Austin College officially began its 159th academic year Sept. 3
with an Opening Convocation address by Paul Farmer, physician, Harvard
Medical School professor, and global humanitarian who received the
2007 Austin College Leadership Award in March.
While still in college, Farmer traveled to rural Haiti to assist
those providing health care to the poor and sick. In 1987, Farmer
co-founded the charity organization Partners In Health; 20 years
later, the organization serves some of the world’s sickest and poorest
on four continents, providing schools, clinics, and training programs
for health outreach workers. Farmer has received numerous awards and
honors for his continued service and advocacy on behalf of the poor,
sick, and disenfranchised.
“The path I embarked on has brought me great satisfaction — and was
opened up to me by a liberal arts education,” said Farmer, a Duke
University graduate, as he spoke to a large crowd in Wynne Chapel,
including the entering Class of 2011, the Class of 2008 beginning
their final year of college, faculty, staff, and guests.
Farmer spoke to students about recognizing the opportunities
offered them through a liberal arts education, pursuing leadership
characterized by service, and understanding the need to read and think
critically in order to make informed and responsible decisions as
citizens.
Farmer reminded students that to attend a school such as Austin
College and experience a liberal arts education is to live “on an
island of privilege.” Farmer, who had traveled from rural Haiti the
day before, expressed his hope that, in realizing their privilege,
students would savor the opportunities before them. “In the eyes of
six billion people who live on this planet, this is unheard-of good
fortune,” he said, speaking of the poor individuals he serves in his
work around the U.S. and the world.
Urging students not to rush into a particular career or area of
study, Farmer encouraged students to take advantage of the liberal
arts to broaden themselves, to explore new areas of study or service,
and to “find something you can be passionate about for a long, long
time.”
Farmer recommended that all students embrace the spirit of service
leadership espoused at Austin College and seek ways in which they can
serve others. “I’ve never heard someone come to the end of life and
say ‘I wish I’d done less for others,’” he said. “In every profession
in the world, you can find ways to use the skills in which you are
trained to be of service to others.”
Referencing our electronic age, Farmer said much information is
available in the world, but not all of it is true. “We’re lucky we
still have democracy here,” Farmer. “I am quite concerned about
democracy and we have to preserve that,” he added, explaining that it
takes critical analysis to sift through the barrage of information to
find facts and know how to use them.
“People who have liberal arts educations, who learn about their
world, and who think about service to others are the ones who are
going to make democracy better,” said Farmer. “That would be my
deepest aspiration for the students of the classes of 2008 and 2011.”
Farmer was selected for the Austin College Leadership Award for his
work promoting healthcare and human rights for the world’s poorest
citizens in places like Haiti, Peru, Guatemala, Mexico, Russia,
Rwanda, Malawi and Lesotho. Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of
Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World, by New York Times
best-selling author Tracy Kidder, was assigned as a common read for
the freshman class.
“Dr. Farmer’s efforts to transform healthcare on a global scale by
championing the cause of some of the world’s poorest and least-heard
individuals truly show his commitment to serve as a responsible and
active member of the global community,” said Oscar C. Page, president
of Austin College.
Class of 2011 Includes 340 New College Students
A record number of admission applications — more than 1,730 —
resulted in an Austin College Class of 2011 enrollment of 340
first-time college students.
The group, 52 percent female and 48 percent male, includes students
from 17 states and five countries. The 316 students from Texas come
from all regions of the state
The Class of 2011 included eight National Merit Scholars, one
National Hispanic Scholar, and one National Achievement Scholarship
recipient. The middle 50 percent of the Class of 2011 earned combined
SAT scores of 1140-1310. Of the students whose schools do ranking, 73
percent ranked in the top 25 percent of their class.
The fall 2007 overall student body of 1,339 students includes 35
transfer students new to Austin College and 33 students spending the
fall term abroad.
New Campus Emergency Notification System in Place
The tragic shootings at Virginia Tech in April 2007 have caused
college campuses all across the country to review their emergency
response systems, and many institutions have begun to implement new
alert systems as a result. Tim Millerick, vice president for Student
Affairs and Athletics, has been in charge of a similar effort at
Austin College, where he also oversees the Crisis and Emergency
Response Team.
In the event of a campus emergency, a new off-site Web-based alert
system provided by Connect-ED will immediately contact all Austin
College students, parents, faculty, and staff with important updates.
Drawing on information from the College’s database, up to nine
contacts will be made for each person, using relevant telephone
numbers, text message addresses, and email addresses.
