Well, welcome. I’m glad that everyone came out this morning. This has become an annual event and since the 1995 academic
year we’ve been presenting State of the University Addresses and talking about where we are as an institution. Usually in
the first semester we have an opportunity to talk about the plans for the fall and for the year, but in the second semester
we try to assess where, in fact, we think we have gone, what the issues are that the university has addressed and what we
are looking to focus on in the future. We are not going to do any of that today. (laughter) I tell you that to say that that
is not going be the approach today. Today, we are going to do something a little bit different.
Let me welcome our colleagues from Firelands College. You cannot see them but I can here at the monitor. Is Don Bell, our
Technology Infrastructure Project Manager, here? Maybe we’ll become so technologically sophisticated at some point that we
can put Firelands up on the big screen like “picture-in-picture.” We are really glad our colleagues from Firelands are here
with us today on the main campus, via the live feed and the wonders of technology. I’d like to tell you also that this program
is being simultaneously broadcast to the University community on Channel 3 in all academic buildings and the Library, and
Channel 59 in the residence halls. It will be rebroadcast on campus. The times are listed in the program. In addition, my
remarks will be posted on the President’s web page.
This new technology is marvelous. It gives you an opportunity to talk with more people than you ever wanted to talk to in
your life. I was at a dinner last night and someone mentioned to me that they had heard there was an address I was giving
and they wouldn’t be able to be there. First thing they asked me was, “Is it going to be on your webpage?” People come to
expect these things now and I think the dissemination of information and the sharing of perspectives at this particular point
in our evolution is at an all time high. And that’s both good and bad. It’s good if you want everyone to know what you’re
saying, it’s probably not so good if you have messages for select audiences. But I think that’s something that you struggle
with when you look at the technology that we have today and what it provides for us. One of the things that we are probably
going to have in the very near future as a result of this Supernet project is videostreaming. With the proper equipment everyone
will have the capability for videostreaming. What I will be able to do is give this presentation with my computer on my desk
and it will go to every residence hall, every office, every computer on campus. “Users” would actually have access to that
message; which is just phenomenal when you think about it. So technology has given us the capability to transmit information
in very sophisticated ways, but the question that is perhaps most relevant to what I want to talk about today is…“What are
we transmitting?”
Having wonderful capabilities and saying nothing just means you can say nothing faster and to more people. (laughter) But
if you follow my line of thinking, it’s the content of the message that matters most. What values are implicit? What are
we saying that really speaks to who we are as people, as members of the Bowling Green State University community, as residents
of the State of Ohio, and as people who care about our society? So access or technical capability alone, although an important
first step, is just a first step in the continuum of the educational experience. The next step is determining what in fact
is going across the fibers…what information is being shared. That’s part of the topic we are going to talk about today.
For this presentation, everything from the wonderful banners…We have a new banner. Did anyone notice the new banner? All right!
The big orange one: “Get the B!G Picture.” I think that came from Marketing and Communications. Is Kim McBroom around? Are
you responsible for that wonderful banner? I think it’s really nice. We’ve had the Core Value banners for a while now. But
the “Get the B!G Picture at BGSU” is a new banner. From the banners, to the setting up of the room, to the catering arrangements
and, finally, the overall presentation...a lot of people are responsible for today’s program. And we are very, very grateful
for their efforts. There are about four or five people or areas I want to mention that take sole responsibility for this process.
One person and she will not want me to mention her name, but I will say her name, Denise Kisabeth, from WBGU and the WBGU
staff. All the people who keep me in line, and certainly my computer technician, or “clicker”, back here, Cheryl Joyce, (in
case I mess up). And the people who “wire me,” they all do a wonderful job. We should all be very proud of the level of professionalism
they bring to this program as well as everything they do. Dr. Eileen Sullivan, my Executive Assistant and Policy Analyst,
spearheads these major addresses and she would be the director of the whole process. She coordinates all of the activities
that go into making these addresses successful. A new member of our team, Krisztina Ujvagi-Roder, who is new to our office
as of six or seven months ago, is doing a number of special projects for us. She did a wonderful job contributing to this
program today. She sat in the front row today, too. Good student, Krisztina. (laughter) Melody Bennett from the President’s
Office, one of our Research Associates…Melody unfortunately will not be with us for long. The call of Jamaica has lured her
back. The winters are beautiful here, Melody. (laughter) I don’t know why you must go back to Jamaica. But thank you to both
Krisztina and Melody, who work with Eileen and contribute a great deal to a number of special projects that come out of my
office. And Marketing and Communications. Thanks to Kim McBroom and her staff for all their efforts and all their work to
promote today’s program.
