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Returning to their roots
By Heather Shaffer
Nineteen distinguished UIS
alumni returned to their educations roots for a visit to campus
last week prompted by the 2004 Leadership Roundtable. These
alumni helped members of the UIS community contemplate higher
education’s place in a world of rapid change.
 In
the opening evening of the Leadership Roundtable on Thursday,
UIS Chancellor Richard Ringeisen said: “To the students in the
audience, look at the folks in the front row. This will be you
someday.” These alumni all have in common their uncommon
success, he said.
Keynote speaker
David Olien, senior vice president for administration for the
University of Wisconsin, returned to campus for the Leadership
Roundtable for the first time since graduating with master’s
degree in political studies in 1974.
He said that
this institution gave him the ability to continue to work
full-time while completing his education. “Sangamon State could
not have been a more user-friendly institution,” he added.
Olien theorized
that five forces are rapidly changing the face of higher
education: globalization, new technology, reduction of state
funding, changing demographics and development of new knowledge.
Globalization,
Olien said, is a natural economic result of increased technology
and unrestricted free markets. “There is nothing wrong with
that—that is the way the world works,” he said.
Olien said globalization is creating many changes in the private
sector of the economy and it will likely affect higher education
too. It will result in changing demographics and more diverse
people interacting.
 Technology
is also rapidly changing the way that students across the nation
learn from universities, he said.
The
traditional campus appeals to students between the ages of 18 to
21 and their parents who want them out of the house. However,
technology is helping campuses reach out to nontraditional
students and students across the country Olien said.
“I do not see
the traditional campus environment diminish due to increasing
technology, he said, “The sociability of humans prevents the
virtual campus like it prevents virtual dating.”
Olien said he
does not think most students are ready to get their degree from
a computer screen. Mostly likely, it will be from a mixture of
personal contact and technology.
According to
Olien, The University of Wisconsin experienced a 30 percent
tuition increase in one year and a loss of 650 faculty jobs in
recent years. This is an example of losses experienced
throughout the nation due drastic cuts in funding for higher
education.
“There is no
substitute for tax support for higher education,” Olien said.
Following the
opening address, the alumni were divided among students,
faculty, and administrators in separate sessions to discuss the
topics of globalization, technology, diversity, core traditions,
and finance and public policy.
On Friday,
student leaders from various sectors of the UIS community had
the opportunity to meet with the seventeen alumni at a
leadership luncheon in the Public Affairs Center Restaurant.
UIS
held its first Leadership Roundtable in 2001. The topic of this
discussion was leadership, which Vicki Megginson, associate
chancellor for development, said was fitting because “that is
what we were seeking from the group of alumni.” Last year’s
roundtable discussed the topic of alumni as a legacy.
Megginson said that the Leadership Roundtable is a great
opportunity for alums to mentor current students. “A great
university becomes so because of the advice and support of its
alumni,” she said. |
