State of the University Address | Oct. 11, 2023

Good afternoon.

I appreciate your attendance at this event this afternoon. It is important to have an opportunity to reflect a little bit about where we are at The University of Akron, and where we are headed. I hope these comments generate discussion and ideas as we continue through this academic year.

I want to acknowledge the members of the Board of Trustees who are with us today.

First, it is important for me to express to all of you my sincere gratitude for the deep commitment you demonstrate every day to our students, to the institution and to the community.

Clearly, the success we have had in the past few years as we have navigated a pandemic and some serious legacy financial challenges is directly related to your work and your belief in the future of the University. Thank you.

And we have enjoyed remarkable success!

Folks around campus have asked us whether we are really as optimistic as we seem. At first, this seems like a strange question. But given the turmoil we have experienced during this decade, I recognize it may be that being optimistic takes some getting used to.

Yes, I am very, very optimistic!

There is good reason for us all to be so.

We are a university on the move.

• Enrollment has turned around. Retention is at an all-time high. International student enrollment is up 121%. We are doing much better in most of our traditional markets in Ohio and elsewhere.
• Residence halls are nearly full, reaching the pre-COVID capacity of 2019.

The future looks much better than at this time in the most recent years. For example:

• As we meet, today, applications are well ahead of this time last year.
• Registrations for a recent fall visit day for high school juniors and seniors and transfers were up 130% from the year before last and 65% from last year.
• Alumni enthusiasm is extremely high. UA sold out its allotment of tickets for a University-themed Guardians game in September.

This has translated into a much busier and more vibrant campus environment (which I hope all of you feel).

Every visitor to the homecoming events this past weekend commented to us about how alive the campus seems.

Those looking at us from afar continue to hold us in very high regard as evidenced by various national rankings and student achievement scores.

• UA was recognized in October 2023 with a Best Value College in Ohio award and ranked third in the Best Value Colleges in Ohio.
• UA’s Class of 2022 set a benchmark by achieving the highest performance in career trajectory metrics within the last three years. Notably, UA’s Career Outcomes Rate remains robust at an impressive 95% and the average salary for bachelor's degree graduates soared from $58,721 in 2021 to $64,287 in 2022.
• UA’s Bachelor of Arts in Psychology program is ranked No. 35 in the country in 2023 by Best Accredited Colleges. UA is one of two Ohio universities in the top 50.
• Akron School of Law was first among Ohio’s six public law schools for the highest pass rate on the February 2023 Ohio bar exam for both first-time takers and all takers.
• UA’s School of Nursing BSN program is among the best in the nation, according to U.S. News and World Report’s 2023-2024 Best Colleges rankings.
• Akron Law’s trial advocacy program is ranked No. 24 in the country by U.S. News & World Report (2023-24). UA has the highest ranking in this category among Ohio law schools. This ranking is second only to Syracuse University in the broader region encompassing Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia and Western Pennsylvania and Western New York.
• We continue to be among the leaders in the world in polymer and plastics research. We are ranked number one in the world in these areas of research.

Innovation in our academic programs continues to be a signature feature of The University of Akron. Think about the new programs we have established to provide more opportunities, shorten the time and money for degrees for all kinds of students:

• New 3+3 programs to combine the J.D. degree with degrees in History, Business Administration and Economics;
• The School of Allied Health has designed creative ways to help students finish their degrees faster while pursuing further education in the accelerated nursing program, cardiac sonography at Cleveland Clinic, or the Doctor of Chiropractic at National University of Health Sciences.
• A new Master of Accountancy program;
• A new track in the B.S. in Respiratory Therapy;
• And new online options in the Master of Social work and the Master of Arts in Curriculum and Instruction.

Our faculty have looked at the landscape and reactivated programs that have the potential to grow.

• Master of Science in Economics
• Master of Public Health (working with a consortium to bring back an important degree)

We have acknowledged the need for value adding certificates to traditional degree programs.

And there are several other important program developments in the works.

I also want to congratulate the faculty for their continued commitment to research and discovery. Many of you have received recognitions for your work this year. Nearly all of you include students in your research. You continue to publish and speak about your work and most of you involved in research have had it supported by an entity outside the University. We continue to be a national leader in the generation of patents.

