Fall 2010 Higher Learning Commission Retreat
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Accomplishments & Challenges
I. Mission & Integrity
Accomplishments
Challenges
We provide food for the world- education, training
Mission is long- how well it change with K-State 2025. Land grant.
Climate Changing.
Building space, retention.
Retaining students & faculty, funding, "Shorten to knowledge to empower."
Communicating K-State's role in state's workforce development
Underfunded. Communicating how KSU differs from other institutions.
Too long. Diversity not inclusive
Retention. Funding.
People need to know the mission statement & what is on the University seal.
Many fac/staff do not fully understand nor embrace our mission.
Competitive recruitment. $ to draw students to KSU. Competitive with other programs.
Simple revision of mission (COE), do a good job in all areas
Mission updated in College of Engineering program
Culture of being able to work effectively together
Land grant = access of public to information, expertise generated at KSU
People care.
Revisited/updated mission and vision. Methods to address each aspect.
Research
Strong land grant mission. Summer MAPS
Knowledge to empower
DSP serves the historically underserved. Introduces undergrads to research. Encourages students to do
international service teams, travel.
New univ. administration/capacity building. Library: reorganization for better mission alignment
Transparency. Merging communication units.
Student involvement in financial and educational decisions.
Researching out to serve the whole university
Accomplishing our mission.
We are doing many things.
Mission documents are indeed readily available; mission has been recently updated, teaching, outreach
updated, teaching, outreach, land research, all in one place.
Visibility of purple pride
Infrastructure including: technology, financial/human resources, facilities, deferred maintenance, org
structure.
How to clearly articulate the way we succeed.
Tying the research, scholarship, & creative activities inside the mission. More implicit than explicit; need to
have mission come up with search of K-State web page.
Keeping the public's trust. Providing effective communications.
Organizing a very diverse operation (herding cats)
Mission statement is too long. Simplify.
Staffing limitations
Marketing the mission: put on homepage! Long mission statement. Where does research hit studentcentered mission? Mission statement is too long.
First CVM in the nation to provide a multicultural diversity course for veterinary students to get an appreciation Is the mission too broad to be easily understood? Can it even be found on the website?
for our diverse society and the diversity of their clients and faculty
Department mission is consistent with college and university mission
Articulating our mission.
Extension and research reaching all of the state
Transparency at the college level.
Res and Extension
Awareness of mission. Moving monies to our priorities.
K-State Research and Extension getting mission out to all people
Funding. Communicating our uniqueness. Rewarding accomplishments. Maintaining student engagement.
Professional ethics are taught and protected in courses
We are achieving our mission
Integrate department program mission with campus mission. Needing to be more than athletes.
Guest speakers volunteer their time, we hope its sustainable.
Make it short and memorable
Most don't know what the mission and motto say
Do people know mission statement? Many people do not know what is on university seal (Taylor's
presentation)
Budget challenges making everyone aware of our mission
Articulating what we do is terms of our mission. Resources and Diversity
The mission involves so many things and that we can be and do all things for everyone. To be able to do this
takes lots of resources.
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II. Preparing for the Future
Accomplishments
Challenges
Delivery Modes
Strategic Plan, new administration
COE strategic plan for expansion
2025
Strategic plan. Interdisciplinary research.
Feedback on/with 2025 Focus Groups
Started initiatives in the College of Business to enhance distinctive competence.
UG students engage in research
Delivery modes
Tuition costs, more space for educating engineering students ($$), faculty salaries.
Funding for needed building space. Maintaining tuition costs, new faculty salaries & raises.
Staying in the Big 12
Determining optimal number of students in graduate program based on funding source
Funding. Make sure all colleges are recognized
Funding to expand facilities. Keep tuition costs low.
Don't forget the personal touch on customer service with technology (Audix or computer automated systems
answering phones vs. a real person)
Need to strengthen support for Univ. Honors Program
Most go to graduate or professional schools or to jobs in their field. Many travel abroad, learn language.
Significant increase in international undergraduate students enrolled and leaving (graduating).
Learning opportunities for staff & families.
Growing assessment programs/culture
Publicizing 2025
Students engage in design projects they must synthesize knowledge from a variety of sources and they apply in
their projects.
Foundation Drive- focus on non-traditional revenue streams
Outside revenue. Non-traditional methods.
Building strong team of writers and designers who can promote the university.
Vision 2025 has potential, but not yet reality.
Articulating a 2025 plan.
Getting costly, open enrollment of low ACT. Retention.
Need more faculty. Student participation in research (2, 3, & 4) + internships
Prep for GRE, MCAT, etc. Knowledge of process. $, staff
Under-resourced getting buy-in for 2025
Diversity/Dual Career. Student/faculty/staff recruitment and retention
Update department documents to include undergraduate research engagement.
2025 is a good plan
Strategic plan- focusing on what we do best, building large faculty collaborations. K-State feeds the world.
Responding to shifting emphases.
No clear budgetary priorities, budget is our strategic plan.
Difficulty assessing the resources to accomplish the 2025 goal.
Research, infrastructure, teaching.
Researching top 50 states in 15 years. Communicating achievements.
