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|Spring Faculty and Associates Meeting
April 17, 2006
University Center Rosebud Theatre
Just as I am every year, I am inspired today as I listen to the achievements of the faculty members we honor. Congratulations to all our award winners.
In what has become a UT Arlington tradition at the end of every spring, we look back over the past academic year and celebrate what we all aspire to achieve—and that is excellence. Excellence in scholarship and creative activities. Excellence in teaching and academic achievement. Excellence in service to our community.
It’s clear to me—and an increasing number of others who have gotten to know us better—that UT Arlington (our UT Arlington) is an excellent university with outstanding faculty, staff, and students.
As I have said many times, one of our greatest challenges is to inform, educate, and persuade the world around us of our distinctive strengths. Not with words alone, but with our actions and with by telling our many compelling stories.
Excellence is the Best Branding for The University of Texas at Arlington
In February, after months of consultation and planning, we launched what may be the largest coordinated communications initiative in UT Arlington’s history. It’s called branding—but whatever term you use, it’s the beginning of us sharing our story with the world around us. By now, you have undoubtedly seen our new logo, colors, advertisements, and promotional materials. These, combined with our “Be a Maverick” campaign, represent what makes us unique … what makes us stand out and what allows us to describe our distinctive features of excellence to all.
These efforts to promote UT Arlington are important; however, they would only be superficial if we did not have an excellent university to promote. At the very root of our branding campaign is a desire to align our image and reputation with what we know our reality to be.
We have many extraordinary stories to tell, and we are committed to telling the UT Arlington story in the most strategic locations through a variety of media and venues. You can help us by making sure we know about your own stories of excellence.
Not only are we taking our messages to key areas across Texas, but last fall, under the leadership of Provost Dunn and Vice President for Research Ron Elsenbaumer, we launched UT Arlington’s first Research magazine. This magazine, which is published once a year, focuses on the outstanding research of our faculty. This magazine, which featured more than 25 stories in the inaugural issue, is both attractive and informative and makes the case for excellence to those outside our campus.
During the past year, we have also worked to continue our progress at both attracting and retaining the very best faculty. In the last two years, we have added approximately 85 new faculty members. Some of these hires have been at the junior level and include many who already have active research programs. We have also hired several senior faculty, who bring with them sizeable grants and research teams, including our first endowed Welch Chair in Chemistry. I’m impressed again and again at how we are able to recruit some of the “best and brightest” from all over the country.
We continue to look for ways to support the scholarly activities of our faculty. Just a few moments ago, we recognized 14 of our colleagues who will receive faculty development leaves and 17 who will benefit from research enhancement grants. We also recognized four new members of our Academy of Distinguished Scholars, which works to promote a creative and productive scholarly climate on campus.
During the past year we also initiated formal research partnerships with two area universities. We now have in place seed grant programs for scholars who wish to partner with colleagues at UNT Health Science Center and UT Dallas. In fact, just last week we jointly announced with UT Dallas the award of seed funding for 12 projects in which UT Arlington and UT Dallas faculty are co-PI’s. The response from faculty members at both universities has been impressive. President Daniel and I each intend to commit an additional $125,000 (a total sum of $250,000) for a second round of grants next year. It is our hope that these seed grants will assist our colleagues in building productive collaborations with scholars at two of our neighboring institutions and, in turn, foster increased cooperation between our universities.
There is one additional initiative begun this year to assist the research efforts of our faculty. Graduate tuition and fee waivers are imperative to recruiting strong graduate students in the current competitive environment. As you may know, Texas law does not permit us to waive tuition for graduate students. This law places us in a competitive disadvantage when it comes to attracting the best graduate students who receive offers for tuition waivers from out-of-state graduate programs. These students are important for the success of our many research programs because they do the bulk of the day-to-day work.
During this past year, we have successfully moved the costs of educating a significant number of graduate students in the colleges of Engineering and Science onto research grants. The result of this effort is to, in effect, provide tuition waivers to a significant number of graduate students. We intended to expand this program, where appropriate, to graduate students in other schools and colleges.