As I mentioned previously, this address is going to be a little bit different. Let me take you back in history for just a
moment before we talk about the business of the day. As you know, back in 1995, I was appointed President of Bowling Green
State University. I’m going to celebrate my sixth anniversary on Good Friday in three or four weeks. I was appointed officially
on Good Friday in 1995. From the time I was appointed until July 1995 when I officially began my presidency, I traveled back
and forth from California to Bowling Green. But one of the first addresses I delivered in the fall was an address to the entire
faculty and staff of the university community. I talked about a lot of things, many of which I don’t even remember. They
were probably so profound that they just slipped through my memory banks. (laughter) But one of the things I do remember that
we talked about was the organization of the institution. And for those of you who are new, one of the things I talked about
was based on this giant wheel…Does this sound familiar? We reviewed this new kind of circular organizational chart, and we
didn’t have technology that’s as sophisticated as today’s, but up on the screen we had the linear and hierarchical organizational
charts that really govern the university. We turned the linear organizational chart into this circular organizational chart
with interrelated parts. It was integrated and holistic. We had the president’s function in the middle and then we had vice
presidents and divisions and other units spinning off of the wheel. What was significant about this is that this became the
starting point for discussions that led to restructuring the entire institution. Not just what program goes in which box,
but what relationships undergird the programs in the boxes. And how in fact, as an institution we would attempt to do business,
knowing full well that what you attempt is not always what you achieve. But you have to have an aspiration, a direction or
a vision, or you are surely not going to reach your destination. You have to have some sense of where you are going to go.
So that became very important back in 1995.
That led to the Building Community project which was a collaborative project sponsored by the Administration, Faculty Senate
and a number of committed faculty and staff members from the Firelands College and from here at the Bowling Green State University
main campus. This project led to a number of initiatives that have really guided us as we moved forward as an institution.
Our Core Values came out of the “Focus on February” initiative, a part of the Building Community project. Our Vision Statement
for the university came out of that same process. So that process was really important. For me, it was important for a few
reasons. One reason was that the process actually reflected the voice of the institution, the members of the community, the
5000 full-time and part-time faculty and staff talking about not the university, but their university, in the possessive form. What they wanted their university to be. And it wasn’t just a grammatical distinction,
it was a positioning of oneself in relationship to the institution. And that Building Community project and all the things
that grew out of it, no matter if people agreed with them in whole or in part, was significant in the dialogue and the exchange
that was fostered by that process. It was authentic communication about what people wanted the University to be. The things
we have done since that time: the residential colleges, the Supernet project, the millions of dollars we’ve spent on technology,
the residence hall renovations, the union expansion and renovation project, the size of our classes, the focusing of our graduate
programs and the attention on student success. All of those things and the Core Values that are critically important to our
institutional fabric, have grown out of that dialogue that started back in 1995 and 1996.
Something that’s often forgotten when we talk about the Core Values and we talk about the Vision Statement are the tenets
of the Vision Statement. I believe you have a copy of the full Vision Statement in your seats. If you can pull that out for
a second, I want to call your attention to some things that normally don’t get discussed. One in particular has a lot to do
with what we are going to talk about today. We all know the Vision Statement…I could probably have you just close your eyes
and chant it but I won’t (laughter). I won’t put you on the spot. But you know we aspire to become the premier learning community in Ohio and one of the best in the nation. But undergirding or supporting that vision are five tenets. I want to mention those tenets. Our presentation today is going
to be about one of these tenets in particular.
Our vision is supported by tenet number one: “An extensive portfolio of distinctive undergraduate programs, focused masters and specialist degrees, and a select number
of nationally-recognized doctoral programs.” That is what Steve Ballard, John Folkins, Chuck Middleton, when he was here,
and Linda Dobb, when she was Interim Provost, have been working on for five years. The allocation of resources for graduate
assistants and research assistants, program review…all those processes are designed and developed to address our portfolio
of undergraduate programs and the focus of our graduate programs. My point is that this tenet didn’t just fall out of the
sky. It’s all part of a very intentional operation designed to improve the quality of our academic programs.
The second tenet: “Scholarly and creative endeavors of the highest order.” I think the most important thing that supports this is the quality
of the faculty we’ve been able to attract to Bowling Green State University. Those of you who are in academic units, you know
that we are hiring, depending on which college or school, a number of faculty members. You might have one or two new faculty
members in your department or you may have three or four. The way you get scholarly and creative endeavors of the highest
order is you hire the best faculty that you can find. Now I pause when I say “best” because best doesn’t necessarily mean
only those that come from the most prestigious universities. That might be a part of it, but “best” has to do with more than
the disciplinary confidence. It has to do with the values of the faculty members, their passion for teaching and learning,
the enthusiasm they bring to the classroom and their ability to excite young people so that they too can be excited about
biology, or english, or psychology, or philosophy, whatever the discipline may be. So “best” does not simply mean “Sidney
went to the University of Illinois” or “Chris went to Cal Tech.” Attracting the best faculty answers the question, “How do
we operationalize an exciting intellectual environment?” Because ultimately, that’s what we strive to achieve… an exciting
intellectual environment.
Tenet three: “Academically challenging teaching fully connected with research and public service.” This tenet talks about the integration
of teaching, research and service. How do we mobilize our intellectual capital? And that’s what we really have. We have some
of the brightest individuals in the state of Ohio right here on this campus. We have some of the brightest individuals probably
in the United States because in an academic community you attract people who live in “the world of the mind.” And that’s their
stock in trade. But how do you integrate that into an engaged academic community that has disciplinary depth, but also is
comprehensive enough to help us address critical problems in the state, in the region and in the nation? How do you bring
that all together? How do you truly have an engaged community?