Low faculty salaries. Low grad student stipends. Low faculty number.
Faculty salaries.
Increase volume- research, enrollment, fundraising. Also increase value-product can justify raising price.
Technology and beginning to address how impacts education
2025 plan is a good plan but, there is a mindset of being resource poor & actual resources do not match
reality.
CVM restructured the veterinary curriculum to provide more flexibility for students to choose elective courses Building space, funding, start-up costs for new faculty.
that allow them to form an area of interest or areas new to them
update and revise strategic plan for our department
Same. Keeping up with change.
Focus 2025- setting goals for the next 15 years
Convince students that what they are learning is important
Vision 2025 and involvement of shared governance
Concentrate on getting the word out on getting internships from campus resources. Telling meaningful
stories
Vision 2025 looking at what is ahead
Information structure to support the expanding curriculum and needs of students
Focus 2025
Need to do a better job on assessing SLOs. Attracting and retaining the best faculty and staff
Meet with advisory board to discover what types of thinking will be needed in future. Ahead of technology in Don't lose one-on-one customer service to technology. Do we meet the needs of non-traditional students?
field
Via technology?
2025 plan sounds great
Is K-State prepared to provide higher education to a changing student dynamic. Are traditional students
becoming more non-traditional?
Culture to work together such as the targeted excellence.
How do we teach students in the future?
Involving the whole K-state community in focusing on the future through communication
Resources. Need 250 more faculty to compare with the peer institutions we are being ranked alongside for
this goal. Department heads now expected to do fundraising ( in addition to administration, teaching and
research). Are they trained/effective in this? Is this the best use of our time and talents? Telling a persuasive
story of what a research university is.
Finding a balance- recognized for all our talents. Appropriate communication. Coordination. Rewards
matching goals. Unclassified promotions. Resource allocation- flexible- measurement piece and
communicating the results.
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III. Student Learning & Effective Teaching
Accomplishments
Challenges
Our value system, our context & student success, program impacts, gather data & tell story
Good ABET process/full accreditation for all Eng. Programs
Ability of research experiences for undergraduates, classified staff learning opportunities
Need to focus message on faculty accomplishment
Employers like our students
Improved assessment processes. Summer MAPS
MAP-Works- A student survey that helps determine what students are at risk of leaving K-State & provides a
portal for faculty & staff coordination of intervention & referral.
Truman & Rhodes finalists. Teach for America.
Learn to interact with faculty & experts in their field. Applied learning/classroom re-affirm each other.
Research projects and enhanced learning opportunities.
PILOTS Program, Developing Scholars, Honors program
K-State online- user centered
KSOL
K-State first. Undergraduate research.
One-on-one student-faculty interactions. Student participation in research. Student success after graduationgrad school, med school.
College of Ag international study trips.
Multiple national and international student design awards.
National Awards for Teaching Faculty. K-State Book Network (KSBN).
Plentiful hands-on opportunities for students.
Elaborate assessment plan.
Student research.
Culture of working together. Learning opportunities for classified staff.
Telling our story, focus on scholarship & teaching, hiding our light under the burial basket
Retention of students. Funding for faculty salaries, new faculty salaries.
Helping students see how curriculum is connected to their future
Losing K-State ethics or key faculty & leader retire
Quality of mentoring (varies significantly by discipline & faculty)
Maintaining effective teaching while more & more emphasis on research & grants placed
K-State 8 is a sloppy fix to UGE. K-State 8 Assessment.
Strong assessment and steps for improvement.
Utilize One 45 web based assessment software to measure/evaluate student learning outcomes of senior
veterinary students
Curricula revised with input from (sic). 100% placement at starting salaries
Retention.
Need a math dept. that is more engaged in UG education (like physics).
Need a stronger welcoming environment for enrollment by having appropriate open class sections.
Need to improve recognition & P/T for great educators.
Enough faculty to mentor. Faculty trained to be mentors
Infrastructure resources
Measuring if/how K-State First is working
Maintaining student research opportunities as number of majors increases.
Classified facilities, not enough, out of date. People are stretched thin to serve all students.
Heavy teaching loads inhibit teaching performance.
Increasing the value of effective teaching (reward structure)
Increase efficiency- cut waste. Taxpayers- "What's in it for me?" Value.
Our charge is to offer professional services to the university, not educate students.
Has become a 500 pound gorilla that is thought of as just another burden by faculty. They shirk it and shortcut it wherever possible.
Monies for students (GA's, TA's, etc.)
Retaining students. Keeping education affordable.
Availability of resources for professional/ graduate students. To enhance student learning- e.g. learning
specialists
Many scholars and people to help students get scholarships. Exceptional teachers making information relevant Focus on how to help every student succeed even when the have different abilities
and meaningful
Students can receive an exceptional education for the price. Tuition assistance for all employees was good
Are we focusing our limited resources where it is needed most? Someone needs to make tough choices. Can
we really be all things to all people?
