1. Building Strong Geoscience Departments Session T1 SEGSA – 2007 Geoff Feiss College of W&M

2. Feiss/SEGSA T1 20072 PLAN 1.Why should we worry? 2.What have we learned? 3.What should we do looking forward?

3. The Past is the Key to the Present This is an era of accelerated change on campus. In the current atmosphere of tight budgets and new attitudes, nearly all traditional academic departments are asked to evaluate their course offerings… John Dennison, 1972

4. Feiss/SEGSA T1 20074 30-year reality check 1973: Arab Oil embargo starts “stagflation” of early 70s 1979-82: post-70’s inflation recession 1988-92: Stock market decline; recession Early 2000s: Dotcom bubble and 9/11 recession 2010-12: ???

5. Feiss/SEGSA T1 20075 Public sector budget priorities Transportation & infrastructure Health care (Medicare/Medicaid) Mental health PreK-12 education Public safety Environment and recreation Higher Education

6. Feiss/SEGSA T1 20076 Increasingly, higher administration budgeting is a matter of: Who thrives? Who survives? Who dies?

7. Feiss/SEGSA T1 20077 The terms of engagement: You cannot hide The game is often fixed There are some really bad threat responses Budget cutting is never easy, always fraught, and often personal

8. Feiss/SEGSA T1 20078 Lessons learned: The Winners There are 2 kinds: 1.Top-ranked, mission essential, high enrollment programs 2.Those who have it together

9. Feiss/SEGSA T1 20079 Characteristics of “together” programs: Manage change Congenial and collaborative Student-centered Mentor young faculty and nurture staff Strong enrollments Play nice & by the rules Work hard; have fun; don’t whine Have a sense of mission & own it Can validate their excellence and potential Don’t take things personally

10. Feiss/SEGSA T1 200710 Losers can be: Without a clear vision Alienated Too quaint Entitled Paranoid Disunited and in disarray Clueless Victims of bad luck

11. Feiss/SEGSA T1 200711 The Key To Success LEARN TO CHANGE Manage it Better yet: embrace it; foster it: control it; and lead it

12. Feiss/SEGSA T1 200712 To succeed in change: Lose battles, win the war Share credit Be active, not passive Define the metrics of success Find allies Put students at the center Don’t overanalyze

13. Feiss/SEGSA T1 200713 You better hope that there is intelligent life in your department, because there's bugger-all in senior administration – Apologies to Eric Idle