Our Discussion Continues …
Welcome to the Your Voice, Our Future blog. Over the coming weeks, we will be adding posts that continue the conversations taking place at our town hall meetings, drawing upon the expertise of the town hall panelists and others. You and other members of our community will then have an opportunity to comment on those postings and to add your voice to the conversation as we all work together to help the College move forward during these very difficult and challenging economic times.
President Philip A. Glotzbach and a panel that included (from left to right) Skidmore economist Sandy Baum, alumnus Joshua Boyce, M.D. '81, entrepreneur and Skidmore parent John William Poduska, Sr. and Skidmore history professor Erica Bastress-Dukeheart launched the 'Your Voice, Our Future' series in Boston October 5.
As a first posting to the blog, I want to take an opportunity to expand upon my answer to one of our young alumni in Boston regarding the budget cuts that we are instituting on campus. As you may recall from other notes I have issued to our community about these steps, they are a necessary response to the significant reduction in revenues that we have experienced as a result of the larger downturn in our economy. (For more on this topic you can go to the economic challenge page on Skidmore’s Web site.)
By early next year, we will have eliminated more than $10 million in expenditures from our annual operating budget. Most of these have come through reductions in staff and reduced investment in our physical plant. We have also been able to realize savings through the good work of many on campus to reduce energy costs and streamline various operations ranging from shifting more communications from print to electronic format and reducing the use of our dining and catering staffs for campus events.
The young alumna’s question – and very legitimate concern – was how we could effect these reductions without a significant impact not only on the curricular but also on the co-curricular programs that were such an integral and enriching element of her experience. The answer is, in fact, many answers. That is to say, we are now expecting, if you will, a much higher “return on investment” from all of our programs and searching harder than ever to identify the point at which we have invested enough to achieve the goals we have outlined for those programs. Let me offer just three different examples:
Example 1. One major decision point was the elimination of our longstanding UWW program. This had been a very important part of the Skidmore story for nearly four decades, and we remain proud of the many wonderful students who earned their degrees through this program and the faculty and staff who have worked so hard over the years to deliver it. Despite its many achievements, however, we believed we could no longer dedicate the resources needed to offer the program at the level that would meet the standard of a true “Skidmore” education–particularly at a moment in time when we must dedicate a higher proportion of those resources to our core mission of educating fulltime, residential students.
Example 2. We have shifted the replacement cycle on most College-owned computers from four years to five. Again, this should not impact the end user (and thereby diminish in some significant manner the experience for our students) but will save us a considerable amount each year in equipment purchases.
Example 3. We have just increased the enrollment caps for the first-year seminars from 15 to 16. Our sense is that this shift will not appreciably affect the experience for any one student but it saves us from having to offer three additional seminars.
The conversation continued in Hartford October 6 with a panel that included (seated from left to right) Skidmore financial aid director Beth Post-Lundquist, English professor Sarah Goodwin, and alumni Judy Kunisch '69 and Craig Poler '84.
There are, literally, hundreds of other decisions, large and small, that we have made over the past months, to help us achieve our goal. Some, such as those noted above, we can continue with little or no impact on the core educational experience for our students. Others, however, such as the salary freeze that we have instituted for this year and, we anticipate, for next, can only be viewed as temporary solutions as we wait for what we are projecting will be an eventual return to at least modest growth in the income we earn from our endowment and other sources.
We remain open to other thoughts and ideas to help us through this challenging period. Our goal is to increase the value of a Skidmore education and to make certain that we remain a viable option for all deserving students, regardless of their financial means. Your continued input and support will be critical to our success in achieving that goal.
Philip A. Glotzbach is president of Skidmore College.
5 Responses to “ Our Discussion Continues … ”
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We are parents of a recent graduate and will unfortunately both be working next Thursday night, wishing we could be with you to add our voices of support for Skidmore.
Our son was completely uninspired by anything academic until he saw Skidmore College, and we are still shaking our heads in disbelief that he actually was able to get in. He graduated in 2008 cum laude, and a member of Periclean Honor Society, having finished his course work in three and a half years (after a summer program with Columbia University in China), and is currently living in Shanghai, working at a feverish pitch on a project whose details we are not at liberty to discuss. (Creative thought we had given up expecting to witness!)
Skidmore College provided all that was necessary and more for this sleeping bundle of potential to come alive.
Members of his graduating class, who may have done better than he in high school and who went on to graduate from other fine institutions of higher learning, are nonetheless — in the current bad economy — back here in town at cash registers at clothing boutiques and liquor stores. When we tell people what Jon is doing, they are amazed.
