Fortiter et Suaviter

  INTRODUCTION

  FOUR MAJOR TRENDS 

Changing Demographic Base

Economic Concerns

Intense Scrutiny

Technological Innovation

  THE FUTURE OF FDU

INTRODUCTION

People sometimes wonder how great adventures start. Well, the answer almost always resides in the heart and spirit of its founders. In this case, a vision was born that warm September evening in 1933.  Many of you familiar with Dr. Sammartino’s autobiography know that vision was helped along by two martinis, but it nevertheless found the light of day, and Fairleigh Dickinson University was born. 

The actual decision to form the college occurred a little later, in December, 1941. In the wake of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, many felt this was not the time to begin a new college. Dr. Sammartino was told by one college administrator, “You must be crazy. Here we are wondering whether we shall have to shut our doors for the duration and you are planning to open.” 

Others felt that if you were to start a college, you needed towering brick buildings, endless supplies of money and loads of support equipment. Well, FDU didn’t have any of those things. But what its members had in abundance was, as Peter Sammartino reported, “a will to work, to succeed, and to serve our students.” And, perhaps most importantly, the desire to pursue an adventure.

Of course to Peter and Sally Sammartino, like so many of you here, the adventure meant innovation in educational theory and practice. Cultural and global awareness and personal involvement with students were hallmarks of the new junior college. 

Dr. Sammartino was influenced heavily by Columbia University’s innovative New College, where he was chairman of the language department. The school’s philosophy required students to learn about real life by working in industry, about social concerns by getting involved in the community and about global issues by spending a period of study abroad. As Peter said, “this new institution we are creating must be of and for the world.”

That idea of “being of and for the world,” was to form the foundation of FDU. The concepts of working in the world and drawing students outside the classroom are today often articulated, but back then they were groundbreaking notions. That emphasis, combined with a strong liberal arts education, became the nucleus of FDU and the basis for one of the great success stories in American higher education.
 
But success was not guaranteed. The challenges in 1941 were daunting:

- a changing demographic base,
- challenging economic conditions, 
- intense public scrutiny, 
- dramatic technological innovations and, above all, 
- the need to remain competitive within the higher education community

Fortiter et Suaviter (Bravely and Pleasurably) — a fitting motto chosen by Peter Sammartino for this institution — the early members of this University rolled up their sleeves and responded to these forces with devotion and innovation, in the process fulfilling dreams for thousands of students.
 
Interestingly enough, while 1999 is very different from 1941, similar forces are impacting our operation. 

FOUR MAJOR TRENDS 

Allow me to offer four trend snapshots:  
- demographic base,
- economic conditions, 
- public scrutiny, and
- technological innovations

Changing Demographic Base

Similarly today, we are faced with dynamic demographic changes. Significant declines in U.S. birthrates, linked with vast increases in the number of immigrants, particularly from Asia and Latin America, will redefine the population mix from which we recruit our students. 

The current birthrate is 1.78 — we need 2.1 to replace ourselves. U.S. immigrations was basically closed in 1909, and not significantly reopened until 1986.  Over the past decade we have experienced a flood of new citizens — immigrants seeking a new life in America, seeking the American Dream.

In New Jersey alone, the Asian population has grown by more than 60 percent in the 1990s, while the Hispanic population has risen 33 percent. 

One result is that by 2025, Caucasians will no longer make up a majority of the country’s population. At the same time, an aging traditional U.S. population will increase the median age of some enrollment groups. By 2030, more than 20 percent of the U.S. population will be over 65.

If you want a more detailed profile of our students, and further evidence of profound demographic change, take a close look at the American family. The image of the traditional American nuclear family as the norm — two parents and their 2.2 children gathering around the evening dinner table — is a myth.

As all of you know, single-parent households are increasingly common.  Even in two-parent households, both parents are working more hours than in past decades. On any given night, 26 million people are out of their homes — that’s nearly 20% of the total US adult working population.  The number of family meals eaten outside the home now averages 3.2 per week — rapidly approaching half of the available evening meals.

And, while the family is changing, the presence of women in the workforce continues to rise.  Women have been an ever increasing portion of the American workforce since World War II.  By 2010 nearly 50 percent of all adult women will be employed full-time.

Not only do we need to understand where our students come from, but we need to account for the subsequent changing skills of our students. While SAT and other standardized test scores have remained relatively consistent, many schools have observed less-than-expected academic preparation among traditional freshmen. This has resulted in an increase in the number and character of freshmen remedial programs. 

The changing American ethnic character, primarily resulting from waves of new immigration, suggests the need for greater attention to English-language skill development.  And, as the median age of some student cohorts increases, we’ll see more students come to us with greater life-skills and frankly higher expectations, as well as radical changes in learning styles and preferences. The result is a need to address and respond to different demands for support services and programs.  

