Scott Talentino

Dr. Peter Garland

EDUC 607

Dear Dean Wayland,

I have recently come across your message. As a consultant with close ties to the

university focusing on the prestige of our brand and the health of our college, I wholeheartedly

agree with the idea to expand our programs. We need to emphasize to President Collins the

revenue-generating aspects of our programs, and the vital role in community outreach we have

established for the community at both the collegiate and high school levels. I propose that we

show the history of our programs and the 5.5 million dollars our department has generated over

the past 3 years. Furthermore, we must focus on ways in which we can reach out to a wider,

more diverse array of students. I do recognize the reality of the financial situation that we now

face no only for the College of Continuing Education but for the university as a whole. In order

to address this dynamic situation, I suggest a three-pronged approach that can be summed up by

the words vision, fundraising, and diversity.

The first part of this approach that I want to address is the idea of a vision. We must have

a vision for our programs and an enduring vision for the community. Even with the proposed

budget cuts on the table, expanding our programs is the only way to retain our positive image in

the community while also continuing to provide services for the regional community around our

campus. Furthermore, our outreach extends to students at both the university and high school

level, illustrating a responsibility to both older and the new rising generations.

We must focus on the vision of our school and college, as said by Jeffrey L. Buller

(2007), “Being known for your vision. This entails constantly seeing beyond what is, to

imagining what could be. As the campus visionary, you would be the person who always thinks
in terms of larger possibilities and future directions. Good vision is, of course, not wholly

divorced from practicality, so you will need to amass a certain amount of evidentiary support for

the vision that you promote. For instance, based on the demographics of your region or

enrollment trends at peer institutions, you could be the person who posi­tions your institution to

be ahead of the curve when those new develop­ments arise. Students' need for specific services,

their attraction to particular majors, and their relationships both with the institution and with their

par­ents change over time. As a visionary leader, you might be the person who is aware of how

each new generation of students will differ from its prede­cessors and who can help your

institution prepare for those changes” (267). We have established ourselves as an entrepreneurial

college that can help secure the financial future, general welfare, and stability of both local and

far-flung communities that are connected to our student body.

In addition, as part of our vision, I would like to promote intercollegiate cooperation

between the different colleges on campus. I believe this can be an effective tool to help advance

our mission on campus while also finding approval with the President. According to Buller

(2007), “Building partnerships with other colleges can be an extremely effective way both of

helping your own unit achieve its goals and of developing an entirely new culture at an

institution. Because resources are limited, presidents and boards look favorably on proposals that

benefit more than one segment of an institution”, he follows up with some examples of possible

programs that could be implemented, “ there are themes that transcend the individual

programs...[they]can range from something as simple as a lecture series or single team-taught

course to something as ambitious as a new center, program, or endowed professorship” (269)

The College of Continuing Education can find new ways to reach out to other colleges on
campus to further promote our name while strengthening our bonds to both other departments

and the community

As a further part of this vision, I would propose a hybrid model of education. A series of

case studies from the Christensen Institute (DeRuy & National Journal) have shown that Hybrid

education has been able to assist students from diverse cultural backgrounds, such as from

African American and Latino communities, do better at school testing go up, scoring 18 percent

higher in reading and 7 percent higher math compared to traditional school settings, this

including students who are English language learners (paras. 6-8). This utilization of hybrid

programs can create a sense of flexibility and hope for divers types of students and learners.

Such developments can show that we are at the cutting edge of educational learning even

in these uncertain times, and promote trust and credibility in our brand. Our vision must also

entail the ability to adapt and adequately address whatever challenges may come our way.

Constant innovation is a path to success.

The second factor I would like to discuss is fundraising. In order to balance our budget

and protect our finances, while simultaneously preserving the prestige of our image, we must

fundraise. Many of the numerical figures and dollar signs tied to the expenditures that one sees

on our accounts can be alleviated to some extent by donors, not to mention the pool of alumni

that can give back to the university. These sentiments were eloquently expressed by Dean

Rosovsky (1991) when he illustrated the fact that “Rich or poor, public or private, college or

university-there is never enough money to go around. Annual giving, capi­tal campaigns, alumni

relations, donor cultivation, are ac­tivities subsumed under the euphemism "development." They

are all about money and become second nature for administrators. Nearly all of us could or

should be able to deliver a polished appeal for nearly any activity in our schools two minutes
after being awakened without warning at 3:00 A.M….Asking for money is an excellent way to

test the free mar­ket, a most effective method of surveying the feelings and priorities of any

constituency. "Development" is a form of education for the giver and receiver. Making the case

and convincing a potential donor of its validity is healthy for all concerned.” (255-256).