Tenet four: “Innovative academic planning that focuses on society’s changing needs, student outcomes and the appropriate integration
of technology.” I’ve already mentioned technology, but the idea is…how do you bring these things together? We have a planning
committee now, the University Planning Council (UPC). At this same dinner last night, I was talking to someone and I was reflecting
back on when I interviewed for this position. Our Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Kerm Stroh is here. He was on the search
committee that hired me, so if you have any issues about me, talk to him (laughter). One of the things the search committee
talked a lot about was strategic planning and different candidates came in and said that the first thing they would do was
initiate serious strategic planning. They asked me about strategic planning and I said, “No, that would not be the first
thing that I would do.” It’s very important to do it, but the first thing we need to do is have a dialogue among members of
our community to see what their dreams and aspirations are for our institution. And that will provide a structure and framework
for our “strategic plan.” But the whole affective domain, the affiliation with the institution, I thought, was much more important
than the formulary exploration of any particular kind of direction. And we have in fact done that. We have a planning committee
now (the University Planning Council), we have a strategic plan and we have planning going on in every academic and non-academic
unit in the university. But we started with the foundation of relationships and that’s what that fourth tenet is about.
The Fifth tenet: “An educational environment that develops culturally literate, self-assured, technologically sophisticated, productive citizens
who are prepared to lead, to inspire and to preserve the great traditions of our democracy.” This is one that I want to talk
about today and you will hear about this from your colleagues on campus through interview clips included in the multimedia
presentation that is part of my address today.
This tenet says to me, and I think some of the programs you will hear about and some of the things I want to talk about today
illuminate this, that a university has a very important role and mission in our society. That role has changed historically.
There are those of you here who are higher education scholars and know the history of higher education much better than I.
But what I do know is that the role of a university has been reflective of the needs of the society. When we’ve had needs
in the area of agriculture and we had a number of individuals coming back from World War II, universities took a certain direction.
When there was a need in our country in the early stages of our democracy to have people who were the moral and spiritual
leaders of our nation, and those people needed to have an education so that they could understand what it meant to operate
a democracy, universities had a certain role. With the emergence of the research institution and the changing economic and
social needs of our society and the need for technological advancement, things changed in colleges and universities. And I
would suggest to you today that the role of the university is changing again. The role of the university is changing to call
for more civic engagement, as well as making the university primary in addressing the issues facing our state and our nation.
The university that is not engaged, the university that is sitting on the sidelines, is a university that in the year 2001,
2010 or 2020 will be passed by. I could go through a myriad of indicators like how we are funded now, and the performance
categories that really determine how we get our money from the state, but that’s another speech. The point is that the role
and mission of the university is evolving. Our intellectual capital is being called upon to serve in different ways.
There are estimates, if you look at the number of colleges and universities, from private institutions to public institutions,
there are nearly 4000 throughout the United States, depending on how small you count and how large you expand to. The estimates
are that in the next 20 to 30 years, we are going to lose about 20% of those institutions. They are just not going to make
it around the curve, because institutions are being called upon to do very different kinds of things. Let’s just look at one
indicator. Look at tuition costs nationally at both private and public institutions. It’s something that we have to grapple
with and it’s something that state legislators are asking about. They are asking the question, “Dr. Ribeau, what exactly
does Bowling Green State University do for the state of Ohio?” We have these categories of funding called performance categories
that will impact who gets what and how you actually receive your funds from the state. So because institutions of higher
education are being asked to clearly articulate what value they add to society, the university of the future is clearly going
to have to be one that’s engaged. Like the land grant colleges have solved problems in the areas of agriculture, we, in fact,
will be called upon to help solve pressing problems in biomedical sciences, pressing problems in our society in the political
arena, issues about internationalization of the economy and what it means to our business community and how we do business.
All these issues and considerations are critically important as we move forward as an engaged university.
Equally important, and probably the thing that is most important to me, is what kind of world are we creating for future generations
with our research, with our technology, with our instruction, with the examples we provide for our students today and the
many students who will come to this institution in the future. And that’s how we come to the topic today, “Big Questions,
Worthy Dreams” and what, in fact, it means to be a “Principled Community.” What is, in fact, required of us as an institution
to use our intellectual capital to become a principled community, a community that is positioned to lead in Ohio, to lead
in the nation, and to lead in the world?
To help set up the first segment as well as frame my address today, I wanted to share with you a quote from a program I recently
saw on C-SPAN. On January 29 of this year, C-SPAN broadcast a town meeting entitled “America’s Future” and the following
was a powerful thought shared by Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor in the Clinton Administration and current professor
at Brandeis University. Secretary Reich’s words challenge us in our efforts to create a principled community.
“The thing that I do with my life that I consider to be the most rewarding by far right now is teaching. I’m a college teacher.
I deal with young people mostly between the ages of 18 and 22. And there is an assumption often in the population that young
people today are indifferent or selfish. That’s not the case. The young people I see at my university and at other universities
are more involved in their communities, are volunteering more, are more concerned about what’s going on around them than any
generation I’ve ever seen. [But] when it comes to national policy they are deeply cynical. When it comes to national politics,
they feel that they have no affect. That politics is sort of a spectator sport. That they watch it on television and they
feel that they have nothing whatever to do with it. I think that is the danger. It’s not that they are indifferent, it’s
not that they are apathetic. They aren’t. The danger is that they look to national politics and they see nothing in it that
inspires them, no greatness, no heroes, no sense that they could aspire to public office or to large visions of the future.
And I think that’s what we are lacking now. That’s what we desperately have to restore.”
