Speeches

Connecting: Why Universities Must Foster Engagement

As land-grant institutions, Penn State and Washington State have educated generations of leaders and been the source of some of the greatest achievements and discoveries of our time. In fact, sometimes it seems like we invented everything but the wheel and fire. Extension has played a pivotal role in these activities, and you have been on the front lines of improving the educational and economic opportunities for the people of Washington. Cooperative Extension at Washington State has been called "the front door to the University" because so often, the public's first interaction with our institutions is through cooperative extension programs. Your 10 learning centers across the state have made education more accessible, while your 39 county extension offices have brought research-based knowledge to the communities they serve. You are well-positioned to provide university-wide leadership for the inclusion of outreach in every area of Washington State University.

You are also no doubt aware of the challenges that now surround cooperative extension and institutions like Washington State. Universities across the nation find themselves facing growing financial pressures that are forcing them to consider new ways to cut costs or generate revenues. Federal funding for extension has remained flat and state funding, at least in Pennsylvania, has not been much better. A recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that some extension programs are charging user fees in order to continue serving their communities in a meaningful way. Forty states reported budget shortfalls reaching $40 billion in 2002, and prospects for 2003 look even more dismal.

Our programs are at risk, as is our heritage as the "public's universities" -- institutions that are accessible to students as well as our communities. A few years ago, the Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities took a critical look at how institutions were serving their communities and how they were dealing with the many challenges arising from advances in technology, demographic changes, globalization and a new digital economy. This group of 24 university presidents, of which I was a part, devised a blueprint for reconnecting our universities to the communities they serve. The result is a vision for "engagement" -- a concept that has rapidly gained enormous support. Engagement entails partnerships between universities and communities, government, business and industry and other educational institutions -- partnerships that allow us to not only share our knowledge with the public, but to also listen to our constituents as a way to help solve some of society's most pressing problems.

At Washington State, you are aware of the importance of stakeholder input as you continue to assess the needs and future direction of your College of Agriculture and Home Economics. But you are now ready to move beyond your traditional strongholds in those areas, to encourage the entire university to embrace the concept of engagement. This means tackling key issues facing our nation, such as workforce preparation, illness prevention, environmental concerns, and economic development, to name a few. The theme of this conference, "Strength from Within," could not be more appropriate. The work of extension and outreach is a large part of the Kellogg Commission's vision for a fully engaged university. Across the nation, extension boasts a workforce of 32,000 employees and 2.8 million volunteers linking the education and resources of our land-grant institutions. There is scarcely a sector of life that is not in some way touched by this endeavor. The partnerships you have already fostered with community members, particularly opinion leaders and decision makers, will go a long way toward helping Washington State University identify problems facing its communities. The grassroots network of specialists, volunteers and community is certainly a major strength.

Changes in technology, demographics, competition, and legislative expectations are all coming together to alter the way higher education operates. A report by the Council for Aid in Education said that assuming tuition increases no faster than inflation, by 2015, U.S. colleges and universities will fall $38 billion short of the annual budget they will need to educate the student population. In addition, our institutions find themselves in an evolving marketplace with changes in the traditional assumptions about higher education that include broad attacks on everything from tenure to increasing tuition to faculty workloads to the role of research to the place of affirmative action. And if that isn't enough to make you want to run, all of this occurs as we are being asked to educate more students more efficiently.

In the past 50 years, college attendance has ballooned from roughly 25 percent to 60 percent of each high school graduating class. It has been estimated that our nation must be prepared to educate 3.1 million more students by 2012 simply because of population growth. In just 10 years, enrollment in postsecondary institutions is expected to increase to 17.7 million, a 15 percent jump over 2000 figures. The nation's governors also believe that postsecondary institutions must educate more individuals across the lifespan. In a 1998 report by the Education Commission of the States, 97 percent of America's governors indicated that it was very important for institutions to encourage lifelong learning. Eighty-three percent said that institutions "must allow students to receive their education anytime and any place via technology." And those students are very diverse. In Washington, as in the rest of the nation, you are experiencing a rapid change in your population. Racial and ethnic diversity has grown notably, with Hispanics leading as your state's largest minority. In the U.S., college enrollment for minorities has jumped 48 percent since 1990.

Adult and part-time students have been the fastest growing segment of higher education enrollments. Almost half of all college students in the United States today-- 6.5 million -- are older than 25, and that number is expected to increase to 7.1 million by 2010.

