2004 Convocation
August 25, 2004
Northern Michigan University

Dr. Leslie E. Wong
President

 

“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it” -- Aristotle

Many of you have lived and worked through, some might even say survived, many a president or two or three. Some of you may mark your NMU experiences either by your students or by the number of presidents you’ve outlived. I hope it is the former and not the latter. You are probably wondering, “okay, what’s the president going to say?” “What’s he going to promise?” You may even risk the thought, “what’s the guy’s vision?” but more importantly, “I hope this isn’t going to be too long”. My thoughts today will be mostly about context, spirit and appreciation. I hope to intrigue you with a few questions near the end, but mostly, I want to say that I am honored to be your president, and I look forward to being a good colleague. NMU is healthy, and it’s healthy because of each of you and the work you do to promote student success. You believe, you care and you work hard. I can’t ask for much more. Thank you!

The Context for Academic Year 2004-2005

During my explorations to learn as much about Northern Michigan University as I could, I have discovered this: Throughout its 105 year history, NMU has been a successful community of teachers and learners. NMU has met challenges head on and risen above them. Threats and challenges continue and luckily most of them are external. We don’t eat our young here and we do appreciate hard work. A campus doesn’t get to this point without hard working, high quality people. Northern owes a debt of gratitude to those of you here today and those who served the university in the past whose efforts have continually moved NMU forward through good and challenging times. Healthy and vibrant institutions survive despite, and in spite of, themselves. And Northern is healthy. Thirteenth in the top tier of masters level publics in the Midwest is a start! (US News). There is a spirit here which is uniquely NMU and one which we should not take for granted. I am intrigued by it and hope to learn and enjoy more of it as the year progresses. My worst sin may be to think that I can change it. Please keep me honest and remind me often if I’m tampering with values important to you and to the community.

Personally, I owe an enormous thank you to vice presidents Mike Roy and Fred Joyal. Their leadership last year has enabled me to join an institution that has no major problems other than the budgetary ones faced by almost all colleges and universities across the country today. So, thank you Mike and Fred. I look forward to working with you.

I also want to recognize the contributions of Northern’s past presidents, particularly those of the recent past – Bill Vandament, Judi Bailey and Mike Roy. I will not only reap the benefits of their work and decisions but I inherit a tradition of success where I can now promote NMU’s agenda with a style and vigor of my own. University presidents make choices every day that impact the people of their institutions. The goal, of course, is to make the right choices, not always the popular ones but the right ones that will best benefit the short- and long-term vitality of the university. More importantly, all of us in administration know that there is not a single thing we can accomplish alone. To believe so is the worst of vanities and the most dangerous of ideas. Everyone counts, everyone matters.

I am not comfortable with the notion of president-centric organizations, though I endorse the idea that an effective president is at the center of the consensus building process – a process that respects and honors shared governance, shared responsibility and academic freedom. These three principles are the fundamental principles that separate us from Tyco, Enron, and most of corporate America. Perhaps a future president, upon his or her first convocation speech, will look back and note how we achieved that new level of performance by the dignity, compassion and intensity of our work. So beyond my gratitude to Bill, Judi and Mike for their work at NMU, is my thanks to each employee who has kept the best interests of NMU above all other interests. I will try my best not to let this team down. Shared governance, shared responsibility and academic freedom will remain my guideposts as I learn the spirit of this place. The scholarship found in this community would have it no other way.

I know from my research of NMU, that shared governance is important to this community. It has been talked about a lot on this campus and yes, the notion of shared governance is a tense one given the budget challenges of the recent past. It is my responsibility to learn how NMU functions, set the tone and opportunity for you to engage those processes and to offer you the explanations and data which will shape our decisions. While every president cringes at the notion of dissent, let us not confuse nor commingle the notion of dissent with disloyalty. It is my job to persuade you to a position not lead you to it. It is my job to respect your input and the processes which channel it to me. Keep in mind, we are an organized campus. Let us respect the current processes and honor the purpose of those agreements.

Another strength of the university is the cross-campus knowledge and understanding of the university’s vision, mission and values found in “Shared Visions-Shared Expectations”. Northern is a university students choose because of our personal attention, quality academic and student programs, and high tech learning environment – or as so many of you have told me: high quality, high touch, high tech. I believe that having the campus so well attuned to the university’s vision was a benefit during the difficult budget-cutting process of the past two years. While I’m sure it did not ease the pain of the changes that were implemented, I hope it alleviated much of the confusion about the choices.