"Austin College has reviewed its safety policies and procedures,
and will continue to do so" Millerick said, "and it will be extremely
important for students and their families to keep us well informed
with up-to-date contact information." He noted that the College has
been vigilant in its efforts to collect personal and parent contact
information from students throughout the fall for its new emergency
alert system.
Enlightenment: Dick Lentz
In announcing Austin College’s beautiful new Grand Avenue entrance,
the Sandra J. Williams Founders Plaza, in the June issue of Austin
College Magazine, the name of one of the creators of the area was
given incorrectly. Richard “Dick” Lentz of Lentz Lighting in
Dallas handled the illumination work on the fountains and plaza. He is a
1976 graduate of Austin College.
Austin College Is Part of New Initiative to Improve College Search
Process
In conjunction with a nationwide effort to provide comprehensive
and transparent information to prospective college students and their
families, Austin College was part of the launch of the University and
College Accountability Network, or U-CAN, in September. This free,
Web-based consumer resource is intended to provide objective and
measurable data outside of a ranking or survey setting.
U-CAN is the effort of the National Association of Independent
Colleges and Universities (NAICU), comprised of nearly 1,000 member
institutions across the country. The impetus for this landmark effort
grew in part out of on-going concerns about the objectivity of
commercial rankings, such as the U.S. News & World Report “Best
Colleges” survey, as well as the public’s growing interest in
accessible and standardized data to make informed decisions about
college choice.
Oscar C. Page, president of Austin College, insists that U-CAN “is
not intended to be a substitute for commercial rankings, which are
based on a subjective weighting system.” Rather, he said, “U-CAN will
help students and their families by providing accurate and comparable
information about colleges and universities in a standard format.
Finding the best college fit is critical to a student’s educational
success, and we believe the U-CAN system will help immensely in the
college search process.”
Participating schools provide campus data, Web links, and narrative
descriptions in uniform two-page profiles that provide information on
a range of characteristics, from tuition costs and graduation rates,
to class size and campus safety.
The links and narrative descriptions complement each profile’s
statistical data, providing specific information on key aspects of
each college and university. “Key elements of the selection process
are intangible, such as a college’s unique mission and campus ethos,”
said Nan M. Davis, vice president for Institutional Enrollment at
Austin College. “And there can be little replacement for the campus
visit during the search process,” she emphasized, “which offers a
preview of what four years at a particular college will be like. Few
decisions in life will prove more important than selecting a college,”
she added, “particularly given the way in which the college
experience—from both an academic and a social sense—opens pathways
that have lasting impacts.”
In addition to viewing profiles for specific campuses all in one
place, prospective students will be able to use a search feature on
the U-CAN site to compare schools based on a variety of institutional
subsets. Campus statistics are drawn from information annually
reported by colleges and universities as part of the Common Data Set
and the U.S. Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary
Education Data System (IPEDS).
The U-CAN project has been a year in the making. A free service,
the U-CAN site will not include advertisements or sponsorships.
Similar ventures for the nation’s public colleges and universities are
underway by other not-for-profit organizations.
Forster Art Studio Complex
Dedication Set for March 2008
Work is progressing rapidly on Austin College’s
Betsy Dennis Forster Art Studio Complex, located east of
Jordan Family Language House on the north side of Richards Street. The
dedication of the two-building arts facility is scheduled for March 7,
2008, tentatively at 5 p.m. Peter and Betsy Dennis Forster ’65
provided the initial gift for the 20,000-square-foot facility, and
Betsy, a landscape artist, has agreed to exhibit her work in
connection with the dedication. John R. and Janie G. Dickerson and
family of Kilgore, Texas, have made gifts to name the Caroline Ross
Ceramics and Sculpture Building within the Forster Complex. The naming
of The Kellye Wright Samuelson Digital & Photographic Art Center in
the complex was announced in November by the College’s trustees to
honor long-time Board of Trustees chair Bob Wright and his wife Mary,
whose daughter, Kellye Wright
Samuelson, died in January 2004.
International Service Fellowship Established at Austin College
Austin College students pursuing summer international service
projects and non-profit internships toward community development
efforts will have a new source for potential funding assistance
through the College’s Global Outreach “GO” Fellowship Program. Created
through a grant from the Todd and Abby Williams Family Foundation of
Dallas, the program aims “to cultivate the next generation of local,
national, and global leaders by promoting innovative, experiential
servant leadership opportunities around the world,” according to
application materials. The program’s steering committee will select 10
to 15 recipients annually, with the first awards for summer 2008
projects.
