EXPANDING ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE + ANTHONY J. DIEKEMA + President Calvin College My task is a challenging one, indeed. Since we all have definitions of academic excellence, let me simply place on the table a series of challenges with which we must grapple if we are to expand academic excellence in postsecondary education as we know it today. This topic, "Expanding Academic Excellence," carries with it the inherent assumptions that we (a) know what academic excellence really is, (b) have already attained a certain level of it, and (c) value it enough as a society to make its expansion a financial and philosophical priority. Volumes have been written about the definition of this elusive concept and its essential components. Indeed, even now the debate rages on over the extent to which our society has the will to support this endeavor in either K-12 or higher education. In this nation and society, excellence must be defined not as some monolithic concept in a context of homogeneity, but rather as a dynamic and pluralistic concept in the context of diversity. That diversity is the hallmark of American higher education. Some of us represent independent (or private) nonprofit colleges and universities-some with intensive liberal arts missions, some with high technology programs, some with business administration or allied health 1 foci, and some with comprehensive university identities. Others represent public universities with a broad range of curriculum emphases-some regional in identity, some large nationally recognized research institutions. Yet others represent community colleges with a host of general educational transfer and career preparation programs. And some represent proprietary schools with their more specific __________ Based on a speech delivered to the Michigan State Board of Education Issues Conference, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, March 5, 1990. trade foci. Some of us are affiliated with churches or have religious roots; others are not and do not. Some of us are urban institutions; others operate in rural or suburban settings around the state. We range in size from 400 to 40,000 students. But all of us are part of the grand mosaic called Michigan postsecondary education. We celebrate that diversity, and in so doing we celebrate a great strength. So that you know "from whence I speak" within such diversity, Calvin College is a relatively large (4,300 students) independent Christian college with an extensive and intensive liberal arts curriculum as well as teacher education, nursing, engineering, and business administration programs. Our focus is primarily undergraduate. Our students are primarily residential, and largely traditional- 18- to 24-years old and full-time. The college is sponsored by the Christian Reformed Church of North America, and we have cherished that relationship for 114 years. In the academic parlance of our day, our programs would 2 also be described as "traditional"-classic liberal arts education with some integrated expansion into professional programs. But in higher education today, we are increasingly drawing a dichotomy between traditional and nontraditional institutions. And in the pursuit of excellence, each "type" of institution has something to offer to the other "type." Those of us from traditional institutions need to be increasingly responsive to the changing needs and demographics of society, and to be cognizant of career and professional relevancies while remaining faithful to our fundamental academic missions. And nontraditional institutions need to preserve a general education foundation and liberal arts exposure while effectively serving the needs of their students. All of us are grappling with the challenge to expand academic excellence in the context of our individual institutions and particular constituencies. The correct equation needed to spark the flame of excellence in learning will obviously vary from college to college. The measurement of excellence may also vary somewhat from campus to campus and, indeed, from time to time. Clearly, for each of us, expanding academic excellence is a journey, not a destination. But there are, I believe, some challenges common to all of us in expanding the horizons of what we know as academic excellence. Before talking about specific challenges, the overarching (and sobering) question which we should first 3 ask is whether excellence is even accepted as a value of high priority in our society today. In popular books we read about the "commitment to excellence" and a "search" or "passion" for excellence. But one of our former president colleagues here in Michigan sees a disturbing trend in our society. He talks of the danger of a "Tyranny of Mediocrity" in this nation. And there may be something to that. Throughout our society there is a tendency to be satisfied with lower standards (as reflected perhaps in diminished global competitiveness). We are too often content with "average" (except perhaps in our athletic arenas). Entering college freshmen with the same grade point averages are less adequately prepared and skilled for college than their predecessors of a generation ago. Many college students are satisfied with less than their best. Of course, excellence does not come easy. Nor is it cheap, in either human or monetary resources. Individually and institutionally, it requires sacrifice, dedication, and discipline. The overarching question, then, is whether and how we can inspire our institutions and our society