Appropriately recognizing and rewarding our excellent faculty, staff, and students has been—and continues to be—one of our top priorities. Last week, during Academic Excellence Week, we recognized the outstanding academic achievements of our best students. And we heard inspirational words from one of our alumni, Dr. Roland Fryer, a faculty member at Harvard University, who represents the maverick spirit as well as any UT Arlington alumnus in his work and accomplishments.
During the past year we were able to provide Research Excellence Awards to those faculty who brought in significant research dollars. And we provided Professional Development Awards to faculty pursuing the most active research and creative agendas.
Now, we are pleased to announce a 4.5% merit pool for faculty and staff, as you may have heard. We recognize that salary compression and, in some cases, salary inversion remains an issue on our campus, and we will aggressively seek the funds necessary to correct these very real salary issues. The reality is that there is no easy solution or one-time fix, and we acknowledge that one of our greatest challenges will continue to be trying to find a way to attract the nation’s best talent to our campus with competitive offers.
At the same time, we must continue to appropriately and adequately recognize our many faculty who are productive and loyal to UT Arlington. In addition to the merit pool, we have also set aside funds to address equity issues, and we have increased the compensation available to faculty who teach summer and intersession courses.
In addition to outstanding faculty, staff, and students, a trait of an excellent university is a place that is attractive, inviting, and provides appropriate services to our community.
During the past year, we opened a new, more inviting home for our Alumni Office on Mitchell Street, which should significantly improve our ability to interface with our former students.
We have, with the assistance of UT System, acquired a new large and first-rate computing center. This facility, located in Fort Worth, will support several UT System institutions and serve as a model for inter-institutional cooperation.
We also are leasing the Santa Fe Rail Market near Sundance Square in Fort Worth. This will give us a stronger presence in downtown Fort Worth for master’s-level classes, and we will begin offering an Executive MBA program next year.
Of course, this semester we also opened the new Chemistry and Physics Building, with state-of-the-art laboratories and the state’s best planetarium. If you have not had a chance to visit the building or to watch a show in the planetarium, I strongly encourage you to do so.
Today, we officially open the University Club in the lower level of Davis Hall. Work will continue on some of the final touches, including the artwork contributed by members of our faculty, and the outdoor areas. These should be in place by fall. A few of us have been fortunate enough to get a sneak peak at the club, and I can confidently say that you will be impressed. The club will be a welcoming place where you can converse with colleagues, bring guests and job candidates, and host events.
But don’t just take my word for it. Come see for yourselves. In that spirit, we have moved the reception following our meeting today to the University Club.
Today also marks an important milestone in how we will service our students. Very early this morning, the new MyMav student information system went ‘live.’ Large numbers of UT Arlington staff members have worked diligently over the past two years to prepare for this day. And while their work continues, it is worth taking a moment to recognize this milestone.
As many of you know, our old system was difficult to support, was unresponsive to many new academic initiatives, and did not offer many of the features expected by today’s student. Of course, there will be hiccups and bumps in the road. But we are convinced that this new system will ultimately be regarded as a major improvement. Once our students grow accustomed to navigating the system, they will find greater self-service, including online acceptance of financial aid award packages and the ability to self-monitor progress toward their degree.
Advisors will find that it is easier to advise students, and faculty will be able to communicate with their students with a few simple clicks of a mouse. Many thanks to those of you who put time and effort into this project.
We also face the challenge of instructional technology in our classrooms. In many cases, it’s either either out-of-date or, more commonly, completely lacking. Over the years, it has been all too common—unfortunately—that new faculty and students come to us accustomed to better classroom technology than is present on our campus.
Starting this summer, we will begin to correct this shortcoming by spending almost $1 million to install computers and projectors, and monitor software in more than 75 classrooms. By the time we return in the fall, much of this work will be complete, and faculty will be able to move from classroom to classroom with confidence that their instructional technology needs will be met.
I would like to mention one final initiative designed to better serve our students, and, I believe, the entire campus community. The Provost and I are very excited about the OneBook Program that was announced several weeks ago.