“There are few things more inspiring than young students who want
to change the world and have both the energy and the sincere
conviction that they can,” said Todd Williams ’82 and trustee. “Abby
and I feel that it is so important to help students who are clearly
passionate about helping others. We both want Austin College to be
well-recognized nationally for the quality and the intellectual
breadth of the servant leaders it produces. It’s our sincere hope that
this program, along with the many other aspects of global learning
already featured on campus, can help make that goal even more of a
reality.”
Approximately 70 percent of Austin College students participate in
international study during their college experience, which placed the
College first in the nation among baccalaureate institutions for study
abroad participation by the Institute of International Education’s
2006 “Open Doors” report.
A significant number of Austin College students participate in
service projects and outreach through the campus Service Station and
other student organizations. The new fellowships will allow students
to combine the elements of servant leadership and international
awareness.
Students receiving the Global Outreach Fellowships will be expected
to share their experiences with the campus community upon their
return. The fellows will complete a reflection course in the academic
term following their projects.
Applications for the fellowships are available in the Office of
Career Services amd deadline for 2008 awards is March 1. Members of
the Global Outreach Fellowship Steering Committee, which will review
applications, are Austin College faculty and staff Peter DeLisle,
director of the Posey Leadership Institute; John Williams, chaplain;
Julie Hempel, assistant professor of Spanish; and Viki Reeder,
internship coordinator and assistant director of Career Services;
student Will Radke ’08; and donors Todd Williams, partner, Goldman Sachs; and Abby Williams, chair of the Williams
Preparatory School of Dallas.
New Alumni Relations Director Named
Victoria Martinsen has been named Austin College director of alumni
and parent relations, joining the Institutional Advancement team in
late October. “I am delighted that Victoria has joined us,” said Jim
Lewis, vice president for Institutional Advancement. “Through the
search process, we found Victoria to be someone who thinks outside the
box, is very analytical, has an intuition for developing creative
programs, and has excellent people skills in relating to both
volunteers and campus colleagues. I believe she will be a fine asset
to Austin College.”
Martinsen came to Austin College from Scripps College, a
women’s liberal arts college in Claremont, Calif., where she was the
associate director of alumnae relations for the past five years. She
has an undergraduate degree in theatre from Scripps and a master’s
degree in arts management from Carnegie Mellon University. Prior to
working at Scripps, she worked for a number of years with the Walt
Disney Company.
“I am thrilled to be the new director of Alumni and Parent
relations at Austin College, Martinsen said. “I look forward to
working with the staff, students, faculty, and volunteers to take a
good program and make it even better. My hope is to engage as many
alumni and parents as possible in myriad ways through five program
areas: on-campus programs such as Homecoming and family weekend,
regional programs, domestic and international travel program,
student-young alumni programs, and online communities. Online
communities in particular allow us to stay connected with alumni and
parents across the country and around the world, and will become
increasingly important in years to come. This is an exciting time in
Austin College’s history, and Im am proud to be a part of it.”
Students Manage $1 Million Investment Fund
This fall, several Austin College economics and business
administration majors are learning security research and asset
allocation and valuation in a new course titled Practicum in Portfolio
Management that has as its primary objective providing those enrolled
with money management experience. What sets this course apart from
similar offerings across the nation is that students are gaining
experience by investing in a live portfolio.
Even more, the portfolio’s opening value is $1 million.
The College’s Todd A. Williams Student Managed Investment Fund was
established by Williams, a 1982 graduate of Austin College and partner
at Goldman Sachs, to promote investment education and increase funding
for scholarships.
“My desire is that this fund will do more than simply enable
students to learn about investment as a career,” Williams said. “I
hope it also gives them greater confidence to seek opportunities in
this field and makes them meaningfully more attractive to potential
recruiters,” he added. “Recruiters want students with practical
experience who can hit the ground running.”
While the sheer size and nature of the fund are unique, so are the
beneficiaries of any profit. The fund has an investment objective of
an 8 percent annualized return over a three-year rolling period, with
any annual income above the fund’s initial $1 million corpus used to
create new endowed scholarships honoring Austin College faculty and
staff.
“Since the money we earn through the fund goes toward
scholarships,” said Will Radke, a senior international economics and
Asian double studies major, “we know our decisions can have an impact
on others’ potential to advance intellectually. This aspect provides
more value than a ‘dummy’ account could ever impart.”
