As a young person growing up in the New York City suburbs, and later in the town of Norwich, Vermont under the shadow of Dartmouth College, going to college was never a matter of “would I” but rather “where would I.” Mom was pushing Cornell (her alma mater), Dad for West Point (his way of getting someone else to pay for it and perhaps to assuage his disappointment at having been rejected for military service due to asthma). For me, I wasn’t keen on either, mainly because those were their dreams. I applied to five colleges, ultimately enrolling at the University of Vermont.
My peers at UVM largely came from similar backgrounds to mine. Going to college was simply understood as something to be done, and our families generally had the means to bring that about, although some of us did need to borrow money and/or work. We graduated, doors opened, and careers ensued.
The phrase “American Dream” was coined in 1931 by James Truslow Adams in his book, The Epic of America, in which he wrote, “But there has been also the American dream, that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement.” Furthermore, it should be about “…opportunity for each according to ability or achievement regardless of social class or circumstances of birth.” This is the American narrative – land of opportunity made possible through hard work and personal choice; equality for all as embodied in the Declaration of Independence and the symbol of lady liberty; and freedoms to be preserved as a beacon to the world.
Wisdom drawn from further education and life experience helped me to see that this dream is not equally shared. Circumstance of birth and environment, public policies, power differentials, and freedoms not yet realized combine in insidious ways that I as a young person simply did not see. Wishing to change that circumstance has been a prime motivator in my higher education positional pursuits, rooted in the belief that a postsecondary education remains one of the most powerful equalizing tools (to borrow a phrase from Horace Mann, the progenitor of the normal school movement of which William Paterson University is a part).
Ensuring that more of our students who start here finish here is a core focus of our work this spring as we develop the new Strategic Plan. This is what assures their dream. A refrain I sometimes hear, though, is that being more selective in admissions will bring that about. Please consider the following data, drawn from 188 public colleges and universities in the U.S. like William Paterson:
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First, while there is a mildly downward sloping pattern in the data (as reflected in the trend line shown), the relationship is modest at best. Second, you will see that among the institutions with a higher graduation rate than us (n=57), the admission rate is quite varied (ranging from 39 percent to 95 percent). In other words, not only are there numerous institutions that are outperforming their peers (i.e., above the trend line), there is a subset that we can look to for possible ideas to reduce our attrition before graduation. Anyone interested in this data is welcome to reach out to me. I have examined breakouts for African American, Hispanic, and Pell students that tell a similar story – how we have performed on our graduation metrics does not have to be how we perform in the future, nor is selectivity a definitive predictor that de facto dictates who we are or can be as a life-transformational institution.
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Under Consideration by the Faculty Senate. In recent weeks, the Provost has advanced for consideration three initiatives designed to support student success: one focused on open educational resources (OER), another on pass/no credit, and a third on 7-week courses. These three initiatives have also been advanced to the deans for discussion among their leadership teams. Please see the Academic Affairs News & Events website for a fuller discussion of these three proposals.
Charting the Academic Affairs Future. On February 11, the Provost and the four College deans presented via Zoom on how the Division of Academic Affairs will be building on the themes raised by President Helldobler in his State of the University Address on February 3. A link to the presentation recording and the PowerPoint slides can be found on the Academic Affairs News & Events website.
360-Degree Program Assessments. One of the services EAB valuably provides is what they call a 360-Degree Program Assessment. For a program we wish to launch, or revise, they can be tapped to not only examine competitor and market data, but also do a deep dive on competitors’ websites to offer advice to us. For an existing program, they also reach out to our Admissions Office as an anonymous program inquiry to gain process insight and offer subsequent advice on how it might be made stronger. We recently had an assessment done for the exercise science graduate program for the Department of Kinesiology and received helpful insights in a 38-page report. Because these requests are time intensive, we are limited to just one at a time, but have some others in the hopper in consultation with the Faculty Senate.
Spring Budget Presentation. The spring University budget presentation is scheduled for Thursday, March 31 at 12:30 p.m. More information will be forthcoming.
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For poor kids today, the path I took through education no longer exists.
Our first- and second-year undergraduates have yet to experience a “normal” semester of college. Getting “back to normal” may not be a realistic…Perhaps the best way that we as faculty members can counter those challenges and disparities [physical and mental health challenges impacting students] is by revising our own teaching policies and practices to better support our students and ourselves.
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The Provost’s Office is Meg, Lissette, Claudia T., Claudia C., Jonathan, Kara, Sandy, and Josh. You can reach us at 973.720.2122 • provost@wpunj.edu
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