The President's Remarks

Transcript

I would like to thank the entire Board of Governors, our Council of Trustees, and our excellent faculty, staff and students for placing their trust in me. It is an incredible honor to be inaugurated as the 18th President of Shippensburg University.

Thank you to Chairwoman Cindy Shapira and Chancellor Dan Greenstein for the opportunity to continue to serve within Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education. It has been a year and a half since Chancellor Greenstein and our Ship trustees asked me to visit campus and to consider serving as the interim president at Ship. I can honestly say, Chancellor, that it was perhaps one of your finest recommendations and one of the best decisions I have ever made. 

Thank you to all of our speakers for your kind remarks. I and our attendees are truly in the presence of great individuals that have a passion and dedication for Ship. 

Today is a special day for me, for Colleen, for our son Aidan, and for my family that has traveled many miles to be here with us. Joining me here today is my mother, Karen, my sister, Carla, and her husband Michael, my brother, Mike, and his wife, Lynn, and their son, Cole. Thank you for being here today to support me. And hello to all my family, friends and colleagues who were unable to be here today but are watching on the live stream. 

But my personal feelings about an inauguration ceremony are far outweighed by what a presidential inauguration means to the university. Today, is about our university community coming together to celebrate our institutional legacy, our mission, and our future. A future that we will create together.  

As I reflect on my first year as president, there areas of few notable progress that we have made at Ship that are worth reflecting upon. We have worked to increase transparency into the Office of the President, furthered better communications, and strengthened the university’s emerging governance practices. We have developed an executive leadership team that works collaboratively across divisions and who’s priority is the betterment of the institution through their service to our Ship students, faculty, staff and stakeholders.

In the coming year, we will begin competitive searches to fill and refill permanent leadership positions, including the search for a new vice president for Administration and Finance, which commenced last week. We have affirmed to hiring additional faculty and staff positions that ensure course loads can be fulfilled and other critical student support services provided, while also monitoring sustainability metrics that chart our progress toward a stronger fiscal position for the future.

One of my priorities since arriving at Ship has been to strengthen trust and collaboration between Shippensburg University and the Shippensburg University Foundation. I am pleased to say that the relationship between the university and the foundation is on strong footing and becoming stronger. This renewed relationship is also visible among our alumni and donors, who are now giving at higher levels than in previous years.

The strength of a public university is many times a reflection of the strength of its affiliated university foundation. I am proud to say that our Shippensburg University Foundation continues to outpace its peers and is ranked first in alumni giving, parent giving, unrestricted giving, and private giving that supports our Raider Athletics.

The foundation is also ranked third in grand total contributions and forth for corporate contributions. I am deeply grateful for all of you who manifest your love and support for Shippensburg University in this manner as it truly impacts the lives of our students and their engagement across campus.

Renewed and increased giving by alumni and friends of Shippensburg University is an essential strategy to expanding financial support for our students and faculty, as well as strengthening the university’s overall fiscal resilience and reputation in the years to come. But I will expand on this topic later.

Another priority since my arrival here has been to change our enrollment trajectory. As an enrollment-dependent institution, our academic programs and enrollment and retention strategies are not just important to the development of well-prepared students for our region and for the state, but also critically important to our own institutional fiscal health.

This fall we experienced a 5.6 percent increase in first-time in college undergraduate enrollments, and double-digit percent increases in students originating from our contiguous counties. The average GPA of incoming new students increased from 3.2 to 3.3, second year retention rate of students increased by 1 percent, and graduation rates of our 2018 cohort increased by 5.2 percent over the 2017 cohort.

Our residential occupancy rates have also experienced double-digit increases since last fall, with 97% occupancy in suite-style housing and 94 percent occupancy in other available campus housing.

These data are early indicators that our revamped recruitment and enrollment strategies, and the individual attention provided by our staff and faculty teams, are making a difference. We are making Ship Happen!

These accomplishments are not mine to claim but are instead the work of very dedicated teams. Whether you are a faculty or staff member, a student, an alum, a member of our surrounding community, a donor or friend of the university, or one of the thousands of students currently enrolled or simply aspire to call Ship home one day – I commit to leading Shippensburg University and working alongside you as we advance the university’s role in serving as the strong, regional flagship for higher education.

People are what make campuses and communities more than just grounds, bricks, mortar and classroom spaces. And it is the interactions among us that create the sense of belonging and connection that is so meaningful. I have shared my Ship origin story with some, but it bears repeating.

