Words and Meetings

Well A & S meets again today. The excitement builds as they get to discss the proposed school of perpetual oops sorry, Renewable Energy. Wow what a great idea. Dr. Tinkle must admit some confusion here as he/she is really not a greenie (drives an SUV, puts fertilizer on the lawn, has a carbon footprint the size of Ohio etc.) However, a few years ago the good doctor did express concern at all the hullaballoo over ethanol. Anyone who could do basic math could have explained to those fine politicians that we could not grow enough corn to both power vehicles and feed folks at the same time. Along those same lines, has anyone done the math on what happens when 200,000 vehicles in Cleveland all get plugged in to recharge at the same time???? The good doctor will also be interested in what constitutes "renewable." In a strict sense solar power is not really renewable. Eventually the sun dies. Perhaps we should think of it as long term oil. Aside from these silly little issues, there's the real issue of faculty. Who goes into the school and what does that do to the departments (and their students) they just left?

By the way, I am enjoying the list of words you fine folks are supplying in regards to my last post. How could I have ever left synergy off of the list?

Words

Can we all agree that some words are so overused they have lost their meaning? Here's Dr. Tinkle's preliminary list:
Branding
Paradigm shift
Reallocation
learning institution
business model (most businesses fail)
new entity
learning alliance
benchmarking (sounds like something a dog does)
sage on the stage
scribe on the side (both are simple answers to complex issues)
modality (as in teaching modalities)
furlough (as in I take a day off without pay)

UT BRANDING EFFORT BEARS FRUIT?

JAKE THE BULLPICKLE: PUTTING THE “DUH” IN EDUHCATION

The following statement was attributed to VP of external relations Larry Burns on the UT website this past week:


Branding…what is it?
Hello friends. As you know, the term ” Branding” has become an extremely popular marketing concept for all types of organizations and businesses. Two of the most prominent and well-known brands in the world are “Coke” and “Polo”. What exactly is a “Brand” and how does that relate to The University of Toledo.


Bloggie thinks this is an excellent question. A cookie and a big cash bonus to Mr. Burns for astuteness!

And indeed, under the Jacobs administration the university’s innumerable VPs, working alongside the president, have been hard at work developing a Presidential UT Brand that truly stands out in the community, in the state of Ohio and, increasingly, even nationally.  

Keep up this work, BOT, and UT will become a leader in the second tier of K-8 education in the State of Ohio!

Response to "New Dean" Post

Dr. Tinkle asks if it is true that BOT member Tom Brady has been appointed as interim Dean of the JHCOE. Brady hasn't been appointed yet, but they are exploring the possibility.

From the UToday of 3/17/09:

"According to an e-mail Dr. Rosemary Haggett, Main Campus provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, sent to the college’s faculty and staff, “This morning, President Jacobs sent a letter to Gov. Ted Strickland requesting that Dr. Tom Brady, chairman, CEO and founder of Plastic Technologies Inc., be provided a leave of absence from his role as a UT trustee so he may have the potential opportunity to serve as interim dean of the Judith Herb College of Education.”

If his leave is approved by the governor, the University would enter negotiations with Brady to serve in the role."

(full story at http://utnews.utoledo.edu/index.php/03_17_2009/decision-on-interim-education-dean-moves-into-new-phase)

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In the comments section of the "New Dean" post, commentator What Hath Jake Wrought? said "Word has it that Faculty Senate was, let's say, unenthused over the idea of Brady as Ed Deanator. Many objections were raised."

'Tis true. Haggett answered questions about this at Faculty Senate yesterday afternoon (3/17/09). She said the information was made public in the interest of "transparency" and that the faculty should be aware that this appointment is a possibility. I'm guessing the info was put out as a "trial balloon" to guage faculty reaction. If so, I must say the reaction at Senate was quite skeptical and negative.

Some of the concerns were:

• His qualifications for such a post (He has a Ph.D. in Engineering, has never held an academic administrative position, and, although Haggett "wasn't sure," quite possibily has never taught a college course)
• Ethics/complications of appointing your boss's boss as a subordinate knowing that he will become your boss's boss again at the end of the interim period
• Why he would take a "leave of absense" and return to the BOT instead of simply resigning from the BOT to take the position
• Ethics of moving from a position as a trustee into a highly paid administrative position in the organization, that is, is he leveraging this highly paid plum from his position of power on the BOT?
• The fact that we have had individuals serve as an "interim" dean at UT for years (note: Mary Jo Waldock was "interim" Dean of University College for a long time. (Six years if H n' F's memory serves)
• The appearance of a pattern of cronyism in Jacobs' admin appointments
• The possibility of a "hidden agenda" in (or at the very least the wisdom of) appointing a person to head the JHCOE who during an address to Senate last semester stated, "We have got to start better using our public education resources. For example, we have two schools of education ten miles apart. My question as a trustee of the University System of Ohio is “Is that the best way to teach education to kids?” (see Minutes of the Senate Meeting of October 28, 2008 available at http://www.utoledo.edu/facsenate/docs/0809FSminutes.102808.doc)

And I undoubtedly left something out as this is just the "top of my head" recollection. When the minutes come out in a few weeks you can read the whole exchange including the Provost's responses.