Our institutions must reach out to include increasing numbers of non-traditional students who mix education and work. Almost 75 percent of undergraduates in the U.S. are considered "nontraditional" because of their age, enrollment status, or the fact that they are not supported by their parents.

This year, 2.2 million students are expected to enroll in distance learning courses, up from 710,000 in 1998, an annual growth rate of 33 percent. It is obvious that in order to truly be centers of lifelong learning, we must open up, through new technologies, to a broader audience.

It is new technologies that are, in large part, responsible for the massive transformation that society as a whole is experiencing on every level. It is reported that 500 million people around the world now have Internet access. As Internet users establish a distinct presence across virtually all age and gender lines, public higher education must seize the opportunity to provide online learning to reach these potential students where and when they are available to learn. This goal is in keeping with the rich tradition of extension services across the years, but adds a new delivery medium. Penn State recently conducted an electronic survey of land-grant universities and their use of information technology in their outreach efforts. Ninety-one percent of the respondents, who worked within the cooperative extension and continuing and distance education arenas, indicated that the Internet had definitely impacted the scope of programs within their institutions. They also reported that the most innovative uses of the Internet in outreach initiatives are in program delivery.

All of this change and the reluctance of some to recognize it reminds me of the story of Erasmus Wilson, a professor at Oxford University, who in 1878, following the Paris International Exhibition, predicted that when that World's Fair closed, "the electric light would close with it and no more will be heard of it." Just as some in higher education are certain that there is no urgency to answering the call for engagement, if higher education institutions are to remain centers of learning for the future, we must embrace change and exploit the countless opportunities it offers.

So what does it mean to be an engaged university? True engagement is something that must go beyond extension, conventional outreach and even most conceptions of public service. It will -- as George McDowell discussed yesterday -- involve support at all levels of the University and within the community. It must emphasize the integration of teaching, research, and service. For the Kellogg Commission, at the most fundamental level, true engagement meant three things:

• An engaged institution must be responsive to the needs of today's students and tomorrow's--not yesterday's.
• It will enrich student experiences by bringing research and engagement into the curriculum and offering practical opportunities for students to prepare for the world they will enter.
• And it will put knowledge and expertise to work on problems its communities face.

I am not one who believes that modern information technologies are going to displace resident instruction in institutions such as ours. But I believe that the most significant growth area in American higher education will be in distance and continuing education.

National statistics underscore the market for lifelong learning. They show that nearly half the adult population in our nation--some 76 million people--pursues some form of continuing education annually; 40 million participate in work-related courses; and 38 million participate for personal enrichment. Nearly 60 percent of these individuals have a college degree. Yet in a survey conducted for the Kellogg Commission, more than two-thirds of the higher education and political leaders who responded identified a long list of obstacles to supporting lifelong learning at public universities. These included skepticism about faculty members' expertise in teaching via distance education; the lack of a consumer-driven orientation to education; lack of incentives for faculty to integrate technological innovations into the curriculum; and limited institutional flexibility to bring about change. These obstacles also included a model of education that emphasizes teaching rather than learning; the lack of a student-centered orientation to education; an absence of faculty involved in programs emphasizing lifelong learning; limited professional development opportunities for faculty to enhance their use of technology for teaching and learning; and minimal financial support for curricular innovation.

Opening up our institutions to new audiences through technology, satellite locations, faculty development, flexibility in scheduling, simplified policies and procedures, expanded support services, and other such efforts is an important part of putting students first. Another characteristic of an engaged university is putting knowledge to work. Through our research capacity and the expertise of faculty, institutions such as ours have tremendous resources for enhancing the quality of life. This has been demonstrated time and again in the role of the nation's universities in promoting economic development through technology transfer. Our role in promoting human development also has contributed much to the health and well-being of people throughout the life course. Yet the needs of society remain great. Some potential areas for university engagement include issues related to education and the economy; agriculture and food; rural America, urban revitalization, and community development; health care; children, youth, and families; and the environment and natural resources. Despite our historic involvement in such areas, policy, practice, and perception often prevent universities from engaging. The academic culture tends to reward allegiance to a discipline, which deters faculty from a broader institutional agenda of outreach and engagement. Yet faculty involvement is absolutely essential in creating truly engaged institutions. It also discourages the interdisciplinary approaches that are necessary to solve the complex problems of our society.

