97-04-02 Gee Leads Calls for Reform

GEE LEADS PUBLIC UNIVERSITY PRESIDENTS IN CALL FOR TRANSFORMATION

     COLUMBUS -- Leaders of the nation’s public colleges and 
universities have outlined a framework for reform designed to 
keep students first.

     A letter went out today (4/2) from 25 current and former 
public university presidents who are members of the Kellogg 
Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities, 
chaired by Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee.  The 
commission released the 27-page proposal to public higher 
education administrators nationwide during a meeting in 
Washington, D.C.

     The commission’s call for action, Returning to Our Roots: 
The Student Experience, envisions campuses that are “genuine 
learning communities.” Universities should become student-
centered, support and inspire learners of all kinds, and sustain 
a healthy learning environment.

      “The best part of being a university president is spending 
time with students,” Gee said.  “Because I have talked frankly 
with undergraduate and graduate students at Ohio State and 
elsewhere, I realize it is time for this kind of educational 
reform nationally.

     “There is no question that the student experience is at the 
heart of our mission -- that is why we selected this topic for 
our first report.”

     Ohio State already has fulfilled or begun implementing the 
commission’s six recommended actions.

     “The university has long been on the path to improving the 
student experience,” Gee said.  “Two years ago, we first 
implemented suggestions from our Committee on the Undergraduate 
Experience, which pointed to areas where the university needed to 
improve performance.  Our commitment to serve students shapes our 
decisions and policies today.”

     The commission’s recommendations and examples of Ohio State 
initiatives are:

     -- Revitalizing partnerships with elementary and secondary 
schools. The College of Education and school districts near each 
of Ohio State’s five campuses have established 50 Professional 
Development Schools, where graduate students spend a year under 
the guidance of faculty and of teachers serving as clinical 
educators. The college also has established the national Urban 
Network to Improve Teacher Education, UNITE, to prepare teachers 
to meet the challenges many students face in urban schools.

     -- Reinforcing the commitment to undergraduate instruction.  
The Office of Academic Affairs at Ohio State last year 
established two $15,000 annual awards for departments that show 
excellence in teaching.  The university has long selected 10 
faculty each year to receive the Alumni Distinguished Teacher 
Award.

     -- Strengthening the link between education and career.  The 
university works with corporations such as the Ford Motor Company 
to make sure classwork matches workplace expectations and needs.  
>From medicine to music, countless programs across the university 
unite students, faculty, business and community leaders to give 
graduates the skills they need in a changing world.

     -- Improving teaching and educational quality while keeping 
college affordable and accessible.  Alumni Distinguished Teacher 
Award recipients are inducted into the Academy of Teaching, a 
council to monitor and advise the provost about academic quality.  
Among the efforts to increase accessibility is the Young Scholars 
Program for underrepresented minorities, with college preparatory 
instruction for students from sixth to 12th grade.

     -- Defining education objectives more clearly and improving 
assessment.  The university has made a routine 10-year 
accreditation review into an opportunity to clarify its mission 
statement and to centrally collect assessment data.

     -- Creating many more opportunities for hands-on learning, 
including undergraduate research.  Ohio State’s annual Denman 
Undergraduate Research Recognition Day highlights student work 
with top-drawer faculty in many disciplines. This year’s poster 
session on May 20 will involve 52 projects, from “Factors Related 
to Goal Attainment” from the Department of Administrative 
Sciences, to “Commitment to Cats and Dogs” from the College of 
Social and Behavioral Sciences.

     The Kellogg Commission was created with a $1.2 million grant 
by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to the National Association of 
State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges.  The Student 
Experience is the first of a series that will frame a vision for 
reforming public higher education and outline steps for change.

     John V. Byrne, former president of Oregon State University, 
is the commission’s executive director.  Dolores R. Spikes, 
president of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, is the 
vice chair.

     The text of Returning to Our Roots: The Student Experience 
is available at http://www.nasulgc.nche.edu.

                             #

Contact:  Richard Stoddard, director of federal relations,
          (614) 688-4180 or stoddard.1@osu.edu.


[Submitted by: Von Vargas  (vargas.12@osu.edu)
               
Wed, 2 Apr 1997 11:08:18 -0500 (EST)]
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