This vision – high quality, high touch, high tech – is our foundation, and it’s a firm one. It is what will continue to keep us grounded and to it we will return time and again as we begin our discussions about where next for Northern. Whatever our plans, over the next year, they will be measured by how they impact our ability to provide a high quality, high touch, high tech learning experience in an environment of mutual respect and high standards.

You’ll find me to be a person who is reflective, thoughtful, respectful and inquisitive. I admit, my thinking can even be edgy. After all, we all want to be out of the box. Maybe that will be the lasting legacy of our work together: creative, well thought out, edgy and effective teaching and learning in the 21 st century. Whether it is with a laptop, a textbook, a pencil, face to face, online (and hopefully with plenty of books!), it is high quality teaching and learning that defines us.

A brief comment about our students:

Today’s Northern students, faculty and staff enjoy access to some of the finest collegiate facilities in the Midwest, if not the nation, such as the Seaborg Science Complex, the renovated Thomas Fine Arts Building and C.B. Hedgcock. NMU students are known as being among the most technically well trained prospective employees in the United States because of our TLC program. And Northern continues to grow – in fact, is growing to record proportions – despite area demographic factors that suggest our enrollment might decline. Not only have we grown in size but we’ve improved academically with today’s student body having the highest academic credentials in university history. Let us hope that our students are also known for their humanitarian compassion and their ideals, and that they come to believe that because of their NMU education, they will make a difference in the lives of people around them.

Enough of context, let’s take a peek at what the year may hold for us.

Academic year 2004-2005

A number of people have offered me their thoughts and reflections on what this year should be about. One phrase in particular has struck a chord and I’d like to share this metaphor with you.

“The sailing ship may be safe in the harbor, but that’s not what she was built for.” Author unknown.

NMU is in many ways a fine sailing ship. Built well, sturdy and possessed with a proven track record. As this ship’s “captain” I have only come across the docks to take charge. I admire the ship’s lines as I walk its length. I kick the side panels, and like Captain Kirk and his Enterprise, I gently touch its keel. I can only sense what it can do. I am only just stepping aboard at this point; I’m not behind the wheel nor am I at the bridge. I know NMU only through a limited study, a still superficial reading of its documentation and a discussion with only a few mates. I need to learn more, learn more, and learn more. I have set an ambitious schedule of being present on campus, in the community, talking with you, both at your unit meetings even one-on- one. Please take the notion that you have to “train up” the new skipper as a sincere request. Remember my interviews: when you all asked me about “my vision”, I recall saying that the vision isn’t one for me to set and you to join. I am not and will not be the only person on this campus with vision and aspiration. It is my job to learn your aspirations and viewpoint. WE will set the course ahead and sail the course together.

What is this ship built for and what lies out on the sea? It is what every captain wonders.

In this case I ask, is Northern prepared for and capable of offering a Curriculum for the 21 st Century?

This may sound like a simple question but in discussion with the academic leadership, community leaders, and our Board we find ourselves in a special circumstance. While other campuses, notably Harvard, are embarking on this voyage, many of these campuses are forced into this discussion through budgetary distress, enrollment decline, and a desire to re-brand themselves in a new market. They are thinking of their curriculum because they have to. Such a demand isn’t conducive to creative thought because it sets forth a defensiveness between units and divisions, where many creative opportunities are lost.

Our enrollment, our relative budgetary stability, our facilities, but more importantly, the human talent and potential in place all suggest that we can embark on this discussion from a position of strength – a position that can define who we want to be in the competitive world of college enrollments free of the distressful elements mentioned above. So I’ve asked Dr. Joyal and the deans to lay a course of deliberate discussions, in and between units, in well identified venues where we can begin this important conversation. And one condition of this discussion is that we will refrain from decision making to the best of our ability. The purpose is to explore and examine the possibilities, to explore and examine what kind of curriculum will offer us the “superior edge”. And to explore and examine how each area of this campus, not just academics, may play a role in the creation of this curriculum. For example,

