Posts from — March 2011

Web registration is now open for the NC State University College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences’ annual Scope Academy celebration. We hope that all science fans will join us Saturday, April 9, as we celebrate the latest breakthroughs in our disciplines.

Highlights of Scope Academy 2011 include:

-Special brunch for alumni, friends and faculty of the Department of Chemistry in honor of the International Year of Chemistry: http://www.chemistry2011.org/

-Entertaining and informative “Scope Seminars” led by PAMS’ own world-class faculty (this year’s seminars include two “kid-friendly” offerings: Countertop Chemistry and Patterns in Nature)

-Scope/Harrelson Lecture by Dr. Barbara Imperiali, professor of chemistry and biology at MIT and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Royal Society of Chemistry and National Academy of Sciences

Please register today at www.pams.ncsu.edu/weekend or contact the PAMS Office of College Advancement at pams_info@ncsu.edu or 919-515-3462 for more information.

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Passion Rules!

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A draft of the NC State strategic plan has been posted online for about a month and comments on the plan are requested by Friday, March 25.   The plan will guide university decision-making for the next 10 years so now’s your chance to have a say, so to speak.

The strategic plan establishes our goals and strategies and will provide a roadmap by which we will measure our progress along the journey. It also includes proposed new mission and vision statements.

As noted above, the draft will be online for a final review through March 25, when the strategic plan committee will incorporate feedback into a final version for Board of Trustees review and approval in April.

Speak now or forever hold your peace.

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Passion Rules!

On Friday, April 8, at 7 p.m., Cary Nelson, American Association of University Professors President, will give a keynote public speech at Duke University, “How to Save the University.”

If you’re not doing anything that night I’d bet it will be an interesting exchange so plan on attending.  It should also be a good opportunity to compare our actions here at NC State to those recommended by the AAUP.

The nationwide recession has exacerbated what was already a long-term trend in public higher education—declining state support has meant shifting the revenue stream from state appropriations to more burdensome student tuition rates.

Seduced by the lure of rapid profits, some institutions have made matters worse by opting for high-risk investments. [Read more →]

When our cat Rufus was sick last year (yes we have cats to entertain the circus dogs:-) I didn’t hesitate to contact the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine for help.  A quick visit to the vet, a prescription for his nose and Rufus was better.  He has been a sneezer most of his life.  Why didn’t we do this sooner?  With one of the best Vet schools in the country at our backdoor it was a natural.  Now even more people recognize the quality of the college as highlighted in this report from David Green at the college regarding the most recent rankings.

North Carolina State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine is ranked third among the nation’s 28 colleges of veterinary medicine in the new (2012) survey by U.S. News and World Report.

In the magazine’s rankings for “Education: Graduate Schools–Veterinary Medicine,” Cornell University is first with a 4.5 score, the University of California-Davis is second with a 4.2 score, and NC State and Colorado State tie for third with a score of 4.1. NC State had been tied for 5th in previous rankings with Ohio State University, the University of Wisconsin, and Texas A&M.

For U.S. News and World Report’s complete ranking, click here. [Read more →]

By James Monteleone
Journal Staff Writer
University of New Mexico regents say an initial budget proposal for 2012 doesn’t do enough to cut vice presidents and executive pay for administrators.
The regent finance committee on Monday saw a first draft of next year’s budget recommendations, which outline a $12 million shortfall beyond cuts already proposed through months of cost-containment meetings.
If no additional cuts are found, the budget would mean a 16 percent tuition increase for students next year, according to the data.
But regents are telling administrators to go back to the drawing board because the recommendations do not cut any of the university’s 28 executive vice presidents, vice presidents and associate vice presidents.
“I think we put the vice presidents on the table,” Regent Don Chalmers said. “I think, to show good leadership, we need to put executive salaries on the table.” [Read more →]

Clay Christensen was in town a few weeks back for the Emerging Issues Forum.  During his presentation he talked about how “disrputive innovation” would change the face of the health care industry.  Christensen has turned his thinking to higher education and in this post from InsideHigherEd.com, he talks about how disruptive innovation will change higher education.  A fascinating read.  http://bit.ly/hHiTIt

WASHINGTON — It’s one thing for Clayton M. Christensen to share with a bunch of Washington think tankers his warnings that colleges must change or die, as he did at the American Enterprise Institute last month. But directly to the faces of college presidents themselves, at the annual gathering of their main national association? Yet there was the Harvard Business School professor known for documenting how industries get transformed by “disruptive technologies” on Monday, telling hundreds of college chiefs at the annual meeting of the American Council on Education that he was not at all sure in 20 years if their institutions would still be around.

Some of Christensen’s ideas (drawn from a paper he co-wrote with Henry Eyring of Brigham Young University-Idaho called “The Innovative University: Changing the DNA of Higher Education”) and comments may have stung, notably his prediction that distance education, done well, can subject existing higher education to disruption that could render many existing institutions irrelevant in two decades. “There is good reason for many of us to think that we might be okay in 20 years. But I think we might be wrong,” he said. [Read more →]

From my cousin, Deane Broome: Today is the the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s first inauguration. The last words of his inaugural address:

“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

I’m almost embarrassed to say it with Abe’s presence so close by, and his passion for America still so palpable today, but . . .

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Passion Rules!

Many college students want commencement speakers who are famous and some new student groups and Facebook pages suggest any kind of fame will do. George Washington University already has a commencement speaker for this year (New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg). But students at the university have started a campaign to get Charlie Sheen as the 2012 commencement speaker, attracting considerable support on Facebook and Twitter (typical comment: “I don’t want some stiff-ass politician boring me to death as I graduate”).

The GW Hatchet, the student newspaper, has declared the movement “a satirical ploy.”

But the idea may be spreading. Other Facebook pages want Sheen to speak at commencement at the University of Georgia, the University of Missouri at Columbia and West Chester University in Pennsylvania.

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Passion Rules!

The NC State draft strategic plan is now available for campus review. A pdf version of the document is attached to this e-mail and the document may also be accessed at http://info.ncsu.edu/strategic-planning/draft-plan/.

We welcome and encourage your comments and advice on the draft strategic  plan – please use the form available on the strategic planning website at http://info.ncsu.edu/strategic-planning/feedback/. Please provide constructive feedback to help us improve the document.  All comments received by 3/25/11 will be considered.

After this plan has been approved, we will establish clear targets for each measure of accountability so that we can monitor our progress toward its implementation.  We will set those targets in light of past trends, best practices, and comparisons with our peers.

Thank you for your continued involvement in the strategic planning process.

Sincerely,

Provost Warwick Arden and Dr. Margery Overton
Co-chairs of the Strategic Planning Committee