Until this semester, I have rarely talked with my uncle about his job. I didn’t really understand the many responsibilities and interactions that he would oversee as president of a college. But this has changed significantly since the Preparing the Future Professoriate class, so I was much more confident about asking questions.
The college (seminary) that he is leads is a relatively small Catholic Seminary in the US, which mainly offers bachelor degrees in philosophy. There are a total of 14 professors that teach around 50 students (all are men, and 2 are international), and are supported by a staff of nuns. The campus is in a very rural area, so the students live, pray, and learn within the single large building complex there. His position is quite unique because he still teaches his own courses while being president, which is rare even for colleges smaller than his.
The class discussion on mission statements made me wonder how truthful or powerful they were for making actual decisions within the universities. My uncle talked about how the mission statement can actually be an acceptance and embrace of recent changes, such as the growth of his seminary. So the revisions he made to the statement included one that didn’t limit the focus to just the local diocese, but to include the entire region because that is truthfully how large of influence they are making. Just like students and professors, universities would like to be able to completely control the challenges they face, but must make unexpected adjustments along the way. If mission statements are just aspirations of a university, then how do the changes start?
My uncle did tell me about the muscle that is behind the mission statement, the strategic plan. The strategic plan is formed by him and the other 14 professors in a large meeting, and it focuses on much more detailed and quantifiable changes that are going to be made. The board of trustees for his seminary give final approval on the strategic plan, but are not involved in its formulation. The strategic plan meeting breaks a long-term goal into concrete, critical steps. It is also incredibly important that the strategic plan assigns responsibility of tasks to certain people, and determine how to measure task progress and outcomes before work begins. Of course mileage may vary from university to university, but I find the idea of professors having a serious part of bigger university decisions remarkable. The business standpoint administrators of large universities would likely disagree and push against this, but education systems would benefit greatly by taking into account the ideas that come from the “frontline” of the learning process: the professors.
Talking to your uncle who serves as a president of a small college seemed like a great opportunity. Thanks for sharing some of what you learned.
I think your comments on strategic planning are really interesting, and I feel the same way about the theory of strategic plans improving the way universities fulfill their missions, but I sometime question how effective they are in practice. I work in student affairs at Tech presently, specifically in residence life, and last year I heard a lot about the strategic planning process. It was interesting to see how institutional plans translated to divisional plans translated to departmental plans, but it became easy to lose track of the vision of the plan, and as some one working directly with students, it seemed impossible to provide direct feedback on it.
I totally agree with you that having those directly working with students as a part of strategic planning is key, but it gets hard to implement in larger organizations. Representatives from faculty and staff on strategic planning committees might be the best we’ll get.
I definitely see your point about university strategic plans getting separated from their actual actions. It makes me think that there might be an optimal size of university, just like there can be an optimal class size when it comes to teaching a single class.
Thank you for your blog post! I find your anecdote to be very interesting and at the very least identify how variable ‘higher education’ can really be. It is interesting to think that Tech (a massive institution) and your Uncle’s College (a smaller, albeit still very important institution) all fall under the same umbrella of higher ed. I tend to agree with Jake. I feel like the idea of implementing strategic planning is great, but in practice I have concerns. I imagine it is already extremely difficult to get your Uncle’s 14 or so professors on board with the same plan, and I imagine this would be almost impossible with Tech’s faculty (which I would estimate close to a 1000) – especially if different departments or organizations conflict. Maybe strategic plans are best left at the departmental or program level while the University sets the overall mission?
I shared some of that same surprise when I looked more at how varied each university can approach higher education. For instance my undergraduate university and my uncle’s seminary are both accredited by the same exact organization, which I thought couldn’t be more different.
Wow! It’s fascinating that some colleges are able to include the direct input of the professors in forming their vision for the institution. I feel that the larger an institution becomes, the harder it is to include the opinions of faculty, especially when it has so many departments and colleges (such as at VT). I am happy with the amount of input we are afforded in my specific department, however.
Yes, I get worried about the little control that some professors at large universities have over the direction of the university. I wonder if a democratic system could be implemented into universities so that all professors are able to give voice to the vision they have for the university going forward. I think new members and junior faculty occasionally act in deceptive ways just to please a department head or other senior faculty, which I wish didn’t happen.
What an incredible experience getting to speak candidly with someone who crafts their college’s mission statement. It’s cool to hear that they are not hollow recruiting pitches based out of obligations, but are actual representations of the goals and aspirations of the school.
Yeah, I’m definitely going to have more in-depth conversations with my uncle about higher education after this semester. It is a bit humorous that a university could change their mission statement as a response to changes instead of preceding changes. Institutions seem to like giving the impression that they know exactly what direction they’re headed.
Thank you for sharing this incredible experience. I was always wondering how colleges/universities measure or evaluate how well they are meeting their mission statement. It is great to learn that behind that kind of vague/broad mission statement, there are some solid steps that the college administration is taking care of. And I also appreciate that for your uncle’s seminary, they are agile for the changes they face on the public service and clear about their mission in the region.
I shared you skepticism of the mission statement, and hearing about the strategic plan concept helped me see how they accomplish the mission. Although I assume that there are universities that don’t use the mission statement as aspirations and informing of their plans; which instead use it solely as a PR tool.
I really enjoyed reading your post! My uncle is the former Dean of Students and VP of a small private college in North Carolina, and given this class I have asked him a lot more about his job this semester, as well! I agree that the strategic plan is a crucial genre that drives a lot of decisions and choices within the university.
I didn’t realize how close I was to a higher education “big shot” until this semester. I hope that all of our questions don’t get on either of our uncles nerves! I think I’m also going to be keeping track of how my uncle’s seminary is doing to see if I can spot some of the ways he’s had influence on its direction.