A little over a decade ago most of higher education was taken by surprise by a precipitous decline in the 18-year-old population.  Many schools stumbled, and were in danger of closure.  Unfortunately, FDU was among the stunned group.  But FDU survived — thanks to the dedication and commitment of many in this room. Thank you.

We should never again be surprised and negatively effected by forces that are external to us. We must be, as Peter Sammartino said “of and for the world.”

The next 18-year-old population dip is in 2008.  We know that now.  We have nine years to position FDU not only for survival, but for distinction in the coming decade. We will not be surprised again.

Economic Concerns

The decade of the 1980’s was characterized by an American job exodus and loss — by some estimates as many as 4,000,000 positions.  Those jobs, and many more, have been replaced by significant economic growth in the 1990’s.  However, the character of the new positions require an entirely different skill set.  The face of the workforce has changed, demanding more skills, education and technological competency.

The United States today is witnessing the radical shrinking of the middle class. As organizations consolidate and downsize, there’s been a subsequent, significant decline in the median U.S. real income. The hardest hit are those family populations with significant higher education participation — FDU’s tradition market. 

The distribution of wealth in the United States is growing more polarized.  One out of every five children are born into poverty — in 1999 that’s 14 million children who represent a significant portion of the future of our country and our university. 

The founders of FDU were well aware of the economic concerns felt by their students. From the beginning, courses were arranged so students could alternate between study and work at their chosen careers in order to help pay their own way. Many types of scholarships and strong financial-aid programs were created, and every effort was made to construct buildings and enhance curricula offerings while holding tuition costs down. 

If President Sammartino had observed that 7% of the regional workforce ended work at midnight, as it does today, then he would probably have scheduled classes at 1:00 a.m.  Don’t worry Peter and Paula, I am not suggesting 1:00 a.m. classes at FDU. 

However, we must look to responsive models of delivery and timing that. We must adjust our schedules for the convenience of our students, rather than for ourselves. We cannot, like many other universities, only offer courses between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. — and then never on Friday’s.  

Colleagues, it is an issue of survival and distinction.  We must be 
“of and for the world.”

Intense Scrutiny

Just look to the popular press and you see recurring articles about abusive tuition increases, abysmal graduation placement rates, student loan defaults blamed on inferior programs, and a litany of other supposed ills of American higher education.

Colleagues, the media will continue to focus their spotlight on our performance and that of our students. This will result in growing attention to cost-effectiveness, quality and productivity in higher education by parents, students, donors and funding agencies. 

Scrutiny by the media is not a new phenomenon. You can imagine the shock of the educational community when Fairleigh Dickinson opened its doors during the onset of a World War. Everyone was watching and waiting for failure. FDU answered the challenge by simply providing a unique and distinctive educational experience. We must continue that tradition.

The mantra of this current era is “job placement.”  Career preparation is widely seen as the function of higher education.  

Those of you who were at last spring’s confirmed student day know my position.  “I am more concerned about what an FDU alum does 15 years after commencement than the day after graduation.”  The true test of an education is in the mid-life of a graduate.  And the meat of that dish is the liberal arts.

We must simultaneously respond to the demand for professional career placement while fulfilling our responsibility to create effective, contributing world citizens.  To that end, I endorse, applaud and forward FDU’s Core.  Widely recognized as innovative, substantive and significant, we must continue a commitment to that portion of an undergraduate education that will define success 15 years after graduation.

I challenge renewed dialogue, integration and participation, which characterized the Core’s creation. The original Core architects and a new generation of faculty must provide that leadership.  I am prepared to demonstrate my own commitment by personal participation in teaching in the program.  I ask you to consider the same.

FDU will withstand public scrutiny and the true test, which is that of time and the success and contribution of our graduates. We will continue to link strong professional degree programs with a powerful liberal arts base.  For we are, after all, “of and for the world.”

Technological Innovation

This century has seen oscillating waves of confidence in technology.  Following World War I, technology was seen as the source of all evil and human ills.  The 1939 New York World’s Fair presented technology as the solution.  The film, Dr. Strangelove and most of the 1960’s generation preferred to take the negative view and saw technology as the winner in who controls the future of civilization and the world.  

In 1999, we have returned to the crest of the confidence wave.  And with good reason.

The rate of technological change is overwhelming.  The half-life of knowledge is now 5.5 years.  The cost of computer memory halves every 18 months.  Our students arrive on campus more facile with the new tools than we are.

The nature of organizations themselves, and nearly every aspect of society, is being altered by new tools and increased access to information. Indeed, the expectations of a new generation of students is driving the shape of all of American higher education.  Our challenge is to make wise decisions in the midst of radical change.  The question is not “if,” but “how” we adopt and adapt the new technologies to transform our institution.

