Valpo Strategic Plan

[usc4valpo]

I would strongly assume some of the engineering professors will do contract work in industry during the summer.

[usc4valpo]

So according to vu84v2, after factoring relative things in, Valpo professor compensation is as low as the 30 percent below the norm.  This was a very interesting discussion.

It also seems to me that the college of engineering have their act together which makes me proud. 

[VULB#62]

SC, yes, contract work should be a staple, and that can be the case with most disciplines (for example, Doris Kerns Goodwin in history) once a person has developed (see David's and Diaspora's comments below) the bona fides to warrant such additional work. For its own sake, the university should be encouraging, facilitating and promoting this.

I consulted in a different world (IT financial controls and IT security), but it comes down to:  credentials/presentation/performance + proper exposure (publications/conferences/symposia/seminars) + focused, targeted audience + confidence (balls) = contract. That contract then begets subsequent contracts.

Many of the top level profs (the old farts 😀) have earned that opportunity over time. But the disparity is at the lower levels where the bona fides and exposure have yet to develop. It takes time and experience which, in a nurturing environment can produce some great results. But I am hearing here that such nurturing at Valpo is shrinking (caveat - I may be misreading posts here) due to tough financial conditions, ergo, a downward spiral might be developing.

[VULB#62]

Is this a good question to ponder?  What is the proper/optimum ratio of administrators to instructional staff at effectively operating universities? 

And where does Valpo fall on the continuum?  In the middle would be great.

[vu84v2]

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to educate us outsiders about roles, responsibilities, and time commitments. Clearly, the workload is greater than I had ever considered. If I may, let me respectfully ask I final question to help me fully appreciate what you are saying. Anytime I drive through campus in the summer, it looks like a ghost town. What are faculty members doing behind the scenes over that "silent" period, when I don't see any students?

My answer to this is similar to the other answers. With powerful personal computers and the internet, most faculty do research work from home or in another location. Unlike 15-20 years ago, I can access all research in the history of my field via Google Scholar and a series of subscriptions. I have powerful data gathering and statistics tools on my personal computers. Additionally, much of the work a researcher does is in solitude (regardless of where they are). I can write in my home office, a coffee shop, at a hotel while traveling on vacation, or anyplace else. I do work with co-authors, but while some are at my university a majority of them are at other universities around the US. Personally, I do like to go into the office some anyway...but it is certainly not required.

To be fully honest, there are people in academia who abuse this freedom. This is the exception, but it is not extremely rare (I should note that from the comments of other academics on this forum, I doubt that any of them abuse this freedom). Once a professor has tenure, they cannot be fired for not doing (and publishing) research - though they likely will get their teaching load increased. Like most workplace environments, academia is not perfect.

[vu84v2]

So according to vu84v2, after factoring relative things in, Valpo professor compensation is as low as the 30 percent below the norm.  This was a very interesting discussion.

It also seems to me that the college of engineering have their act together which makes me proud. 

Yes, and part of what has historically made the College of Engineering well-liked too on campus is that they don't usually go around thumping their chests or making fun of the other disciplines or reveling in other's suffering. obviously there are going to be some engineering students or instructors or alumni with the 'we're better than you' assholery. But that's not the norm, and one thing that gives hope for Valpo is that the provost is from Engineering but he doesn't denigrate and actually may have greater than average respect for the other divisions. When it was time for a new provost and the competition was Kilpinen (Arts and Sciences) vs Johnson (Engineering), i heard thee entire College of Arts and Sciences voted for Johnson/Engineering, giving him a total landslide... for artsci had basically sunk into depressed dysfunction under fifteen years of derision and undermining from their own dean and were not happy about it; whereas ironically the engineering dean had more than a modicum of undersatnding about what the liberal arts and sciences are. This doesn't mean Johnson will be able to hold it all together in these tough times. as provost, he is probably surrounded by about two dozen non-academic administrators who have never taught a single class session and are totally clueless about what faculty even do and therefore will keep throwing grenades in places they've never looked. But a decent provost in the mix means something at least. Haven't met him... but if its true he is a teacher and a thoughtful person, that's one possibly functional figure on the leadership chessboard that the university still has going for it. At the very least, he will understand these connections between teaching, course/student load, pay,incentives, the costs of turnover and the importance of long-term program cultivation that we're talking about here 

valpo22. I have been involved, in varying ways, with the College of Engineering for decades. I have had some minimal interactions with Provost Johnson and have previously worked with the current Dean (Doug Tougaw). I am very glad to have you say that the Engineering Dean recognizes the importance of Arts and Sciences...because everyone that I have known in the College of Engineering believes that is true. Most of us engineering graduates benefitted greatly from the complementary arts and science courses that we took (note here that I first met usc4valpo in a philosophy class and the most valuable class I took at Valpo for my subsequent first career was a theology class).

