STATE OF THE UNIVERSITY ADDRESS
“THE STRENGTH OF COMMUNITY”
DR. SIDNEY A. RIBEAU
FEBRUARY 26, 2004

I would first like to begin by thanking all of you for being here this morning. This is the ninth occasion to have the State of the University Address. What this is to me is just an opportunity in a very practical way to talk about the University, where we are, what we have achieved, and try to establish a sense of what this all means. On each and every day, we all work very hard in our own designated areas in the University because we are driven to achieve. We are driven to excellence. I think it is inherent in our DNA, in that we are kind of wired that way. I think it is important to bring people together whenever you can, and I realize that you really can’t do it on a regular basis, because everyone is so busy, but it is important to bring people together and see how our individual DNA comes together to create a functioning, effective organism. Because the individual achievements and accomplishments gain potency and power and significance through how we weave them together for a common goal or a common purpose. It is these opportunities at the beginning of the year on Opening Day and the State of the University Address that provide a chance to just calibrate activities, to see where we are, what we have accomplished, and where we are going, and also on a very, very, informal note give people a chance to talk to colleagues, drink a little coffee, and talk to people they haven’t seen for a while.

I would like to welcome our friends from the Firelands College. I know that they are with us through the wonders of modern technology.

I always, at least in the last nine years I have promised to, watch the time. I have done a number of things to prompt me to be more conscious of time. I have taken off my watch, I have sat people in the front row to give me signals when I get to a certain point. None of it seems to work. Now, it is not that I talk that much – that’s not it. It is just that when I have an opportunity to get people together and talk about something that I passionately believe in and that means a lot to me, I probably get a little carried away. So, today I am going to try to be conscious of time.

I actually have, probably for the first time in my nine years here, a script because I want to do a little historical review of where we have been, in particular where we have been since we had the community building initiative, and thus the title of the presentation of the meeting today is – “The Strength of Community.” I want to talk a little bit about that and I need to refer to a text to get the historical chronology correct. But I will not stick with a text too long. Whatever seems to be important at the time is what I spend the most time talking about. I refuse to be constrained by a text. So, I am going to use the text for part of the presentation and then I am going to talk about a few things that I think are just very important. They are not profound, they are not esoteric, they are not going to get you recognized in your academic discipline or your professional organization as the scholar of the year, but I think they are things that have a great deal to do with the quality of any organizational effectiveness. I don’t care if you are a publicly traded company on the stock market, if you are a public school, or if you are a college or a university. I think our society has moved rapidly toward a series of events and activities, many spurred on by technology, others just part of our accelerated pace of life, that probably aren’t the healthiest for us and the healthiest for our organization. So I want to talk in the latter part of the presentation about some challenges that I think we haven’t met.

Let me start by talking a little bit about the community building project of Bowling Green State University. I realize that many of you who are here today might not have been here back in 1995 when we began this journey and began redefining the institution and articulating our sense of what we wanted Bowling Green State University to be in the 21st century. So I will start out with that.

The State of the University. Why do we call this address the State of the University Address? Clearly, we are not a state, so why is it important to talk about the condition or the state of Bowling Green State University? It is important because if you don’t look at where you have been and compare that to where you are, it is difficult to tell where you want to go. Things change, and change is the catch phrase of the day, but it is also a defining characteristic of our lives. We are constantly in the process of adjusting to, responding to, and trying to figure out how to manage the change that seems to permeate our daily lives. When we started back in 1995 to look at Bowling Green State University, we said that what we wanted to do was build a community where there was (1) participation by all community members; and (2) we wanted to build a community that made a difference, not just for those of us who participate in the community, not just for the students here, not just for the faculty, and not just for the staff, but we wanted to build a community that made a difference in Bowling Green, in Northwest Ohio, in the State of Ohio, and in the nation in which we live. If we were truly a community of scholars, if we were truly a community of people committed to the life of the mind, our impact should extend beyond just what we do here at Bowling Green. It should impact everyone and everything around us.