While the current growth of the information and technological revolution has no precedence, the Sammartinos too were forced to confront the demands of new developments in this society. They knew the importance of understanding and working with those changes with innovation and flexibility. For example, FDU was the first college to offer a credit course via television in the state of New Jersey. 

And, of course, nowhere was this responsiveness to changing times more on display than in FDU’s pioneering efforts to establish international links.  Perhaps anticipating the developing communications that would help break down global barriers, FDU was among the first universities to forge international relationships.  With the establishment of Wroxton College, FDU became the first American university to purchase its own overseas campus. 

Colleagues, we cannot, in 1999, be academic Luddites, condemning and ignoring the changes around us.  We must be agile, enthusiastic advocates for appropriate new developments.  We must be as facile as our students with the new tools.  As a modest start, I challenge every FDU faculty to have his or her own home page, that we embrace e-mail as one of our primary communication channels, and that course syllabi be available on-line by the end of the year.  All are the norm at many other universities.  We must move beyond these modest, common initiatives to true innovation and currency.

I suggest we are in an era which calls for a new definition of the meaning of education.  Perhaps our 2000 year-old model, which emphasizes owning detailed information and facts is obsolete.  I suggest our students already know that, even though they might not be able to articulate a new definition.  I suggest that primary clue is the explosion of access channels to information systems.  

Perhaps the true definition of an educated person as we enter the next millennium is knowledge of knowledge systems, the skill to access those systems, and then the ability to synthesize new ideas or conclusions?  Perhaps a true education for the 21st century is grounded in adaptability to change and the ability to think?  Perhaps we at FDU should enter into a dialogue with each other and the world that looks to redefine our role and our expectations?  That is our primary challenge:  to prepare our students to survive and succeed in a world yet unknown.

As 50 years ago, FDU must be “of and for the world.”

These are the four trends — demographics, economics, public scrutiny and technology — which will influence FDU’s future.  How we respond will define our future and the future success of our students.

CONCLUSION

But there’s a proven method to remaining in front of the competition while answering the needs of today’s changing world. The answer lies in the original themes that inspired the birth and development of FDU, namely being agile enough to respond to new realities, managing exquisite execution of solutions and, perhaps most importantly, making it personal. Our students demand and deserve attention as individuals, delivered by skilled mentors using appropriate tools.

The sum of agility, execution and making it personal is an institution “of and for the world” — a university which prepares students for success as world citizens fifteen years after graduation, and beyond.

Having studied academic institutions throughout the country, I can honestly tell you we are well-positioned to meet all of the challenges ahead. FDU is fortunate to have some tremendous assets — an exceptional faculty, strong programs, a dedicated staff, a strategic position at the gateway to the world and a heralded reputation for transforming lives. 

FDU’s future is filled with great promise — but such promise assures absolutely nothing. There is no greater sadness in the world than promise unfulfilled. 

As many of you know, I have begun a series of meetings with every department program in the University; 54 have been scheduled for this fall.  I wish to listen and learn from you, and I want you to learn about me and my priorities.  In those meetings, and in this brief convocation presentation, I offer a number of challenges:  challenges that will work to redefine the culture and character of our institution.  

Just as I challenge you, I expect to be challenged by you.  I will never ask you do something I am unwilling to also do.  You should expect from your president consistency of theme and behavior, leadership by example, and an openness to new ideas, attitudes and solutions.

Over the next several months, I will present to you a vision of the future of FDU.  I have been listening and learning.  That vision, when it emerges, will coalesce the influence of trends external to us, FDU’s unique position and strengths, and embrace Peter Sammartino’s original vision of an institution “of and for the world.”

1999 is certainly different from 1941.  But the core issues and challenges remain the same.  Peter and Sally Sammartino built a college from nothing, and did it in the midst of a World War.  They had a strong vision of the future, and succeeded through agility, skillful execution and “making everything personal.”  We must do the same.

While it is the role of the president to forward a believable, reachable vision of the future, all other actions and translations reside in the institution.  You are the solution. You are the ones who will define the future of Fairleigh Dickinson University.

The past decade has been one of issues of survival.  The next decade can be one of distinction and enhanced reputation. And you are the solution.

From FDU’s original motto: Fortiter (bravely), we can offer an education of distinction in the 21st century. And, Suaviter (pleasurably), we can continue the adventure begun on a Rutherford porch one warm September evening 66 years ago.

In our founder’s motto rests the enthusiasm for education that has brought us together at Fairleigh Dickinson University; the enthusiasm for educating our students and responding to what they need to succeed; the earnest desire and the thrill of inspiring others with lessons for a lifetime. 

FDU is and will remain “of and for the world.”

 
 
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