[David81]

To be fully honest, there are people in academia who abuse this freedom. This is the exception, but it is not extremely rare (I should note that from the comments of other academics on this forum, I doubt that any of them abuse this freedom). Once a professor has tenure, they cannot be fired for not doing (and publishing) research - though they likely will get their teaching load increased. Like most workplace environments, academia is not perfect.

Indeed, though in a distinct minority (in my observation), some tenured faculty just phone it in after getting tenure. They do just enough work, and kiss just enough **s, to keep their jobs. Usually, as VU84 suggests, the productivity deficiencies manifest in a lack of scholarship, after doing just enough to make it over the tenure line. But sometimes the teaching settles into a sort of just-good-enough mediocrity as well.

I will add, though, that given the heavy teaching loads at VU, maintaining sustained scholarly productivity is very hard for most faculty, absent superhuman effort and efficiency. Learning that VU continues to heap these teaching loads on even its entering faculty has been a revelation to me. It is to their enormous credit that some of the junior profs who received layoff notices generated sufficient bodies of work across the board to land new tenure-track positions elsewhere, in some cases at more prestigious schools offering higher salaries and lighter teaching loads.

[historyman]

Also, with its success, could the college of engineering share any practices or pearls of wisdom with the rest of the university which may help them get up to speed?

sure.... 'don't treat your people like crap.' generally a good rule of thumb , no?

From what I hear from their drivers there couldn't be a worse company than Uber. Their drivers disparage that company more than any other employees but they just love complaining and their passengers are the ones they really like complaining to.

[usc4valpo]

22 and 84v2: I want to be clear that a liberal arts education is very important in engineering as it makes you more well rounded and enables you to be a better collaborator to solve problems. I see this with my co-workers and interns I work with. I may sound wacked out and what else is new, but a Valpo education with enhanced communication and writing skills  also enables holistic thinking in innovation and product development.


That philosophy class with vu84v2 (logic?) was excellent and influenced my writing and critical thinking skills. I forgot who the professor was but he was very interesting. The geography classes, especially with Ferencz Kallay instructing who was phenomenal, really opened up my views on things. I actually thought about a minor in geography, but I had no time.


Regarding theology, I had mixed thoughts. I did not grow up as a Lutheran and a regular church goer.  The intro class was pretty good. The second class was painful and uninspiring,  especially with the 18 hour heavy course load with Calc 3,  Intro to electricity and magnetism, Chem and engineering dynamics.  This is blasphemy to some, I would require one theology class for engineering and maybe 2 for other majors. Use the extra 3 hours to take an arts/humanities/sciences class - wow, a intro to meteorology or a history class would have been cool!

[valpofb16]

High tuition , underpaid faculty, outdated facilities (sans 3 buildings)

We should really audit who made what and who was on pay roll in the 2010s.

Something isn't adding up.

[usc4valpo]

Too gratuitous financial aid packages

[David81]

High tuition , underpaid faculty, outdated facilities (sans 3 buildings)

We should really audit who made what and who was on pay roll in the 2010s.

Something isn't adding up.

Good questions...and I'll speculate:

Low faculty pay has always been an issue at VU. Alas, it appears to be part of its business model. Nothin' different during the 10s.

Look at debt service on newer buildings and rate of new administrative hires.

Was higher tuition used to bump up gift aid?

[David81]

valpo22. I have been involved, in varying ways, with the College of Engineering for decades. I have had some minimal interactions with Provost Johnson and have previously worked with the current Dean (Doug Tougaw). I am very glad to have you say that the Engineering Dean recognizes the importance of Arts and Sciences...because everyone that I have known in the College of Engineering believes that is true. Most of us engineering graduates benefitted greatly from the complementary arts and science courses that we took (note here that I first met usc4valpo in a philosophy class and the most valuable class I took at Valpo for my subsequent first career was a theology class).

This reinforces my earlier point that the professional and liberal arts "sides" of the university need each other to maintain part of VU's essential balance, rather than squaring off versus each other. For individual students, it may be an integrated blend of courses, or perhaps it looks like a compartmentalized TV dinner, or maybe it's just a sampling.