to make that commitment and sacrifice. Society still looks to higher education with residual respect. Louis Harris' Inside America contains a revealing trend analysis on public confidence in fifteen major American institutions according to his polling from 1966 to 1986. The good news is that in 1986 colleges were identified as the second most respected of the institutions, 4 behind only the military and ahead of the Supreme Court, media, religion, government, and other institutions. The bad news is that the percentage of the population expressing confidence in colleges declined from 60% in 1966 to less than 40% in 1986. Still, we must seek to inspire a desire for excellence-in our students, in our faculty, in our alumni, and in our society. Having recently been charged publicly as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, permit me to set forth a series of challenges in the context of what we might call the Four Horsemen of Higher Education. I am persuaded that we need to harness and channel these "horsemen" if we are to expand academic excellence. The first of the Four Horsemen is our shifting student body. Michigan colleges and universities currently enroll approximately 550,000 students. After all is said and done, our students-young or old, black or white, traditional or first generation-are our raison d'être. And the ultimate tests of excellence are to be found in our students-those who graduated and those who did not. Increasingly, we face the challenge of simply maintaining excellence (or basic academic quality) in dealing with the entering student body. Speaking quite frankly, many students coming out of a growing number of our high schools (both rural and urban), some with very respectable GPAs, are not adequately prepared for college. Astounding as this would have seemed some years ago, an 5 increasing number of high school graduates with a 3.0 grade point average are not ready for college. This imposes on colleges an unnatural and expensive burden which many of us are not very well equipped to handle-teaching students basic academic skills in preparation for college when they are already in college. One solution most of us have had to adopt to varying degrees is remedial courses and remediation programs. So that the rising educational aspirations of today's young people are not completely dashed, we must continue with these stopgap measures. But we must also, as colleges and college leaders, involve ourselves directly in support of the effort to resolve and reform the crisis in K-12 education. As colleges, particularly those with teacher education programs, we should be a resource and partner with elementary and secondary education. Yet I am struck by the preoccupation-at the recent National Governor's Association meeting-with K-12 educational problems and reform and scarcely a mention of higher education as a potential partner in that process. Whether or not we agree with him, our colleague John Silber at Boston University has stepped out boldly in this area. What can and could we be doing to expand the academic excellence of our entering students before we get them. Expanding academic excellence, from the perspective of our students, also means making higher education a realistic option for minority, disadvantaged, handicapped, and first 6 generation college students. In a very real sense, in order to be truly excellent, higher education in this nation must become truly egalitarian. It means identifying and eliminating barriers to excellence for populations historically underrepresented in college. It means incorporating and enhancing a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural sensitivity in our college curricula and communities. And particularly for independent colleges where tuition must cover 75% or more of the cost of educating a student, it means a heavy emphasis on student financial aid from a variety of sources. We are deeply grateful for the commitment of our state and Congressional leadership to student financial aid programs extending college access and choice to needy and disadvantaged students. But that commitment also needs to be greatly enhanced. According to the annual ACE survey of college freshmen, 98% enter with the aspiration of a degree, but only 40-60% of those who matriculate actually graduate. While much has been written regarding the reasons for dropping out, stopping out, or reaching academic goals short of a degree; we need to do a better job of "nurturing" students once on campus if the goal of expanding academic excellence is to be realized for the maximum number of students. Students often leave because they do not identify with their campus, do not feel a part of the academic community. While part of this retention problem may be due to a poor initial admissions 7 "fit," the answer may also be a longer and more comprehensive "academic integration process." This academic "gestation period" may need to include an ongoing program of support, counseling and advising to help students better identify with the college or university of which they are now a "family member." This nurturing support system should be provided in concert with whatever academic remediation is determined to be necessary for student performance in the classroom. Such a support system may be difficult, especially for commuter campuses, but it must be explored creatively. The second of the Four Horsemen of Higher Education is our faculty, which may occasionally seem like a bucking bronco. That is, they often tend to think