We are looking forward to the time when we can pay tribute to Skidmore with more than our grateful words for the lifelong success we anticipate our son will achieve. — Matt and June Wolfberg
I am a graduate of the Class of 1984. I am so encouraged when I hear such great success stories about other Skidmore Grads. Skidmore is such an amazing place with so much to offer! To me, the most important aspect of the Skidmore experience is that it prepares you in so many ways for what lies ahead, while all along allowing you to be yourself. The experience nurtures the need for creative growth and it is that creative growth in Skidmore Graduates that puts them at the top of the heap! Creativity does matter! When I hear stories like your son’s I can so easily see why those 3 words epitomize Skidmore! Bravo Skidmore, another job well done! Bill Tatro 1984
After graduating from Skidmore in 1982, I went to Japan to teach English. That experience ultimately found me substitute teaching at the British School in Hong Kong where I was required to obtain a government issued license to teach. When I was being interviewed at the Hong Kong Department of Education, the woman asked that I produce the 1982 course catalogue from Skidmore College. Seeing as how it was 1998 at that time, I thought I was doomed. I emailed the career planning office that day, and within 48 hours they had faxed the complete ’82 course catalogue directly to the Hong Kong office!! I had my license the next week. That kind of support is priceless.
I would also like to mention that I was on financial aid during my four years at Skidmore College, and when Ronald Reagan cut the Social Security benefits to surviving children attending college (my father’s s.s. payments went directly to my tuition payments), I thought I would have to leave school. Skidmore College picked up the tab and I was able to graduate with my classmates!!! I am forever indebted to the college… I would not be where I am today without the support of Skidmore College. I am so glad to hear that the college’s commitment to financial aid will continue.
Liz R. Hochberger ’82
I feel compelled to chime in and reiterate what has been previously stated (as I was not able to attend the Town Hall meeting in NYC): Skidmore is a special place where students are encouraged and, in my view, given a substantial amount of freedom to explore creativity and learning in an open environment. This is precisely the reason why I chose Skidmore.
Creativity does “matter”, as do solid, practical skills that will help Skidmore students land both career and educational opportunities post graduation. Is this not one of the primary reasons to invest in a Skidmore education-the promise of a successful career?
I often feel Skidmore needs to create a more disciplined learning environment, particularly as it relates to its students’ career development.
As one of the founders of SBN (www.skidbiz.net), and as an alumni who constantly and continually interfaces with both current and upcoming alumni, I am often concerned about the level of professional preparedness among Skidmore students. Far too often, I hear that students do not take advantage of Career Services and, accordingly, go out into the world “lacking direction” and are ill prepared to land a job. I see this first hand when I receive resumes from Skidmore seniors that are fraught with spelling, grammatical and/or syntax errors and don’t give me a true sense of the professional direction in which the student would like to go.
I ardently feel that career planning/development should be mandatory/required for all Skidmore students, particularly in such challenging economic times. Students should start thinking about, and planning for, their post graduation pursuits as early as Junior year (I am incredibly dismayed when I hear of networking events for Seniors held by the College in the late Spring of their Senior year–this is simply too late and most internship/entry level positions will have been filled MONTHS earlier.)Let’s think of it as modern-day professional development finishing school.
I have participated with on-campus career discussions and events, where the alumni panelists outnumbered the Senior participants. I find this inexcusable–not only for the alumni who are donating their time, but for the students who don’t know any better and for the students’ parents who are paying such a high tuition. I do not subscribe to such a “laissez-faire” attitude towards students and firmly believe that the College should ensure that every Skidmore student goes out into the world with solid writing, speaking, networking and interview skills. No exceptions.
Enforcing more stringent career development requirements will benefit not only the students, who will be more employable, but the College, which will benefit from an alumni base that feels it got true value out of going to Skidmore. This may even result in increased giving to the College by alumni, an area that I recognize Skidmore is very eager to improve.
Skidmore, SBN and other alumni initiatives/groups are still in the early stages of creating a cohesive, organized alumni base into which Skidmore seniors can tap. In my view, this is an an area where Skidmore continues to lag behind our “peer schools” of Hamilton, Colgate, Vassar, etc. A win-win would be for the College to, simultaneous to our efforts, develop the next generation of students that are well-prepared, courteous and professional.
And, as a parent looking to justify such a costly tuition bill, I would mandate this.
E. Frits Abell ’94
Frits,
I’m just reading your post now and am interested in hearing what you might think of the Goals for Student Learning and Development that the faculty endorsed last week. In drafting the Goals, the Assessment Steering Committee consulted a number of different groups, and our student members were particularly active. They absolutely insisted that the Goals contain some practical competencies for functioning in life after college. You mention “writing, speaking, networking and interview skills.” Writing and speaking belong all over the curriculum, but the specific skills required for networking and interviews don’t have a curricular home. We will be talking about where students can learn these things. Where and how do you think they should be taught, to be most effective?
Sarah Goodwin