Narrative of Segment One: A Principled Community
There is evidence that the moral fiber of America has gone into recession. The evidence presents itself in low voter turnouts,
school violence, sensationalistic journalism and presidential elections that end in Supreme Court decisions. Our nation’s
leader has been asked by some to be a “national pastor”, advocating a faith-based agenda. We appear to be losing the morality
derived from personal responsibility, appreciation of diversity, social purpose, ethical leadership, and critical thought.
This apparent loss has not only fueled the quest for strong ethical leaders, it has also illuminated the need for “principled
communities”. We must practice moral leadership and support it in others. And it must be developed in our colleges and universities.
At Bowling Green State University, our success or failure depends on our ability to introduce young people to “big questions”,
that awaken in them critical thought which in turn gives them access to “worthy dreams”. It also depends upon our own willingness
to narrow the distance between professed standards and actual behavior. As public colleges and universities continue to
educate the masses, we are led to ponder some B!G questions ourselves. Are we advancing as a principled community if we graduate
accountants without principles; scientists without moral sensibility; and journalists without judgement? Is disciplinary
knowledge enough or is there evidence to indicate otherwise? What if BGSU were highlighted on CSPAN for being a “principled
community”? What evidence would there be? What criteria would we have been judged by? In a principled community, social
purpose is as important as self interest; there is true appreciation of different voices; there is ethical leadership that
inspires followers; and critical thinking is cultivated and nurtured…in principle and in practice by all community members.
President Ribeau’s Remarks:
I said initially that this presentation was going to be different from ones in the past. Those of you who recall last year’s
State of the University Address, we did a five-year assessment of the institution and all the indicators of our success, which
is pretty typical of a State of the University address: enrollment, fundraising, new academic programs, research, divisional
accomplishments. But, as I’ve said previously, that’s not what we are going to talk about today. We are going to talk about
“Big Questions, Worthy Dreams” and what it really means to be a “Principled Community.” I think that first segment demonstrates
that there is a malaise throughout the land, that there is a great deal of unrest. There are a number of queries about where
we should go, what we should do, and a lot of lamenting about the future. But I would suggest to you that there are answers
to the questions and some of those answers rest with us, right here at Bowling Green State University and at other colleges
and universities throughout the nation. If I could tell you what those answers were, I probably wouldn’t be here right now.
I’d probably be a prophet on a mountain somewhere. (laughter) But I firmly believe that through the efforts of our faculty,
staff and students coming together in dialogue about significant issues, we can reinstill the ability to dream and to achieve
that, which historically has made our country great.
Narrative of Segment Two: Social Purpose over Self Interest
In the past several years, perhaps the most publicized form of activity with social purpose is volunteerism. According to
the annual national survey of freshmen, three-fourths of all freshmen have done some volunteer work in the last year. At
BGSU, 72% of freshmen and 61 % of seniors claimed that they had participated in or planned to participate in community service
or volunteer work. While the service work associated with Dance Marathon speaks volumes, the institution’s evidence of social
purpose also includes over 10 service organizations and a large percentage of the 200-plus recognized student organizations
on campus participating in some type of volunteer work. BGSU recently joined the Ohio Campus Compact, an organization established
to promote civic engagement and participation through service learning. Recent studies show that performing volunteer work
while in college and having faculty who provide emotional support to students were two of the predictors associated with character
development in students. One example of a BGSU initiative exemplifying the true spirit of social purpose is the “Literacy
Serve and Learn” program.
Interview with Sandra Strothers, Director of Literacy Serve and Learn
“Literacy Serve and Learn corresponds to one of our main institutional priorities that focuses on values exploration, civic
engagement and character development. That particular priority is one that undergirds the Literacy Serve and Learn program.
We are in our third year right now and we’ve been able to service over 1000 Toledo Public School children with the assistance
of over 600 BGSU Service Learners. As it relates specifically to social purpose, there are four primary aspects of the program
that meet this goal. Students are able to reflect on their service with faculty and staff mentors in the context of, not only
their individual tutoring but in the context of broader needs as defined by the community. Students are able to voice in class
and reflect on activities that relate to how they make a difference in the lives of children; not only for a semester, but
for a lifetime. The instructional team challenges the service learners to think critically about broader social issues in
terms of schooling, in terms of academic outcomes, and especially in terms of issues of equity. Lastly we dialogue about our
participation in the aggregate and we begin to think about how we participate in the program, how hundreds of tutors over
time assist schools and how that impacts the community. This type of learning provides for a more informed graduate, prepped
for leadership, for effective action, participatory citizenship and social transformation.”
President Ribeau’s Remarks:
It’s marvelous to see the increase in volunteerism here at Bowling Green State University and throughout the nation. I would
add to that (and it’s not a “but”, it’s an “and”) in addition to that, we need to go back to the CSPAN clip and the comments
made by Secretary Reich. Volunteerism alone, as good and as important as it is, is not going to help us solve or really confront
many of the critical issues that face our nation. I recently attended the Institute on College Student Values and one of the
speakers there was Derek Bok, the former President of Harvard University. As part of his keynote address, he had a really
interesting exchange with a number of students, a group of young women from Wellesley that were there, and he was talking
about volunteerism. He is now the Chairman of “Common Cause”, the national association trying to encourage more voter registration,
voter participation and overall civic engagement. He said volunteerism is more important than ever, but he echoed the sentiment
in the CSPAN clip, that being that student or young adult cynicism about the political process is at an all time high. A
young woman from Wellesley said to him, “I’ll volunteer and go out to help, but I don’t want to get involved in politics.”