In 1995, we established an official University Task Force on Building Community. This Task Force was aimed at promoting the spirit of collaboration among faculty, staff and students. The idea of this was getting people together to talk about the kind of environment they would like to see at Bowling Green State University. Our hope was to build a community capable of supporting inclusion of faculty, staff, the external community, and an environment rich and replete with ideas and information and a passion for learning. Out of all those things, I would say that those are the most important, and I think the last – passion for learning – is the most significant. This first slide comes directly from the Community Building document that was generated at the conclusion of the project – Promote a Spirit of Collaboration and Evaluate Campus Climate and Make Recommendations. We had diverse campus representation, the voice of student, faculty and staff, and we wanted to question the status quo. Not that the status quo was necessarily bad, but the status quo was the foundation for where we rested, not necessarily the roadmap for where we wanted to go.

Before it was through, the Community Building Task Force managed to gather input from 2,000 faculty and staff, both from Bowling Green State University main campus and Firelands campus, and from the surrounding community because our focus groups included members from the City of Bowling Green and other friends and supporters of the institution. For many people, this was the first opportunity to actually talk about this University; many of them worked, many of them had attended school, and many of them were current students. They actually talked about what they wanted the institution to be.
If you will allow me to digress a moment, so often we spend countless time living out scripts that are written by other people. Many of the expectations have been defined for us by other people—by our parents, by society, by any other group that we identify with such as our team, our church, and our state. But at some point in the education process or if not, in the maturation process, we have to ask ourselves “What does Bill Knight want for Bill Knight?” Not what his parents wanted for Bill Knight, not what the principal of his high school wanted for Bill Knight, not what his minister or pastor or rabbi wanted, but what is best for Bill Knight? Likewise, institutions need to figure out what is best for them. So we could listen to them and see what they have in store for our college or university. I could list a number of other groups that we could listen to, but probably the people that are most prepared, best positioned, to talk about our future are the people who are members of our community. The academics, the researchers, the teachers, the staff, the counselors, the food service workers, the residence hall advisors, the people that spend time with our students and in many cases have spent their entire lives studying a discipline and mastering the body of literature that defines that discipline. In many cases they have spent their entire lives at colleges or universities. Those are the people that I think should really talk about who we are and what we should be doing. That was the purpose of the community-building project.

What we were attempting to do was to try to talk about where we wanted to go and what the 21st Century really held for Bowling Green State University. There were a lot of questions asked at that time, and I think that we found a number of answers to those questions. In the past nine years, we have accomplished a great deal. What I would like to do for a moment is to actually go back and look at some of the things we have accomplished and talk about those for a moment and why those things are important.

There were actually 19 priorities that came out of the Community Building Initiative. What people were saying is that there were a number of things that were important to them about this institution and it all depended on your perspective. If you were a sociologist, you looked at your discipline from one point of view and you looked at the dynamic in our culture from a series of assumptions that were based upon your discipline. If you worked in the University Union, you had another set of assumptions or another perspective. If you worked in Intercollegiate Athletics, you brought another set of lenses to your viewing of the University. But what people were saying is that there was a lot going on in the University, and these 19 things were the things that were sifted and shaken and baked and came out as, in fact, being important. So 19 priorities kind of guided our discussion.

I am not going to go through all 19 priorities today. What we are going to do is digest those into a few.
Here are some of the things that people wanted.

People wanted us to clarify our mission. If we were heading somewhere together, where was it, and why would we want to go there?

People wanted to know what was expected of them. They suggested the establishment of standards of behavior or cultural norms. What were the expectations for recognition or rewards? How were we going to do the business of the University? What were the standards of civility? How did we determine whether or not one was an accepted, valued member of our community?

People wanted to break out of their silos. This one had a lot to do with the fact that many people felt that the University had thousands of employees working very, very aggressively, but they were working in a vertical way rather than horizontally. They didn’t necessarily know what other people were doing. Let me give you a quick example of that. When I had my first meeting with my Cabinet, we got together and talked about planning. I asked each of them if they had a strategic plan for their division, and they all had plans. Then I asked them if they had read the others’ plans. They said no, and looked at me like “Why should I?” I think that this is what this point is speaking to. The silos. If you are all responsible for the success and the effectiveness of the organization, how can you do that without knowing what your teammates are, in fact, doing. That would be analogous to having a football team or a hockey team or a baseball or basketball team when one player didn’t know what the other player was doing. The center didn’t know what the guard was doing. The goalie didn’t know what the defensemen were doing, or supposed to do. If the team is going to be successful, and a university or any large complex organization is going to be effective, they have to work collectively together to accomplish common goals. What we had was an environment where we really operated in silos, and people said they wanted to look at how we might change that.

