I got a real eye opener this summer. At the request of the president, our university has assembled a strategic planning committee. What surprised me was the composition of the committee. What percentage of the university strategic planning committee was devoted to academics? What percentage of the university strategic planning committee was composed of individuals with a Ph.D.? The answers:

% of individuals on university planning committee in tenure-track position: 19.2% % of individuals on university planning committee with a Ph.D.: 28.5% % of individuals on university planning committee with a Ph.D. but not a full-time administrator: 14.2%

If academics don’t define the strategic direction of the university, then what does?

finance & budget information technology student services athletics institutional research human resources

Earlier I had posted a story about how Dwight Eisenhower had been informed by a senior faculty member at Columbia University that “the university is the faculty”. I guess I had always believed this. Now, based on my observations I would say:

14.2% of the university is the faculty

How are things at your university? What percentage of the strategic planning at the university level involves tenure-track faculty in non-administrative roles? If you do some investigation, I think you will find that it is much lower than you would expect.

– from the pen of Dr. Percy Trappe