Nearly every alumnus we talk with around the country remembers some experience in research with a UA professor.

Congratulations and thank you.

This all happens only because we have an exceptional faculty and staff working at all levels of the University.

• Every day, no matter the season, we come to a beautiful well-groomed urban campus.
• We work with the support of highly sophisticated technology and people who understand it.
• We have access to professionals who know how to get business done.
• We work with a committed set of academic advisors who help keep students on track.
• We operate safely in an urban environment because of a superb University police department.
• We have folks in our midst who can help us solve problems, build things, fix things, invent things and anticipate problems before they arise.
• We work with professionals who have made it their career to understand student needs and constraints and work with them to make education – and success – possible.
• We work with a group of people who fan out across the country every day to engage alumni and friends and raise money for the University.
• We enjoy the services of experts in communicating and marketing our programs, our student services and our campus.
• We have experts on how to write and submit grant proposals and how to administer them when the grant is awarded.
• We run two foundations whose only role is to support philanthropy and research.
• We enjoy the services of health professionals, recreation professionals, lawyers, communications professionals, world class athletic coaches, counselors, partnership experts, museum keepers, writers, graphic designers, learning specialists, food service workers, purchasing experts, architects and engineers, to name just a few.
• And, there are a few administrators who also know what they are doing.

Universities are collections of highly skilled professionals committed to education. No matter what the job, every job on a campus supports learning and discovery. At The University of Akron, we are blessed to have some of the best people in the world. I am deeply honored to work with all of you.

I want to turn now to some thoughts about where we are as an institution, where we need to go and how we will get there.

Optimism is something we deserve to have and must continue to have. I’ve shared just some of the reasons that we should be optimistic; I’m sure you all know of many other reasons.

But, optimism alone will not get us where we need to go.

We are operating in an extremely competitive and dynamic environment. It is an environment with strong external pressures and rapid competitive deployment.

Traditional university strategic plans are ineffective in this environment. Many traditional methodologies are no longer effective. And for universities like UA, where resources are limited, change must be smart and rapid.

The University of Akron CAN prosper in this environment, as we have seen, and we have a plan to continue doing so.

Our plan requires us to succeed in all of three broad and closely related areas. We must:

1. Stabilize our financial position.
2. Optimize internal and external partnerships for innovation and growth.
3. Preserve the foundations of the enterprise while simultaneously adapting to the environment through smart change.

In order to simultaneously succeed in these three areas of activity, we must move fast and understand the difference between two things:

• Those things that represent the fundamental values of the enterprise and
• Those things that represent only long-standing practice.

Fundamental values must be preserved; long-standing practices must be evaluated.

Let me expand on the opportunities and obligations of this three-part plan.

Financial position

It is important to know that The University of Akron is not going anywhere. Indeed, as I will describe, we are doing what we have to do to secure a financially sustainable future for the University. And, with your help, we will continue to adjust our approaches and work to secure that future. We will get this done!

I have met with all of the leadership groups in the University, some of the academic units, our various boards, alumni and members of the community to explain, in some detail, this part of the University’s financial plan.

To secure our financial position we must (1) reduce debt; (2) increase revenue by enrollment and innovative programing; and (3) reduce and stabilize expenditures by making smart choices for growth.

The Board and I agree that the most important of these three elements is to reduce the legacy debt of the University.

We have a beautiful campus, much of which was developed using borrowed money at a time when our enrollments were at record levels.

The annual debt service on this debt has been unmanageable for decades and has become increasingly burdensome during the recent years of enrollment decline.

Enrollment increases alone will not moderate this debt burden (although enrollment stabilization is essential to sustainability).

But there are ways in which we can reduce the annual debt service and we are and will continue to execute those with great vigor. The strategy involves monetizing (selling or leasing) those of our assets where part of the long-term value can be recovered immediately for use in paying down debt. The plan also includes strategic refinancing, when appropriate. The recent change in parking is an example of this.

Moving to reduce the debt and the annual debt service is the job of the University leadership and the Board. It requires a very corporate approach and is generally not amenable to lengthy campus discussions. There are also competitive pressures in these moves that require a high degree of confidentiality.

