Ingram's October 2022

CAMPUS INNOVATION

The Bioscience & Technology Business Center at the University of Kansas

standardized in academia for couple hundred years. Does it still make sense?” At Kansas State University in Manhat tan, Richard Linton took the reins as presi dent this past summer, and was immediately thrust into the challenge: Enrollment there is down 20 percent over the past eight years. “This requires a whole new pro grammatic revamp, including better out- reach, better engagement, better tea- chers, counselors, and prospective stu- dents,” he said. “We’re developing dif- ferent means of communication to at- tract funding with intentional philanthropy. We have pretty robust scholarship programs that are all new in the last several months, and one of those is the tuition-free, land grant promise, aimed at select counties, that are financial need-based. I think that is the right thing to do.” Second on the list, he said, was address ing an aggregate $450 million bill to rem edy deferred maintenance. “And that’s low compared to other institutions in the state,” Linton said. “We have a strategic plan for those buildings that can be renovated that should at some point be taken down, and also requirements for new innovative space. You have to balance between new, reno vated and smart space so you can rethink and reimagine your facilities.” For Spittal at MidAmerica Nazarene, the broad challenges will require a laser focus on strengthening the fundamen tals of the college. “MNU will focus on new growth initiatives as a primary prior ity, debt reduction, use of technology and efficiency of operations that will produce quality programs and services and long term financial stability,” Spittal said. Demographics are driving change, he said: “The coming significant decline in the high-school population will challenge all institutions large and small for the next 20 years. Demographic decline nationally will vary from region to region, but location near a major metropolitan area may be a benefit.” A great concern, he said, is the dramatic change in student enrollments in social ser vices, teacher education, ministry and other non-STEM areas of study. But he believes that “independent institutions have the great est opportunity to be nimble and respond rapidly to the changes in market, work-force needs and trends related to student choice.” Michelle Myers, provost at Park Uni-

versity, pointed out the immutable ties between campus innovations and revenue generation. “For example, the expectation would be that if we meet students’ demands for flexibility and accessibility, such initia tives would lead to increased enrollments,” she said. “Many of Park’s strategic initiatives are subjected to return on investment exercis es to ensure the feasibility of the investment.” Smaller private colleges, she said, must defend their liberal-arts mission. “I tend to believe in the common assump tion that private liberal-arts institutions with fewer than 1,000 enrolled students are in the most danger from the enrollment trends, and that many of them will close in the next de cade,” Myers said. “Larger private institutions must commit to addressing the declines not by shifting investments to more profession-al programs, but by re-investing in the liberal arts generally (not just the social sciences, but the humanities as well). If all institutions sim ply chase enrollments in business, education and technology, this will be detrimental for both higher education and society generally.” Almost in unison, these executives de clare the need to be intentional in demon strating the value of public higher education at a time when costs and outcomes are fore most on the minds of parents and students. The 17th-century French poetry degree often cited by critics of modern higher ed didn’t earn that distinction by chance. The changes to come will inevitably reshuffle the deck on degree types available. “We need to provide programs and cur riculum that will educate and train students to be successful in their careers,” Choi said. “This means that we will need to make in vestments in strong programs and divest from programs that no longer meet our mission. We need to focus on personal and professional development of our students

through both in-classroom and experiential programs.” Part of the challenge at K-State, Linton said, was the need to serve multiple constitu encies among a span of 105 counties that range from urban to suburban and sparsely populated farming regions. “Take work-force development as one of those needs,” he said. “In western Kan sas, that may look very different than in Kansas City or Wichita. As we try to un derstand how we can strengthen work force development and cater to different audiences in different part of the states, they may be 80 to 85 percent similar, but that 15-20 percent difference may in- clude different things you don’t want to do, while others are sometimes great oppor- tunities to move the university forward. Down the river in Lawrence, Bichel meyer cited five areas where KU is mov ing to reinforce and reposition itself with core programs essential to a major public research university, all tied to instruction and the student experience. They cover hu man development across the lifespan, in cluding special education, behavioral and psy-chological sciences; what she calls the earth-energy-environment lines related to sustainability; molecules and medicine, to leverage the reputation of the pharmacy school, the recent National Cancer Institute designation of the KU Cancer Center’s com prehensive cancer center; safety and securi ty, especially with cyber threats; and finally, the intersection of humanities, liberal arts and the human experience in the digital age. All are signs that the university she joined two years ago is about to be transformed. “I’mmore excited about KU and what this means for the Kansas City region than I imag ined I could be when I came here,” Bichel meyer says, “and I was pretty excited then.”

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October 2022