As almost everyone at Mason knows, our accreditation process requires that we develop a Quality Enhancement Plan, and a faculty committee has been hard at work in selecting a focus over the past 14 months. The committee itself, headed by Kim Eby, has displayed remarkable energy and imagination, and the university community is in their debt. Faculty, staff and students have also responded in impressive number, in proposing themes and contributing to evaluations of proposals. We have a good case to make about wide engagement.
Now of course the theme has been selected, focusing on student research and creativity. It builds on some very good things already happening. We have active student research programs in a variety of units, with some very high quality results thanks to bright students and dedicated mentors. I hope I’ve helped the process along by establishing an undergraduate research program soon after I got to Mason. But the opportunities have never been systematized. We have too many programs without obvious channels for undergraduate research, and collectively we have not kept pace with the talents of our students. Now we have a chance both to assess what is in place, and get greater visibility for it, and to do more. I really look forward to the further mobilization of talent, to turn something of a current deficiency into an active opportunity — not only for students, but for the faculty who work with them.
Here is a thought on Quality Enhancement. Focus on this for a second.
My daughter, Amy Bull, is an Honor Student at George Mason University. She was sent a letter by the University congratulating her that she would be Graduating in the Class of 2009 with a degree in Communication. Commencement exercises are scheduled for this Friday (tomorrow), and Amy received notice that she would be graduating Cum Laude. How exciting! However, the University has now suddenly decided at the 11th hour that 15 credit hours previously taken at Tidewater Community College are not transferable credits. This, of course, is extremely disheartening to my daughter, as you can imagine. She is emotionally distraught and ready to give up, after a long, hard struggle to achieve her goal of graduating from GMU. We are at a loss as to how to explain to her why credits from a Virginia Community College are not transferrable to a University, when both are accredited by SACS. This is especially frustrating, given that she was encouraged to transfer to a Virginia University from TCC, because her credits would transfer directly.
I’m sure anyone with a conscience can imagine the frustration and anxiety this error has caused. Plans have been made for graduation, for a job after graduation, and for a wedding in September. Why should the University care? Indeed. I have a daughter who is exasperated to the point of desiring to give up on higher education. Hers has been a long journey, in part due to a chronic illness that has inhibited her ability to concentrate and that is aggravated by stress and anxiety. Why should the University care? That is the attitude of the Administration at the University, from President Merten on down, who has refused to meet with us to discuss the situation.
Somebody made a mistake, or two, or three. “Inexcusable” mistakes according to the Dean of Admissions.
The irony is that the credits in question from TCC would serve my daughter better in preparing for her future career than the credits that the University would accept. You see, we are talking about elective courses. Policy stands in the way, because the courses in question don’t fall under a standing articulation agreement (which wasn’t explained to us until this week). On the other hand, the electives that George Mason would accept include such academic challenges as Beginning Tap Dancing, Puppetry, and Wedding Planning. I can’t explain that, can you? It must take a PhD.
I must say that several factors are at work here, which should add to the sense of fairness, urgency, and expediency that the University ought to bring to bear in this instance. First, Amy has sought advice and counsel at every turn from her assigned advisor, and has been assured repeatedly that she was on track to graduate as planned. It was not until the Associate Dean of the Communication Department reviewed her transcript that the discrepancy in question was discovered, much to Amy’s dismay. Second, Amy has tried repeatedly over the ensuing weeks to seek resolution of this problem to no avail. She has been sent on an administrative egg hunt, from department to department to department, only to be told that someone else had ultimate responsibility. Third, although Graduation is quickly approaching, nobody at the University has yet been willing to consider a different interpretation of policy.
Frankly, I find their indifference and condescension unbefitting a world-class University. And given that Amy is registered with the University as a Person with Disabilities, based on a lifelong chronic illness called Systemic Lupus, which is aggravated by undue stress and anxiety, the University should have taken special care and consideration to handle this matter more expediently and with greater sensitivity.
Of course, an appeals process is available, but the university seems in no hurry to convene an appeals board, because…well, Convocation is tomorrow. The ceremony that my daughter would have been attending, if only a few PhDs around a table could decide that an interior design course is equivalent to say Beginning Tap Dancing, or Puppetry, will go on without her. To be fair, I suppose that if she had taken an elective in Wedding Planning, she might have forseen that her September wedding might be interrupted by the University.
This university is a long way from Quality. Of course, a long journey begins with a short step. Hope springs eternal.
GMU took a short step on Thursday towards quality in education, which had an enormous impact on the life of at least one student, and probably a multitude more, when the Provost and faculty decided to broaden the university’s view on accepting hard-earned credits not previously included in existing articulation agreements with other Virginia Colleges and Universities.
This exercise was not merely academic. It has real-life consequences, that might make it possible and, indeed, beneficial for many other students to transfer to a major university with worthy credits intact. Others who might have been discouraged from pursuing a four-year degree at GMU have a renewed hope of achieving a truly “liberal” education.
Quality is based at least in part on trust that a university, or any other institution or business, will do the right thing when key decisions are made. Another crucial element is upholding the high standards that are fundamental to integrity.
The Provost’s Office and the faculty at GMU demonstrated both of these key elements this week, in making a decision that will have a measurable impact on the quality of at least one student’s life, and the now bright future of a loyal alumna.
Many thanks.
Last thought…a third element of Quality is timeliness of decision making and resultant action or remediation, as necessary. GMU also came through on that score. Thanks, again.