I mention this to you to make sure you know that while it is important to understand these moves and to be aware of how they affect you and our students, it is not likely there will be broad University-wide discussion about them as we proceed. We are not trying to dodge shared governance. We simply have to do it this way in order to succeed. And, we have to do it fast. Time is of the essence.

Of course, as we did with parking, we will keep the shared governance leaders appraised of the details as we proceed, under the assumption they will share faculty, staff and student concerns on a continuing basis.

I want to say a few words about the other two parts of the financial plan: increasing revenue through enrollment and timely innovation and using smart choices to reduce expenses.

But let me preface this part of my comments with this statement: At this point in the history of The University of Akron, there is no way in which we can stabilize our financial position with a broad reduction in force.

The positions we have are precious. We are well aware that in some areas we are understaffed. However, when positions become open through retirement or attrition, or in cases where new positions are authorized, legacy practice for filling positions will not be deployed.

I have instructed the provost and the senior vice president and CFO that, going forward, ALL staffing decisions will turn on growth dynamics.

Moreover, we are obligated by the Board to continually evaluate the vitality – both curricular and financial – of our academic programs. We will continue to do this using the methodology the provost and the faculty are developing.

Revenue

The most important revenue stream we control is enrollment. Continuing to strengthen enrollment is absolutely essential to a prosperous future. We believe we have turned the corner from a long steady annual decline in enrollment. But we have lots of work to do and, as you all know, the demographics do not get better for Northeast Ohio.

Let me emphasize about enrollment:

1. Enrollment is a team sport. The job of our professional and excellent enrollment team is to implement an enrollment strategy to get us where we need to be. But it will take the work of all of us to execute that plan. We continue to see great work in this area by the campus community.
2. For urban universities like UA, enrollment is not just about recruiting first-time, full-time students from high school. It is about providing opportunities for ALL learners. This is what I mean when I say we are an opportunity university.
3. Perhaps more than any other part of modern American public higher education, an institution’s approach to enrollment must be highly flexible, responsive and analytically based. Getting and keeping a class of students is one of the most dynamic activities of the modern university. The premium on creativity, innovation and change is very high. This is why you have seen us reorganize the way in which we award scholarships. It is the reason we push so hard for changes in our transfer and advising approaches. We are also constantly changing our communications and marketing approaches in order to keep up with the fluidity in the enrollment market.
4. What academic programs we offer students, the delivery methods we use to offer them and the credentials attached to the learning experience are also part of our enrollment strategy. You will probably get tired of me harping on this but, folks, if we are going to beat our competitors, we will have to be a leader in delivering contemporary degrees and credentials in the way in which learners want them. This means every part of the curriculum, including general education and the majors, must be reevaluated in light of the current environment.
   
   We will continue to very actively and rapidly explore programs, such as Credit for Prior Learning, Coursera, three-year degrees and other academic innovations to give the University a competitive advantage in a market where there is a premium on the connection between learning and work.

Enrollment is not the only way to raise revenue.

We have asked our University Advancement division to substantially increase their goals in unrestricted scholarships to give us as much flexibility as possible in deploying precious University scholarships.

We have stood up a conferencing services unit that now must be operationalized to leverage our public spaces for revenue.

The Department of Athletics is expanding their revenue potential using a more intentional approach to leasing their facilities, including for concerts.

Other revenue sources are being discussed and your ideas are welcome.

Expenses

We are in a situation where it is not possible to cut our way to financial sustainability. This is why I have emphasized revenue generation.

Nevertheless, controlling expenses and rebalancing expenses to support fast- growing programs will be an important focus of our management going forward.

This will require us to think about things like workload and the way in which technology supports our work.

We will also have to think about burdens on the operating budget – such as excess or unused buildings – that can be mitigated.

We are looking very closely at our utilities and how we might leverage our heating and cooling system.

We will be asking leaders to watch their budgets much more carefully and hold the line on spending, where possible.

Before moving to another topic, I want to pause here to reaffirm that none of what I have said suggests anything less than a full commitment from me and our leadership team in effective shared governance.

