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Kansas State University

Guiding Principles for University Excellence

 

24 September 2002

Executive Summary

A Working Group appointed by Provost James Coffman was charged to define characteristics that would have the greatest effect in positioning Kansas State University as a top 10 Land Grant Institution. The Working Group identified four broad themes essential to a top-tier comprehensive student-centered research university. That is, an excellent university: (1) maintains and nurtures a lively, collaborative, and diverse intellectual community, (2) is effective in its impact upon society and fulfills its mission in regard to teaching, scholarship, service, and outreach, (3) has an infrastructure that is up to date and which supports its efforts effectively, and (4) maintains administrative processes and procedures that are flexible and nimble, and which allow for rapid institutional responses to change. These characteristics of excellence form principles upon which Kansas State University will rely in becoming a top 10 Land Grant Institution. Subsequent decisions regarding specific processes and procedures to be implemented by the university will be based upon the foundation provided by these essential criteria. Kansas State University's potential for success in this endeavor is linked inextricably to its maintaining a collegial and cooperative environment wherein the faculty, staff, and administration work together, supporting one another, for the good of the university.

Background

On 21 February 2002, Provost Jim Coffman convened a group of faculty and administrators with the charge that they address the goal of having Kansas State University "become a top 10 Land Grant Institution." The first, and most significant, of the assigned tasks related to the charge were for the group to (1) "identify the characteristics of programs in general which, within K-State's mission, obligations to stakeholders, and strengths, would have the greatest effect in moving the university's national reputation up," and (2) to "develop guiding principles, criteria, standards, and procedures for determining how funding should best be distributed to enhance those programs with the most promise of elevating the university's stature." The thrust of the working group's efforts to date has been to define the criteria for the level of excellence toward which the university aspires, rather than considering resource distribution plans or identifying specific programs or departments on campus with the notion of measuring them against a predetermined threshold of excellence. Implicit in the process of defining excellence, and enumerating the factors that determine it, is the realization that some of the most interesting areas of scholarship may well lie at the intersection of two or more disciplines. With this in mind, the working group was asked to consider "how smaller departments in all colleges can find the capacity and the critical mass to develop an area of programmatic strength." In short, the group was asked to reflect upon what criteria have been used historically, and in the present, to determine preeminence in higher education and to envision the characteristics of excellence that define the university that we wish to become in the future.

To address these challenges, the working group met in a day-long retreat on 15 March 2002, and considered three basic questions: (1) "What should we be doing in 2020 to be recognized as a premier student-centered research university?" (2) "What are the characteristics of a premier academic institution today, as opposed to 2020?" (3) "What attributes define excellence?" A multi-voting technique was used to stimulate discussion and to prioritize the ideas put forward, based upon their inherent similarities. (Materials related to the retreat, including the charge from the Provost, working group members, meeting minutes, and a resource list can be found at http://www.k-state.edu/provost/TargetedExcellence/index.html.) Following the retreat, the working group met on 10 May to discuss the issues generated at the March gathering and to examine a first-stage condensation of that material. A committee was formed with instructions to carry on the process of consolidating the data into overarching principles and concepts and to present their work to the larger body in a subsequent meeting. This document is the committee's report, and it will provide the foundation from which the working group's recommendations will be drawn.

Criteria for Excellence

Four broad themes emerged in answer to the questions listed above. An excellent university:

  1. maintains and nurtures a lively, collaborative, and diverse intellectual community,
  2. is effective in its impact upon society and fulfills its mission in regard to teaching, scholarship, service, and outreach,

  3. has an infrastructure that is up to date and which supports its efforts effectively, and
  4. maintains administrative processes and procedures that are flexible and nimble, and which allow for rapid institutional responses to change.
  1. Maintains and nurtures a lively, collaborative, and diverse intellectual community. This topic was introduced, and often referred to subsequently by the participants, as "the life of the mind." The working group members were emphatic that this concept provides the basis upon which any notion of excellence rests. It is based upon the creation and maintenance of a scholarly, collegial environment in which the active and on-going exchange of ideas is encouraged and nurtured. It presupposes a diverse population of individuals from different races, nationalities, and ethnic groups working together in a climate of mutual cooperation and understanding, responsive to global issues, concerns, and opportunities. A strong and rigorous curriculum is an attribute of such a community--one that is relevant to student needs and which stimulates and develops critical thinking skills through a variety of pedagogical approaches, including experiential learning. Students educated at such an institution will be prepared to meet life's challenges with strength and competence and will have the skills and abilities to be leaders in their fields. This necessitates foundational strengths of the university in the breadth and excellence of its undergraduate programs, as well as the depth and level of specific expertise in highly focused graduate and research programs. As we wish to graduate students of exceptional knowledge and understanding, we also aspire to attract incoming students of outstanding talent and ability. The university community we envision will encourage the formation of intellectual epicenters, from which will emerge stimulating scholarly discourse and important discovery research. It presupposes a faculty that is recognized both nationally and internationally and whose achievements in teaching, scholarship, research, and performance are evident in prestigious venues. It aspires to be the school of choice for undergraduates at the state, regional, and national levels, and it assumes high quality graduate programs that that are nationally ranked and as such attract top-notch students while generating significant research and scholarship, including commensurate levels of grants, contracts, and awards. It is a university that is a leader among its peers and competitors, and which earns high rankings by the established yardsticks of the profession, including the National Research Council, the National Science Foundation, and the Association of Research Libraries.


