How Administrators Are Collaborating On Line

From shared working documents, through online review of online student applications and web conferencing, to shared spreadsheets with "chat" capability, almost everyone is now working and collaborating virtually. (Some SCUP working groups save money by collaborating using Elluminate.) This University Business article by Ann McClure is a nice review of the different ways a number of campuses are collaborating virtually on administrative tasks. It is blurbed, "Collaboration tools allow administrators to work together even if they can’t get together."

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Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring:

• March 14–16: Baltimore, MD
• March 24–26: Cambridge, MA
• April 5–7, San Diego, CA

The College President as Urban Planner

Subtitled "Franklin & Marshall's John A. Fry helps reclaim industrial site," this Chronicle of Higher Education article by Scott Carlson dives deep into the details of a major effort by Franklin & Marshall College to work with other Lancaster, PA entities in developing a large piece of industrial property (200 buildings on 47 acres + another railway yard of 30 acres). The Northwest Gateway Project and the rail yard project will end up costing $75M. An attorney working for a group of rail yard neighbors calls President Fry's planning efforts on this project "a marvelous example of how to manipulate the public-funding system." The article includes nice photography.

Mr. Fry—a charismatic fast talker whose business background has rubbed some in academe wrong—seems to have a thing for sweeping urban-redevelopment programs. A decade ago, as executive vice president at Penn, he oversaw the multimillion-dollar revitalization of its West Philadelphia neighborhood. He says that endeavor, which marshaled money from the university, local businesses, and the city, was "child's play" compared with the Armstrong project.

"Small institutions don't have to act in small ways," he says in his office one morning, as he shuffles through boards of architectural renderings. "With the right kinds of partnerships and the right kind of thinking, you can really attract big players."

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Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring:

• March 14–16: Baltimore, MD
• March 24–26: Cambridge, MA
• April 5–7, San Diego, CA

Did You Know There Is a 'Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area'?

Did you even know that such a consortium existed? Here's a link to a Today's Campus interview with the consortium's President & CEO, John Childers. And here's a link to the consortium's website. A quote from the interview:

Each of our 14 universities can focus on what it does best. Each one doesn't have to be the best at everything. A student at any of the member schools can take courses and use certain facilities of any other. This is a contributing factor to Washington, DC being considered a top U.S. college town. The Wall Street Journal ranks Washington as the number one college magnet city in the U.S. Young people are coming to Washington to make a difference.

[more]

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Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring:

• March 14–16: Baltimore, MD
• March 24–26: Cambridge, MA
• April 5–7, San Diego, CA

How to Build a Supercomputer in One Day

Sometimes it's lonely on campus, being a planner. Start planning now to attend higher education's premier planning conference for 2010, SCUP–45, July 10–14 in Minneapolis, where you can network and converse with more than 1,000 of your peers and colleagues.

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Well, it takes more than a bit of planning first, but Purdue University built a "community cluster" super computer this year, and it was running operations before one full work day was over. The concept of community cluster means that a variety of campus units which need super computer computing power, pool resources, each contributing funds for a number of "nodes" but gaining in return far more computing power (and time) then they could have gotten on their own. Like we said, it takes careful planning and as well, an IT department with competence and capability for operation and management.

Group Purchasing and Collaborations Solve Budget Woes

Now SCUPers can connect on Facebook and on LinkedIn.

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We were glad to see this latest report by Tom Robinson of Today's Campus. Taking as a mantra, "Manage Spend, Rather Than Cut Cost," he examines ways to maximize purchasing power without cutting. About procurement he says "Not the old kind. The new kind. That’s procurement guided by strategic rather than tactical thinking. That’s procurement supported from the highest echelons and facilitated by technological advances." This article is a very useful resource and review, covering state laws, buying co-ops, pricing contracts, eliminating "exceptions," and shared services and other collaborations, finishing with: "Purposeful collaboration with business goals is now essential across every campus. And it will outlive the current economic crisis. It’s a 21st century reality." We think this is at least a "must-scan" item.

Universities for Cities and Regions: Lessons From the OECD Reviews

The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) does a lot of interesting research, often focused narrowly on Europe. For example, with regard to higher education and local and regional development, it has found that:

Regions can, with the help of their colleges and universities, play a key role not only in the development of national but also local and regional innovation systems. But much more needs to be done to take full advantage of higher education in regional and city development. It is becoming clear, for instance, that imitation and adaptation are no longer sufficient strategies in this kind of work. Unique advantages have to be constructed, and they have to be built on innovation. Universities and colleges can and should play a proactive role in providing the ideas and strategies to fuel that innovation.

According to this report from Barbara Ischinger and Jaana Puukka, in Change magazine, the OECD Reviews that led to that understanding are being repeated in many more countries, including two parts of the United States. This is probably something to be watching for more information about.