I believe the best strategy for increased effectiveness on the part of our universities is to integrate our teaching, research and public service activities to reach out to communities. For too long, these three spheres of activity have been carried out independently and autonomously, with little regard for how they can inform and invigorate each other. For too long, the notion of public service by our institutions has not received proper acknowledgement as a critical component of higher education. Universities such as ours can no longer remain the sum of their discrete functions and parts because we are not impacting society as we should. Without impacting society in measurable ways, we can hardly expect that same society to value our role and sustain us.

The academic culture also tends to be a bit lofty, taking a top-down approach as if we hold the answers and are gracious enough to share them with the outside world. We have to be open to learning from and with our collaborators in the community. Engagement is an equal partnership that should impact the university as much as it impacts those outside the university.

Faculty, through extension, can and do take the lead in identifying and addressing challenges facing our communities. But moving from theory to action requires broad strategies to identify community needs, catalogue community resources, highlight academic strengths and capacities and coordinate the work of many individuals and groups -- frequently over long periods of time. This is no easy task and it takes ongoing dedication and leadership from the top, so that everyone is committed to the basic idea of engagement. Leadership is critical to helping reform the mindset that service is best left to the outreach arm of the institution.

Engaging with your communities means that institutions must create a broader and richer definition of scholarship. It means that engagement must become central to our mission and incorporated into every aspect of the university. It also means that the reward and benefits structure for faculty and staff must reflect the importance of service.

The Kellogg Commission has identified five strategies to make universities fully effective partners for the 21st century. First, institutional leaders must work to make engagement so much a priority that it becomes part of the core mission of the university. It must be reflected in the full range of activities, and in every endeavor. Second, specific engagement plans must be developed that recognize that this priority is not something separate and distinct but built into everything we do.

Third, interdisciplinary research, teaching, and learning must be encouraged as part of the engagement agenda.

Fourth, incentives must be developed to encourage faculty and student engagement. There are a number of dimensions here, among them promotion and tenure review, balancing individual faculty involvement with the collective contributions of a department, and even the role played by accrediting bodies and other external agencies.

Finally, secure funding streams must be sought to support engagement activities. Partnerships, fees, and internal allocations are all possibilities. The greatest promise seems to lie in developing new partnerships with public agencies and the private sector.

Because I am most familiar with what my own institution has done, I would like to briefly talk about how Penn State has begun to foster engagement across the University.

First, the outreach function has been strengthened by joining together our Cooperative Extension service with Continuing Education, Distance Education and Public Broadcasting. This move has enhanced coordination, participation and collaboration across the University. Through this system, more than 500 staff and more than 50,000 volunteers can reach constituents in all 67 counties of the state. Combined, these units serve more than 6 million Pennsylvanians.

We also have restructured our 24-campus system to be more responsive to the communities served by those campuses, offering more baccalaureate degrees to location-bound students. Working with educators and industry leaders in the community, we are addressing the needs of older students, displaced workers, or young people who may be candidates for dropping out of school.

Penn State's World Campus, our virtual university, was created to reach thousands of new students and serve as a platform for new technology-based models that can be applied throughout the University. Now in its fourth year of operation, the World Campus has developed 150 courses in 28 certificate and degree programs, and has 6,000 enrollments from all 50 states and 43 countries. We launched a new School of Information Sciences and Technology in 1999 to answer Pennsylvania's urgent need for professionals who could work within the new digital economy.

The Penn State faculty reward system has been restructured to encourage outreach in teaching, research, and service within the criteria for tenure and promotion. In addition, the University Faculty Senate has a standing Committee on Outreach that is responsible for identifying such efforts, establishing evaluation methods to ensure quality, and creating recognition measures to reward outstanding performance.

We also have created a University-wide Faculty Outreach Award and are implementing a new multidimensional model for the evaluation of outreach scholarship in teaching, research and service.

All of these initiatives merely lay the groundwork for future engagement. The success of our outreach efforts is tied to our ability to tailor services to the size, diversity and priorities of the community.

In closing, I'd like to say that engagement requires commitment, nurturing and leadership. This transformation will change our focus from teaching to learning, out of a concern for outcomes. Research will be part of a broader emphasis on scholarship that recognizes not just discovery but also the application and dissemination of knowledge so that we are truly economic engines for the state and nation. And the notion of service to society will be a guiding force for virtually every area of institutional endeavor -- not just extension. We have the "strength from within" to accomplish all of these things. We only need to tap into that potential and embrace these challenges.