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Chancellor discusses higher education strategic plan, Centers of Excellence |
| By
Tobin J. Klinger |
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Jun 23, 2008
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| Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Eric D. Fingerhut led a panel discussion on the state’s 10-year strategic plan for higher education last week in the Law Center Auditorium on Main Campus. |
The University of Toledo became the epicenter of the statewide discussion about Gov. Ted Strickland’s and Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Eric Fingerhut’s 10-year strategic plan for higher education June 17, as Fingerhut came to campus for a series of meetings and a panel discussion.
The public event in the Law Center Auditorium drew higher education leaders from across northern Ohio, as well as political leaders from the region.
“Our state’s leaders have all placed higher education at the center of Ohio’s economic rebirth,” Fingerhut said, adding that he believes the current Ohio General Assembly will be remembered for starting the “renaissance of higher education in Ohio.”
The chancellor’s 10-year plan focuses heavily on economic development and the disciplines believed to most immediately support economic development. These are the so-called STEMM disciplines — science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine. The conversation focused on the section of the strategic plan that calls for the creation of Centers of Excellence at universities around the state that can ultimately serve as economic drivers of the Ohio economy.
“This university is playing a critical role in generating that kind of activity,” Fingerhut said of UT’s work in areas like alternative energy, for which several members of the panel noted as having great promise in terms of job creation.
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| Dr. Nabil Ebraheim, professor and chairman of orthopedics, left, last week talked to Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Eric Fingerhut, right, and Mark Chastang, vice president and UT Medical Center executive director. |
Fingerhut said he believes the state needs to “develop areas of national ranking that would serve as a magnet,” and complimented UT as “already beginning to serve as a magnet” in the alternative energy arena.
“Excellence, through history, has always been a best-seller,” added Bob Savage, president of Savage and Associates, and member of the panel. “When you’re excellent, everyone wants to be around you.”
The University is beginning to build a “comprehensive process,” according to President Lloyd Jacobs, to identify UT’s potential Centers of Excellence. Discussions have begun on what characteristics each might share. While many are areas within the STEMM disciplines, the chancellor and others emphasized that Centers of Excellence need not be confined to these disciplines.
Betsy Yeary, a junior majoring in theatre and member of the panel, injected her concern into the discussion that she fears the emphasis on STEMM in the state’s strategic plan and current direction at UT may significantly diminish the arts and social sciences.
“When I graduate, I don’t want someone to give me a hammer,” Yeary said. “I want to be an intellectual being with a toolbox full of tools I can use for the rest of my life.”
However, all panel members and several speakers from the audience noted that STEMM emphasis is not intended to diminish arts and humanities.
“The question is, ‘Are they mutually exclusive?’” said State Rep. Peter Ujvagi. “They are not mutually exclusive. They are critical for success.” He later noted that “liberal arts education is the basis of all critical thinking.”
“Great university’s debate great issues,” Jacobs said about the discussion. “We are debating these great issues here at The University of Toledo.”
Jacobs said, “I invite you to re-read my address of April 2 titled ‘Re-Engineering the Undergraduate Experience or Mass Customization in Higher Education.’ The focus is on meeting the students’ needs and aspirations whether they are interested in science, the visual arts or sociology. In it, the STEMM acronym does not appear, an intentional de-emphasis.” Jacobs said, “It is my hope to continue this discussion with a forum early in the fall semester.”
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