otherwise. But the faculty is really the lifeblood of our educational enterprise. In computer parlance, the faculty and curriculum are our essential and critical "software" placed in the "hardware" of our facilities and institutional infrastructures. Excellence requires faculty who are more than lecturers. The unique dynamic of the higher learning process is found in the spark that ignites the relationship between faculty and students, fanning the flames of academic achievement. Somehow faculty members, particularly our new generation of professors, must be inspired to be mentors and models to students in and beyond the classroom. Simple access to faculty-including senior faculty-is so vitally 8 important to students. Ernest Boyer's Carnegie Foundation book, College: The Undergraduate Experience, calls for faculty members to be mentors as well as scholars. Yet that study found that 50% of American undergraduate students felt that their college simply treated them as "numbers in a book." I dare say that each of us would quickly name several professors whose guidance and mentoring were instrumental to our educational careers. But as the demographics change, our faculty face new challenges and obstacles to delivering personalized education and mentoring to a changing and more transient student body. Greater institutional accommodation, recognition and reward for mentoring and advisement of students are surely part of the answer. For those of us in smaller, independent colleges specializing in undergraduate instruction, a personalized approach to higher learning is easier. But it is a responsibility with which we all must struggle. Faculty development and diversification is also a key factor in expanding academic excellence. The Carnegie Foundation report also noted that: Increasingly, faculty burnout is being talked about in higher education. The undergraduate college, which depends so much on vitality in the classroom, must be served by faculty members who can be renewed throughout their careers. And yet we found that such an obvious and important practice as setting aside a portion of the budget for faculty development is rare. We strongly recommend that every college commit itself to the professional growth of all faculty and provide them with opportunities to stay intellectually alive. . . . A variety of incentives will be needed. 9 There is little doubt that we shall face an increasingly competitive cycle in recruiting and retaining excellent faculty, particularly with the "graying" of our current professoriat. The cycle is a bit like the little fish who is eaten by the big fish who is eaten by the bigger fish. In the private colleges, where our average faculty salaries are substantially below the public sector, we lose some of our young, bright professors to the public universities (and to the corporate world). And our public universities lose some of their best faculty to universities in other states and to corporations which are able to offer them substantially higher salaries. We are fortunate, indeed, to retain so many fine professors who are sacrificially dedicated to higher education and to the missions of our colleges and universities here in Michigan. But we also struggle with an increasingly competitive market for faculty within and without academe. A cornerstone to assessing the state of the faculty and curriculum lies with some sort of evaluation system on campus. Before academic excellence can be enhanced, campus leadership must have an understanding of the level at which faculty are operating in terms of their academic skills, their degree of motivation, and their commitment to comprehensive student development. We need to strive for more definitive faculty evaluation systems. But we all know it is far easier said than done. The National Institute of Education, in the report 10 Involvement in Learning: Realizing the Potential of American Higher Education, suggested that such evaluations include ". . . digging below the level of course syllabi to analyze what students are learning. It means studying the different modes of instruction to determine what each accomplishes. It means using the literature on student learning and development to inform changes in the context and delivery of the curriculum." But one cautionary note should also be sounded. Conventional wisdom in our society seeks a quick and easy way to quantify the outcome of the collegiate process, to provide some type of "quality control" on the product. Academic excellence cannot be fully captured on, or confined to, the scale of some standardized exam. So beware of the "quick fix" approach that the standardized test zealots propose. Such tests are simply tools in the assessment process, not goals in and of themselves. So armed with an assessment plan, a college can move forward with creative ways to build upon the skill levels present, to improve faculty motivation, and to encourage in them a caring and nurturing attitude. Even small improvements in these critical areas go a long way toward expanding the level of academic excellence found on an individual campus. The third Horseman of Higher Education in quest of excellence is our physical facility, the hardware of the enterprise. Public and independent institutions have been 11 put on the defensive today about rising tuitions and related educational costs. We all wrestle each year with limited revenues to maintain and expand quality while preserving access and choice for students from all backgrounds. But being competitive-by attempting