Whereas some might perceive the duality as a weakness of identity, the "comprehensive" university model sees the duality AS the identity.

BTW, these liberal arts vs. professions debates have been going on for centuries, tracing back to the origins of "modern" European universities: The liberal arts on one end, and law/theology/medicine on the other. (Yeah, theo was in the professional column back then!) So our digital exchanges here have been continuing a conversation that has crossed the centuries.

[wh]

I appreciate the frustration of feeling undervalued, and wanting to vent about it. If nothing else, it's good for the soul. You almost always feel better—and "lighter"—after sharing some perceived threat, indignity, misfortune, or injustice.

Beyond its cleansing effect, I'm left wondering what the connection is to the larger issue of Valparaiso University losing money and struggling to survive. Under those circumstances, I would expect there would be force reductions, as well as pay and benefit cuts. That may sound heartless to some, but true heartlessness is a leader that doesn't have the intestinal fortitude to lighten a sinking ship to keep it afloat before everyone on board dies.

With changing demographics in the 18-22 age group, and the national debate surrounding student debt, I expect a long, bumpy ride to recovery. Current employees have 2 choices - ride it out or find another job in a declining market where none of the competition is in hiring mode.

[David81]

I appreciate the frustration of feeling undervalued, and wanting to vent about it. If nothing else, it's good for the soul. You almost always feel better—and "lighter"—after sharing some perceived threat, indignity, misfortune, or injustice.

Beyond its cleansing effect, I'm left wondering what the connection is to the larger issue of Valparaiso University losing money and struggling to survive. Under those circumstances, I would expect there would be force reductions, as well as pay and benefit cuts. That may sound heartless to some, but true heartlessness is a leader that doesn't have the intestinal fortitude to lighten a sinking ship to keep it afloat before everyone on board dies.

With changing demographics in the 18-22 age group, and the national debate surrounding student debt, I expect a long, bumpy ride to recovery. Current employees have 2 choices - ride it out or find another job in a declining market where none of the competition is in hiring mode.

Yup, the demographics are shifting, and money is still an issue. A major wild card, based on discussions here, is whether VU can be doing a much better job at marketing itself to prospective applicants. The advantage of being a smaller school is that you don't have to dominate the market, you just have to attract a larger share of it and, perhaps, expand your reach a bit, to where you're attracting a larger group of students who can thrive at the University.

I've poked around VU's website, for example, and it doesn't quite sell the school for me. And, frankly, "where passion meets purpose" sounds safe and superficial to me. So maybe there's a way of expanding the pie.

[crusadermoe]

Good point.  There isn't one magic bullet. There are several facets.

What has to frustrate our for-profit business friends on this board as much as it does me is that you can really only mark revenue changes every 12 months and you can't rush enrollment income any faster. And a small class stays in your revenue stream as a dominant piece of revenue shortfall for four full years. You don't get to rinse out your losses for a one year cycle and start over.  In terms of the tuition revenue, it's a battleship not a speedboat. 

One more revenue stream I asked about in the campaign thread is the endowment.  Hopefully that keeps steady or increasing.

[wh]

That may sound heartless to some, but true heartlessness is a leader that doesn't have the intestinal fortitude to lighten a sinking ship to keep it afloat before everyone on board dies.

I hear ya, wh. The prospect of the sinking ship IS clearly serious, and the captain needs to do what he can to lighten it while the crew members need to look seriously at finding raftboats before they're sucked under. both those movements are happening

but i just don't understand why, if on some level the goal is to try to save the boat and get it to shore, there's not more concern about the falling retention rate -- which is not unrelated to all these problems of program cuts, faculty turnover, confusion in programs due to lack of continuity, etc. Now with the retention rate falling down to 77%,  that means nearly 1 out of 4 students who initially commit to the university leave before they finish their degree or pay the expected years of tuition. that is a pretty big hole in the bottom of the boat. why is VU not more concerned about this? for all the talk about college experience as the businesses's 'product,' you'd think VU would care more about so many students trying the product and returning it to the store as not worth it! The student dissatisfaction and transfer rate makes me worry about a death spiral as much as the enrollment drops do. i don't know for sure, but it seems from long-term community members and from you all here on this board was that Valpo was a much better experience for students in decades or centuries past?

