@rezynezy I never took a statistics class in college at Valpo or USC, and in reality, statistics education and those bogus formulas was never truly necessary in an engineering curriculum.
I took probabaily. Random theory and estimation theory at USC which was awesome.
We need to get true estimates the long term savings would be cutting these majors.
but again, why is bagging a German major so devastating? Tradition? I can hear the first major song in Fiddler on the Roof in my head…
Tech they do. Figured engineering was in the same boat.
Not necessarily @rezynezy , it depends on the statistics class.
With consideration of long term, Valpo needs to decide which majors should be provided. They also need to cut majors and not be diluted given the projected declining enrollment. Whatever decisions they make, there will be pissed off folks and some pain level to adjust.
The problem is that for every faculty member that the uni hires and then abruptly turns around and cuts pre-tenure, they're deeply connected to about 4 other universities and 6 national professional associations and weakly connected to 20 or 30 others. There are still a lot of VU folk who imagine that Valpo is a 'regional' school and that staff and students just exist on campus. But when it comes to reputation and student recruitment issues today, there is no such thing as 'regional', nor are program cuts just a sort of limited operational 'campus' decision. Issues are always national and ripple much faster than 10 or 15 years ago, since students, parents, faculty, previous doctoral advisors, dissertation committee members from fourth- and fifth- party institutions, and previous classmates are all STAYING in touch with each other via social media... And all those people are talking to their nieces and nephews about college decisions.
I suspect much of VU's struggle over this last 15-20 years has been an utter unability or refusal to understand the national ecosystem of higher ed after the rise of the internet.
...You really only get to shape ONE script in our Google/Facebook/Twitter world.
Yes, for all the criticisms directed at members of the VU community for publicly challenging the art sale decision, this kind of informal, networked damage to VU's reputation may be more costly, painting a picture -- fair or not -- of a university where tenure-track and tenured status may not mean much in terms of job security. VU is far from the only university of its general class facing such challenges, but that reality doesn't help when it comes to possibly being spared from such exchanges and conversations.
It means, among other things, that new and experienced faculty alike are more likely to keep their eyes out for hiring announcements from other schools and that trusted advisors at doctoral institutions may advise their mentees to avoid VU unless their choices are slim. It's also the kind of vibe that can affect how faculty fill out rankings questionnaires.
VUIndiana and David81 make some very valid points, though I will add that much of the reputational damage would be by College (or even subgroupings within the College). Assuming this is only taking place in liberal arts, the reputational damage is much less in engineering, nursing, business, etc...and may even be much less in the hard sciences. The exception to my point is the rankings questionnaires...I think David81 is spot on with his point there.
Mayb I am misreading the points from VUIndiana, but is Valpo actually eliminating tenured positions in a field and then hiring new tenure-track assistant professors in the same field?
The numbers (students applying for and enrolling) for a math major should drive whether that major is continued, but I have a different perspective on math as a major. Some majors are foundational, meaning that you have a better chance of leveraging the skills and abilities into other fields than other majors. I believe that math is one such major, as it can be leveraged into many quantitative areas. If you gain the "chops" and credibility in a quantitative area, it can open a variety of doors for you.
In regards to saving on course materials (and equipment, etc.), there is not much to be saved (or gained from sale) unless the major requires a lot of higher cost equipment to support teaching (such as engineering and nursing). I did not see any such majors or minors in the list of programs to be discontinued.
My nephew was a math major at Valpo and then went on to medical school at Northwestern. Now a practicing pediatrician in the DC area.
First, I would say this to anyone...if you know someone who is interested in studying engineering at Valpo, please have them contact Doug Tougaw who is the Dean of the College of Engineering. There is no better sincere advocate for what the College of Engineering is all about.
I do not know about engineering at Brown or UC-Berkeley, but the other three are outstanding engineering schools. The difference with Valpo is there is much more of a personal connection between engineering faculty and students and, since Valpo does not have graduate studies in engineering, students get priority access to equipment associated with their field. For someone like me who lacked maturity when I was 18 or 19 years old, this made all of the difference. Many years ago, I was accepted with scholarships to two of the schools you list and I know that I would have flunked out if I had gone to either of those schools. The faculty at Valpo didn't make it easier (nor should they), but they stayed committed to me and worked with me...and that has made all the difference in my career. It sounds like the friend's kid is more mature than I was and would probably do well at any of these schools...and indeed I hope he is doing well.
I can see your points on the quality of liberal arts making a difference, but my guess is that engineers at the schools you list take large sections (60+ students) for liberal arts classes. Thus, you could argue that a reduced variety of liberal arts classes reduces an advantage that Valpo may have had versus other universities.
To your points on hiring, it does sound like Valpo has not done sufficient forecasting when making hiring decisions. Further, I see your point that layoffs create angst - universities need to accurately forecast (without excessive/unrealistically optimistic assumptions) when developing staffing plans for each department or discipline. Continuously being reactive does substantial harm. I am hopeful that they have done this in developing which majors/minors are being eliminated (as well as considering where growth opportunities may lie).