The New Jersey Coastal Communiversity: Access through Partnerships

SCUP leader Arnie Gelfman, of Brookdale Community College, has been telling us about the New Jersey Coastal Communiversity for some time. Now we can learn more by reading this article:

The New Jersey Coastal Communiversity, led by Brookdale Community College, is a partnership of colleges and universities that provides local access to postassociate degree education. In operation for six years, the partnership exemplifies the strength of a collaborative model of higher education institutions to address statewide needs. Alan Deutschman's research on organizational change (Deutschman, 2007) posits that the three factors of a successful change process are Relationships, Repeating, and Reframing, from which a threatening Change or Die challenge can be transformed into a Change and Thrive scenario. The Communiversity received the 2008 Bellwether Award in the area of Planning, Governance, and Finance. This article presents the development of the Communiversity through the Change or Die framework with a focus on planning, governance, finance, outcomes and lessons learned.

Speeding Up Economic Recovery Through Collaboration

North Carolina State president James Oblinger describes how his institution, with the slogan, "Red Means Go," integrates learning with local, regional, and statewide collaboration for workforce development and economic growth:

"To be good citizens, we understand we have to lead, especially in bad economic times. Equally important is our capacity to join with the state in anticipating shifts in the job market and in society."

"At NC State, we take seriously a responsibility to be “the People’s University.” To be good citizens, we understand we have to lead, especially in bad economic times. Equally important is our capacity to join with the state in anticipating shifts in the job market and in society."

Read the full article here:
http://universitybusiness.com/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=1308

Gained in Translation: Do CFOs and CAOs Speak the Same Language?

This is a report by Susan Jurow and Marlene Ross on a recent ACE and NACUBO special program which brought together CFOs and CAOs. It is categorized into several sections: "Cultural Context"; "Learning a Second Language"; "Two Voices, One To-Do List"; "Tutoring the Talent Team"; and "Advce for New Partnerships."

"Although both are employed by the same institution and work to improve the educational experience of students, CAOs and CFOs often view the world through different lenses and therefore may have varying approaches to the problems that confront their college or university. They can have different goals and frequently use different language to describe a situation that they face in common"

Read it here:
http://www.nacubo.org:80/Business_Officer_Magazine/Current_Issue/May_2009/Gained_in_Translation.html

Share and Share Alike: Shared Services Partnerships

Article here, it includes several useful case studies:

Some higher ed institutions partner with other schools, but a number of shared services partnerships are in place that connect several campuses of the same university or college system. Either way, the benefits can be significant, especially when it comes to containing costs, and it’s likely that more IHEs will be doing this kind of sharing in the future as a way to keep budgets in check.

The strategy has some challenges as well as advantages. Experts in the field have noted that intracampus partnerships in particular can be fraught with cultural and political issues. Sometimes the amount of governance and oversight required isn’t worth the money saved or the relationships fostered.

Despite the potential glitches, administrators have found that—depending on the project—it can be worth the effort. For administrators looking to undertake a shared services partnership or streamline one that’s already in place, the following rules can help in making the most of the arrangement.

'Public Purpose' Mag Looks at Important Research Issues

Public Purpose is the magazine of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). Its November–December 2008 issue presents several thoughtful reads on important issues regarding college and university research, from the perspective of top, decision-making leadership, including: The Ethical Imperative (PDF), subtitled "Nine Reminders for Presidents About Compliance and Ethics"; Innovation and Economic Development Spark New Collaborations on AASCU Campuses (PDF), "Because of the greater amounts of land required, as well as higher property costs and related expenses, many of the newer projects on AASCU campuses take the form of business incubators, accelerators or other spaces more modest than traditional research parks"; and Presidents and Chancellors Name Top Research Priorities (PDF), "One hundred and fifty of the chief executive officers at AASCU-member institutions completed the survey, a response that speaks to the importance of research development on the campuses."

William G. Durden, president of Dickinson College, argues that antitrust laws are an important but little understood drag on collaborative change in higher education:

What would happen, for example, if all of us came to the conclusion that it would make sense only to build residence halls that conform in design and purpose to the academic program of our respective college or university and to the pricing and construction standards of eco-friendly “low-income housing” that offer inhabitants perfectly livable, attractive space without extravagance? The initial cost may still be high (although not higher than luxury-hotel accommodations), but the long-term energy savings would be significant. What if we all agreed that students could, indeed, survive and even thrive in double rooms? What if we all scaled back our competition for student athletes? What if we pledged to reduce conference and meeting costs by relying more heavily on virtual technology? What stands in the way is not only antitrust laws but also our own attitudes and egos.

It is quite obvious that none of this radical change could be accomplished systemically by a single president or a small group of institutions; it would take a sea change across higher education. But even if we have the best of intentions and can overcome our reluctance to change, the antitrust laws stand squarely in our way. Right now, any discussion with the intent of disarmament cannot prudently be attempted.