People wanted to have service. They wanted to make sure that the institution was user-friendly, and not just for students, which was one thing that was important to people. They also wanted the environment to provide service to each other, to our staff members and to our faculty members. It always seems amazing to me when you look at families. Oftentimes when you are raised in a good family they teach you how to treat others, how to be respectful, polite, and courteous, and you do that because you are well trained. Then you just savage each other – you are mean, rude, aggressive, you yell and scream at each other but publicly you treat people really well. Why not treat people in your own organization real well? Why not treat them with the respect that you treat others who are not part of the organization? So people wanted better service.

We learned that people appreciated the approach that we were taking in respect to inclusiveness and diversity, but there were some issues regarding women and the roles of women on campus that needed to be addressed.

So there were a number of things that people talked about that they thought were important. They were capsulated in 19 recommendations and priorities. But I am condensing them into these points that you see on the slide.

I am here today to tell you that those things and others that we had not anticipated have been addressed as we have built the foundation for Bowling Green State University as a true learning community, the best in Ohio, and one of the best in the nation. So let’s talk for a moment about what we have, in fact, accomplished. What I am first going to do is go through the colleges and their progress toward priority recommendations.

Our College of Arts and Sciences now offers a broader selection of majors than any other university in our region. Our faculty in our College of Arts and Sciences is actively engaged in research. They are involved in innovation in teaching and learning. They are our largest college, and they are on the cutting edge of looking at not only disciplinary specialization but also integration of interdisciplinary activities. So, the College of Arts and Sciences has addressed the concern about silos by developing interdisciplinary programs, having faculty working across barriers or boundaries, and engaging in collaborative research. If you look, for example, at the neuroscience program, you will see how that draws upon psychology, biology, and others in the natural as well as the social sciences. So we have developed cutting edge programs that have moved against the silo mentality.

Our College of Business Administration offers 16 specialized career paths taught by professionals in small class settings. One of the things that students often said was that they wanted their education to be personal. They didn’t just want to be a number. It wasn’t their desire to sit in a class with 500 students and know that they were a random number and on a scantron their destiny would be decided rather than have a course where they could interact with faculty members and have discussions. That interaction was important. Our College of Business Administration is one example of how we have addressed that—small, interactive classes. And we are going to talk a little bit later about the Entrepreneurship Program, one that is designed to carry those principles throughout a curricula that is accessible to a number of students from different majors.

Our College of Education and Human Development partners with other colleges in the community to prepare teachers with the skills and knowledge to become educational leaders. We prepare more teachers than any university in the state of Ohio. People come from all over the country to recruit teachers from Bowling Green State University – from New York, from California, from Georgia – because of the quality of our teacher preparation program. In addition, in our College of Education and Human Development we have not only teacher preparation, but we have human development, which talks about the psychological and physiological development of young people pre-K through the completion of their high school years.

Our College of Musical Arts attracts some of the nation’s most talented future performers and music educators. For public institutions, you can look at our School of Musical Arts and compare it to even the best conservatories in the state – the conservatory at the University of Cincinnati or the work done at Oberlin University.

Our College of Health and Human Sciences has increased its programs including adding new degree programs, most recently our Masters Degree program in Criminal Justice, and the college is actively involved in the health care profession throughout the region. And we all know the importance of health care to the quality of life in America today.

Our College of Technology provides each of its students with a three semester long cooperative work experience, earning on average enough to pay tuition for each of those semesters. Our College of Technology and its coop program is probably the largest in the state for a university that doesn’t have a college of engineering. As we know, colleges of engineering rely heavily on coop programs. But if you look at the data for non-college of engineering universities, our coop program would be at the top of that list.

Our Graduate College actively promotes and supports research by faculty and students and now showcases their discoveries in the annual BGSU Research Conference. In addition, we can look at just the funded area of research—and we know all research is not funded or sponsored by the National Science Foundation or the National Institute of Health. Good research doesn’t necessarily have to be funded. But if you look even at that indicator and look at our numbers, they continue to significantly increase each year.

Continuing and Extended Education expands our learning opportunities well beyond campus borders. They are doing all kinds of innovative things with summer school and with off-campus cohort groups, where we actually take education to the community where the people reside so that they can obtain a Masters Degree or other advanced degrees.