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My own point of view is that Brady may be a good enough and capable enough fellow in general, but this appointment would probably be a big mistake unless, of course, the admin actually wants another huge fight with the faculty as justification for some other course of action. Dr. Brady is undoubtably a very capable businessperson who is very involved in his community. He dedicates much of his time, energy, and money to supporting worthwhile causes, including higher education in Ohio, and at UT in particular. However, I doubt that he would be successful as Dean of the JHCOE for a number of reasons. It's hard for me to believe he would be accepted by the college's faculty. He would be coming in under a cloud of suspicion about the propriety of the appointment and of the motives of the president and provost in making it. He doesn't have experience in the culture of academics at the college level. The way we operate and interact within our colleges as professors, department chairs, and deans is so vastly different than how trustees and the upper admin operate and interact, that I doubt that trust, communication, and understanding between the dean and faculty will have a chance to be established.

The perspectives that he seems to hold appear to fundamentally clash with the perspectives of many of the faculty. As an example, at the Feb 17, 2009 A&S Council meeting a proposal to create an "early admissions" option to the Master's programs in Economics, Poltical Science, and Geography and Planning was discussed and passed. This proposal allows UT students majoring in those departments to be admitted to the Master's programs during their senior year, to take nine credits of graduate level courses for undergraduate credit, and then also apply the same nine credits to the Master's program as well. One Council member pointed out that the "double dipping" does in effect either reduce the credit hour requirement for the undergraduate degree by nine hours, or reduces the credit hour requirement for the graduate degree by nine hours (which of course it does). The opinion of the Council, including me, was that this was fine and the advantage to our students in those majors and the recruiting advantages for those M.A. programs gained by allowing this "shortening" of the time required to complete the B.A./M.A. degrees made this "early admissions" option a good idea.

Tom Brady made a comment near the end of the meeting commending Council and the Social Sciences departments for the proposal. He mentioned the annoying "no longer in a teaching world but a learning one" thing that Dr. T noted in his post and stated that the students would be receiving "more education in less time." On the way out I was talking to a colleague and I said that while I too thought that the early admission program was a very good idea, that the students received less education (nine credit hours to be exact) in less time (which is how attaining the two degrees takes less time). The next day I realized why Dr. Brady and I saw this differently. I saw "education" as a process, experience, exposure to new information and opportunity for learning, and the aquisition of additional knowledge, practice and skills. So for me, nine fewer credits in the program meant less education. I think Dr. Brady saw education as something the student was "purchasing," that is, the degree. So in his view the student received more education (the two degrees) in less time. There may be validity to this view, even if I obviously don't share it. My point is that I think the distance between how the BOT/Jacobs' admin views higher ed and how most faculty view it is so far apart that this appointment will result in even more faculty/administration conflict.

New Dean

Okay, has the good Dr. Tinkle heard correctly that the new interim dean of the College of Education is a member of our esteemed Board of Trustees Tom Brady???? Gee, I wonder what he knows about Praxis exams and state requirements?? It's nice to know that A & S has company. I assume the next item of business will be to have an outside group come in to chat with the faculty. The good Dr. Tinkle has no idea whether the interim dean is wise, dumb or somewhere in between. What the Doctor does know is that the new appointee has been known to utter words like paradigm shift and we're no longer in a teaching world but a learning one. Dr. Tinkle has no idea what is actually meant by any of that. However, it is my opinion that such jargon will likely achieve very little for the College of Education.

2004/2008/2012

EXCELLENCE

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mediocrity

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oblivion

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Toxic Mushroom Invasion! Save UT and A&S College!

Before the UT/MCO merger, our Arts & Science College competed successfully with quality public higher education institutions in our region for quality traditional and non-traditional students anxious to earn quality undergraduate and graduate diplomas that could be displayed with pride. Our nearest competitors (including Bowling Green University and Eastern Michigan University) also offered quality earned degrees in liberal education and so prompted us to constantly strive and succeed to improve ourselves as an excellent A&S community of students, faculty, staff and alumni. With the Jacobs administration came its “New Entity” business model, increased privatization and outsourcing, and its distance-learning drive to achieve quantity at the expense of quality. Their mission is to manufacture diplomas for students who don’t have time or the inclination to earn them. Their competitors in this predatory and cutthroat "for profit" educational market include the following degree mills, all who have recently sprouted like toxic mushroom around the rot created by our mismanaged university:

Herzing University – Toledo Campus

"A student can progress seamlessly from a diploma program to an associate degree to a bachelor's degree, and now to a master's degree, stopping anywhere along the line and then resuming when the time, need, and ambition of the student warrant. And the student can choose the method of instruction that fits his or her time commitments and learning style - from all resident to EdFlex (part resident, part online) to entirely online."

http://www.herzing.edu/campus.php?id=23

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/herzing-college-toledo-to-celebrate,742480.shtml


Excelsior College in Toledo

Excelsior College helps busy working adults earn the degrees they need with flexible distance education programs. A World Leader in Distance Education: As a world leader in distance education, we apply the college credit you have already earned to a respected degree in Liberal Arts, Business, Technology, Nursing, or Health Sciences -- giving you the best start toward degree completion.

https://www.excelsior.edu/Excelsior_College/About

Southwestern College – Toledo Campus

We offer a wide-range of Diploma and Associate Degree programs that can help you start living out your dream.

http://www.lincolnedu.com/campus/toledo-oh

Toxic mushroom are on the move! Its approaching midnight! Where is your institute of quality public higher education? It is time to save our UT soul, spirit, tradition and reputation, and to reverse this trend to poison the deep roots of quality liberal education at UT. Preserve the high quality of our diplomas! The present UT administration has to reform its mission and strategic plan, or depart. Save A&S College!