02.23.10 | Posted in 100 Days at NC State | 3 Comments

Holding colleges accountable

Wow. Parts of this make my blood boil because it is such an obvious attempt to slam higher education.  Can it really be Time Magazine!

But the column gives me pause.  Is there a veil of secrecy around higher education?  Are colleges given too much  respect?  Are we really doing our job?

I know how I’d answer those questions, but increasing, people are telling me I may be in the minority.  As we move ahead with our strategic communications planning initiative — sans veil of secrecy — we need to recognize all sides.  Hold your breath, or should I say nose, and read on.

Passion Rules!

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Holding Colleges Accountable:  Is Success Measurable?

With almost 40% of the nation’s college-age students in some form of post-secondary education — and tuition costs as high as they’ve ever been — we don’t really have a handle on what students learn at university. Or whether they’re learning anything at all. Kevin Carey, the policy director at Washington think tank Education Sector, believes that many colleges do a bad job of (a) teaching students and (b) getting them to graduate. An essay he wrote for the December issue of Democracy is making waves in the higher-ed world because it describes how lots of colleges are keeping confidential a lot of student-assessment data. He spoke with TIME education correspondent Gilbert Cruz about why parents — and public officials — should demand more accountability from colleges.

You refer in your essay to a “veil of secrecy that has shrouded higher education” for a very long time. What information don’t colleges want people to know?

There’s the information that exists that they don’t want you to know about, and then there’s the information that doesn’t exist that they don’t want to exist. In the latter category, no one knows how much students learn at a given college or university. No one knows. The entire process for assessing learning is completely idiosyncratic and course-based. Now, in some cases, there’s good reason for that. There may be courses where literally there is one professor somewhere who is the only person who teaches a certain subject a certain way. At the same time, there is also a great deal of commonality. If you look at the courses students tend to take — almost everyone who goes to college takes a psychology class and takes an English class and takes a math class and takes basic science classes. Virtually no college assesses how much students learn in any subject and publishes data in a way that would allow you to compare it to other colleges. That information simply does not exist.

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02.19.10 | Posted in 100 Days at NC State | 14 Comments

Looking for suggestions

Wow.  It has been busy, but looking forward to the Wolfpack vs. Wake Forest game tomorrow.  New Chancellor will be taping the coach’s show in the morning, doing an interview on court pre game, then he and his wife Susan will meet Mr. & Mrs. Wuf at center court during the first half to greet the crowd.  Rumor is that the Wufs have a special presentation for Mr. & Mrs. Woodson.

But looking for ideas.  Ideas on how to introduce the new chancellor to the campus community and North Carolina.  Where to go, when to go, who to see, what to say.  And what about a theme.  That sort of thing.

So what about themes; American Living tour, taken. Listening tour,  taken. Learning tour, taken.  Back Home tour, taken.  Get a Grip tour, taken (one of my favorites.)  Connections tour, taken. Bridges to Babylon tour (the Orlando stop was awesome,) taken.  Hum!?  What to do, what to do.

Send your ideas. Please.

Passion Rules!

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02.18.10 | Posted in 100 Days at NC State | No Comments

NC State University will bring focus to a world of high-speed technological and human change

In January I talked a little about a report created by the Art & Sciences Group about NC State.

Recommendations in the report were based on hundreds of interviews on campus and with “opinion leaders” around the nation.  The report has helped me understand some of the bigger issues facing the university and  while I don’t agree with everything they suggested, I do think the information may be very useful in our strategic communications planning efforts.

Here, in abbreviated fashion, are more of those observations and recommendations:

• North Carolina State University is poised to become the leading land-grant institution on the east coast of the United States. A comprehensive university centered in the sciences and engineering.
• NC State is a place of uncommon focus: students focused on service and career, a research enterprise focused on the great issues of our time, and a faculty that welcomes its responsibility for both.
• The times call for leadership from a major university located in one of the world’s great research and industry hubs in the population center of the U.S., yet also keenly attuned to the opportunity divide separating city from small town, and haves from have-nots.
• NC State, in partnership with its great neighboring universities, is the engine that continues to power the Research Triangle. We are applying our research and educational resources to five issues of surpassing importance to the nation, the world, and every county in North Carolina. Together, our unusual constellation of colleges and Centennial Campus—our pioneering community integrating the work of the university, industry, and government—will focus on:

1. producing leaders for the state, nation, and world
2. energy and environment
3. health and well-being
4. educational innovation across all grade levels, and
5. economic development and social equity

• NC State will be an international leader in those fields of science and engineering, humanities, arts, and social sciences where we can contribute to breakthroughs of understanding and application focused on these issues.
• NC State’s faculty are delivering an education matched to the particular needs of a society and economy dramatically shaped by technology and constant innovation. We know we will depend, for example, on scientists adept with demographics, art, and policy; on lawyers, entrepreneurs, and doctors who think like engineers; and on graduates in every field who as students already have experience in the global workplace.
• The people of North Carolina State University bring focus to a world of high-speed technological and human change.

