Background Documents
Question and Answer Session
Q. How can we maintain a focus on excellent teaching if we emphasize research?
A. This question took many forms. For example, "Will my professors teach better because of this?" Another person asked: What will happen to undergraduates when research is emphasized?" It seems like a paradox, doesn't it? Well some of you have heard me talk about why we get hung up in this tyranny of the "or." It is either this or that. In fact, shortly after my arrival at Boise State I was interviewed for an article in the Update and was asked what kind of ice cream I like. I was asked if I liked chocolate or vanilla ice cream. My response was chocolate chip. So you see, we can have both.
We do not have to settle for "this or that," when it comes to teaching and research, we can do both. I suggest we become one of the universities that actually demonstrate how this is possible. Teaching and research do not need to beat opposite sides of the spectrum unless we put them there. They can fit hand and glove together as evidenced by faculty here at Boise State University who received recognition for not only their research, but also their teaching and service. Let's not fall into the trap of saying that it is "either/ or" because if we do that we will find ourselves having to make some compromises that are not necessary. We are smart enough that we can figure out how to effectively integrate teaching, research and service as an institution to excel in all these areas.
Q. Where will the resources come from to implement this vision?
A. One person stated, "The resource question is key. BSU has an internal reputation of constantly asking people to do more with less. My own department is perilously understaffed and overworked. What are we going to do?"
The simple answer to this is that we need to look at every opportunity to get more resources. There has been discussion about starting a comprehensive campaign. Although it was a small drop in the bucket, we made progress in the legislature this year and received an additional appropriation. People are listening to our message as to the value of higher education. You all vote, make sure people know how important it is to invest in us.
In addition we have some untapped potential when it comes to extramural funding and grants. And yes, there will be some reallocation. I know everybody hates the "r" word, however, it is important to constantly look at where we are spending our dollars and if that makes sense for where we are going today and tomorrow. So, yes, this will take resources, however we are committed to doing so and that is one of the jobs that rest very heavy on the shoulders of the administration of this university.
Q. How does becoming a metropolitan research university of Distinction coincide with creating a BSU community college?
A. When we looked at what you told us what it takes to be a metropolitan university, you spoke about access, about serving the educational needs of the community, as well as being a research university. At present we have that role in SW Idaho to deliver the community college function. We are not going to do it alone and we are not going to do it without the community and the state as our partners. You have heard me talk about the need for post-secondary educational opportunities in this state and the fact that forty-four percent of our high school graduates in the state of Idaho do not go on to on to any form of post-secondary education anywhere. That is not a number that the state of Idaho can continue to sustain. It is our job as a public institution to help figure out how we deliver both a research mission and a community college mission. We will work together with anyone who wants to help us. It is clear that there is growing recognition in this state of the need for there to be opportunities for these individuals.
Q. Where did the idea for BSU to be a Metropolitan Research University of Distinction come from?
A. Someone asked "Is this the type of university needed in Idaho?" And another person asked, "Who cooked up this idea?" And someone made reference to a Midwesterner and a New Englander cooking up this idea. As President Kustra has said, this wasn't an idea that came out of the blue. This is something that has been in our destiny for a long time. What happened over the last year is that the President has put a spot light on it. He has made it shine. He has made us realize that that is an identity that we as an institution were taking on anyway and we might as well put some words to it so that people understand what it is we are about. So this idea didn't come out of the blue. It didn't come from a President arriving on campus one day and saying "Gosh I'm going to turn this university around, and we're going to be a Metropolitan Research University of Distinction." It came from a President who had a vision that said this is the road that we're moving down. Let's figure out how we move down that road together and let's figure out how we craft a vision together.
Q. How can you be a metropolitan university in Boise, Idaho?
A. Let me tell you what some people said exactly: "Is Boise really metropolitan?" "New York City is metropolitan; this is not New York City." Another person said, "We like Boise just the way it is and we don't want it to be metropolitan."
Well folks, read the paper, look around you. Everything that we read and we hear about tells us we are a metropolitan area. In fact, when I came here to interview, people said Boise State is in a metropolitan region of the state. I said, "It is the only metropolitan region in the state." We live in a city. We live in an urban area. We are a fast growing area. We have all the characteristics that metropolitan areas have. In addition, we are fortunate to have many wonderful characteristics that metropolitan regions and areas don't have. So again, this is about BSU's destiny. We can decide that we do not want to be a metropolitan, research university, but that is not going to stop our metropolitan area from growing and be an even larger metropolitan area then it already is.
Q. The label is just fluff: How will the words and visions make the school better?
A. Words won't do anything. As I said earlier in this presentation, if you have dreams, but no action, then you do not have anything. I think what this will allow us to do, if we are serious about this (and we need to be really serious) is allow us to critically exam ourselves and ask, "How do we get to be better?" It helps us focus. I think the true test will be, not in what the President or the Provost say or any of the Deans or any other Vice Presidents, but it really will be about what you all do and what you all say about us as a university. So the label can be fluff, if that is what we make it, but I think we have selected some incredibly powerful words that will allow us to be focused and to have vision. I think it is an opportunity for us take words and to put meaning to them.
Q. Why do we want to change BSU?
A. Somebody said, "BSU is unique in its people and is a community of friends. Why change?" I like to think those characteristics will still be with us. Just because we aspire to be better then we are, grow with our region, and serve our students in the best way possible, does not mean we are going to get rid of that. I have so often said and other people have said it as well, that we are transforming ourselves. Change has been such a part of what we have done as institution. It is all we know how to do. This is not an institution that stands still. It is an institution that has been on the move since the day it was conceived.
Q. Will you include ideas from the outside community in creating this vision?
A. Yes we will, but I always feel we should start at home first. We had this process on campus for the last month and half and you all have told us what it means to be a metropolitan research university of distinction. We wanted to make sure you had the opportunity to first frame so that we would be able to tell individuals: "This is what we said about ourselves. This is how we view ourselves."
Q. Are we trying to be something we are not?
A. This is really up to you. I do not think so. But I think that the question for all of us is "What do we want to be?" And from what you have told us, the majority of you, want to be a part of an exciting, dynamic institution that is a great place for students to learn and for employees to work. That is the kind of place we are becoming. So I do not think we are trying to be something we are not, we are just trying to be, as I have said before, better.
Q. Is this just a fad? How long will this vision last?
A. Someone asked, "What will this vision be one year from now? Five years from now." Someone else said, "When we get a new President and a new Provost will this all go away?"
I tend not to look at things as a fad, but realize things do not last forever. I think we are at a point right now that this is the right role for Boise State. I don't know what the right role will be for Boise State ten years from now, but I do know that the right direction to be pointed in now is to be a metropolitan research university.
How long will it last? As long there will are students, faculty, staff, a community and state that needs us to fulfill this mission. Will it out last a President and Provost? We would always like to think so, but remember, we are not going anywhere right now. I believe this is really what is present and how we see our future.