PSU Magazine Fall 1996

0 UN D Business School business Confusion reigned this summer follow– ing the State Board of Higher Education's June meeting. Media coverage had PSU refocusing the mission of its graduate business program with University of Oregon providing direction and leadership. This is not happening. The only issue remaining on the table that affects PSU's School of Business Administration, according to President Judith Ramaley, is the design and delivery of a statewide MBA program. This program allows students to earn a Master of Business Admini– stration at sites off campus. Chancellor Joseph Cox has asked UO to look at developing a fully inter– active statewide MBA program that could replace PSU's awarding-winning program. "Whether a change will actually occur in how a program is provided T H E and who will provide it, depends on the feasibility of the proposal," says Ramaley. Portland State is a veteran at running a distance learning MBA program. Since 1988, the PSU Statewide MBA Program has graduated 130 students from around the state, according to its director, Katherine Novy. Students view classes on video that were taped the previous week on the PSU campus. Interaction with class instructors is done over the phone, through computer conferencing soft– ware, and at one two-way broadcast session a term. In 1991, the PSU Statewide MBA Program was named the Most Outstanding Credit Program by the National University Continuing Education Association. The chancellor has asked UO to propose a program that makes each lecture an interactive session between students and faculty. This technology is B L 0 C K expensive, says Novy, and corporate sites do not have the facilities. PSU's Statewide MBA Program, which is self supporting, relies on videotaped lectures, and half the classroom sites are at private businesses. "Research shows that student learn– ing is determined by program quality and service and not by the technology used," says Novy, who has also worked with PSU's Graduate School of Social Work to develop a distance learning MSW program. UO, in cooperation with PSU and OSU, has an off-campus Oregon Executive MBA program located at the Capital Center in Beaverton. However, UO's Business School has no night MBA program and little experi– ence in distance delivery programs. With permission from the chancel– lor, PSU continues to recruit for Statewide MBA students for 1997 with the expectation that they will complete their course of study through PSU. FROM THE PRESIDENT Change is never easy, particularly in a large organization such as a university, but it can be exciting and rewarding as well as productive. Our change process is likely to get a lot more exciting, rewarding, and productive this fall. We have learned that the W.K. Kellogg Foundation has awarded us a special $1 million grant to assist us in our efforts to make institutional and academic changes, particularly in under– graduate education. At the same time, we have been named one of three national finalists for a Pew Charitable Trusts Leadership Award for the Renewal of Undergraduate Education. Winning that award, to be announced in late October, would enable us to advance faculty participation in the process of change. The Kellogg award and the outcome of the Pew competi– tion will be covered in detail in a future PSU Magazine, but right now the question is, what do these latest announcements mean to Portland State University? 4 PSU MAGAZINE FALL 1996 First, because these are national awards, they bring national recognition to PSU. We will be among a select handful of institutions in the country which, in the words of the Kellogg Foundation's John Burkhardt, "are national examples of leadership in bringing about transformation ." Second, these awards are an affirmation of several years of creative thinking and plain hard work by faculty and staff. Kellogg had special praise for our involvement of students, staff, and faculty in the process of change, particu– larly in reshaping the undergraduate curriculum, which now emphasizes community service and uses an interdisci– plinary learning approach. Finally, these awards will allow us both to expand our efforts at curricular change by accommodating the growing pool of faculty anxious to participate and to share our expe– riences with colleagues at campuses around the country. In announcing the Kellogg award, John Burkhardt said, "(We) have always believed higher education serves an important purpose in building American society, and we believe that as society is changing, change is expected of higher education." At PSU, we are committed to staying on the leading edge of the kind of change Mr. Burkhardt is calling for. Judith A. Ramaley, President