There are multiple paths that can lead to balancing our budget and promoting healthy

finances on the campus. With the positive record and image that we have established in the

community and the general public as a whole, we must prioritize constant fundraising for our

department and a way that has hitherto not been done. This may involve stepping out of our

comfort zone and allowing ourselves to be vulnerable. If we embrace this is something that can

truly become a blessing to our college.

Finally, I would like to focus on the issue of diversity. We need to promote a diverse

student body to further strengthen our ties to the community and our community to the financial

health of our college. Unfortunately, the university system in the United States is slow to adapt,

and in the words of Clayton Christensen (2017), “American higher education—albeit the envy of

the world—is mired in an expensive and outdated delivery model, one that prevents huge swaths

of our population from taking advantage of the knowledge and expertise harbored by our nation’s

colleges and universities.” (Introduction). Clearly we can embrace new styles and methods to

further diversify our student body and embolden our commitment to social impact.

It has been shown in the publication Scientific American (Phillips 2014) that “Research

on large, innovative organizations has shown repeatedly that this is the case. For example,

business professors Cristian Deszö of the University of Maryland and David Gaddis Ross of the

University of Florida studied the effect of gender diversity on the top firms in Standard & Poor’s

Composite 1500 list, a group designed to reflect the overall U.S. equity market. First, they
examined the size and gender composition of firms’ top management teams from 1992 through

2006. Then they looked at the financial performance of the firms. In their words, they found that,

on average, “female representation in top management leads to an increase of $42 million in firm

value.” They also measured the firms’ “innovation intensity” through the ratio of research and

development expenses to assets. They found that companies that prioritized innovation saw

greater financial gains when women were part of the top leadership ranks.” (paragraph 5).

Utilizing our outreach programs and longstanding ties to the surrounding community, we

should develop an outreach program for future female business leaders. President Collins in her

inaugural address herself said, “Summit University's fiscal strength is built on an entrepreneurial

ethos that has consistently enabled us to do a great deal with modest resources. But we also have

a responsibility to redouble our historic commitment to a broader public purpose. A university

must actively assume its social responsibility-not merely to prepare workers but be an agent of

constructive societal change”. Ramping up programs that can attract more female students will

promote such constructive social change while reinforcing our commitment to the world of

entrepreneurship.

I would like to finish by stating that this approach focused on a vision, fundraising, and

diversity is an approach and goal that we can all start contributing to on an individual level,

through finding different ways to give back to the university and the community. We must go

forward with our plans to expand our programs and the outreach of our college. Cutting back and

slashing programs is not the only solution to times of financial woes and dire straits, we have

other methods and opportunities at our fingertips if only we will use them. We must focus on our

vision, our fundraising, and the opportunities that will open up through a more diverse body of

individuals.
 Works Cited

Buller, J. L. (2007). The Essential Academic Dean: A Practical Guide to College

Leadership by Jeffrey L. Buller (2007–11-09). Jossey-Bass.

Christensen, C. (2017, May 31). How to Manage the Disruption of Higher

Education* | Forum for the Future of Higher Education. Forum for the Future of

Higher Education | A Community of Academic Leaders and Scholars Who

Explore New Thinking and Ideas in Higher Education.

http://forum.mit.edu/articles/how-to-manage-the-disruption-of-higher-educati

on/

DeRuy, E. & National Journal. (2015, September 23). New Data Backs Blended

Learning. The Atlantic.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/09/new-data-backs-blended

-learning/432894/

Phillips, K. W. (2014, October 1). How Diversity Makes Us Smarter. Scientific

American.https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-diversity-makes-us-

smarter/?error=cookies_not_supported&code=c869ee41-9dcf-4178-9986-b0d8

a2192aa3

Rosovsky, H. (1991). The University: An Owner’s Manual (1st ed.). W. W. Norton

& Company.