Dialogue: Nota Bene: Weekly Update

As January Term finished strong last Friday, I'm proud to share that by all accounts, it was a huge success. This was the first time first-year students were required to participate in January Term and it yielded a positive experience with impressive results. As we continue to grow as a twelve-month institution, enrollment options such as January Term offer benefits to students as well as the institution. As you read in my Nota Bene two weeks ago, it is part of our plan to make a VWU education more affordable with increased course offerings while also improving retention and cohort graduation rates. Kudos to Dr. Deirdre Gonsalves-Jackson, Director of Summer and Winter Sessions, for her effective leadership. Read more about Winter Session here.

Looking forward, today marks the start of the spring semester. In the academic world, the start of a new semester is akin to the start of a new year. It brings new opportunities and possibilities, and the chance for a fresh start. I encourage our campus community to embrace this idea and make it our best semester yet.

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Our campus innovation team was in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, last week to visit with colleagues at Lakeland University (LU). LU is led by Dr. David Black (VWU Scholar-in-Residence). Our two institutions discussed common topics including co-operative education, design, growth, and support of online programs and international opportunities in Japan.

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Following the trip to Wisconsin, I traveled to Atlanta, Georgia, last week where I attended the Forum for Presidents and Foundation Leaders and the Presidents' Trust, both supported by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU). Both meetings are an opportunity to refresh and visit with colleaguescommitted to liberal learning across all sectors. It is the only meeting each year when presidents of private, public and community colleges gather to discuss common issues and the current higher education climate.

ET CETERA

As the effects from the federal government's longest shutdown in history continue to impact Coastal Virginia and the nation even after a brief, three-week reopening is promised, VWU will continue to waive tuition deposits for families that experienced federal furlough. Please visit vwu.edu for more information. In addition, non-perishable food items will be collected for a food drive organized by VWU's Wesleyan Engaged: Center for Civic Leadership and Service Learning in collaboration with local food banks. The goods will aid federal workers who are recovering from the financial effects of the furlough.

VWU has experienced its own challenges as a result of the shutdown, including the delay in the already long-awaited start of construction on Oxford Village--our eight-building, 248-unit, mixed-use housing complex on University land, along Wesleyan Drive, on the north side of campus across from the main entrance. The project is HUD-funded which was affected by the shutdown, reports our construction partners on the project, The Franklin Johnston Group. We are hopeful the three-week reopening of the federal government becomes permanent. Read more here.

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Congratulations to our good friend and VWU Trustee William "Billy" George on the announcement of his retirement, effective at the end of 2019, as President and CEO of YMCA of South Hampton Roads. Billy dedicated more than 44 years of his life and career to the YMCA, an organization that strengthens and serves our community well.

AROUND TOWN AND ACROSS CAMPUS

We celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr., Day last Monday on campus and in the community. I enjoyed the 35th annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Leaders' Breakfast with friends from Virginia Wesleyan University at the Ted Constant Convocation Center. It was great to see Gil Blan, President and CEO of the Urban League of Hampton Roads (ULHR), and we thank him and ULHR for their organization of the event. Thank you to Provost and Vice President Tim O'Rourke and University Chaplain Greg West for an outstanding service where we listened to Dr. King's famous and inspiring "I Have a Dream" speech that afternoon at the Monumental Chapel on campus.

The first meeting of the Virginia Beach City Public Schools Strategic Planning Committee was held on January 17. I'm proud to join the all-star group of leaders from education, business and civic organizations as we address important topics influencing schools in our community

An informative meeting of the joint Greater Norfolk Corporation (GNC)/Virginia Beach Vision (VBV) Sea Level Rise Task Force was held recently at Williams Mullen in Town Center. Henry Pollard presented on Managing Concurrent Flooding Risks: Challenges and Opportunities. I serve on the Board of both GNC and VBV.

We reviewed progress last week in the Susan S. Goode Fine and Performing Arts Center and are pictured herein the Eleanor and Henry Watts Grand Gallery and Lobby. The glass windows across the front of the building will be installed the first week in February. Here is a glimpse of the ongoing progress on a beautiful day as construction continues and we look forward to the Goode Center's completion in March. We announced last week that the first production by the VWU Theatre Department to be performed in the Eleanor and Henry Watts Theatre in the Goode Center will be "Legally Blonde: The Musical." Opening night is April 11.

The new scoreboard was installed at VWU's TowneBank Park/Broyles Field last week and it looks excellent.

Speaking of softball champions, kudos to our two-time All-American pitcher and two-time Player of the Year Hanna Hull. Hanna opens her junior year with another pre-season All-American ranking.

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM MY WEEKEND READING

Have you read the latest chapter of this year's President to President thought leadership series? In "Bridging the Town-Gown Divide," Trinity College President Joanne Berger-Sweeney, Ph.D., shares ideas on how colleges and universities can develop positive relationships with surrounding communities to ensure the success of both the campus and the town in which it is located. To foster discussion around this topic, our friend Jim Jenkins, CEO Universities, North America East, recently wrote a blog for Sodexo Insights titled "Colleges and Communities: Partners in Progress," which further explores these vital connections. The article describes unique ways in which some institutions are working to bridge the gaps between students on campus and the local region, often through a heightened focus on attracting and supporting students of diverse-and sometimes non-traditional-backgrounds and helping them succeed.
I hope you find informative the "Dewberry Study" on sea level rise in this area. The related PowerPoint presentation and the full report, given at a Virginia Beach City Council Meeting, can be accessed here.
A 2016 report from the Parthenon Group found 800 colleges vulnerable to "critical strategic challenges" because of their small size, a much larger share than among those with enrollments over 1,000. The report lists several common attributes of small colleges that put them at risk of closure: enrolling fewer than 1,000 students; depending on tuition for more than 85% of revenue; and the absence of online education programs.
In the new book, How to Run a College: A Practical Guide for Trustees, Faculty, Administrators and Policymakers, Joseph King and Brian Mitchell argue that colleges project themselves to fail if they continue to use their current operating models. Given projections that new technologies will displace up to 30% of the workers over the next decade, American policy planners, including higher education officials, have a serious problem. "They--and we--must ask: How does a weakened higher education community facing declines in net tuition revenue respond to this crisis?" As they explain in "Marrying the Liberal Arts to the Workforce," the rationale is simple. If the projections on workforce disruption are true, current technical skills may not prepare the workforce for future changes. Rather, it will be the foundational strength provided by a liberal arts education that will shape the creative class of future generations of workers.