Edit: I am not trying to bash VU, but to ask about the sincerity of trying to save VU if all the bets are on 'build it and they will come' and not much on 'keep the ones we have'. We are missing major dollars off in both areas that would be helpful for long-term survival, and maybe ValpoU's responsibility should even be slightly slanted towards those students we already have and are  be failing (??) more than prospectives who are real mystery boxes, in terms of whether they will stay for a semester, or two years, or four years...

You are 100% correct.  The road to sustainability will be determined by revenue generation. Cutting expenses is a necessary stop-gap measure to buy more time, but that's all it is.

[valpofb16]

retention rate is easy to identify the problems

1. Freshman dorms outdated by roughly 40 years to the state schools

2. Student life is absolutely laughable compared to state schools

3. Sophomores don't want to live in dry dorms again

4. Valpo isn't pay for credit hour flat fee

In conclusion, this world is very connected now, if students see their companions having a much better experience at a state school for sometimes 1/2 the cost. It's a no brainer.

Also it's not like Valpo grads guaranty a job ,  Valpo grads on average make 55k/year coming out. Can do that at a state school without crippling themselves


I personally think this is a much larger issue than any faculty , paintings , facilities etc etc. if butts aren't being put in the seats to keep the doors open then who cares about the rest.

[VULB#62]

Fb16 just made a key point. Most of this dialogue is happening at a generation or more above the students who are the point of all this.

Duh, these kids communicate differently from most of us here. They network faster and plainer than most of us. Good stuff gets passed fast.  Bad stuff faster. And sad to say, much of it's about the superficialities.  "My dorm room has A/C; Mine doesn't."  "I can work out in my dorm workout space downstairs; I have to go across campus to a cramped converted dorm to get on a treadmill and there are no showers."  "Every dorm here has both fast food and full cafeteria choices; there are only a couple of places to get a full meal on campus."

How do you adjust to that dynamic?  First you query and listen closely to the students.  You find ways to provide what is missing to the best of your budget and ability. You find other ways to get your students to start sending out good things texts.

My question, however, is whether students are also texting about the education they are receiving?  Remember: Good= fast. Bad = faster.  Gotta do that too.

Logic would assume good things + good things  = customer (student) satisfaction. And isn't what we are talking about ensuring and improving customer satisfaction?  Customer satisfaction, value for the buck, and a great emotional experience = student retention, great word of mouth, improved enrollment.

Choir dismissed.

[usc4valpo]

62 - this goes back to the residential facility upgrades and the potential art sale.

In reality - selling art sucks. What is the most appropriate action Valpo can take? What will suck less? Yes, the creative writing major can partake in the conversation, perhaps in collaboration with an opposing view from Gellersen. Bring the popcorn.

[valpofb16]

Tbh I don't think a dorm renovation will fix anything. Beacon Memorial opened and enrollment went down 30% since its opening.

Valpo needs a full on makeover on how it's student body operates in order to survive.

There is not even a place for parents to stay over with their kids for homecoming , graduation, etc. minus the lone holiday inn.

Valpo has gotten worlds behind in several factors from the 3 state schools and Butler/Notre Dame just here in Indiana.

Proof is in the pudding. And I'm not being doom and gloom. But when I see old timers arguing about keeping artwork vs progress. Or when the proposed progress doesn't really fix anything. Im not hopeful at all.

Just drove by Saint Joes in Rensselaer ironically. Similar infrastructure. On pace for same results.

[usc4valpo]

Valpo has a healthy endowment however compared to St. Joe's, for which is a bad comparison.

One way or another, Valpo's gotta do the right thing for sustainability in the near and long term. Selling artwork is a band aid to the longer issue, although I think it's the right decision as well as getting a new basketball coach if you want to really be D1.

[valpofb16]

Valpo 22, I disagree as I'd imagine 95% of the student body knows they have a division 1 basketball team.

Not really sure what dropping to D3 would do for school. Roughly 45 more kids pay tuition?

Football just received 450k to play New Mexico State. I'd imagine non conference looks similar in at least basketball

[usc4valpo]

I hate to stay D1 if Valpo commits and accepts being a product with the recent apathy and sub mediocrity. Paying out Lottich is crumbs compared to the big picture.

[Pgmado]

Good point about the social media making it very clear what sort of experience people at other institutions are having. Had not thought of that as a game changer, but it's probable true for both students and staff

As someone on the front lines of all this, I can absolutely state this is a huge part of everything that is happening.