Students are responsible for managing the portfolio with
supervision from Steve Ramsey, assistant professor of business
administration at Austin College. The students earn course credit for
work on the year-long project.
Ramsey has noticed already the difference managing real money makes
in the students’ analysis of companies and stock. “The level of focus
and serious research the students are devoting to managing this money
is quite impressive,” he said. “With many games that involve ‘play’
money, decisions can be made based on feelings, with little real
analysis, because the results don’t impact real finances.”
In the first six weeks, the fund was up more than 6.5 percent
($65,000), Ramsey said. In September, the students invested in seven
companies, with Apple the strongest performer, up 11 percent.
“Investing real money takes a bit of the academic element out of
the process and makes it feel more like a job,” said Geoff Wescott, a
senior economics and business administration double major. “We are
responsible for money that someone else graciously donated; therefore,
we feel committed to do our best—and beyond. We want to be the ones
who make money for the fund, not lose it.”
Each student is responsible for one or two sectors of the market
and makes two presentations a month on companies within those sectors
to their professor and peers for investment consideration, Wescott
said. Students also submit written reports on the selected companies
and provide class reports to the fund’s advisory board. When the
fund’s fiscal year ends on March 31, 2008, students will prepare a
final report and present it to the advisory board prior to the close
of the spring term in May.
“There is no substitute, particularly in business, for making real
life decisions that have real consequences,” Williams said. “Sure,
mistakes may be made, but that’s how someone learns. I am confident
that involving real, substantive dollars will bring a higher level of
student focus and intensity to the decision-making process, precisely
because the student team’s investment performance will ultimately
impact the number of future students who can receive academic
scholarships from the fund’s earnings, a resource that otherwise would
not be available.”
While not all the student participants plan to pursue a career on
Wall Street, the value of the experience isn’t lost on them. “Honing
in on industry and stock analysis is a life-long skill,” Radke said.
“Regardless if we are managing our own retirement or do this work
professionally, it will pay dividends many times over.”
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College Has Nearly $182 Million Economic Impact on Area Economy
Austin College positively influences many aspects of life in north
Texas, offering a nationally recognized liberal arts college that
presents cultural opportunities for local citizens, offers campus
facilities for community activities, and provides numerous year-round
volunteers for area social service agencies. In terms of dollars and
cents, the economic impact of the College is equally important.
According to a recently released Economic Impact Statement, Austin
College contributed nearly $182 million to the area economy during the
2006–2007 academic year. The exact figure, $181,897,055, was
calculated including direct and indirect impact, including salaries,
expenditures to local vendors, and spending by visitors to the campus.
“Austin College has long enjoyed the support of the local community
and generous financial contributions from the area,” said Austin
College President Oscar C. Page. “TheEconomic Impact
Statement clearly shows the College’s investment in the local
community,” Page added. “In the past year, our investment with local
vendors increased by more than $2 million. This, plus continued
increase in the impact created by students and families, makes Austin
College one of the largest participants in the local economy.”
During the 2006–2007 academic year, Austin College’s student
population included 1,316 full-time undergraduate students and 33
Master of Arts in Teaching students, who came from 32 states and 27
countries. During this same time, the College employed 328 faculty and
staff, paying a total in payroll and benefits of more than $20
million. The College also made expenditures to local vendors in excess
of $9.3million. Using a standard employment multiplier formula, the
College’s total employment impact translates into the creation of an
estimated 3,257 jobs locally.
Additional revenue to the area economy is generated by the students
themselves, their parents, and visitors to the many campus events, a
total figure estimated to be$21,699,900. Throughout the summer months
alone, Austin College hosts more than 5,200 young people and adults in
conferences and camps, resulting in expenditures in the local
community of $1,077,200.
Data for the Economic Impact Statement were compiled by the Austin
College Office of Institutional Research.
Karen Nelson Named Associate Vice President
Karen Nelson, professor of psychology at Austin College
since 1977, considers herself “like a kid in a candy store” in her new
position as associate vice president for Institutional Effectiveness.
She is contemplating not glass cases of sugary delights, but data —
lots of data — that have been collected and reported on regarding
Austin College students, faculty, and programs, and curricula. Nelson
looks beyond the numbers to how the College can best use the available
data. “I hope to find those things we can celebrate,” she said, giving
as an example data that show Austin College seniors report far more
experience with internationalization than seniors at peer
institutions. She also will look at areas that need attention,
national trends that should be examined, and other data that can be
helpful to Austin College.
