This edition of First Friday is about the 2006 State Report Card on Higher Education, some very positive news about Fall 2006 numbers, and the progress in the chancellor search process.

2006 State Report Card on Higher Education
The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education has issued "Measuring Up 2006," a biennial report on higher education in the United States. The Arkansas Report, the fourth in this series, is included here as an attachment. The report indicates progress in several areas measured in the study, but also notes that progress has been minimal in Arkansas and still is behind attainments seen in other states. In some categories of measurement, Arkansas has been graded as being below a satisfactory level of performance.

The reported concerns are not unknown to many of you who work on this campus. You know firsthand that many students arrive here with an inadequate preparation for college-level work. It is to your great credit that you go the extra mile necessary to assist and encourage these students. You know that frequently we have to require remedial classes to bring these students to collegiate-level expectations. But you also know the rewarding feeling that comes eventually in seeing these students succeed. Many of these students are graduated after having met our stated expectations for collegiate achievement.

You know that many of our students do not reach that goal of graduation within a measurement period of six years. You have heard their stories and explanations about why they must extend and interrupt their enrollments because of jobs, families, debts, and other complications that are so common to our students. And yet you welcome them back to campus to continue their studies and you try to cope with the irregular nature of their extended participation.

You see adults around us who never have participated in higher education opportunities. Some of these persons never completed high school, while many never went beyond the 12th grade. We may wonder why these adults have never taken advantage of the college opportunity that abounds literally down the street, or at another school within a short distance. We may wish that these individuals would realize the personal and fulfilling benefits of more education.

You may also identify individuals within the group of non-attendees who, for whatever or many reasons, cannot afford the cost of higher education. It may not be that the expense is too great, but rather that the individual has no financial ability to pay the cost, however small, and no ability to borrow the money for any purpose.

If you share these experiences, you can relate to the findings on the Arkansas Report Card in the areas in which Arkansas received the lowest scores; preparation for college; participation in college among working-age adults; ability to pay the costs for post-secondary education; and, completion of a bachelor’s degree within a six year period.

I hope that in our campus conversations we may continue to focus on how ASU may address these concerns, but also be aware that already we have made several successful efforts to correct them. We should be aware of a coming conference called Next Step, which will start a dialog between the public education constituents and higher education to address ways in which we might jointly improve student preparation for college. Discussions in this area will continue throughout the year.

Please be aware of the success of our own Freshman Year Experience program to produce greater persistence toward graduation in less than six years. And thanks to so many of you who have embraced the opportunity to participate in the FYE initiative. Many of your anecdotal comments indicate improved learning exchanges despite the adjustments to these new techniques.

Also, please note our efforts to increase public support for need-based scholarships to address those who would abandon hope for college unless financial assistance can be provided. To be sure, Arkansas needs more money for both merit-based and need-based scholarships. We will make a concerted request for this outcome in the coming legislature, and as a part of ASU's private fundraising goals.

Finally, be proud of ASU’s development of courses and programs that are offered on-line, because many working-age adults can be addressed through this delivery mechanism when they are unable to come to campus for classes. The success of ASU courses, programs, and degrees extended to other locations is an effective way to reach these students. Be proud that ASU is at the forefront of these efforts among all universities in our state and region.

The 2006 Report Card, coupled with the Spelling Report, present a viewpoint of higher education that is somewhat bleak. In the face of that, I hope that the faculty and staff at ASU will realize that we start as the agents to change that viewpoint, and that our efforts will cause success instead of failures. If it were not for professional educators and support staff like those at ASU, there would be little hope for individual and collective improvements, but you are causing these positive changes one student, one class, and one academic year at a time.

Fall Enrollment Reports
And speaking of students, we have a lot of them. Preliminary enrollment reports were cited in the Sept. 6, 2006, special edition of Inside ASU, included here as an attachment. These are good numbers and come at a good time. Formula funding determinations made by the legislature in Spring 2007 will be based on the Spring and Fall 2006 semesters, both of which were all-time highs for ASU.

These enrollments were not accidental, but rather the anticipated outcome of a strong enrollment management plan reported in previous editions of First Fridays, and the dedication of many people who worked hard to realize the plan. Congratulations and thanks to all of you who made this happen.

Several things in this record enrollment will affect our future. The combination of the largest freshman class and our capability to post a 71% or higher first-to-second year retention rate will mean that a large number of freshmen may continue to move through our system. An equal or larger freshman class next year will put a strain on the general education courses, which absorb many of these enrollees in their freshman and sophomore years. On-campus housing, now at 98% occupancy, will be pushed beyond capacity next year. Resident and commuter parking spaces will have greater demand. Expectations for student services on a timely basis will be strained because of the increased numbers of students seeking support, and the list goes on.

These are "good problems" to have, instead of shrinking enrollments and the problems resulting from those declines, but we will need to focus during this year on solutions and creative responses to these "good problems." We have said before that our university has the capacity to grow and the capability to produce that growth. Now, we will prove that we have to resolve to be both a bigger and better university by anticipating our future needs.

Chancellor Selection Process
We have begun to interview candidates for the position of chancellor of the Jonesboro campus. I hope that you will meet these individuals and try to imagine how each of them can lead the institution into that future. Each of the candidates would be quick to say that they cannot produce that future alone, but with the help and encouragement of the campus community, the chancellor will assist with the realization of the ambitions that most of you hold for ASU.

The chancellor candidate interview process is open and available for your participation. Schedules of meetings with the candidates are posted on the ASU website. Please take an opportunity to meet the candidate. Each of you, as participants in the process, will be asked to respond to each of the candidates with your assessment of their strengths and weaknesses. The interview process will continue through Sept. 21 and comments about the candidates will be received through September 24. It may be possible to appoint the chancellor during the fall term and begin the process of transition for the chancellor to the Jonesboro campus. More information about this search will be reported in the October issue of First Friday.

We are off to a good start in the fall semester of 2006. Thank you for contributing to the progress we see around us at ASU, and for making our successes possible. And thank you for reading First Friday. If you have comments about this material or any other aspect of Arkansas State University, please contact me at president@astate.edu.