Wow.  That’s how others see the potential of NC State University.

I am proud to be part of that university.  I am proud to be part of NC State.  We’ve just got to make it happen and it all starts with a vision. We’ll work with our new chancellor to help craft that vision then take it to the masses, creating disciples along the way.

Passion Rules!

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02.17.10 | Posted in 100 Days at NC State | No Comments

Comments re: Advancement Retreat

Many of us attended an all-day program a few weeks back sponsored by University Advancement.  It was a great chance to “network” with peers from a variety of offices and a good chance to begin setting the stage for an NC State capital campaign in the future.

Like it or not, fund raising at public universities is every bit as important as fund raising at the privates.  Government support is falling and we need outside funding to accomplish our mission.  Be that as it may, comments from the group were far ranging. If you have additional comments after reading this, please post them to the Blog.  We will be having more group meetings and we want to do everything possible to make them worthwhile.

Below you’ll find a sampling of comments ranging from good to bad.  I screened all the ugly.  I should note, these are not all the responses because there were just too many.  Now, my favorites:

• Joe Hice’s afternoon presentation was great. Very informative and inspirational:-)

• In planning the next quarterly meeting it might be helpful to include more college‐based staff in setting the topics for discussion.

• I would like to hear from the new chancellor about what he wants and expects. (Rest assured, that will happen before any new campaign begins.)

• It would be helpful to know what the central unit’s plans/budget etc. are for going forward—what do we have to work with? Also, I think if there were any questions that emerged with frequency from the breakout sessions, they would be good to explore in depth. For example, there were lots of questions in the Advancement Services session I attended about data collection and pulling lists etc. I know there are always questions about blogging/new media strategies etc.

• Role of branding across all divisions and using Communications to their best advantage.

• Randy Woodson addressing the group. We need to hear his vision for NC State in general and Advancement at NC State in particular.

• I’d like to understand how the advancement and marketing goals will work together. Perhaps by then we will have plans based on State Comm work in committees as well as a more specific timeline for the campaign.

• How can all the different departments/divisions work more closely together, especially with the new campaign launch?

• Explain why everything is about “the next campaign.” How do you manage “the next campaign” while serving people, which is the stated mission of this university and the unit I work in? How does the “next campaign” fit into that and how can I feel good about my job and role here when there will be such a focus on raising money? How do you manage the “next campaign” and the “taking” of money while also “giving” something back in return to alumni, students, faculty/staff and North Carolina? So, looking for more explicit explanations from above of the expected role of the units and how it fits in with current assumed roles.

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02.16.10 | Posted in 100 Days at NC State | No Comments

Woodson visit generating excitement in town

I can already feel the excitement among the students, faculty and staff here at NC State. The new chancellor will be visiting for the next three days and spending time with more people on campus and around town.  His schedule is a whirlwind, but make sure to be at the Reynolds Coliseum tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. for a welcome reception and to hear what he has to say.

Thursday and Friday are consumed by Board of Trustee meetings, but Randy and his wife, Susan, will be back in the spotlight on Saturday during the Wake Forest men’s basketball game.  The Woodson’s will be introduced to the crowd during a television time out near the end of the first half  and Mr. and Mrs. Wuf will present them with Wolfpack jerseys.  Go Pack!

Back at Purdue, the university announced Woodson’s replacement.  Timothy Sands was named executive vice president for academic affairs and provost.

Sands, 52, has been at Purdue since 2002 when he was hired for a joint appointment in materials engineering and electrical and computer engineering.

The appointment of Sands must mean Woodson’s arrival is not too far away. Right!  Right.  We’ll know soon.

Passion Rules!

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02.15.10 | Posted in 100 Days at NC State | 10 Comments

One NC State competitor spent $275 million last quarter to market their university!

I had the opportunity to speak to the team at DELTA, NC State’s Distance Education and Learning Technology Applications group, last week and answer questions about the university’s efforts to create a strategic communications plan.

DELTA has played an active role in the planning process and they clearly understand the changing climate of higher education today.  Be that as it may, I think more than a few were shocked when we talked about the money “for-profit” institutions are spending to market their degree programs and classes.

For the three-month period ending Nov. 30, 2009, University of Phoenix’s Apollo Group holding company spent $275 million on “selling and promotional” expenses according to a report in The Chronicle of Higher Education.  That’s not a typo.  That’s $275 million ($275,000,000) last quarter.

Holy cow.  University Communications won’t spend that much marketing NC State during the next 300 years given the current budget situation.  Let me say that in another way, it will take NC State almost 300 years to spend what the University of Phoenix spent last quarter (that’s just three months) marketing itself to potential students.

I hope that number scares you as much as it scares me and I’ve been afraid for a few years now.  My eyes were opened when the University of Florida football team played for a BCS National Championship — and won — back in 2006.