Our BGSU Firelands campus has grown to reach nearly 2,000 students. Who would have ever thought that nine years ago, when we were around 1,100-1,200 students that we would have almost 2,000 students at our Firelands campus? In many ways, it is the fastest growing segment of our population. For the Firelands people who are listening today, you are to be congratulated not only on the size of your program but the quality of the programs that you offer. These are programs that are offered primarily to returning students who are geographically bound and have not had an opportunity because of life circumstances to matriculate to a college or university. So it is a vital service that we are providing in the region.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention our Library. Our Library with its special collections complemented by some of the most sophisticated technology available and a truly supportive faculty and staff continues to set standards that are emulated by libraries throughout the state.

All of these things are just small examples of ways in which we have begun to realize the dreams articulated in the community building initiative. Each of you can think of things in your own areas that would probably exemplify the achievements of the University in pursuit of these goals. But my point is that by any standard of evaluation we have addressed the ideas of collaboration, we have addressed the ideas that were listed on that slide, the ideas that we wanted to be integrated. We wanted to create a stimulating, intellectual environment. We wanted to move beyond silos. We have, in fact, done those things.

So we accomplished those things. So what does that mean for us and how does that really affect who we are and where we go in the 21st Century? For a few moments, I would like to talk a little bit about not only what we did but what difference it actually makes in our University and the community in which we live.

We have engaged in a number of activities – the GEARUP program, the Partnerships in Context and Community, COSMOS, the Teacher Quality Success Initiatives – initiatives that have allowed us to be active participants in defining what public education should be in our region, in the state, and in the nation. These programs have brought us national attention and external funding, but in addition to that they have allowed us to be a partner with others who are concerned about the fabric and the quality of education in our society.

A lot of the criticism that has been heaped upon higher education was deserved. That might sound funny to you coming from a person who spends most of his time in Columbus fighting for resources for higher education with those who would like to redefine us or continue to downsize us. What I am suggesting is that part of our mandate as a state-assisted university is a public mandate. It is to use who we are and what we have to improve the quality of life for the citizens of the State of Ohio. Those of you who have heard me speak in the past have heard me say that it is easy to criticize the public schools. It is easy to criticize the business community for inappropriate business practices that have been spread all over the newspapers for the last two or three years. But what are we doing to make things better? What are we doing to train or prepare more ethical, principled business leaders?

My point is this. It is easy to talk about the problems that our society is facing, but what are we doing with the intellectual capital that we have, the fiscal resources we have, to train a more principled accountant or chief financial officer, to prepare a better public school teacher to go into an educational environment, to do primary research that really makes a difference in the quality of life, that helps us find a cure for cancer or helps us find out how to address the scourge of AIDS? What I am suggesting is that to the extent that we use what we have to make a difference in society, rather than spending an inordinate amount of time talking to each other. One thing that we do a lot is talk to each other – in academic journals and at conferences – and much of that turns into nothing. You don’t see it making any difference in your discipline or the quality of life in your society. Some of that is good, because the intellectual process requires some germination and opportunity for gestation to take place and ideas to mature and to take on different forms and shapes. That is all necessary. But likewise, we have a responsibility to make a difference in the world that we inhabit. If historians came to Bowling Green State University a hundred years from now and looked at who we were and the difference that we made, and they can’t say that because this University was here and because billions of dollars collectively were spent from 1910 to the year 2050, that this isn’t a different place, a higher quality of life, a more informed place, a more enlightened place, that our science hasn’t made a difference, that our values aren’t clearer, that the quality of life for us who are privileged enough to be at a university and those who have not had the opportunity because of economic circumstances to go to a college or university, if they can’t say that we have made that kind of difference, then as an institution we haven’t fulfilled our full potential. So when I say that some of the criticism is legitimate, to the extent that we don’t take what we have and figure out how to not only make a difference but to reward people who are making a difference. Reward colleagues – faculty members, staff members – who are using their intellectual expertise or using their ideas, or using their research, to make a difference in our society. If we don’t recognize that and reward that, how can we expect society to value that or what we do?

I say that after spending countless hours with Senators and State Representatives and Congressmen at the federal level. And what they are saying to us, and they are saying it to us through budgets, they are saying it to us through excessive regulation, they are saying that you have to explain to us why you are a good investment. If you think it is business as usual, and you will continue to talk to one another, and do things that you think are important with one another, and not connect that in some way and in some cases to the public good, then you are sadly mistaken. That is one issue, in fact, that we need to address.

