Building Strong Geoscience Departments Session T1 SEGSA – 2007 Geoff Feiss College of W&M

Feiss/SEGSA T PLAN 1.Why should we worry? 2.What have we learned? 3.What should we do looking forward?

The Past is the Key to the Present This is an era of accelerated change on campus. In the current atmosphere of tight budgets and new attitudes, nearly all traditional academic departments are asked to evaluate their course offerings… John Dennison, 1972

Feiss/SEGSA T year reality check 1973: Arab Oil embargo starts “stagflation” of early 70s : post-70’s inflation recession : Stock market decline; recession Early 2000s: Dotcom bubble and 9/11 recession : ???

Feiss/SEGSA T Public sector budget priorities Transportation & infrastructure Health care (Medicare/Medicaid) Mental health PreK-12 education Public safety Environment and recreation Higher Education

Feiss/SEGSA T Increasingly, higher administration budgeting is a matter of: Who thrives? Who survives? Who dies?

Feiss/SEGSA T The terms of engagement: You cannot hide The game is often fixed There are some really bad threat responses Budget cutting is never easy, always fraught, and often personal

Feiss/SEGSA T Lessons learned: The Winners There are 2 kinds: 1.Top-ranked, mission essential, high enrollment programs 2.Those who have it together

Feiss/SEGSA T Characteristics of “together” programs: Manage change Congenial and collaborative Student-centered Mentor young faculty and nurture staff Strong enrollments Play nice & by the rules Work hard; have fun; don’t whine Have a sense of mission & own it Can validate their excellence and potential Don’t take things personally

Feiss/SEGSA T Losers can be: Without a clear vision Alienated Too quaint Entitled Paranoid Disunited and in disarray Clueless Victims of bad luck

Feiss/SEGSA T The Key To Success LEARN TO CHANGE Manage it Better yet: embrace it; foster it: control it; and lead it

Feiss/SEGSA T To succeed in change: Lose battles, win the war Share credit Be active, not passive Define the metrics of success Find allies Put students at the center Don’t overanalyze

Feiss/SEGSA T You better hope that there is intelligent life in your department, because there's bugger-all in senior administration – Apologies to Eric Idle