As I said earlier, it has been almost a year and a half since Chancellor Greenstein and our Ship trustees asked me to visit campus and to consider serving as the interim president. At that time, my work as president at Mansfield University was concluding and I was in the process of being identified as the sole finalist for a presidency in another state, but Shippensburg happened to be on our way and a short diversion from our travels. As we drove onto campus we were met with stunning views, beautiful architecture, and the symbolic resonance of a historic campus complete with manicured grounds. Truly a beautiful place.

I completed my final interview and we stopped again at Ship on the way back to Mansfield. This time we got out of the car and walked around, taking-in additional corners of campus not readily accessible by car. Colleen and I further contemplated the possibility of my serving as an interim president without any guarantee of permanence.

As someone who has served as interim president before, such situations can be precarious and disruptive to family dynamics. However, after spending additional time on campus and, most importantly, talking with people we met along our stroll across campus, the decision was reached – I would forgo the offer of a permanent presidency for an interim presidency at Ship, and continue to lead with an open heart. We have not been disappointed in this decision.

Colleen and I are dedicated to Ship, but so is our son, Aidan, a Ship sophomore, and RA living in Naugle Hall. Colleen and I have seen a transformation in him that perhaps only Ship, and not his parents, could catalyze. I am very proud of his progression as a student coming out of a COVID high school experience, his willingness to take on RA responsibilities, and his continued growth as a leader on campus.

I am blessed to have a great support network that includes dedicated trustees, the Executive Management Team, our union leadership, student government, the Watchkeepers who serve as student advisors to the president, and our many faculty, staff and student leaders that care passionately about Ship. But the one person that truly keeps me moving forward is Colleen.

Long ago, I was asked to speak on the role of the presidency in campus and community relations. Presidents that preceded me at the podium spoke of their spouses serving as “kite tails” to the ascension of the president, meaning the role of the first lady is to provide stability, keep the president pointed in the right direction, and sturdy when the winds turn strong.

When it came to my turn at the podium, I instead described Colleen as a “tugboat,” and the audience audibly gasped. But if you know Colleen, then you also know a tugboat is perhaps the better analogy to describe her. Tugboats are small, but strong and powerful, able to maneuver larger vessels by pushing or towing them. When a larger ship is low on power ship captains put trust in tugboats to steer them in the right direction. Colleen is my tugboat, strong and relentless and pushing me in the right direction, even when I am resistant.

A Shippensburg community leader once asked me if Colleen might consider serving on the Shippensburg D.O.I.T. board. I said, “Let me tell you a story about tugboats. Be careful what you are asking for. This tugboat is strong-willed, relentless, and does not like being told ‘this is the way we’ve always done it.’” 

Both Colleen and I have embraced our role both on campus and in our Ship community. Colleen serves on the Shippensburg D.O.I.T board and was instrumental in bringing back the Homecoming parade after a 12-year absence. I have enjoyed my time working with both community and campus leaders on the Shippensburg Revitalization and Connectivity Planning Committee as we address revitalization of downtown and blurring the lines between community and campus to create a stronger, more cohesive community where we can all live, learn and thrive together.

You may be starting to see a theme emerge: People, Place, and Mission.

While the role of the president is multifaceted, presidents are essentially stewards of institutions, and college campuses are shaped by many other many individuals, circumstances, and opportunities that came before us. As we move forward together during the next phase of Shippensburg University’s evolution, we will celebrate our history and our traditions, while also embracing meaningful change that is necessary to ensure that Ship achieves its mission and emerges stronger.

Speaking of history and change, you will notice that we have transitioned away from the use of single university medallion towards the use of a Presidential Chain of Office to be worn at official occasions requiring the wearing of academic regalia.

The chain I am wearing today memorializes the names of each of the 18 principals and presidents that have served Shippensburg University during its 151-year history, as well as the institution’s progression as the Cumberland Valley Normal School, Shippensburg State Teachers College, Shippensburg State College, and Shippensburg University. In essence, Ship has continued to evolve through its history to meet the new and emerging needs of students in the Cumberland Valley and beyond.

I am grateful to work with our Ship team including our interim provost, Nicole Hill, and our academic deans, members of the Executive Management Team, members of the President’s Cabinet, faculty and staff directors across our many departments, centers and institutes, and our Ship trustees.