The other thing that I think is extremely important for us is how we went about, in the past nine years, doing the things that we attempted to do. In other words, how did we treat one another? Did we value one another? Did we respect one another? Did we work in a way that allowed each of us to develop her or his potential? The best teachers, to me, are not those who know the most. There are a lot of knowledgeable people who know a lot and can’t teach anything. The best teachers are people who are competent in their disciplines, and create an environment where students are excited about learning. Learning is not about the teacher. Learning is about the student and what she or he learns. It would be wonderful if I had won a Nobel Peace Prize or I was a Nobel Laureate. That is great for Sidney. But if I can create an environment where students can become excited, challenged, more effective, more focused, more motivated, because of what I learned in my pursuit of excellence, then that is when the magic of teaching really takes place.

I would suggest to you that the best researchers are individuals with intellectual curiosity. They want to know why. Sometimes they want to know why about some of the most esoteric stuff that makes no sense to me, but it is not necessarily the content, it is the enterprise. It is the questioning. It is the openness to possibilities that creates great research. You can train someone to be a good biologist, sociologist, psychologist, or mathematician, but that training is based upon an innate ability to question, a sense of wonderment, and a sense of exploration that really allows one to get passionately excited about that which they don’t know and motivated to answer questions that haven’t even been asked in many cases.

How we do things and what we do is as important as what we have done the past nine years. It is just as important for you to know your colleagues. You don’t have to like them to know them and to respect them. There are a lot of people on campus who probably don’t like me, and that’s okay. But I hope that we have mutual professional respect. The respect that allows us to agree to disagree, to talk across boundaries and differences. If you have ever gone to a Faculty Senate meeting on campus—and I know that there are some Faculty Senators here—that is a place where people disagree, they debate, they raise issues, but that is a good thing. That is what is supposed to happen there. Through that process of agreeing and disagreeing, of debating, hopefully a better idea comes forward because collectively we can accomplish more, I think, than individually being led or directed by one. So that requires respect. That requires a mutual, reciprocal respect that really defines the character of an institution. And that is one of the things that was stated back in 1995 and one of the things that I think we have done an excellent job of achieving.

One final thing I want to mention, and then I want to talk about a few other things, is that we have made incredible advances in the area of technology. Do you remember the Supernet project, where the campus looked like a demilitarized zone? We had 43 miles of cable, barricades, and digging and trenching. Well, the Supernet project was worth it. It was worth the inconvenience, it was worth the problems. Like no other project on this campus, it has contributed to allowing us to become a different kind of learning community. We now have access to data instantaneously; files that lead our researchers to data that would not be accessible through traditional means for weeks, days, or in some cases years; we have online registration, online bill payment, online housing and meal plan registration, Web-based parking permits and degree audits. We have the ability to communicate with colleagues instantaneously. We have more students with access to technology, desktop computing, and the Internet, than ever before in the history of this institution. We have more faculty members using technology in their instruction than I could have ever imagined. The Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology keeps records on all of this. But the fact is that faculty are using these vital resources to enhance the quality of the teaching and learning experience. Much of this was unimaginable back in 1995. But we have done this, and as a result, we are a better institution. I am not saying that technology is an end of itself. Technology is a tool, but it is a tool that allows us to enhance the quality of what we do.

Right now, I would say that all of the things that we set out to do with the community building project we have, in fact, accomplished. We have a clearly defined vision and a host of leading edge academic programs. We are being recognized as one of the leading learning communities in the nation. If you look at our academic programs, if you look at our first year experiences, our learning communities, you will see they are being recognized by national publications as the best in the country compared to universities such as Duke, University of Michigan, and other institutions of that kind. We have a well defined culture woven deeply into the fabric of our academic programs, a tangible world-class architectural and technological infrastructure, an academic environment that contributes to retention by putting students first and providing them with access to the tools and opportunities necessary for success. Finally, I believe we have succeeded at building an open, collaborative, inclusive community that we set out to establish in 1995.