To me it seems like Padilla has hired people who are taking those courses of action. In my opinion, previous admins have just hired "yes men" to surround themselves with. Padilla has ideas for the school, ideas that could potentially turn around the academic and athletic woes we see today. However, ideas mean nothing when you don't have people who know the logistics of carrying out those ideas and the long term effects those ideas could have. The law school blunder, and the blunder of not capitalizing on sports success in the early 2000s being blunders that could have been avoided if administration and the assembly had been cooperating. Quite a deal of mistrust between the faculty and the admins which has been displayed vehemently on this board in recent months, has largely been a cause of higher ups surrounding themselves with these "yes men". I feel as if recent actions made particularly on the athletics side have proven to display a shift in the overall tone of the administration and their mindset. The main blunder I can see that the athletics side has seen is the resignation of Small as the AD and the softball coach blunder. The softball coach blunder is quite significant as this blunder was quite avoidable if someone had called some people at Akron who had similar experiences in terms of poor player treatment. In light of this, I do believe Hosmer has the capabilities to be a full time AD and even expect her to be offered the AD position in the coming months. Her business mind is one that is quite useful for the current situation.
I have also seen a shift in the tone regarding the city of Valparaiso as well. Previous administrations seemed quite "Holier than thou" with the city even going as far as to openly insult the school cooperation when they said no to using the Aquatic Center funds for an aquatic center on university property rather than the current aquatic center of the VAC. Now the school is heavily involved in community efforts with events being held downtown and volunteer work being undertaken by Powell and his camp in partnership with the school corporation. Media wins are needed badly and these charity efforts are certainly welcome media wins. The Powell hire in it of itself is a massive step taken by this new administration. Ultimately Powell came back because he wanted to come home, but I think his return to Valpo is an attempt to reach out an olive branch to the alumni in these trying times in addition to Powell just being a good coach and a smart athletic mind. Quoting Schwieger they had just 6 guys at the last summer workouts, now they have an entire team which has been shown to be quite the familial bunch. Half time events such as the Ben Franklin middle school 6th grade basketball scrimmage I officiated for the Ill St game were occurrences which had been previously not undertaken to my knowledge. Regardless of the teams success this season. There seems to be a lot more support for the Brown and Gold brought back. Support which is needed if the school is to justify the undertaking of the arena in the coming years. A project which in it of itself is to employ smart budget practices of shared spaces between the basketball and football complexes.
One other step in the right direction is a framework for what needs to be done in the Uplift Valpo plan. Having this framework accessible to the public eyes, and donor eyes. Frameworks like put the idea of a well thought out plan in peoples minds and entices them to want to donate. Hires such as the former CEO of One Region are also steps taken to get the right minds into the school. Foster-Bruns was specifically hired with the Uplift plan in mind. Her resume of Business, outreach, and Alumni relations is quite extensive as well as her success with the One Region.
Is all this a certainty, of course not, but it is seeming less and less likely that the school is on the brink of closure and that there is a legitimate plan in mind with people who are more than capable of enacting said plan
This is worth a watch. Creative stuff!
It seems like Valpo is going for "accessibility" as their x-factor. Aside from engineering and nursing that is. Ultimately this is a really good move. Makes you more enticing to the greater NWI area outside of Valpo and Crown Point.
From the video that VU72 posted, I really like the small-group, cohort-style organization of this Access College. I think it's a very promising and genuinely student-centered approach to creating a two-year on ramp to a four-year degree or employment opportunities.
If it becomes a pipeline to VU bachelor's degree programs, then all the better. But I see this as an end in itself in terms of what it can do for these kids.
This Associated Press piece, "US colleges are cutting majors and slashing programs" further confirms that VU is hardly alone in contemplating and making cuts.
https://apnews.com/article/college-degree-programs-cuts-music-f0c271f6d61a13404f93688fcc6c589b
@david81 and yet people only see valpo as in trouble for some reason. I was on reddit yesterday and appariently they claim that VU has the worst environment in the state if Indiana. The reasons given were the article about cutting majors. Valpo just leaves a bad taste in people's mouth and it's up to the current admin to change that.
Have long stayed silent on this thread because I've always felt there's just so much going on behind the scenes that we don't know about and that ultimately, I trust Padilla to steer the university right. Does that mean I've agreed with all of his decisions? No, but again, I assume he has info and skills in these areas that I do not.
Today, however, I'm doubting that faith. Just a few minutes ago I received an email I'm assuming many of you have as well, from Jill Schur, VP of Enrollment & Marketing with the subject title "Your Opinion Matters" asking me to take a branding survey for Vu. I don't have any illusions that this stuff is taken too seriously but I was still excited that they were at least asking. After several years of declining enrollment, negative headlines, and faculty infighting, they were at least asking for some opinions.
Then I checked the box for "Alumni graduated before 2013" and the next page said "Sorry, you do not qualify to take this survey. Thank you for your time."
Are you f*$%ing kidding me?
You want to discount or ignore our opinions? Fine. Do it in private, like you clearly did for the mascot change. To openly give a middle finger to anyone who hasn't taken a course in the last 10 years is a pretty bold strategy. I graduated in '00, have lived 17 of my 24 years since living in or around Valpo. I've participated in job fairs, hired students as interns, and guest lectured in the business school. And I know at least half the regulars on this board are even more deeply involved than I am, and I'm pretty pissed off right now.
But the real danger for Valpo isn't my, or anyone else's, anger. It's what comes after: Apathy.
But then again, It's clear my opinion doesn't matter.
