Developing Digital Competencies Embedded in a Liberal Arts Curriculum featured Mark Lombardi, president of
Maryville University of Saint Louis (MO), and Andrew Currah, education development executive at Apple Inc.
As curricular change is generally considered the responsibility of the faculty, department chairs, deans, and the chief academic officer, presidents need to be careful about intruding too far into their territory. But when the institution’s strategic priorities are at stake, presidents must set direction and take the lead on key curricular initiatives. Just how and when presidents should involve themselves in changes to the curriculum was the topic in three sessions at the 2018 Presidents Institute that explored academic prioritization, digital competencies, and foreign languages.
Leading Curricular Change
Two experienced presidents, John C. Reynders of
Morningside College (IA) and Beck A. Taylor of
Whitworth University (WA), reflected on “Academic Prioritization: The President’s Role in Leading Curricular Change.” Each described how their institutions made use of Robert Dickeson’s book,
Prioritizing Academic Programs and Services, to create an effective process for evaluating and reshaping the array of academic programs they offer. As Reynders stated at the outset, the key question for independent colleges today is “Will we have the resources to continue to do what we have always done well and still be able to innovate?” The prioritization process, therefore, has to focus on “making sure our resources are aligned with what we are trying to accomplish.”
Reynders described the president’s role in the process as essential but above the fray. While he emphasized that the president needs to initiate the process, “we don’t make the music. We make sure we have the players in place. We know the audience and we choose the music. We gather the collective forces to be successful.”
The first step for the president is to convince all college constituents that prioritization is necessary, and that is easier to do in challenging times. When a president initiates such a process to prepare for the future and protect an institution that might slip into trouble, it becomes much harder. The president must issue a call to action and select the faculty and staff members with the right institutional perspective to undertake the work while coordinating with the college’s governance structure.
Taylor explained why resistance to prioritization is so high: “We have additive cultures on our campuses. We have very little practiced excellence at reducing rather than adding. And we’re not used to talking about ‘lesser priorities.’” Faculty positions are not easily reassigned or reduced. For this reason, Whitworth University brought in an outside consultant, Michael Williams of the Austen Group, to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of each academic program. Both Reynders and Taylor emphasized that the process is painful. “When you talk about reducing the number of people, it hurts,” said Reynders. To assure that everyone came and stayed on board, both presidents included evaluations of administrative as well as instructional functions in the initial assessment, including their own offices. Taylor emphasized that prioritization has to become an integral part of how the institution operates. “This is not a one-time process but must become part of our ongoing administrative and governance process.”
Transparency and compassion were the cores of the processes at both colleges. Presidents must acknowledge people’s pain, conduct a completely open process, and put their own expenses on the table. The presenters remarked that if these principles are followed, academic prioritization can lead to substantial and positive change.
Developing Digital Competencies
Strong and consistent presidential leadership was highlighted in two other concurrent sessions that exemplified curricular change resulting in programs that truly set an institution apart.
In the first session, Andrew Currah, education development executive at Apple Inc., and Mark Lombardi, president of
Maryville University of Saint Louis (MO), explored “Developing Digital Competencies Embedded in a Liberal Arts Curriculum.” Currah noted that the recognition in the labor market of the value of digital competencies, such as coding and app development, continues to expand. And he showed how the Apple economy around phone and tablet apps alone “has exploded over the last few years.” To provide students, especially those outside of computer science, a manageable way in, Apple developed the accessible and open source programming language Swift and a
comprehensive and free curriculum around it spanning K–20 education. He noted that while Apple’s
“Everybody Can Code” initiative aims to increase professional readiness, broad adoption also is necessary to “foster diversity and inclusion.” Now, the concentration of such competencies in white and male populations “cannot serve the United States well,” Currah stipulated; instead “problems in all communities need to be recognized and addressed.” Liberal arts students are uniquely qualified to ask the right questions about technology and to work across disciplines to develop fitting solutions to real world problems.
Lombardi instilled considerable envy in most session participants when he introduced Maryville as the third fastest-growing private university over the last decade, with enrollment increases of 45 and 20 percent, respectively, for the last two academic years. A major reason for Maryville’s success has been its
Digital World iPad initiative introduced in fall 2015, combined with creating curricular space for students to develop competencies in coding, app development, and cyber security. To get there, Lombardi had to lead innovation himself after recognizing that coding and software development as a subject needed to be separate from computer science, and that the competition for hours in majors and the “tyranny of the pre-requisite” had to be overcome. As solutions, Maryville developed an app minor open to all students; infused coding projects into an increasing number of course experiences; and began supporting students to further apply acquired competencies in internship experiences. To do something like this quickly and comprehensively, Lombardi, noted, “you can’t leave things to your existing faculty; you need to bring in experts, including from the corporate side.” And, he commented, “the president needs to spearhead developing community and industry relationships.”
Fostering Language Programs
The viability of traditional languages was the focus of a session on “Creative Approaches to Foster Flourishing Language Programs.” As Rosemary G. Feal, Mary L. Cornille Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Humanities at Wellesley College and executive director emerita of the Modern Language Association (MLA), demonstrated, citing
comprehensive MLA surveys, enrollments in language courses have not increased since the 1960s and have nosedived in recent years. And that’s an indication that the study of foreign languages is decreasingly considered an essential component of a well-rounded and rigorous undergraduate education. Too many students
miss out on preparation for careers in an increasingly globalizing world economy. Many institutions, therefore, face under-enrolled courses and resulting pressures to cut programs and faculty lines, which only intensifies the problem.
David R. Anderson, president of
St. Olaf College (MN), and Katherine Bergeron, president of
Connecticut College, not only demonstrated what flourishing programs can look like but also emphasized the key role of the president to provide consistent and continuous support of a campus’s language curriculum. In St. Olaf’s case, every student studies at least one foreign language with a three- or four-semester requirement. But the key has been the
Foreign Languages across the Curriculum program, introduced in 1990 with the goal of fostering cultural proficiency: to understand each other’s culture. In this approach, grammar is just a tool to develop cultural empathy, and most subject courses have a language component embedded. As president, Anderson noted, “I constantly emphasize how language study and St. Olaf’s mission are crucially intertwined, and I provide as much support as I can.”
Bergeron, who leads an institution that offers instruction in 11 languages, agreed, “You have to make the mission meaningful,” which at Connecticut College led to the introduction of the
Connections curriculum. She described her role today as “emphasizing whenever possible the broad utility of language competencies and the close connection to institutional values and mission.” What has helped in both cases to make foreign languages a key student experience, including being able to offer strong study abroad offerings and faculty-led programs, is to hire native-speakers as subject faculty and to foster outreach projects to communities in which English is not the native language.