Leading Lincoln

For the next few weeks we will all have the opportunity to meet, listen to, and hopefully ask questions of five presidential candidates. Are you using this as a teachable moment and encouraging your students to participate and be part of making Lincoln history? Most of the candidates have backgrounds in higher education, but there is one exception: the only male candidate comes from a more political background and currently serves as the president of a Philadelphia boarding school. More information about the candidates is available here: http://www.lincoln.edu/presidential-search/updates

Each one of these individuals have the potential to hold the future of Lincoln in his or her hands. If you were in their position, what would you present as your vision for Lincoln University? Should we try to become the “first” HBCU again, not just in chronology of founding but in rankings? Or maybe you would like to emphasize a strong and distinctive general education program that supports all majors and defines what it means to be a Lincoln graduate? Would you try to bring in more certificate and continuing education programs, work more closely with the local and Philadelphia community, bring in more resources through grants from foundations and state and federal agencies? Maybe you would emphasize a global presence or make sure that the University honors all types of diversity? Or maybe you would be of the mindset that growing the endowment should be a priority? Would you adopt the current strategic plan or immediately start working towards a brand new and different plan? Would environmental, fiscal and social sustainability play a prominent role in your vision for the University?

What about institutional organization – will next year’s Fact Book display re-drawn organizational charts? Would you keep the current VPs and directors or bring in new ones that you prefer to work with? What would you do about bridges and walls? Would you prefer to keep people and programs in their silos or would you try to build a more collaborative and interdisciplinary campus?

And how would you divide your attention among all the different responsibilities that require your devotion? Would you spend most of your time on campus or traveling to promote Lincoln and raise funds? How often would you go to University City and Coatesville? Would you attend basketball and football games? Dine with student and faculty? Would you go for a jog around the campus grounds every morning, trying to get to know the grounds crew, athletes and coaches and anybody who arrives to work early? Or maybe you would spend your time remodeling the President’s House and purchasing new furniture? Would you be a leader that communicates openly and honors transparency?

As I think about it, stepping into the role as President at any University is plagued with as many difficult decisions as it is peppered with opportunities to make a tremendous difference.

When it comes to teaching and learning at Lincoln, the president can be in the forefront giving ideas for curricular reform, promoting service learning by fostering relationships with the local community, offering opportunities for training of faculty to use more experiential learning, and being actively involved in educational policy and curricular decisions. Alternatively, the president can take the back seat and let Academic Affairs and faculty lead the way. There are benefits to both models. Stronger leadership may mean increased cohesion among programs and faculty, but it may also feel like a threat to academic freedom. If you had a magic wand, what type of academic leadership would you wish for the fall of 2017 and beyond? What questions will you ask of the candidates to ensure illuminating answers? Are you encouraging your students to attend the open sessions?

Expanding Our Role Model Role

The idea that as professors we should be good role models for our students is certainly not anything new or surprising.  We all take care to speak professionally, proofread our handouts carefully, demonstrate our scholarly integrity by citing sources for ideas we use, show up on time--and prepared--for class. etc.  An article by David Googlar in The Chronicle of Higher Education, though, did make me rethink that role model issue.   

Among other suggestions, Googlar advises that rather than just modeling expertise, we should also “model stupidity”—showing students that not knowing an  answer is an acceptable and important part of being a scholar and then showing them the thinking processes we use to try to find a reasonable answer.

“Almost everything we do in the classroom -- the way we speak, how we make use of technologies, what we demand of our students -- provides a model for them in some way,” Googlar argues.

Do you agree?  In what ways do you see yourself as a role model in the classroom? What are the actions/attributes/awarenesses that you consciously try to model as you teach?

Who Will Survive?

At a recent conference on assessment at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, keynote speaker Linda Suskie addressed the question, “Which colleges and universities will survive and thrive?” Her vote went to universities that

• Have a pervasive, sustained culture of quality.  (Note:  she explained that doesn’t mean being the most selective college; a college might be known for providing the best learning environment for underprepared students, for instance);

• Focus on what is most important to them;

• Focus on having great teaching and learning;

• Fight complacency (talk about innovation and risk taking, honor efforts to improve even if the efforts don’t succeed first time around);

• Break down silos, giving funding priority to collaborative projects;

• Build a culture of evidence;

• Keep assessment useful, simple, and pervasive;

• Set rigorous, justifiable standards for success;

• Tell meaningful stories of the university’s success;

• Keep their promises.

It seems to me that Lincoln measures up well against many of these criteria.  I wonder, though, to what extent we are really focusing on what’s most important to us. 
  
To focus on what’s most important, we need to agree on what’s most important.  Have we done that?  Does our mission statement do it?  Do we have an academic master plan that operationalizes it? Do faculty and staff all agree on what Lincoln could/should be? 

All of the other points follow relatively smoothly if we have that overall focus in mind, clearly defined and universally agreed upon.  Do we? If so, what do you think that focus is?  If not, what do we need to do to find it?

When Your To-Do List Is Longer Than Your Day

While struggling with the minutiae of daily professorial life—writing those minutes from yesterday’s committee meeting, grading the last few student assignments before class, preparing for the umpteenth meeting of the week, checking lesson plans to make sure they have the right mix of activities, responding to online discussion postings so as to let students know I am reading and valuing their ideas, [fill in your own overwhelming list]—I was struck by the seemingly simple message from Kerry Ann Rockquemore, President of the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity: Pay Yourself First.

She acknowledges our need to be super teacher, super researcher, super colleague, super public intellectual, super institutional change agent, etc., pointing out, however, that these needs tend to conflict and overwhelm, and reminding us of the importance of clarifying our long-term goals and then setting aside the time to work towards them.  We need to “pay ourselves first,” finding the time to work on our own personal goals amidst all the demands of others. 

For instance, if tenure or promotion is your main long-term goal, then publications can’t keep being pushed aside by all the short-term demands of the day.  Rockquemore suggests starting every day with 30 minutes of writing, reserving that time before even looking at the day’s to-do list. 

Easier said than done, right?  But I would be interested in knowing what tricks you have developed for working on your long-term projects.  Any good time management tips you can share?