Number of scholarship recipients. International opportunities
Faculty who know how to teach and advise all students. Cost of K-State
learning outcomes are stated in syllabus. Internships required, capstone studio, non-thesis in grad program
Non-traditional learning through technology. Combine technology and in class teaching so can have a
personal touch and the technology
Spectacular teachers, innovative and effective classroom experiences
Assessment of value to students for 5+ years, learning experience is almost ready for test distribution
Resources
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IV. Acquisition, Discovery, and Application of Knowledge
Accomplishments
Challenges
Leadership academics, meeting needs discovery-application
Communicating value & basic research to public.
Students at KSU involved in discovery and application of knowledge, not just passive learners in a classroom. Engaging students in research while striving to be top 50 research institutions.
Research funding up
Benefits to classified employees has increased knowledge. Staff support to keep the place running and great
customer service for faculty & students.
Student participation in research. Teaching Assistant Professor.
Starting our 11th year of undergrad research for students of color and/or 1st generation college students.
Do less
K-REX (K-state Research Exchange). New Prairie Press.
Increased research funding.
Each student must participate in a research methods course, a capstone course and a thesis project.
Students working in faculty labs or on faculty research.
Staying ongaurd of trends and communication methods.
With genetics and genomics, world's focus is here, grads on every major faculty worldwide in this areaBikrahm Gill, et al.
We are doing a lot of important research including undergrad student research.
Support for creative discovery among faculty.
For a small department (15 full time faculty), we have a very active undergraduate research program. Over the
past 5 years, 95 UG students were on poster presentations at national meetings.
Faculty research
Silos- We tend to shift the burden- We need more process thinking internally & externally.
Need more funding
Attracting industry to Manhattan
Cultural differences between departments towards research, IE grad students in the sciences assist
professors' research but in the arts they can't assist research, must do their own.
Funds. Staff
Infrastructure. Value creative-scholarship
Communicating how this helps Kansas/world.
Shortage of money for the acquisition of equipment and resources to enhance student performance.
Infrastructure needs.
We are a professional services unit rather than an academic unit.
Everything in the Research task force report; need for culture change.
It is not highlighted among our accomplishments (research). Develop students' own agenda.
Sharing how we promote & collect our research.
Providing the basic tools for research (sustaining infrastructure).
Maintaining this in face of increasing research emphasis. Not enough faculty to do it all. Research,
institutional and service
Student participation in research, internships
Had to cut 3 faculty positions in FY10 budget, cut which limits our future opportunities
Increased extramural support for research and outreach
Making research a priority, grants bring in funding
National recognition of ways to improve life and sharing that info.
More international outreach, will that be beneficial? Are we using our relationship with Ft. Riley to its
highest potential?
Increase to tuition assistance to employees and their dependents is very positive, would like to see 100% tuition More leadership opportunities are needed for classified employees. More recognition of how classified
paid to compensate for below-average salaries, needed for recruitment.
employees affect the campus.
Tuition credit assistance for employees as well as spouse and dependents
Resources
Practical application in all studios and many lecture course- particular strength. Professionals who lead
companies and organizations. Required study abroad
Books, articles, original research by faculty. Student research and publications. Global connections (all criteria)
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V. Engagement & Service
Accomplishments
Challenges
Welcome, great programs, need to serve clientele
NSF Grant to assist veterans obtain engineering degrees
K-State feeds the world
Extension. Centers.
Engineering has very strong support from alums & constituents. Great career fairs.
Members of the greater Kansas community feel an investment in K-State. This is illustrated through my
experience working at the KS State Fair.
Students are engaged in research. Also do community service
All university campaign. International Student Program. Opportunity to study abroad.
Close ties with community and military.
Multiple service learning projects. Engagement with professionals in many courses, particular in the design
studies. Many guest lectures.
Acknowledgement of scholarship
What's in it for the community value- communicate that
Don’t tell our story/successes enough
Diversity
Strengthen Industrial partnerships.
Real valuing of diversity. Fund-raising
International Service Teams.
Helping with projects that promote the university internationally.
K-State feeds the world, culture that encourages collaboration.
Extension system
Engagement at all levels through class projects.
We have interesting outputs in extension (research, publications, etc.)
Very involved with our industry stakeholders. International group projects. Distance education programs
Making students the focus, without the students we are nothing
We have a strong res and extension area. K-State encourages a strong shared governance program and
campus/community service
National recognition of our faculty and staff. Involvement of faculty and staff in national groups
Sponsored studies working on projects locally and out of state producing different results than the profession
Role in workforce development
Making Kansas/world aware of those accomplishments.
The college of Ag/K-State Research & Extension have been in engaged in multicultural summer research
program to increase recruitment of under-represented students to graduate school, then on to faculty
positions. The challenge is resourcing and growing this effort.
Maintaining funding to keep this mission alive.
Main campus not well-versed in how extension benefits all. Do we promote our product?
Valuing and supporting diversity.
Take advantage of opportunities with limited available resources
Make sure we give a personal service to every person
Shared governance is good and needed; however, it can slow down decision making process in a rapidly
changing environment/world. It has its place, but can hinder an organization.
Serving constitutes not only at K-State but the whole state
Not step over the line of professional services. Dissolving silos and encouraging rewards
Resources
Internships
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