We have been engaged in numerous conversations with the campus community and with the elected leadership of our surrounding communities about Ship and our future — who we are and what we aspire to be as a university. These conversations are helping to shape a shared vision for Ship and accompanying strategies that will help propel us towards our next decade of growth.

Many of these goals and objectives are now codified as part of Shippensburg University’s Strategic Plan for 2021-2024. The Strategic Plan was borne out of a collaborative process that involved stakeholders across the entire campus community and beyond, and we are deep into the implementation stage of the Plan.

Careful planning and adaptability are increasingly important parts of higher education, especially when one considers changing demographics and volatile labor markets, the increasing cost of delivering higher education, expectations of students, and the continued questioning of the value of postsecondary education. We must rise to meet these challenges head-on and embrace the fact that strategies that might have worked in the past may not meet the needs of all students.

What transformational strategies will we embrace to advance the mission of this great university? Will we let the practices of the past cloud what is possible for the future of Shippensburg University? These choices are ours, and ours alone.

We are in a unique position and Ship has an incredible combination of advantages. Our students, faculty and staff are engaged in instruction, service, research and scholarly activities that are on par with major universities across the country.

Our faculty are unwavering in their dedication to pedagogical excellence. For example,

• The Teacher Education Department, with over 480 undergraduates in teacher certification programs have committed to building community partnerships as part of course level assignments and experiences.
• Claire Jantz, director of the Center for Land Use and Sustainability, facilitates a wide array of projects by matching our community needs with faculty and student expertise. Dr. Jantz and Dr. Sean Cornell were the driving force behind Ship being recognized as a Green Ribbon School by the Department of Education – one of one four universities in the country to achieve this distinction.
• Elizabeth Fisher launched the Shippensburg Community Resource Coalition a decade ago to provide critical coordination of social services in Shippensburg in an attempt to overcome the complexity of the Borough sitting at the intersection of two counties, Cumberland and Franklin. Across the last ten years, SCRC has received over $1 million in grants, and was recently awarded a CDC Drug-Free Communities grant for $100,000 that is renewable for ten years.
• Ali Dagnes is teaching an Honors seminar on Pennsylvania Elections this semester. Students created a series of interactive maps with voting data from the 2014-2020 elections. This tool helps with monitoring voting and elections in the state of Pennsylvania and is a collaboration between Dr. Dagnes and professor emeritus, Janet Smith from Geography/Earth Science.

And with 132 recognized student organizations, our Ship students are highly engaged and developing their leadership skills both inside and outside the classroom. We boast 20 PSAC athletic teams comprised of 630 student-athletes; 14 club sports with 370 participants; eight intramural teams with approximately 500 students; and 16 fraternities and sororities with approximately 325 members.

Underpinning all this work is a dedicated cadre of staff members. Many serve as the first point of contact involved in outreach and recruitment efforts. Others serve to support retention, wellness, student and community engagement, housing and residence life, programming, compliance, facilities, safety, academic support, janitorial, dining services and other critically important roles.

If not for our dedicated staff, we would not be recognized as the comprehensive and supportive institution we are today. The exemplary work and dedication of our faculty, students, and staff connect us to the theme of people, place, and mission. Thank you all for your dedication to our entire campus community.

Fulfillment of our mission requires resources that are critical to our operation. We have recently received an historic reinvestment to the State System by the General Assembly – an increase of $75 million – which equates to an increase of $6.3 million in state appropriations to Ship. This is a strong indicator that our advocacy efforts to demonstrate the value proposition of public higher education, and the impact of Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania, are paying off. But our work is not done.

I’ll be back on the road again soon as we advocate for an additional $133 million during the upcoming budget cycle. This equates to $21 million to support inflationary funding increases and $112 million to enroll and graduate students in careers in fields with significant labor shortages.

These programs include healthcare, education, engineering, social work and computer science, and all are areas where Ship excels or has been developing programs that will help boost enrollment and meet regional needs.

While we advocate for additional funding to support Ship, we must also continue to make local, institution-level decisions that benefit our long-term sustainability and drive investments towards Ship’s future.

At our recent “All Hands” meeting, we concluded with a call to action that focused on four individual actions we must take as a campus community to stabilize our enrollment, support fiscal health, and advance our academic mission as a university.

• We must expand our recruitment strategy beyond high school graduates and traditional students. We must all embrace our role in recruitment and retention, as our actions and our mindset shape our campus culture and how we interact with others.
  