Derek Bok posed the question, “Where do students go to volunteer?” Soup kitchens are one place they volunteer. And that’s
good. And we need people to volunteer. But if every student at Wellesley or at Bowling Green State University volunteered
at a soup kitchen, we would not eliminate soup kitchens, or more generally, we would not eliminate homelessness and hunger.
Because the answer to soup kitchens is a political answer. It’s a structural, economic answer. And despite volunteerism, as
important as it is, issues like poverty, hunger, education, health care, and other issues that are draining the life’s blood
out of our states and our country won’t go away simply because of an increase in volunteerism. One of the reasons our budget
right now is so weak here in Ohio is because of the cost going into Medicaid. The reason the costs are going to Medicaid is
because of the way the welfare reform process was handled…the payments that should have been made as well as a whole complex
set of issues. It’s a social issue that’s pulling money away from higher education. So the point is, it’s important to volunteer
and be involved, but we must encourage our students also to understand that within the concept of social purpose is volunteerism,
that is linked with social or political action in the overall effort to address society’s most pressing issues. Ignoring
that is not going to allow us to systemically address the problems that face our state and our nation.
Narrative for Segment Three: Ethical Leadership and the Appreciation of Different Voices
Appreciating Different Voices
Educator Parker Palmer states that within any community, “conflict is healthy, competition is not”. The one up, one down
philosophy stands in the way of creating a principled community where difference is valued, yet unity is the goal. At BGSU,
the Board of Trustees has re-committed the institution to diversity. The appointment of a Diversity Initiatives Director
is a sign that the institution is dedicated to making more global, and richer, the BGSU experience for the staff who work
here, the faculty who teach here and the students who study here. With the affirmation of the role of diversity in colleges
and universities, as both essential and compelling, institutionally we know that in order to have a principled community,
there must be an appreciation for different voices.
Interview with Barbara Waddell, Director of Diversity Initiatives
“BGSU embraces diversity as an important educational value. We want to foster an environment which reflects and celebrates
diversity, promotes civility and embraces healthy interdependence. We believe we can have a community that dismantles barriers
and fosters forward improvement. Such an environment makes it possible for us and our students to anticipate, listen and respond
to the concerns and needs of a diverse marketplace. By embracing diversity we can create initiatives which will enable us
to self explore, reflect, grow and change as we face the challenge of preparing our students to work effectively in this global
society. It is through conversation that powerful cultural change can take place. People in conversation create connections,
develop understanding, discover creativity and form commitment to action. Each voice is important. To work with diversity
effectively we must listen to all voices. Diversity initiatives are genuine vehicles for change. Change can be painful at
times, but open, honest, and sometimes difficult dialogue can become the catalyst for amazing positive change.”
Ethical Leadership: Modeling the Way for Followers
Contributing to the development of character in college students is leadership training. Modeling and developing in others
ethical leadership is an important criterion in the creation of a principled community. Ethical leadership requires aligning
our actions with our espoused values and beliefs. The task at hand is to model ethical leadership and expect it in others
by eliminating the examples of incongruence between values and behavior. As we continue creating our principled community
at BGSU, faculty, staff and students can draw upon “the airline philosophy of life”. Put the oxygen mask on yourself first,
and then help others around you. Ethical leadership starts with each one of us.
Interview with Dr. Kevin Bailey, Interim Associate Dean of Students
“Last summer we held the first ever New Student Leaders Retreat for the officers of the “major” student organizations on campus:
Black Student Union, Latino Student Union, Undergraduate Student Government, etc. The goals of that retreat were to build
relationships among those officers who really didn’t know each other prior to that experience, for them to receive some basic
skills for them to succeed in their various positions and lastly, and the best thing from the retreat, was the creation of
a vision statement. A vision statement that represents the collective values of student leaders at that retreat that they
brought forward to President Ribeau, to Dr. Whipple and others as a tangible manifestation of what happened at that retreat.
Because that was such a positive experience we are now bringing what’s called the LeaderShape Institute to Bowling Green State
University. This is a six-day intensive workshop for 32 students from main and Firelands campuses and the theme for the institute
is “Leading with Integrity.” Each of the six days has a different theme, such a “Building Community”, “Staying in Action”,
“Values”, etc. In addition to the Institute, there are also administrators working with students to try to create some sort
of collective model for leadership development on campus. The President’s Leadership Academy, Leaders in Residence, and the
Greek Affairs community are coming together to try to figure out what some of our best common denominators are so that we
can promote this to the University community and say no matter which program you are in, you will get these things out of
it. And so it’s really a great time for leadership development at Bowling Green State University.
President Ribeau’s Remarks:
The point here is that…and it’s not a point that I can take credit for. But it’s a point that has been said many times by
many other people…that if you don’t begin with exploring and discovering how to live and work with people, it’s not going
to happen all of a sudden when you turn 30 or 35 or 40. Part of what the challenge is here at this University and other universities
is creating an environment where students can learn from one another. They can learn how to grapple with the difficulties
that go along with difference, but also as Barbara Waddell said, the opportunities and the benefits to be derived from difference.