properly to compensate our faculty, by catching up on too-long deferred infrastructure maintenance, and by keeping current in basic instructional equipment-is a very costly proposition, indeed. Especially computers and scientific instructional equipment-absolutely essential to even a quality undergraduate education these days-are extraordinarily expensive. And the basic requirements in educational equipment and technology change rapidly, almost monthly. Burt Nanus in his latest book, The Leader's Edge, shares this telling incident: On my first day in engineering school in 1953, a professor advised entering freshmen to buy the very best slide rule we could afford. "After all," he said sagely, "you will be dependent on it all your professional life." I thought of his advice the other day when I came across my slide rule among some old papers in the garage. It was in beautiful condition, having been in its case since the day I graduated in 1957 and went on to MIT to learn about computers. Frankly, we need the help of our friends in government leadership. Some models are already present which help support equipment acquisitions and facility modernization for college campuses. Examples are the Perkins Vocational Education Act, the FIPSE Facilities Grants, the recently funded NSF Academic Research Facilities Modernization program, the Michigan Research Excellence Fund, and the 12 Michigan Higher Educational Facilities Authority. Creative programs such as these should be continued as priorities to assist public and private colleges and universities in modernizing and upgrading their learning facilities and hardware. Particularly in the private sector we must rely heavily on philanthropic organizations and charitable contributions for this purpose. Recent Kresge Foundation initiatives have been very encouraging. Congressional restoration of the tax exclusion of gifts of appreciated property to nonprofit organizations from the alternative minimum tax would also be a substantive (as well as symbolic) boost to such efforts. The final fourth Horseman of Higher Education is more intangible-the integration and cohesiveness of our educational mission. Clearly defined, understood and integrated institutional missions are necessary to coalesce the various individual components of our campuses into a system of educational excellence-to elevate the transmission of mere knowledge to the realization of wisdom and justice. As Michael Polonyi reminded us in The Tacit Dimensions over twenty years ago, academics are part of "overlapping neighborhoods." To the extent that the curriculum is reduced to a number of isolated specialties and disciplines which students select in a cafeteria style, the overall purpose of a broad-based education is greatly diminished. Students should be exposed, even in business and professional programs (and I think this is a strength of our 13 independent colleges specializing in business and technology), to history, literature, culture, and ethics. Clearly, the strength and reach of an individual's vision is a reflection of his or her breadth of knowledge and depth of experience. A disturbing trend that we observe among college students today is an increasing preoccupation with material goods-with capturing economic gains and the fruits of the good life. It is a single-minded focus on professional advancement and success. I applaud the seriousness and business-like approach of many of today's students. But all of us, public and private institutions alike, grapple with the integration of values in higher education. It is a grave disservice to believe that education must be (indeed, can be) conveyed in a "valueless atmosphere." For some of us in independent colleges, we have the freedom to include the integration of fundamental religious and moral values. It's foundational. The State Board of Education's Report . . . On Goal 4 of the State Plan for Higher Education includes this statement: "The distinctiveness of many of these (independent) institutions today is found in their solid commitment to a religious and ethical value system compatible not only with America's democratic institutions but contributing to the strength of the American system." But there are general values which all of us, public and private, need (and are attempting) to raise in the 14 higher education process. Ethical values. Integrity. Social conscience. Commitment to excellence. A sense of justice. Compassion for the less fortunate. Public service and volunteerism. Celebration of heritage. As Dr. Boyer writes: What the college confronts today is the need to make choices, to decide not only what each department stands for but what it stands for as an institution. The danger is that in a bid for survival, colleges will offer narrow skills training with a cafeteria of courses devoid of deeper meaning. If the college experience is to be worthwhile, there must be intellectual and social values that its members hold in common even as there must be room for private preferences. Finally, then, harnessing and directing these Four Horsemen of Higher Education will require visionary presidential, trustee, and public policy leadership. It is essential. In their bestseller, Leaders: Strategies for Taking Charge, Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus draw a distinction between mere managers, who do things right-and leaders, who also do the right thing. May we together have the wisdom to do the right things right in expanding academic excellence in the months and years ahead. 15