We know this for a number of reasons. Recognition by professional associations, external support from donors for our institution, and annual giving is at an all time high. We are in the quiet phase of Comprehensive Campaign and our alums have stepped forward with incredible support for the initiatives that we have presented to them. And even our very own members of our academic community have increased their giving. Prior to 1998, 23 percent of the members of our community, our faculty and staff, actually participated in the Family Campaign, the campaign where our own employees give back financially to the University. In 2002-2003, 51 percent of our family contributed to the campaign. Prior to 1998, we raised $223,000 through our Family Campaign. Last year, we raised $817,000 from contributions from members of our community. Our own people, those who work here, those who have spent their lives and their careers here, believe in our institution and they have chosen to reinvest in it. Likewise, external supporters – I could go through a long list of gifts that we have received of $1 million and above to the University in the past year and a half, but I won’t. Let me just say that our alums and our friends believe in our mission and believe in what we are trying to achieve.

Let me say in concluding that we haven’t completed our work. This is where we get to the simple part of the equation. This is not complicated. This is not particularly sophisticated. It just has to do with some of the things that I think we need to do to continue our advancement and complete the evolution of Bowling Green State University in our quest for achievement.

The first thing is very straightforward and simple. We need to turn off our cell phones, delete the email, get rid of the Palm Pilots – not permanently – just for a short period of time so that we can talk to one another. So that we can talk to colleagues. So we can come out of the cyberspace that occupies so much of our time and energy and reconnect with the people who make up this community. We are also so busy, we are all so focused on accomplishing goals, that we become linear in focus and blind to the dynamics that are going on around us. It is alright to have a cup of coffee with a colleague when you are not actually working on a problem. We need to reduce the number of meetings that we have. We meet too much. We are good. We are really good. We have metrics to show that we are good. Our applications this year are at an all time high, a record high for this institution. We have over 10,000 applications right now, more than we had last year in July, and last year was a record year. We are hiring the best and the brightest faculty and staff. We have competent and capable colleagues. We have energetic students who are only limited by our ability to accommodate their curiosity and their creativity. We are good. Let’s take time to enjoy some of our successes and shut down all the noise and just talk to people for a few moments. That’s all right. It is all right to just enjoy your accomplishments.

Organizations can become so focused, so active, that you can have institutional or organizational fatigue. What happens is that you reach a plateau and beyond that point you get no better because you burned yourself out. And so the first thing, a very simple thing, would be to take time, go to lunch with somebody you don’t know. Somebody that you have seen walking across campus for the last four years. Just say, “I’m buying” (and they will go if you buy), “Do you want to go to lunch?” We are human beings who are being technologically consumed by a work ethic that is out of control and standards that are ever changing. We say we want to met the bar today. Well, the bar is higher next year, and every year thereafter. At some point you have to say, “I’m pretty proud of Bowling Green State University where we are in February 2004 and what we have achieved.” Right now, after this speech, I am going to go back to my office, sit back in my chair, and say, “I feel good about who we are, the people that work here, and what we have achieved.” And then I am going to have sandwich. And that’s okay to do that.

And so, the first thing I say is enjoy who you are and what you have achieved. You have achieved a lot. There are faculty members, staff members and students who have labored in the vineyards for years to make this place what it is who aren’t here to enjoy that with us. And it is too late when you are gone, when your health is gone, and you are at the twilight of your career, to really enjoy the things that passed. You might reflect upon them, or read about what happened, but take time to enjoy it now. That would be my first message.

That is a challenge because people don’t do it. You race and you run, and you are here and there. We just came back from an alumni event in Florida. One of our alums, who was very successful, retired at age 52 and is a multi-millionaire, gave us a very generous gift of $1 million just recently. He was saying that the only thing he regrets in his life is that he didn’t take more time to experience the life he was living. I listened to that very carefully. Here is a guy who is accomplished, he is successful, and he has become re-engaged in Bowling Green State University so he can help create some space in a place for students and faculty. He is helping to endow the Entrepreneurship Program, he is helping to support some named professorships so that faculty and students can have an opportunity to enjoy some of what he worked so hard to achieve but didn’t take time to enjoy.

The second thing I say is that we need to develop in our culture recognition for achievements and accomplishments of all kinds. We have a pretty linear way of recognizing success. We have metrics in academic departments that say this person is successful, and that person is not. Sometimes we ask external reviewers to tell us. We need to recognize excellence wherever it is. If we have an excellent football team, we should recognize an excellent football team, as long as our student-athletes are also students and they are graduating and they are doing the things that all students are required to do. Our volleyball team had the highest grade point average of any volleyball team in Division I in the nation. We should recognize and celebrate that.