Next year, all entering freshmen will be given a copy of The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, and this book will be part of the curriculum for English 1301 and Education 1311, the Freshman Seminar. This book focuses on ‘power,’ and we are encouraging all members of the UT Arlington community to take part in campus conversations and discussions and to think of activities and events that can incorporate this theme. Similar projects have been very successful at engaging students and in creating a sense of community on other campuses and we are optimistic that we will see similar results.
Challenges
Increasing tuition and the cost of higher education will continue to place pressure on all institutions of higher education. Students and parents across the nation are understandably concerned by the increasing costs of a college education. In responding to the reality of having to increase our tuition, we have tried to ease the burden of increases as much as possible by offering rebates and incentives to those who perform well in the classroom while taking a full load of classes.
The good news is that even with our recent increases, our tuition rates remain below many of our peers and are very reasonable by today’s standards within our state. We remain aware of our students’ concerns and will do our best to develop a thoughtful tuition policy while, at the same time, securing the funds necessary to support our University.
To appropriately set our tuition in the future, we have retained the services of the Arts and Sciences Group, a consulting firm that will help us make informed decisions about future tuition changes.
The increasing costs of higher education will continue to bring heightened scrutiny to our efforts, especially our efforts to teach our students. In fact, the Secretary of Education, Margaret Spelling, has appointed a task force that’s charged with bringing greater accountability to higher education. Accrediting bodies, such as SACS, are also increasingly emphasizing accountability and asking us to demonstrate that students really are learning what we say they’re learning.
During the next academic year, we will undergo our SACS reaffirmation process. In early September, we will submit our compliance report … and before the start of the spring semester 2007 we will submit our Quality Enhancement Plan, which focuses on active learning.
Finally, during the spring semester, a team of evaluators will spend a week on campus focusing on our future of active learning. Teams of our faculty and administrators are already busy at work insuring that we’ll be successfully reaffirmed.
The SACS process is just one of the many frameworks that can be used to tell our story of excellence. I recognize that these efforts are time consuming and, at times, laborious. However, I believe such efforts provide us ways to tell others about the many strengths of UT Arlington.
Similar efforts are underway with revising our campus master plan; putting the final touches on our strategic plan; and within each unit, developing a Unit Effectiveness Plan.
I know that sounds like a great deal of planning. But each effort serves a related purpose and, taken collectively, they will strengthen our university. They will allow us to tell our story and they will assist us in writing the next chapters of our history.
Finally, let me use the events of the past few weeks to remind each of us of the importance of tolerance and diversity. Across the nation, and on our own campus, the immigration debate has struck a chord. We have also witnessed a recent controversy during our International Week related to the display of the Vietnamese flag and the Vietnamese Heritage flag (the flag of the former country of South Vietnam). At the core of each of these events lies a reminder of the need to understand and embrace the diversity of our nation, our culture, and our campus.
We already have a diverse campus. I’m very proud of that and consider it one of our great strengths. However, we must do a better job of diversifying our faculty and administrative staff. In the competitive academic market, recruiting the best and most diverse faculty and leadership is a daunting challenge. So we must be aggressive in pursing the best candidates, and will offer competitive packages wherever they make sense for our institutional priorities. Each of us can help in the short-term by identifying strong candidates for open positions, and in the long-term by encouraging our top minority students to attend graduate school so that the pool of diverse candidates expands.
This is a challenge as well as a responsibility. We must be successful. And the Provost and I are completely committed to that goal—and we will proactively pursue this goal.
Conclusion
Together, we have accomplished a great deal in the last year, and we have much to be proud of. However, there is more to do. Join me in the continued effort to tell our story of excellence. Whether it’s stories of the classroom, where our faculty shape and nurture minds; or the studio or laboratory, where our faculty make new discoveries; or in the community, where our faculty improve our world—the members of our University community excel. Those around us must come to understand that “Being a Maverick” makes UT Arlington a special place.
To paraphrase one of my favorite poets, Robert Frost, we choose to take the road less traveled. We blaze our own trails to excellence. And that will make all the difference.