Our students here have consistently come to me to say that we need a more diverse environment, we need an environment that
really helps us understand how to negotiate differences. We must continue to keep our eyes on that issue and create certain
kinds of places and give students skills and tools to be able to manage these situations. I remember the first conflict and
dispute resolution course I had; I thought it was “stupid.” I just shouted my way out of things, or left, or turned my back
or shut down. And that’s how I dealt with conflict. And then I actually found out that there were skills that you could learn
to help you manage situations to be more effective. There are things you can learn about difference and culture and working
with people. You know when those things cause you to stretch as a person, and they are often uncomfortable and they are challenging.
But that’s what education is. That’s what organic chemistry was to me: challenging…it stretched me. That’s what calculus was
to me. It was just a different part of my brain and my experience that was stretched. It’s the same thing with leadership.
We lament the fact there aren’t leaders on campus and leaders in our society and leadership at the state level. How could
he? How could she say this or that? The bigger question is, “What preparation and structured training are we offering these
individuals?” We are replete with literature about leadership, but are we giving students the theory and the practice to
hone and develop the skills to allow them to become effective leaders? If not here on a college campus, where are they going
to get it? They are surely not going to get it when they leave here and go to work for DaimlerChrylser, Microsoft or other
corporations because they are there for a reason: to create a product and a profit for that company. So if they don’t get
it here, they aren’t going to get it. And this is an area in which we have made some inroads, but we still have a long way
to go. Let’s go to the next segment.
In her book Reflective Judgement, University of Michigan Professor Pat King stated that: “The real challenge of college, is empowering individuals to know
that the world is far more complex than it first appears, and that they must make interpretive arguments and decision judgements
that entail real consequences for which they must take responsibility.” Understanding complexity, making judgements and drawing
conclusions are all elements of critical thinking and all-important to the fabric of a principled community. Of the BGSU
seniors responding to the National Survey on Student Engagement, 69% of them stated that they had gained a great deal in “thinking
critically” as a result of their BGSU experience; 64% stated that they had gained a great deal in the area of “making informed
judgements” as a result of their BGSU experience.
The President of Bowling Green State University has pledged his commitment to provide enhanced learning experiences for all
incoming students; in addition, he has encouraged faculty to infuse their teaching with moral principles. With this in mind,
the new IMPACT learning community was established and will open its doors this fall. Focused on “Integrating Moral Principles
and Critical Thinking”, this learning community is one example of how BGSU is infusing the exploration of moral issues and
critical thinking into the educational experience.
Interview with Dr. Neil Browne, Professor and Founder, IMPACT Honors Learning Community
“BGSU students are like everyone else. They don’t want to be known as sponges and they certainly don’t want to be known as
puppets. BGSU students are looking for more positive learning models. Next fall a new BGSU honors learning community called
IMPACT will begin operation on the tenth floor of Offenhauer. Students will live and learn together with three senior faculty
with offices on the floor. Classes will be held one floor above. Students will take critical thinking classes that anchor
their study and the importance of moral principles for human decision-making. Working together with Student Affairs staff,
the IMPACT community will develop listening, presentation, assertiveness and questioning skills to supplement their application
of critical thinking for personal and community dilemmas. The central idea of IMPACT is that a reflective and empathetic
self finds its most robust fulfillment in service to others. IMPACT students will seek to resist “spongehood” and “puppetry”
and replace those ugly metaphors with the open hand of reflective civic commitment.”
President Ribeau’s Remarks:
There was an article in the BG News yesterday; some of you might have seen it. There was a series of similar articles on the opinion page, talking about morals
and questioning, “whose morals?” It was a wonderful discussion and a wonderful debate. I agree totally with a couple of our
colleagues who were quoted in the article that it’s not our role to promote one particular ethical or moral perceptive, but
to make students aware that through critical analysis you can discover those perspectives that work best for you and that
are consistent with your identity and your value system. What Professor Browne is talking about through the process of critical
thinking [and it’s not the only road one can take to get to that destination], is intellectual inquiry partnered with critical
thinking as one way one comes to discover the kinds of things that motivate one’s actions and behavior…the kinds of things
that define one’s beliefs. During this critical period of time when students are in college and being exposed to all kinds
of new ideas and information, it’s very important that we give them the tools to make those kinds of discerning judgements.
Because they will in fact make decisions as Professor Browne said, with some information, and the best information and the
best intellectual hardware we can provide to them will allow them to use their values, their morals to guide and govern their
decisions, their lives and the lives of the their family. And that’s a very laudable and worthy charge I think for BGSU …for
any university.
Narrative for Segment Five: Communicating Clear Expectations for Community Membership
Personal responsibility has been described as the active side of principled behavior. It has to do with fulfilling obligations,
caring for others and ourselves, being accountable for what we say and do and working to improve the human condition. We must
also understand the institutional responsibility of universities in using expertise within disciplines for community engagement
to affect broader societal issues. This expectation is clearly understood by the College of Musical Arts, which is evident
in their Music Plus program and their work with the Toledo Symphony.