Indeed, given the complexity of the challenges before us, operating within an effective shared governance model is our only choice if we are to succeed.

However, as the senior shared governance leaders here know, I have and will continue to insist that our shared governance system prevent both impulsive recklessness and frustrating stalemate. The quality of our consideration of change has very little to do with how long we consider it. It has to do with the quality of the underlying analytics and our determination to do the best thing for the University. In the environment in which we live, we simply must move faster and smarter if we are to prosper.

While the debt improvement initiatives are the work of the administration and the Board, efforts to stabilize our annual revenues and expenses are a community-wide responsibility and will require considerable consultation and collaboration.

Let me turn to the next topic.

Partnerships

The prosperity of The University of Akron depends on its ability to build and execute unique and productive partnerships, both within the University and with outside partners.

Partnerships almost always originate through personal interactions between workers and scholars in different sectors thinking about big challenges and opportunities.

These interactions create most of the very creative partnerships in our curriculum, student life and other parts of the University.

The strategic action paradigm the provost is using to move the University along is a great framework within which to identify partnerships and build them out.

It is also important that if you and a colleague have an idea that can grow the University or make us more efficient, you let us know. Our primary role in administration is to help you move these ideas to reality.

Regarding external partnerships, The University of Akron has always been very good at working with communities, governments, other universities and municipalities to get big things done.

To leverage these emerging interactions for new learning, new knowledge and new revenue, the University must understand the great landscape of interactions taking place and be prepared to quickly join the discussion to grow the original idea and obtain support for it.

We have a good, recent example of this with the Innovation Hub funds included in the FY23-24 state budget. That budget allocation grew from ideas in Akron that emerged into a highly effective partnership that was able to go to the state government and win legislative support for the ideas. UA has been intricately involved in this and will receive a good portion of those funds for polymer research.

We must continue this kind of work. The deeper these relationships go, the more stable we are.

Among the important external relationships we focus a great deal of our attention on are:

• The City of Akron and the County of Summit
• The commercial sector in Northeast Ohio and beyond
• Community Colleges
• Hospitals
• The Akron Public Schools and other private and public schools and systems
• And, other universities regionally, nationally and internationally.

I continue to see great enthusiasm from the campus community for partnerships with these important constituents.

A recent example is the great work the School of Education is doing with the Advancement division, a donor and the state government to put the University in the leadership position in Ohio in training teachers and conducting research in the Science of Reading.

The partnerships we are building in the arts community is another example.

Certainly, the partnerships that will be required to complete the Knight Creative project (Polsky) will be numerous.

Let me turn to the last part of our overall plan.

Service, advocacy and support of the commonwealth

This past year was a challenging one for higher education in America and Ohio. There is no reason for us to believe the coming years will be any less challenging.

In today’s America:

• fewer than one-half of people recently polled by Gallup have confidence in higher education.
• fewer and fewer people of all ages are going to college.
• long-standing academic practices once tolerated in society are now viewed as archaic and elitist.
• truth is considered by many to be relative. Science is viewed as suspect.
• teaching has become a dangerous profession.
• intolerance is an accepted political view.

Our goal has to be to preserve the foundational core of the institution –enlightened discovery, learning and service – as we work with a spirit of collegiality to shape legislation and affect constructive change in the Academy.

The opportunity for a public urban research university like The University of Akron to meet both parts of this goal – preserving our foundational core while adapting to the social and economic realities of our time and place – is extensive.

As we go forward, we will be looking for programs and ideas that set the University above its peer institutions by leveraging a greater confidence in what we do well with a greater urgency with how that can improve the lives of more people.

I will say to you with some conviction that there is nothing in legislation currently being proposed in the Ohio state legislature that should prevent us from doing that.

But I will also say that my team and I must build better relationships with folks in the state and federal government. The only way to grow mutual understanding is to build relationships.

So, you will see Matt Akers and I less on campus and more in Columbus and Washington, D.C., in the coming months.

Let me end by again thanking you for your great commitment to this University.

I want to also ask you to join me and the Board of Trustees in moving the University forward by lending us your ideas and your energy in making those ideas come to reality.

Thank you for attending today and Go Zips.