as an individual would like to be treated), and accountability (willingness to take responsibility for one’s own actions). Examples of common academic core values include scholarship (commitment to the creation, organization, and dissemination of knowledge), student centeredness (commitment to student learning and serving students by meeting their needs and desires), and service (meeting the needs of the various communities associated with and around the university).

Scoring Rubric

As I noted in my previous post, KPI Part III, A University Should Be Managed as If It Were a Business, each of the eight factors in the Baylis/Burwell Institutional Vitality Model would be scored on a three-point scale of THRIVING (+1), SURVIVING (0), or DYING (-1).

Please take note that I will be publishing a special post on Friday, March 15. Image courtesy of Presenter Media

Since I am fast approaching my self-imposed 1,000 word limit per post, I will postpone the explanation of my scoring rubric for this factor to my next post. Although I have been trying to stick to a Tuesday publication schedule, since the ideas are so closely tied to the content of this post, I will publish a post on the scoring rubric for the factor Guiding Principles this coming Friday, March 15.

I will return to the regular publishing schedule with a post on Tuesday, March 19 which focuses on the first of the three counterarguments, hierarchical management, raised by academics against Milton Greenberg’s argument that a university should be managed as if it were a business.

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KPI Part III, A University Should Be Managed as If It Were a Business

Inactivity, inattentiveness, and other bad business practices lead to the failure of any organization. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

As noted in the previous post, Key Performance Indicators – Part II: Definition, the theme of this post was going to be A University Should Be Managed as If It Were a Business. In all of my previous roles, as a university administrator or the creator of this blog, I made no efforts to hide my sentiments concerning this proposition. It was always one of my operating premises.

When the wheels fall off an organization, it will fail to run. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

In 2016, I started a series of posts on the theme The Business Model of All Higher Education Is Broken. Even in the title of the series, I attempted to make the point that institutions of higher education (IHEs) must view themselves as business enterprises. As an academician, I believe that institutions of higher education must be more than businesses. However, if they don’t operate using the best business and management techniques then they will surely fail, which is what we have seen with 2,000 American IHEs since 1950.

Too many universities live in a fantasy world chasing rainbows, leprechauns, and illusory pots of gold. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

Milton Greenberg in his seminal essay “The University Is Not a Business (and Other Fantasies)” published in EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 39, no. 2 (March/April 2004), argues forcefully that a university should be managed as if it were a business.

Very early in his essay, Greenberg proclaims, “ Presumably, a “business” involves the hierarchical and orderly management of people, property, productivity, and finance for profit.” The primary counterarguments of academicians to Greenberg’s position hinge on three concepts he introduces in this sentence: hierarchical management, productivity, and profit. In three future posts in this series, I will separately tackle each of these counterarguments.

Eight Factor Model of Institutional Vitality developed by By Baylis and Ron Burwell. Image copyright by Higher Ed By Baylis, LLC. Image courtesy of By Baylis and Ron Burwell. Constructed using ClickCharts Software

But first I return to present my argument on why universities should be run more like businesses. In studying the 2,000 deceased IHEs, Ron Burwell and I noticed eight factors that we believe contributed negatively to their vitality and their eventual morbidity. The eight factors are shown in the diagram to the left.

Although the eight factors are obviously not completely independent of each other, they are sufficiently different to warrant separate consideration. Additionally, that consideration would take up too much space for one blog post. Thus, I will address each of the factors in upcoming posts.

Mind Map of the Guiding Principles Factor. Image courtesy of authors By Baylis and Ron Burwell. Constructed using ClickCharts Software.

To give you a taste of how I will be introducing and treating these factors, I present a Mind Map Diagram on the right illustrating the three components which define the Guiding Principles Factor.

Under each of the three components, the diagram presents the major ingredients that go into measuring the success of the organization in that component.

A reasonably informed person weighing the evidence should be able to make an informed judgment. Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

In order to simplify our study, without losing the crux of discovering the reasons why institutions failed, we have chosen to use the straight-forward three-point scale of Thriving, Surviving, and Dying. Instead of attempting to construct complicated, quantitative scales to measure each subfactor of our eight factors, we are going to use a subjective approach similar to Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s take on defining pornography: “I may not be able to define it. But I know it when I see it.”

Vitality/Morbidity Index (VMI) Gauge indicating an institution is greatly struggling in the Guiding Principles Factor. Image courtesy of Presenter Media

With each component in our factors, most reasonable observers can easily determine whether: 1) an organization is extremely successful and thriving in terms of this component, 2) just barely getting by or only surviving, or 3) failing badly and falling far short of success or flat out dying.  This approach permits us to use a simple gauge to illustrate the vitality/morbidity level of an institution.

We will also associate a three-point numerical scale with our three categories: Thriving (+1); Surviving (0); Dying (-1). We then added the scores across all eight factors. Repeating this process for each institution in our database of closed colleges and universities, we were not at all surprised to find that the total score of each closed institution was negative. No closed college had a total positive score. Some individual factor scores were positive but they were outweighed by a much larger share of factors with negative scores.

If this model is to have predictive capabilities it must also work with all types of institutions. We have tried our model out on a number of institutions that we identified as thriving, surviving, and outright struggling.

Is the wrecking ball set to knock down your institution? Image courtesy of Presenter Media.

In this process, we did find a number of colleges that were still operating which had negative VMIs. In each of these cases, the colleges involved could easily be classified as struggling or just barely surviving. They were definitely not thriving.

Although I believe that it is difficult to “kill a college” it is not impossible. Just ask the constituencies of Newbury College (MA), College of New Rochelle (NY), Green Mountain College (VT), and Hampshire College (VT).

For institutions that we identified as thriving, just as we expected each of them had a total VMI that was positive. What about the struggling institutions with positive VMIs? We believe that these institutions must address the factors that are negative or “zero” or they could be heading for more serious trouble.

 

In the post above I outline several different directions that I could go with my next post. At this point, I am working on a post that delves more deeply into the VMI Factor Guiding Principles which I introduced in this post. Watch for it next Tuesday, March 12, 2019.