“The Music Plus program in the College of Musical Arts is one of our oldest outreach programs. Started in 1989, it brings
inner-city children from Toledo down to our campus for a program of music plus other experiences. It’s really an introduction
to college life. And over these years we’ve had a number of students, go through the program and graduate and go on to college
and I think that’s one of it’s big successes. But as a relationship with students who are different than our own Bowling
Green is an exercise in diversity. It is our students who have taught in this program who have really benefited from the Music
Plus program. More recently, President Ribeau has opened a channel of communication with the leadership of the Toledo Symphony.
Over the years the College of Musical Arts and the Toledo Symphony have grown closer together. Years ago we were dedicated
to teaching music, the Toledo Symphony was dedicated to presenting classical music. Today we present classical music through
the Festival Series and our own faculty concerts and the Toledo Symphony actually teaches music in neighborhood schools in
Toledo. Our missions are overlapping and our histories are bringing us closer together. So this dialogue hopefully will probe
and understand the relationships we have and might have and I think that as we pursue it, it is our students who will really
benefit from this relationship.”
Narrative for Segment Five continued:
At BGSU, we know that it is critical that clear expectations be communicated about personal responsibility early in the careers
of our newest community members.
Interview with Jodi Webb, Director of the First Year Experience:
In the Summer of 2000, the President convened a group to begin discussing how new students learn about the BGSU Core Values.
One outcome of that meeting was the creation of the Freshman Expectations Think Tank. This is a group that has been meeting
on a regular basis since the beginning of Fall Semester and the group is comprised of faculty, administrators, and students
and we have been attempting to identify programs that exist on this campus that both introduce and support the Core Values.
In addition, our committee is making recommendations about how we can do a better job of introducing the Core Values to our
new student population. There are numerous programs on the BGSU campus that currently introduce and support the Core Values
– Orientation-Registration, Welcome Week and others – that lend themselves to current students, but also prospective students.
We think it’s important that prospective students have some understanding of the Core Values when they are making their decision
to attend BGSU. In addition to our prospective students, we think it’s important that we have a stronger environmental message
on our campus with regard to the Core Values and we would like to see the Core Values more prominently displayed, so that
both new students and visitors to our campus have an understanding of the Core Values and know that these are an important
part of our campus”.
President Ribeau’s Remarks:
Community engagement is critically important for our institution or any institution. The Music Plus program is one of many
programs we could have illustrated as an example of community engagement. But what’s important is not just the benefit that’s
derived by the community in the case of Music Plus, it’s the reciprocal aspect of it. It’s what our students learn about music
and its power to touch the lives of young people and there is no way in the world that by taking a music theory test or teaching
at a university, you can understand how music can open the emotional and intellectual vistas of a five or six or seven year
old kid who has never been exposed to a trombone or to a keyboard. And how they can come into contact with their own feelings
and understand that they have emotions that might be trapped within them that could serve them well, rather than turning the
emotions inward, which becomes a frustrating obstacle that keeps them from accomplishing their goals. So it’s not just that
we go out and we are the great missionaries that are helping save the community. We also, our faculty and our staff and our
students, experience the reciprocal nature of learning and what real dialogue and exchange and engagement is about.
In the clip about service learning, when you look at the students who are going out volunteering in Literacy Serve and Learn
in the community…if you talk to those students, they’ll tell you that they learn as much as those fourth graders that they
are tutoring. I could not even capture the things that the students have shared with me, and these are students who are not
necessarily education majors, they’re in accounting, they’re in finance, they’re in the sciences. But what they are learning
about themselves and their humanness can’t be measured by any degree or grade point average. Jodi Webb’s comments about clear
and reasonable expectations are important. If you look at the Core Values, where we are now is at a point where these are
things that came out of the “Focus on February” event in 1996. Things that people thought were important, and they are cooperation,
creativity, respect, pride, intellectual and spiritual growth. But ultimately, when we will have “arrived” as an institution
in my view, is when we no longer have to post our Core Values. That they are so ingrained in the essence of the students’
experience that intellectual discovery is a good thing and I come here not to sleep in the back of the class, not to party
Thursday night with my friends, I come here to discover intellectually and spiritually what it means to be a person, what
it means to be an English teacher. So ultimately, in the evolution of the BGSU Core Values, our goal is that the values become
so implicit that any student that comes here says, “When I leave Bowling Green State University, I will not only leave with
an education, but I’ll leave with the pride and the motivation and the self esteem that will allow me to go as far as I aspire
to in my life.”
We are moving in that direction. Some students or faculty or staff may say, “what if I don’t believe that you should cooperate
with other people, you should respect other people?” The response is a simple one. I think you should select another school
at which to study or work. If you want to be part of our institution, there are certain principles that, as a learning community,
we stand for and there are certain things that the academy stands for...the discovery of knowledge, the creation of knowledge,
the dissemination of it. If this isn’t what you really want, you can go to another type of institution, maybe a training
school or a trade school where they can rubber stamp you and give you a degree. But if you want more than a degree, if you
want an education and you want an education that allows you to learn about yourself and others and your world along with your
discipline, then maybe BGSU is the place for you. Let’s go to the last segment.