  2. Is effective in its impact upon society and fulfills its mission in regard to teaching, scholarship, service, and outreach. Kansas State University's mission statement, in its first sentence, makes clear that the scope of the university's efforts is not limited to the community, state, or region, but extends to the entire nation and, indeed, the world. The ramifications of this commitment are enormous, for they impact not only the nature and content of the intellectual pursuits undertaken at the university, but also the manner and means by which instruction is delivered, scholarly discourse occurs, and research is carried out. They reflect the unprecedented nature of today's world of rapid information sharing, storage, and retrieval, as well as the fact that, more than ever before, collaborations among scholars at different locations around the world are veritable necessities. Thus, calls for the university to have stronger emphases upon national and international relations and associations, that its graduates possess more effective global, intercultural competencies, and that it be more responsive to world issues and events become imperatives. The Kansas State University mission statement also makes clear the increasingly important role that the university plays in the economic life and well being of society. Even as state and federal funding in support of public universities diminishes, these institutions have, with increasing frequency, become vital engines of economic development and entrepreneurial opportunity for their constituent populations. The university of excellence that we envision will be sensitive to this reality and will position itself to attract significant extramural funding, using these resources to provide information, technology, and expertise to business and industry, as well as to governmental agencies at the state and national levels. It presupposes a more collaborative approach to scholarship, as new bonds of cooperation are forged among academic, corporate, and governmental entities. Underlying this vision for the future is Kansas State University's flexible approach to the allocation of faculty members' time and talent. This policy allows individuals to be evaluated based upon their individual strengths, rather than being measured against a pre-determined and inflexible set of criteria. In sum, Kansas State University must be ready, willing, and able to fulfill its mission of being "responsive to a rapidly changing world and the aspirations of an increasingly diverse society." This may require that the university become more self-sustaining.


  3. An infrastructure that is up to date and which supports the efforts of the university effectively. The university of excellence that we aspire to be must have the wherewithal to do work in support of its mission. This includes adequate funding in all areas; sufficient usable space for teaching, research, performance, and experimentation; a first-class, comprehensive, and user-friendly library; a computing system able to handle the myriad demands placed upon it; communications capabilities that allow for the effective exchange of information within, and beyond, the physical confines of the campus; and a commitment to timely and appropriate maintenance, and upgrading, of the university's physical plant, equipment, and virtual resources. It also assumes a safe, attractive, and inviting environment in which to work and study. Moreover, the infrastructure should be equipped with the technological wherewithal to accommodate changing needs regarding the delivery of instruction and dissemination of information, making it possible for the university to be more effective in reaching out to students and interested parties across the state and nation, and around the world.


  4. Maintains administrative processes and procedures that are flexible and nimble, and which allow for rapid institutional responses to change. The university of excellence we envision understands its mission, is aware of and optimizes its strengths and competitive advantages, and focuses its efforts to create maximum impact in the areas in which it is poised to do so. To this end, the university of excellence must act aggressively in taking advantage of attractive, mission-related opportunities that present themselves. To be effective in this regard, the university community must be entrepreneurial in spirit and outlook, able to respond quickly to narrow windows of opportunity. The university of excellence attracts, retains, and rewards a faculty and staff of the highest quality, engages in open discourse on issues, and is committed to the concept and practice of shared governance. It understands the imperative that every administrator, from department head up, will have achieved national recognition, remains professionally active, and possesses outstanding administrative and leadership skills and abilities. Moreover, administrators should be given the opportunity to do their jobs without unnecessary interference. An excellent university should be alert to changing events in society and, as change takes place, to see beyond traditionally accepted notions of teaching, learning, and research. The entire academic community, along with its requisite processes and procedures, should be open to new and enhanced ways of accomplishing its mission. These include inter-and-cross-disciplinary interactions, service learning opportunities, as well as new ideas regarding the academic calendar, credit hour constraints, and academic partnerships with community colleges, technical and professional schools, peers, and other institutions.


The four themes described above provide the basis for an understanding of that to which we aspire as a university. They are broad-based principles that will serve as a springboard for further discussion and deliberation, as the university positions itself to meet, with greater strengths and enhanced capabilities, the opportunities that will arise in the future. Such a process of looking ahead optimistically is difficult to do in the best of times, and it is especially challenging in these days of increasingly difficult economic pressure and diminishing state support for higher education. Yet, the fact that it is a national problem, and one not limited to Kansas or the Midwest, makes clear the importance of Kansas State University looking beyond the present and the very real challenges that we face today. Rather, the future that we envision should unfold naturally as a result of the decisions we make and the actions we take, forming a long line of inevitability toward success and excellence.