Updates to faculty layoff plan and other stuff

General Campus News, Updates, Discussion
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leatherface
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This concept makes some sense to me. This fellow who identifies himself as a "psychologist by trade" still believes Western can be a comprehensive school- offering everything for everybody. I don't know about that. I don't believe Western has the facilities or resources to compete across the board with some of the other schools. Interesting he is in charge of Budgeting, Planning and Personnel since he is a "psychologist by trade"- hopefully he has a MBA and some good experience in budgeting etc.

Missouri has taken somewhat a plan like this bill- Truman the state designated Liberal Arts university, and Missouri University of Science and Technology the designated engineering school for students. Believe me, Truman gets more state funding with this designation than if they were still trying to be a comprehensive regional university.

His comment location of Western would be harmful if it had only certain majors offered- I don't necessarily buy either. Kirksville, Missouri is really in an isolated part of the state, but, most of their students come from St. Louis and Kansas City- same with Rolla. These talented students seem to have no issues with getting to either campus.

I don't believe Western could be the "engineering"school, but, could be identified as the best school for many of the industrial technology, logistics, supply chain management and manufacturing degree's, along with a compliment of other traditional degrees. The days of being identified as a "teacher's college" are over.
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Tere North
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leatherface wrote: Mon Oct 23, 2017 2:14 pm This concept makes some sense to me. This fellow who identifies himself as a "psychologist by trade" still believes Western can be a comprehensive school- offering everything for everybody. I don't know about that. I don't believe Western has the facilities or resources to compete across the board with some of the other schools. Interesting he is in charge of Budgeting, Planning and Personnel since he is a "psychologist by trade"- hopefully he has a MBA and some good experience in budgeting etc.

Missouri has taken somewhat a plan like this bill- Truman the state designated Liberal Arts university, and Missouri University of Science and Technology the designated engineering school for students. Believe me, Truman gets more state funding with this designation than if they were still trying to be a comprehensive regional university.

His comment location of Western would be harmful if it had only certain majors offered- I don't necessarily buy either. Kirksville, Missouri is really in an isolated part of the state, but, most of their students come from St. Louis and Kansas City- same with Rolla. These talented students seem to have no issues with getting to either campus.

I don't believe Western could be the "engineering"school, but, could be identified as the best school for many of the industrial technology, logistics, supply chain management and manufacturing degree's, along with a compliment of other traditional degrees. The days of being identified as a "teacher's college" are over.
Agree with you Leatherface. Russell, as Associate Provost for Budgeting, Planning and Personnel, cares only about the academic side of the issue, a side that has expanded and expanded to offer more and more programs, while other schools have reorganized, cut, merged, etc. Sure, we just cut Women's Studies, African American Studies, and Religious Studies, merging them into the Department of Liberal Arts and Science, but that is hardly a monumental change. And how Western sees a qualitative field like Philosophy being a good merger partner with Mathematics, a quantitative field, is beyond me, but I guess you could say they were striving to truly be different.

Your example of Truman State as the Missouri designated Liberal Arts university was the type of vision change Western needs. I'm not saying we need to be a liberal arts school, but we need to have a niche instead of continuing to strive for mediocrity in being all things to all people just because of our location, which Russell seems to think means it would "not be a good idea for Western to" specialize, rather insisting on being "a comprehensive public university."
wiu712
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Former Western President Al Goldfarb referenced the "Truman State Model" many times during his many appearances on "Public Perspective"--a public affairs radio program.
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Tere North
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leatherface wrote: Mon Oct 23, 2017 2:14 pm since he is a "psychologist by trade"- hopefully he has a MBA and some good experience in budgeting etc.
No MBA.
From the bio posted Feb 2016 when Morgan was 1 of 2 internal candidates for the job, for which he was the interim.