  We all have a role in the recruitment, retention, and the success of our Ship students. The individual interactions we have with student can have a profound effect on their decision to enroll and progress at Ship.
  
  For example, there are numerous reasons why I give my personal cell phone number to our students, prospective students, families, and friends during campus visits throughout the year. Primarily, it is a demonstration to the individual student and their family that I am personally invested in their college journey and the success of their student.
  
  Often people often ask what kind of texts and calls I get. Do students really reach out? They do and often. Some just want to say hello or sometimes they are curious about something on campus.
  
  Other times, students reach out because they are unsure how to access critical campus resources. Are there complaints? Sometimes. But that simply allows me to respond to the concerns of students and family members directly – a further demonstration that our Ship community is a close knit and caring community.

• We need to boldly complexify how we deliver our academic courses and services, meeting of students’ degree needs, as well as stages during their career and life. Shippensburg University must be a provider for students’ academic and career growth.
  
  High school graduates are no longer the majority of students enrolled at most U.S. universities and colleges. More students are adult learners, working learners, and students with children and parental responsibilities. We will see this trend continue in the coming years as students who postponed their college pursuits in favor of employment have jobs, but not well paying, family-sustaining careers.
  
  To this end, we will invest in programs that align with student demand and workforce needs. We are entering a new era of collaboration at Ship with nonprofit and corporate partners, building something meaningful and great, together, for mutual benefit.
  
  As an example, our computer science and engineering programs began to emerge in the early 2000s. Today, Ship boasts four ABET accredited programs – computer science, computer, electrical, and software engineering – and accreditation for civil and mechanical engineering is in process.
  
  In 2021, Ship celebrated the repurposing of the campus Steam Plant as the home of the School of Engineering, boasting state-of-the-art engineering labs and an eco-friendly and energy efficient design.
  
  And exactly one month ago, on September 27, we celebrated the naming of the Milton and Doreen Morgan School of Engineering and the Milton and Doreen Morgan Engineering Laboratory.
  
  This transformational gift by the Morgans will support generations of future engineering students, it will provide funding to advance student and faculty research in engineering and will partially fund renovations to Kriner Hall to colocalize academic assets as we advance interdisciplinary collaborations across entrepreneurship, business and engineering.
  
  With the naming of the Morgan School of Engineering, there is new and renewed interest among our manufacturers in the region to work with Ship as they seek to address workforce needs.
  
  Such opportunities to meet regional demands require investment, intentionality, dedication and hard work. And now we are at a convergence point in our engineering disciplines where program accreditation, educational mission, faculty expertise, corporate support and philanthropic support by friends of Ship are coming together to provide synergy within a high-demand, high-visibility discipline.
  
  In short, engineering is going to be a larger and stronger part of our academic and corporate portfolio. We are beneficiaries, realizing the return on the investments made by our visionary faculty, staff and administrators who came before us.

• We must solve our retention challenges and create concrete and purposeful strategies to address them. We must tackle, authentically and directly, the ways in which we create a sense of inclusion and belonging for all our students.
  
  Today’s students require different wraparound services, especially students emerging from the pandemic, and we all play a crucial role in creating an inclusive and supportive Ship campus.
  
  In November Dr. Manny Ruiz, assistant vice president for inclusion and belonging and director of Social Equity, will be holding several open forums discussing the university’s recent climate survey results.
  
  As we continue our efforts to support an inclusive campus, we must take stock of the effectiveness of current strategies that seek to address diversity and inclusion, discrimination and bias, campus engagement, politics and religion, wellness, social belonging, and our overall campus climate, and continually strive to do better where we identify weaknesses.
  
  I hope you will join Dr. Ruiz on Wednesday, November 2, as he hosts a local launch party for the 2022 PASSHE DEI Summit in the Orndorff Theatre, on November 4 there will be a special presentation that will recognize Ms. Diane Jefferson, director of Multicultural Student Affairs, as a recipient of PASSHE's inaugural Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Keepers of the Flame Award. This award recognizes Ms. Di’s significant and historical contributions to creating and promoting diverse, equitable, and inclusive environments that cultivate a sense of belonging.

• We must intentionally update our program array to respond to student demand, better align with regional workforce needs, meet sustainability metrics and address faculty and staff well-being.
  