“I look forward to being a resource to faculty members,” she said,
noting that faculty seeking new initiatives or funding for projects
need good data to demonstrate need or interest or to verify results.
Recognition of the value of this new administrative position at
Austin College originated with an Institutional Effectiveness
Committee that has been active for several years, charged with
ensuring the College makes very deliberate, informed decisions as to
curricular change, program additions, appointments, etc. Research data
and assessment tools were vital in supporting those decisions, Nelson
said. Too, the beginning of a new college strategic planning phase
(through 2010) and preparation for Austin College’s reaffirmation of
accreditation through the Southern Association of Colleges simply
involves more than can be handled with the previous Institutional
Research staffing.
Nelson’s position also will require her to be aware of national
changes and trends in higher education and gather appropriate data
about those changes. That won’t be a new area for her as recent work
in chapter review for the Phi Beta Kappa Committee on Qualifications
has caused her to become aware of the national arena. She said she
also became quite excited after attending a conference on civic
engagement and discussed the range of campus activities that promote
civic engagement, and ways to measure and assess those activities.
Little about the area of research and assessment will be new for
Nelson. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Clark University, she completed
master’s and doctoral studies at Harvard University in psychology and
human development. She has long been involved with research within the
field of psychology, including several projects within the local
community. She also has been involved with previous SAC accreditation
reaffirmations and a variety of programmatic research and assessment
endeavors in her 30 years at Austin College.
Measuring and assessing take lots of time, time that Nelson
will not be in the classroom. She will continue to teach “History and
Schools of Psychology” and that will allow her some time with
students. “The hardest thing to deal with in taking this position was
not to be in the classroom,” Nelson said. During 1995 through 1999,
she served as assistant dean and had reduced teaching
responsibilities. Now, she has even less classroom time. She will,
however, be working on research and assessment projects with many
campus individuals and likens that to consulting work she has done in
the past. “I have always seen that as a form of instruction,” she
said.
With the research and measurement tasks already on her schedule —
and the surety of many more to come, opportunities for such teaching
should abound.
Austin College Faces SACS Review
A quest for academic excellence is at the heart of the Austin
College mission and that quest continues with the College’s scheduled
2009 reaffirmation of accreditation as an institution of higher
education by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).
The process includes preparation of extensive documentation by College
personnel, followed by examination of that material by peer review
committees selected by SACS. Reaffirmation of accreditation is
required every 10 years.
One important part of the process is the development of a “Quality
Enhancement Plan” (QEP), which, according to SACS literature, should
be an initiative that has broad support of the College constituencies
and has the potential to have a lasting, substantive, and positive
effect on student learning.
Austin College is in the initial stages of the development of its
QEP, which must be submitted early in 2009. In spring 2007, Mike
Imhoff, vice president for Academic Affairs, appointed Steve
Goldsmith, professor of biology, to chair the QEP committee. The
faculty then elected a QEP committee of six: David Baker
(physics), Bart Dredge (sociology), Patrick Duffey
(Spanish); Karánn Durland (philosophy), Greg Kinzer
(English), and Julia Shahid (education). The committee is
responsible for facilitating the selection of the QEP topic, which
will be completed by a vote of the faculty.
The selection process began this fall with proposals for the QEP
topic submitted to the committee by faculty and staff, and will be
complete by December. Once the topic is selected, the committee will
solicit additional input into the specific initiatives from faculty,
staff, administrators, students, and trustees of the College. With
this base of input, the committee will develop a QEP that addresses
the various stipulations of SACS.
The QEP must focus on student learning or the environment that
supports student learning. The college must demonstrate that it can
achieve the initiatives of the QEP with available resources, and must
have plans to do so within a five-year time frame. The effects of the
QEP on student learning must be assessed so that the success of the
QEP can be demonstrated.
Another SACS criterion is that the process, the initiative, and its
implementation be effectively communicated to various constituencies
of the College. This and future articles in Austin College Magazine
will allow readers to remain informed on the progress. Other
information about SACS requirements for reaffirmation in general, and
for the QEP in particular, can be found at the SACS Web site.
The Austin College QEP committee will post updates on the College Web
site when the process reaches the stage for public comment and input
Three Join Board of Trustees
Three individuals joined the Austin College Board of Trustees
recently. New to the board are Georgina Fisher ’69, a community
volunteer of Severna Park, