What Will It Take To "Make Penn State Great Again" Academically?
- Thread starter LionsAndBears
- Start date
In this vein .... Cut the OH not directly related to the mission of the university. There is plenty at PSU.
other than raising tuition? no
What incentive is there to be great?
No one wants to say it but having around 30 varsity sports is insane. Having said that, Harvard has 42…
Nobody is ever going to confuse us with Harvard.
The primary difference is that Harvard's athletic department isn't a self-contained silo as PSU's is. It's paid for out of the general fund and the budget for each sport is subject to the same review as that of an academic department. Funny how accountability works.
Another is they do not spend millions and millions on coaches.
Harvard's entire athletic budget is about $32mm. Total of all HC salaries: a shade over $4.6mm.
Not until the PSU BOT is overhauled, restructured, and actual trustees interested in applying their fiduciary responsibilities instead of rubblng elbows with the movers and shakers of Penna will PSU academic slide bottom out and a resurgence begin. Is Neeli the President capable of this? We shall see.
Challenge students and require them to apply themselves to earn a degree.
Academic Rigor goes a long way in building a positive academic reputation. Many of these mega diploma factories have become like our public high schools. March them through and make room for the next load of cattle.
Academic Rigor goes a long way in building a positive academic reputation. Many of these mega diploma factories have become like our public high schools. March them through and make room for the next load of cattle.
Hammer meet nail. Step number one is to have a Board that formulates standards of academic and research excellence and fiscal responsibility. Step two is to make the Administration accountable to achieve those goals.
Neeli is the instrument, not the leader.
Intolerance of any diverse thought, not requiring entrance exams, abolishing grading system, bloated administrations to support every cause, requiring masks long past any point that they were needed (if they ever were) and on and on…
Can you imagine what this school could accomplish if they eliminated the waste and allocated more resources into attracting and producing the best of the best?
IMO, it's better to be great at a few things than average in a lot of things. When you think of schools that are great, you think of schools that do certain things very well and because of their reputation they attract the best faculty and students. You think of Penn for Business, Harvard for Law and MIT for Mathematics. Nobody cares about Harvard's Art program.
We need to identify what we want to be known for and then allocate our resources in those directions in order to be great.
IMO, it's better to be great at a few things than average in a lot of things. When you think of schools that are great, you think of schools that do certain things very well and because of their reputation they attract the best faculty and students. You think of Penn for Business, Harvard for Law and MIT for Mathematics. Nobody cares about Harvard's Art program.
We need to identify what we want to be known for and then allocate our resources in those directions in order to be great.
Don’t we already do that with ice cream?
What is (or what should be) the core mission of a land grant state university in the 21st century?
Is the goal to be the Harvard of the working class, to prepare the children of Pennsylvania for the future, or something else entirely?
Is the goal to be the Harvard of the working class, to prepare the children of Pennsylvania for the future, or something else entirely?
While I couldn't speak for anyone else, I can certainly share what I put forth to a proposed set of "Presidential Performance Metrics".
One can, of course, look at what was actually published - and extrapolate as to whether or not such concerns received any weight:
"As to Presidential Goals:
Within the provinces and responsibilities of the PSU Board, the most important standards we set are those which provide the framework for the President’s administration. It is integral to the most important duty of the Board – that duty being the selection, direction, and evaluation of the University President.
In order for ANY performance goals and standards to be useful – and, by proxy, for any performance evaluations to be worthwhile - they must meet certain minimum standards:
1) They must be congruent with the achievement of the institution’s most critical missions
2) They must be clearly defined and measurable and quantifiable – both in the present tense and moving forward
3) They must be ambitious, while not being unreasonable or unattainable
4) They must reasonably fall within the authority of the party held responsible
In addition - and perhaps even more importantly - a proper goal-setting process has many important ancillary benefits over and above serving as a basis for presidential evaluation.
A well-defined process:
1 - Forces the Board to deliberate on just which missions are the most critical to the University and its stakeholders.
2 - Requires to Board to fully understand, in clear and factual terms, exactly where the University currently stands with regard to the achievement of those missions
3 - Requires the Board to monitor progress towards improving upon those missions
All of these are very significant benefits, above and beyond simply serving as the structure to develop Presidential Goals.
Only by knowing exactly what the mission is, knowing exactly where we are today, and knowing exactly what progress (or regression) has occurred, can any governing body evaluate the efficacy of the actions taken in the interim.
In summary, this is a very important process - and one that deserves thorough deliberation, both in style and specifics. Checking off boxes relative to nebulous aspirations, with no basis or accountability, provides no benefits other than a false sense of solace."
One might reflect on the fact that during the 8 year reign of Eric Barron - during which time Penn State experienced historically tragic declines in nearly every academic metric, along with historical declines in its fiscal results - President Barron received consistent public plaudits from the Board for his exemplary performance, contract extensions, multiple raises and bonuses, and a 7-figure golden parachute upon his exit.
Last edited:
"Nobody cares about Harvard's art program." That may be one of the more profoundly ignorant statements I've read on this board where people contend for the championship on a daily basis.
I believe you may have missed my point. While Harvard may or may not have a great art program, it's not what they're known for. If you ask the vast majority of people what they think of when they hear the name Harvard, you'll probably get an answer like Harvard Law or Harvard Medicine.
We have a large enough alumni base so that we could only admit legacies. This would allow us to practice inclusion by exclusion. Then allow the students to only major in what their predecessors did. Thus establishing the rebirth of the ancient Guild system that helped propel Europe out of the Middle Ages. We’re supposed to think out of the box right.
Aren’t we already known for excellence in a number of majors? Engineering, computer science, food science, architecture, meteorology, hotel and restaurant management, and turf management come to mind to name a few. I’m sure there are more.
Great Again? We were never great. Hell, they let me in. If we were great my Degree would say Edinboro (no offense Fighting Scots). Good, yes. Better than we are now? Unquestionably.
The key is leadership. Will Bendaputi provide it? Maybe, but the Board of Trustees is still, with a few exceptions, largely self-serving and inept and she can't do it alone. We will continue a slow slide into the abyss. I expect us to bottom out around #125. We will be another Iowa State. I know, I know.....I'm negative. Not so. Reality says otherwise. Ignoring the continuing decline doesn't change it. Only a wholesale shakeup of the BOT will reverse the decline and that won't happen anytime soon.
Last edited:
This is the time for bold changes. What's wrong with PSU is no different than what is wrong with our country. We need to focus on what we do best and stop worrying about everyone's feelings.
I'll tell you one thing, your Dad demanded excellence in the classroom, and most rose to the occasion.
Don't major in a hobby
All Land Grant Institutions have as their mission, first and foremost, Agriculture. It seems like Ag is an afterthought now.
As for Harvard, you need to break it into two distinct pieces; Harvard College, the undergraduate school, and Harvard University, the graduate school. Most of you have been mentioning majors in their grad school.
"There are plenty of classes to choose from at Harvard; they offer almost 3,900 courses in 49 undergraduate fields. Your curriculum is designed based on your goals and they require no predetermined courses for your major outside of an Expository Writing course for all freshmen. Harvard also offers the opportunity for you to create a unique, personalized field that aims for your academic and career goals. The most popular majors overall in Harvard are Political Science and Government, Economics, Social Sciences, Evolutionary Biology, and Psychology."
www.collegeraptor.com
As for Harvard, you need to break it into two distinct pieces; Harvard College, the undergraduate school, and Harvard University, the graduate school. Most of you have been mentioning majors in their grad school.
"There are plenty of classes to choose from at Harvard; they offer almost 3,900 courses in 49 undergraduate fields. Your curriculum is designed based on your goals and they require no predetermined courses for your major outside of an Expository Writing course for all freshmen. Harvard also offers the opportunity for you to create a unique, personalized field that aims for your academic and career goals. The most popular majors overall in Harvard are Political Science and Government, Economics, Social Sciences, Evolutionary Biology, and Psychology."
Harvard University College Degrees Data
Top programs and majors at Harvard University. See which majors are most popular at Harvard University.
www.collegeraptor.com
Last edited:
Fixed. Sorry, but I insist.
Neeli will say whatever she has to in protecting federal research $$$. No goals or measurement to see progress or attaining these goals. It’s fluff. Transform PSUs internal operations… sure. DEI… of course. What’s Land Grant impact?
The majority of people would respond "What's Harvard?"
And yet it's not the "woke" who are banning books from school libraries, writing laws to dictate bedroom behavior, or trying to alter the history of slavery in this country so as not to hurt anyone's feelings.
it shouldn't be happening anywhere- and yes, see Florida for it -and worse- happening at the college level
This is turning into another thread that should be punted to a test board somewhere. Don’t see how mask wearing is relevant to the conversation, but some hold onto grudges way longer than necessary.
Get unlimited access today.