Narrative of Segment Six: B!G Questions, Worthy Dreams
According to last year’s national survey on College Freshmen, the quality those freshmen said they admired most was integrity. While the current state of America’s moral landscape is in what some might call a recession, there is considerable hope
for our future. As colleges and universities, we have the unique opportunity to shape the lives of the future leaders of
our country. It isn’t enough to talk about having clear expectations…the big question is what does having them imply for working
together? It isn’t enough to state that we value social purpose, if self-interest wins out in the end. It isn’t enough to
claim the importance of examining issues critically if we fail to make informed judgments. And unless we remain committed
to listening to and appreciating the different voices at our community table, we will have failed in our goal of recognizing
the role of diversity as both essential and compelling.
In order to achieve our goal of becoming a principled community, we must ask the B!G questions and have the courage to acknowledge
our worthy dreams. We must reinstate the idea that education in all stages of our lives, is about more than making a living…its most important
claim, as William James has said, is that “it teaches a person to value what deserves to be valued”. Social purpose, appreciating
different voices, leading ethically, thinking critically and claiming personal responsibility as a result of the clearly communicated
expectations. All deserve to be valued. All are the criteria for and evidence of a principled community.
Theodore Roosevelt once said: “To educate a person in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society”. So the task
calls for the creation of a nurturing culture where principled behavior is both practiced and expected. It also calls for
asking perhaps the biggest question of all…Can an academic institution create this kind of community? At BGSU, we think we can. We know we must.
President Ribeau’s Final Comments:
In conclusion, what I would say is, I think we have an opportunity to re-establish the role and purpose of colleges and universities
in our society as prominent leaders, not responders, not reactors, but leaders in the direction of our nation. Many people
ask why colleges and universities are often pushed to the back burner in the budget process. It’s because if you sit in on
meetings with the assembly or if you go to Washington and lobby or testify in front of Congress, you realize that we are not
seen as active participants in creating a better society. The stereotype is that we study, we analyze…but we are irrelevant.
That wasn’t always the case. There was a time when the chief spokespersons for major moral civic political issues were university
presidents. They were faculty members. They were deans. And when there was to be testimony in Congress on an issue, be it
the environment or public policy, the most credible person you could bring to that hearing would be an academic. Because she
not only knew a lot about the issue, she actually applied what she knew to better her community. We need to reestablish the
predominance of colleges and universities as guideposts in our cultural evolution as we have in effect lost that position.
We can create a future where colleges and universities continue to do business as usual and become redundant and irrelevant,
or we can begin to be very important in leading the entire operation of states and nations.
There will come a time very quickly where technology can provide information in more exciting ways and more quickly than we
can in our classrooms. All the proprietary schools, all the for-profit schools have shown that if all you want is the transfer
of information, you can, in fact, do that. But education is much more than the transfer of information. As I said earlier
this morning, the essence of education rests with “what information” we are transferring or transmitting.
This morning when I was stumbling out of bed, I thought about the presentation and there were a couple things I wanted to
read and I wanted to conclude with these. It has to do with what I think is essential in reestablishing the sense of purpose
in our academic communities. This is called “Keep Alive the Dream in the Heart” written by Howard Thurman who used to be the
Dean at Boston University and Harvard University and he also started the first inter-racial, non-denominational church in
America in San Francisco. This is a small excerpt from his work.
“As long as a man has a dream in his heart, he cannot lose the significance of living. This part of the pretensions of modern
life to trap him in what is generally called realism, there is much insistence upon being practical or down to earth. Such
things as dreams are wont to be regarded as romantic or as a badge of immaturity or as escape hatches for the human spirit.
Men can not continue long to live if the dream in the heart has perished. It is then that they stop hoping, stop looking and
the last embers of their anticipation fade away. The dream lives in the inward parts. It is deep within, where the issues
of life and death are ultimately determined. Keep alive the dream for as long as man has a dream in his heart, he cannot lose
the significance of living.”
In addition to transferring information and certifying students for professions and careers, we are in the business of creating
possibilities for dreams. So far, the classes I’ve sat in on this semester included an astronomy class, an American government
class, and a history class. I sat and listened to excellent junior and senior faculty members and watched the students question
and explore possibilities that I hadn’t even imagined. But imbedded in those possibilities and dreams is the future of our
nation. And if we don’t pay attention to that, if we don’t create the kind of learning environment where those kinds of dreams
and aspirations thrive, who else in society will? What other institution in American society is committed to the “life of
the mind” and all that goes along with it? And advancing the life of the mind has to be about more than just awarding degrees
and certifying someone for disciplinary expertise.
This final piece is a short excerpt of a book from the same author and it’s called The Growing Edge. And I think this is what I’d like to leave you with.
“All around us worlds are dying and new worlds are being born. All around us life is dying and new life is being born. The
fruit ripens on the tree, the roots are silently at work in the darkness of the earth against the time when there shall be
new leaves, fresh blossoms, green fruit. Such is the growing edge. It is the extra breath from the exhausted lung, the one
more thing to try when all else has failed. The upward reach of life when weariness closes in upon all endeavors. This is
the basis of hope in moments of despair. The incentive to carry on when times are out of joint and men have lost their reason.
The source of confidence when worlds crash and dreams whiten into ash. The birth of the child, life’s most dramatic answer
to death. This is the growing edge incarnate. Look well to the growing edge.”
Thank you very much.
* A portion of the title of this year’s State of the University Address, “B!G Questions, Worthy Dreams: Creating a Principled
Community” was adapted from the title of the book by Sharon Parks, Big questions, worthy dreams: Mentoring young adults in their search for meaning, purpose and faith.
