Deaton outlines MU's unique statewide responsibilities
Challenged by shrinking state support, and forced to rely even more heavily on student tuition and fees, Chancellor Brady Deaton told faculty last week that MU has a commitment to constantly examine its management structure to make sure that it is fulfilling its obligations to students, the state and to the academic community. His comments came at the April 6 general faculty meeting.
One of the most important ways that MU assesses its progress is through an ongoing strategic planning process, in which faculty, staff, students and alumni participate. The goal of that planning process, Deaton said, is “excellence in all dimensions of the academic endeavor and in service to society.”
He recalled that when he arrived at MU in 1989, the University was struggling to accommodate a student body that numbered 21,000. “I’ll bet you we have no more faculty today than we had then, and we’re now at 27,000 students and, quite frankly, you all are doing extremely well with it,” he said.
“I think you are because we have had a planning process that has enabled us to modify our institutional behavior to ensure that we have the advising, mentoring and support systems in place that enabled us to smoothly go forward.”
MU is still on track to move gradually toward an enrollment of 30,000 students, the chancellor said, “but we are committed also — and we are very vocal about it — that we will do that only if the quality of what we’re doing is not diminished in any way.”
He congratulated faculty and academic departments for accepting the challenge of ongoing resource reallocation. “These things only occur when you’re willing to take chances, where there is a culture of change in the University community to meet the changing needs of society.”
Faculty tenure is another national issue that MU needs to study closely, Deaton said. “I am a very strong advocate for tenure; don’t anyone misunderstand that I am questioning tenure as an institution. I feel that political protection and academic freedom require tenure. But if we are tenured, we have a responsibility and we have to live up to that responsibility.”
The discussion taking place at MU and throughout the academic community is about how the protections of tenure could be made more flexible. Some suggestions have included adjusting the tenure clock, allowing part-time tenure and modifying the distinction between regular and non-regular faculty.
“I would invite our continued scrutiny on the tenure issue and continued dialogue as a university community,” Deaton said.
Deaton also stressed MU’s leadership role among higher education institutions in Missouri. “I’ve been asked, ‘Why is MU distinct from other campuses in our system and in the state?’ The answers are, I think, rather easy and straightforward,” he said.
“We are the only public AAU member in the state; we’re also the state’s land-grant university with a tremendous commitment to those Jeffersonian principles of sharing knowledge and ensuring the engagement of our academy with the community.
“As we go through trying fiscal times in both the nation and the state, I think we have to keep asking ourselves, ‘What are our responsibilities as faculty members in this particular kind of university?’ I would argue strongly that those responsibilities are very different than if you were at any other university in this state, bar none.”
MU has a commitment to expand knowledge and to improve the quality of life and the natural environment, Deaton said. “We have a responsibility for pedagogical innovations in harnessing technology in the learning system and connecting to the global sources of knowledge. We should use the world as our laboratory as we pursue the truth in all areas of the academy.”
On the national scene, he said, MU is a major partner in the academic community as it grapples with new challenges, such as homeland security issues, which have an impact on international scholarly dialogues. “Homeland security is a genuinely important issue, but it’s also important that we maintain the values and perspectives of a major AAU member as we serve the state and engage with our colleagues nationally and globally in pursuit of the values of higher education.”
The planning process has helped MU leverage its investments in campus infrastructure to help meet academic priorities, Deaton said. For instance with the PRIME fund, which is money the University sets aside to provide cost-sharing funds for research grants.
According to Jim Coleman, vice provost for research, the $5 million MU has invested in the PRIME fund over the past five years has resulted in $100 million in new research on campus, Deaton said. “We like those kinds of investments, and we’re carefully working to ensure that we’re able to continue them.”
MU’s research initiatives provide an economic benefit to the entire state. The $200 million in research funding that MU brings to Missouri from outside the state generates $360 million in economic activity and 8,000 jobs.
“Those 8,000 jobs are really dwarfed by the significant impact of new knowledge, technology transfer and the work of our extension system across the state in creating and preserving jobs,” he said.
“We’re a tremendous research engine that operates 24/7,” Deaton said. “We’re trying to convince the legislature that this economic engine is not one you can stop and start. If you shut it off, many of the components may start floating elsewhere. You don’t turn off and on a major research university if you expect to have the benefits of it in your state.”
Reprinted with permission from the April 14, 2005 issue of Mizzou Weekly.