  It is estimated that the Commonwealth requires 6,000 more credentials per year, which means enrolling some 18,000 more students to meet existing workforce demand. This will come from creating new student enrollments and meeting the needs of new and emerging markets. To grow, we must rise to meet this opportunity.  Surrounding companies and industries are calling upon us to help them create a pipeline of well-qualified students to meet their employment demands.
  
  We need to be one of the leading institutions to meet the needs of underserved and adjacent markets in our region: First generation students, working adults, students with some college but no degree, adults with no credentials, and provide a laddering of educational needs. To do this we may need to change the way we work so that we can better serve these students.
  
  Careful, collaborative change is a choice we must make for the good of Ship and we must assess the mix of our programs and pathways, our student support infrastructures, delivery modalities and, where feasible, opportunities to create new pathways for student success by sharing of resources with partner institutions.
  
  The choices we made yesterday have led us to today, and the choices we make tomorrow will determine or future as an institution. Change comes down to choice; recognizing who our students are and making the choice to adjust our practices to serve these students.
  
  There is not a single person or a single solution that will convert these opportunities into successes. Only together, as an institution with no barriers between faculty, staff and administration, we will be able to move this incredible university forward.
  
  And this is an important call to action because we know that the success of our students and faculty translates into institutional prominence, national recognition, a supportive campus climate and fulfillment of our institutional mission.  

During my first meeting with President Emeritus Tony Ceddia, he gave me some unsolicited advice: “Love the university, and it will love you back.” I do love Ship and I love working with every one of my colleagues.

What we do in our lives in service to the university is for the good of the institution and for the good of our students.

The steps we take now and, in the future, must be focused on student success and the institutional mission, and I have full confidence in our collective ability to address any known and unforeseen challenges head-on.

And speaking of challenges, I would like to address in more detail the commemorative gift that you received as you entered the Luhrs Performing Arts Center. You have in your possession a challenge coin. Originating among the ranks of the military, a challenge coin represents proof that you are a member of a unit or served on a specific tour of duty.

As its use has expanded into other areas, including now in academia, a challenge coin may be given to someone to confirm membership in an organization or group. I received my first challenge coin ever from Lieutenant General Les Smith at Aberdeen Proving Grounds almost 15 years ago, and it was not long after this visit that I implemented the first challenge coin to be used at Georgia Southern University.

And here I am today, as the 18th president of Shippensburg University, reaching out to you to recognize your service, your advocacy and your dedication to Ship and to our larger community.

On the front you will find the seal of Shippensburg University. On the back you will find an historic representation of the cupola that adorns the top of Old Main inscribed with the words “We’ll be true to you, Dear old Red and Blue.” If you are truly red and blue at heart, you will recognize these words as part of the chorus of our dear alma mater.

“We’ll be true to you, Dear old Red and Blue.” It is that simple – putting the institution and students first. Moving Ship forward is not about themes and nautical references to waves and ships, staying the course or navigating together, or horizons or something else. Let’s be true to ourselves, be true to the institution, and be open to collaborative change – change that will allow our Dear Old Red and Blue to thrive for generations to come.

There is a role in this for everyone. Provost Hill and I solicited your ideas and contributions as a follow-up to our first “All Hands” meeting earlier this month and we will continue this process in the coming months, sharing information received and responses provided in an open and transparent manner. 

I want your recommendations and I also want to hear your concerns. Only in this way will we make sure we approach challenges and opportunities from all angles. To ensure Shippensburg University’s ongoing legacy and our ability to tackle the complexities of our current moment in time, we must all be engaged and share our perspectives, innovations and ideas. 

And with these opportunities comes responsibility, and the need to move with intentionality, if we are to continue to make progress in creating new student enrollments and meeting the needs of new and emerging markets. Small businesses and large corporations all around us are excited to be working again with Ship.

Let’s not look back 2 or 3 years from today and realize that we didn’t do enough, that we weren’t flexible enough, that we didn’t set our sights high enough, that we didn’t take full advantage of this moment to put Ship and its students first above everything else. Come with me and join me on this journey. I am confident we will see Shippensburg University emerge as the mighty flagship it was always destined to be.

Thank you again for entrusting me with this chance to serve as Ship’s president. I stand in front of you with the same open heart I had when I first accepted the interim presidency and with a deep commitment to continue to lead with an open heart.

Thank you for joining me today and thank for all you do for our incredible university and GO SHIP!