The stadium in Glendale, Arizona is named the University of Phoenix Stadium.  Makes sense, right.  University of Phoenix must be close by.  Well, Apollo Group Inc., is based in Phoenix, but the stadium is not part of a physical campus; at least not as we think of a campus.  It’s a marketing tool used to promote the University of Phoenix.  Apollo Group paid $154 million for the 20-year naming rights!

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02.12.10 | Posted in 100 Days at NC State | 2 Comments

Do rankings follow leadership or does leadership result in higher rankings?

Lots of people believe we shouldn’t care about the rankings, instead, we should focus on providing innovative solutions and uses in the social media sphere.  But I’m taking a much more basic approach and want to know where the paths cross.  Do rankings follow leadership or does leadership result in higher rankings?  An interesting conundrum if you will.  And there may not be an acceptable answer.

High rankings attract attention, attention attracts talent, talent attracts funding.  True leadership attracts talent, talent attracts funding, funding attracts attention.  Huh.

For now I think its fair to challenge NC State to be a leader in technology and social media.  Not just in the rankings and not just in the PR, but a leader in how we utilize all of this stuff and in the stuff we create.  I know Tim and our web guys think this should be the case because they all either responded to the blog or sent me an email expressing their opinions (thank you very much, BTW.)

I think that could be one of the key message points that we’re working on as part of the strategic communications planning process.  As TJ suggested; position the university as the system-wide leader in the field (we’ve got enough stuff already to make this claim with the open source code, mobile framework project, twitter, YouTube, our Facebook plans, DELTA, and the list of start ups, plus some of the projects we’ve been considering), and then as one of the Higher Ed leaders?

If it weren’t politically incorrect, I’d say just skip the system-wide stuff and claim national leadership.  The system can follow our lead can’t it?

So, the Key Message might read:

NC State is a leader in …

You tell me.  Just how would we phrase it? You’ve got one paragraph, or 140 characters.  Gotta be true to the technology ya know.  Interesting possibilities.

Passion Rules!

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02.11.10 | Posted in 100 Days at NC State | 17 Comments

Social Media Leadership at NC State University; Why can’t we be No. 1

Our office has been talking the last couple of days about our Top 40 ranking among North American universities when it comes to the use of social networking.  I think that’s a great accomplishment, but as usual; always asking for more.

Why can’t we be in the Top 10.  Why can’t we be number One.  Well, there are a number of reasons that make sense, but no harm in trying.

The talk has created a great discussion at the office.  Thought I’d share some of that today and ask everyone to comment.  What would it take for NC State to be among the Top 10 in social networking.  What would it take for us to be No. 1?  How can we implement a plan to make it so.  The following comments have been edited so please bare with me.

Matt S.:  we were just named #38, among social media innovators at U.S. universities. They singled out our Twitter feed: http://www.collegesurfing.com/content/web-20-colleges/.  Nothing to scream about, but pretty cool.

Joe H.:  That’s great, but why can’t we be No. 1?

Matt S.: It would be a challenge. (Let’s look at how the rankings were determined.)

The site that assembled the Top 50 list (College Surfing) was looking at overall social media presence: Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.

Our Twitter feed is doing remarkably well, and growing at a nice rate. We appear to have made the top 50 based almost solely on the Twitter feed, and I expect that to continue to be a strength.

Our Facebook presence is pretty weak, which means there is a lot of room for improvement. Right now there are dozens of various NC State Facebook pages, which is fine — but there is no central NC State page. Actually there are THREE “North Carolina State University” pages, each with varying numbers of fans/members. The largest of these pages has approximately 20,000 members — but is explicitly “not an official NCSU site.” We need to have a centralized presence there, but we don’t want to (annoy) 20,000 people by taking their site away. Perhaps we talk to the current operator …? Or perhaps we create a new page and get their cooperation in driving members there?

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02.10.10 | Posted in 100 Days at NC State | 2 Comments

Vancouver, G’ville, Raleigh: Back in town!

Back in town from a trip to Vancouver then to Gainesville where the wife and dogs came back with me.  Had two days of very interesting meetings at the University of British Columbia, a place of mind.  UBC is deep into a new branding project and they are doing so many things right it’s hard to list them all (but I’ll attempt that in a future blog.)

They are also sitting right on top of one of the largest events in the world, the Winter Olympics. And as I always say, when things like this happen, you’ve got to seize the moment.  UBC is doing just that with banners, signage, press, on-site media center, experts, etc.  They are also hosting a number of hockey events on campus.  Sure there are going to be challenges, but hundreds of millions of eyes will be on Vancouver for the next month and UBC will be quite visible.  What is the cliche, you can’t buy that kind of visibility!  Indeed.

And I’m still searching for circus dogs.  Not much luck there so if you know anyone who has performing dogs who don’t require a lot of space for their routine, please let me know.  I want to make them stars!

All for now.  So much to do after a few days away.

Passion Rules!

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