Enhancing the Institutional Value of Your Department Lisa A. Rossbacher Office of the President Dallas D. Rhodes Department of Geology

“Sustaining” Geoscience Departments VALUE (not quality) is the fundamental issue. –If quality is an issue, it’s already too late. Adapted from Eric Barron, 2007, “A Perspective on the Next 25 Years” SERC Workshop Connecting Geoscience Departments to the Future of Science Higher education has become a business where value is defined by: Tuition = Number of Students (SCHs and graduates) Indirect Costs = Grants Gifts = Rich friends

Institutional Metrics for Success Value measured in terms of –Cost per Student Credit Hour –Number of degrees awarded –Contributing large number of hours to the core curriculum –Providing positive visibility for the institution –Having prominent (read rich) friends and alumni –Public engagement in community issues –Generating external funding (and indirect costs) –K-12 and informal education

Money is NEVER really the problem Citing budgets simply means geology isn’t valuable enough for the university to continue investing its resources.

Creating Value Be collegial. Get along with each other. Don’t force the administration to mediate internal politics. Work it out for yourselves. Help other departments when you can.

Creating Value Be visible. Tell your dean about your successes. Invite the dean, provost, and president/chancellor to seminars and visiting speakers. Most won’t come often. Send suggestions for stories to the campus magazine.

Creating Value Build bridges to your community. Be a resource. Collaborate with other departments on campus. Collaborate with organizations in the community. Be a guest speaker for civic organizations. Make certain the PR office knows who the local experts are in all appropriate subjects.

Creating Value Align your department with your institution’s mission and values; e.g. “a coalition of the willing.” Read the mission statement and keep the strategic plan close by. Be student centered. Know the university’s peer group and use their programs for comparison.

Creating Value Carry your weight. Institutional service (where it matters). Student credit hour production. Be a leader in campus initiatives.

Creating Value Take responsibility. Offer at least three solutions for any problem that requires administrative action. Know and be forthright about the fiscal implications. NEVER use students to carry your message. Don’t whine.

Creating Value Play the numbers. Understand the institutional goals for student success (e.g., 6-year graduation rates; job placement 5 years after graduation; average salary after 10 years.) Provide good data using appropriate norms for interpretation. Be sure the results are reproducible.

Creating Value Be on the tour. Take care of your space because appearances do matter to students, parents, deans, alumni, and potential donors. Be a place that admissions wants to showcase. Be a place the president takes visiting dignitaries. Make sure your students know when a tour is happening and prep them for the visit.

Creating Value Be proactive. Don’t wait to be asked. Be the first to complete an assignment. Become the local expert on matters of the moment.

Five Steps to Departmental Oblivion 1.Elect and reelect a weak chair. 2.Lose your most productive colleagues. 3.Eschew undergraduate courses and majors. 4.Avoid involvement in campus governance. 5.Glory in ideological and personal vendettas. (Abler, 1993)

When all else fails… War with your dean.