• How do we incorporate such important instructional initiatives like service learning, international education, interdisciplinary studies and other active learning modes into our curriculum without adding to the credit demands of the major?
• How can we bear fruit with a ramped up international education program if we fail to reach out to Native America and underserved adults who are our neighbors? It bothers me to reach for exotic lands when we cannot relate to the cultural traditions next door.
• In what ways can we provide the incentives to develop curriculum products and their delivery which exploit our technical environment and do not necessarily mean only online or distance education?
• How can we resolve the conundrum of high class enrollment, i.e. faculty workload and unleash sufficient time to focus on quality and innovation?
• Will we be the first to fully integrate academic and student support in a living-learning community? And Mike Roy and Carl Holm, hold on, would the answers to these questions impact our sense of architectural design for the planned residence hall renovations?
• What will be NMU’s “brand” when it comes to undergraduate research? Graduate research (whisper: doctoral programs)?
• Are Northern’s academic majors designed to meet the learning demands of our students in the worlds they choose to live and do they support the goals of the discipline? I know this is scary to some, but can we and should we change them if the data tell us to do so?
• How can Les offer you the excitement and time so that you feel engaged and invigorated by the opportunity this discussion offers? Keep in mind, one of the outcomes of this year of discussion may very well be to affirm what you are doing.

And if you are a department that’s ready to go- then do it! This discussion is not meant to postpone, delay or slow down innovations and changes that are ready.

Some of you are rightly thinking: isn’t this what AQIP is about (the Higher Learning Commission’s Academic Quality Improvement Program)? Well, maybe. But my sense is our discussion of a curriculum for the 21 st Century is much larger and more far reaching. It is also about what we want to be, more than how we want our work assessed by the accrediting agency. I don’t see these aims as contradictory and I hope we will find them complementary.

Believe me, there are many more questions on the agenda. We will try to shape them into meaningful chunks, small ones. But the most fundamental question is: are we positioning ourselves to possess and offer a curriculum for success in the 21 st Century. The ship is capable, let’s ascertain how far, how fast and the appropriate destination. The harbor is safe, but that’s not what the ship is for.

This ship will also engage a wonderful opportunity, if you may, a strong breeze and supportive current in another area. Let me offer an example of how this conversation can work when outside people get excited about the prospects of a good voyage. In the last capital campaign, an alum, Dr. John Beaumier, pledged over $1M to NMU. We have now received full payment on that pledge. The dream is to develop a Heritage Center honoring UP cultures and traditions. At this time there is no shape or form to this idea and that will be a task to accomplish during the fall semester. My thanks go to Russ Magnaghi, Virginia Zinser, Mike Roy and Phyllis Wong for bringing this gift to reality. We will keep you informed of our progress and we invite you to join us if your interests lie in this area.

So…….in keeping with the metaphor, what will fill the sails? What is the wind that will power us? One idea repeatedly comes to mind: academic scholarship. We will be celebrating the work of faculty, staff and students, but we will also celebrate “academic scholarship” and academic quality: the creation, pursuit and sustaining quality of ideas that will attract students, attract new scholars and re-invigorate us all. NMU has shown that any student, whether in a certificate, diploma or two-year program, a baccalaureate or a graduate program, athlete or not, artist or not, our students are capable and deserving of academic success through our work. We are a community of learners and thinkers and the role of teaching is part of us all regardless of our individual job title. I believe this community is more than capable of moving this ship where we want it to go at perhaps a speed that might even scare me. But our speed and our direction will be set by our commitment and celebration of effective teaching and learning.

Well designed ships with competent crews are limited only by the risks and opportunities taken. You don’t let a sailing sloop sit in the harbor, nor do you sail it at 10 knots and return home feeling good that you’ve raced the good race.

Let’s spend this year preparing for the big sail, a real adventure. We might find, come May, that we’ve traveled far and fast because we’ve taken advantage of the wind, letting it bring us to a new place without much thought or effort. That’s the kind of crew I find around me.

Thank you for inviting me to join the crew, err...join the NMU family. Have a terrific year. Please introduce yourself to me and Phyllis when you see us about campus or town. It will take me a while to get the names and faces lined up, but I will.

Let me close by saying, I take the notion of servant-leadership seriously. I look forward to working with you and for you....Insha’Allah.