Likewise, we should recognize the faculty member who is actively involved in research and is making significant contributions to her field. We should recognize the faculty member who is involved in the community and has taken the time to make a difference in the lives of young people who don’t have the opportunities that we have. We should not just say, “That’s nice” and pat them on the back. We should say “That’s nice, and our reward system is for you, too.” We should reward students who achieve at the level of excellence and have understood that school is more than just a party. It is a place where you need to learn how to get information to help you to make a difference in your life and the lives of others. That you have a responsibility not just to yourself, but to those who created an environment, a culture, an institution that gave you a chance for the life that you have. And if you haven’t learned that, and you leave here with a 4.0, we didn’t do our jobs. Because life is more than just about you, and if you don’t know it now, five years, 10 years, 15 years from now, you will know it, but you will not have the time to undo that, to deconstruct that, or to change the script that you have written for yourself.

So we need to understand and recognize achievement of all the members of our community wherever they may be, and not just talk about it. We need to come off of our high horse and our elitist platform and say, “You know, knowledge is power when it is accessible.” And we need to find ways to take what we know, what we do well, and make it accessible to our society, our communities, our disciplines, and those who can benefit from it.

When I came here this morning, I was talking to James Jackson. He and I and a group of students had worked with a group of young African-American males a few years ago called The Black Intellects, and James still works with them. A second edition of a book I wrote just recently came out, and one of the students didn’t want to pay $17.95 to get it. We were talking about that, and I said, “You know, James, what my standard is for things that I write. You write them for academics. You write them for scholars. But my ultimate goal is to write things with the clarity and accessibility that allows my mother to understand it.” Because I want the things that I write, I want the research that I do to be interpreted, to be used, to be digested in a way that makes a difference. I know that all research is not of that ilk. But the point is that the standard should be that what we do, what we learn, what we discover makes a difference. Anything less than that is backing us into a corner where we don’t want to be. And what we see right now in the backlash at the federal and the state level is directly to that point. So we need to figure out a way to recognize achievement of all kinds, wherever we might find it.

And finally I say we need to tell our stories about achievement, about our values, about the things in which we believe, the goals that we have, the significance of our lives to our students, to our colleagues, to everyone who touches or comes close to our learning community. Probably the richest source of insight about a culture are the stories that it tells. When you go to alumni events and you visit with alums from the 60s, 50s, 40s, do you know what they do? These are people who have moved on, who have families of their own, who have achieved professional recognition and success. Do you know what they spend time doing? Telling stories. Stories about the hockey team that won the national championship in 1984. Stories about a professor who came into class always with a hole in his sweater and glasses looking foggy, but said something that lit a passion in their soul that made them want to achieve, and now they are a lawyer. They tell stories about a secretary who sat in the department office for 35 years and always made sure that the records were well-kept, that the advising took place in a timely fashion, and that they felt valued.

We need to take more time to tell our stories and to share our stories because that is the ethos of our learning community and that is the essence, in fact, of who we were. All that takes time. It takes time to reflect. It takes time to step out of who we are and the roles we assume and be the person that we can be under a different set of circumstances. I couldn’t be prouder than I am right now, today, to be president of Bowling Green State University because of the achievements that are there, because of our graduates and who they are, because of the staff and faculty that I represent. But that’s not the essence of who I am. The president of Bowling Green State University is probably the best job that I have ever had in my entire life. But who I am is a human being with a family and with passion and concern who wants to leave this place, this world, Bowling Green State University, a little better than it was when I came. And that is what should motivate me from day to day, to get out and do the things and do the business of the University. That each day who you are makes a difference in the space that you inhabit. That is what makes me the proudest about my opportunity to work on behalf of Bowling Green State University.

Thank you all so much for being here today. In addition to our faculty, staff, students and media, we have some of our trustees. Would our trustees who are here please stand up and be recognized? These people are the true saints. They work endlessly for free.

Thank you all for being here. Congratulations on your achievements in the past nine years for Bowling Green State University. I would like to conclude by asking for another round of applause. I want you to applaud for what you have done to make this institution what it is today. Let’s hear it for Bowling Green State University.