Morgan has served as interim associate provost since July 2015. Previously, he served as the associate dean in WIU'S College of Arts and Sciences for three years and as a professor in the WIU psychology department. He has also served as interim chair of foreign languages and literatures, and interim associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Morgan joined Western's faculty in 1997 as an assistant professor, following a three-year postdoctoral appointment at Cornell University. He was appointed to full professor in 2007.

At WIU, Morgan has chaired the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, served as the University Professionals of Illinois (UPI) grievance officer and served as the experimental psychology graduate program coordinator. He chaired or served on more than 20 master's theses committees, and he has an extensive list of publications and awarded grants to his credit.

He received his Ph.D. (1994) and master's of arts (1992) degrees in experimental psychology from Kent State University. Morgan's bachelor's of arts (1990) degree in psychology is from Miami University of Ohio.
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Tere North
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wiu712 wrote: Mon Oct 23, 2017 7:16 pm Former Western President Al Goldfarb referenced the "Truman State Model" many times during his many appearances on "Public Perspective"--a public affairs radio program.
Yep. For Truman State it was a vision that took a lot of vision and planning to reinvent itself, but the end result was advancing from a mediocre has been to a power of excellence.
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sealhall74
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You can change what you do or you can change how you do what you do. Could be very creative with something like what Grinnell College is doing and give students a lot of flexibility by letting them design their own curriculum:

"Grinnell is about opportunity and choice, freedom and responsibility. Our individually-advised curriculum lets you choose your own unique set of courses with help from your faculty adviser, whom you’ll come to know well during First-Year Tutorial—Grinnell’s only required course outside the requirements to complete a major. With 26 majors and 12 concentrations, and countless off-campus research and study options, you’ll discover the world at Grinnell, in your own way, And you’ll build the future that’s best for you."

https://www.grinnell.edu/academics

No matter how you do it, you must distinguish yourself in today's competitive education environment.
Embrace the pace of the race.
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Tere North
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sealhall74 wrote: Tue Oct 24, 2017 11:04 am You can change what you do or you can change how you do what you do. Could be very creative with something like what Grinnell College is doing and give students a lot of flexibility by letting them design their own curriculum:

"Grinnell is about opportunity and choice, freedom and responsibility. Our individually-advised curriculum lets you choose your own unique set of courses with help from your faculty adviser, whom you’ll come to know well during First-Year Tutorial—Grinnell’s only required course outside the requirements to complete a major. With 26 majors and 12 concentrations, and countless off-campus research and study options, you’ll discover the world at Grinnell, in your own way, And you’ll build the future that’s best for you."

https://www.grinnell.edu/academics

No matter how you do it, you must distinguish yourself in today's competitive education environment.
Cornell College is another unique college. "Cornell College has been changing lives and changing educational norms since 1853."

Students take 1 class at a time and 8 classes per year, each lasting 18 days. You can follow a degree program or create your own, with 95% of students graduating within 4 years. https://www.cornellcollege.edu/
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leatherface
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Isn't Agriculture still one of Western's premier programs? Makes sense if this would be a majot niche. Isn't Champaign the only other state school with any ag program?
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Tere North
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leatherface wrote: Tue Oct 24, 2017 5:04 pm Isn't Agriculture still one of Western's premier programs? Makes sense if this would be a majot niche. Isn't Champaign the only other state school with any ag program?
Yes, Ag is one of the 12 signature programs. However, Illinois State also has an active Ag program. SIU Carbondale also offers Ag, but my understanding is that the facilities have declined considerably.
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leatherface
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I still like the idea of being a part of the U of I system- I think Western would benefit in the long run with that designation. University of Illinois- Western has a nice ring. Would automatically enhance the image of the campus with the general public- I think. Leave the Western name- as a part of our history. Sorry, Macomb.
We have interviewed folks for open positions who have their degree from UIS, and most of the time they refer to their degree being from the University of Illinois. Sometimes they mention Springfield campus. Of course their documents show UIS, but, they see the name recognition as being a plus for them.
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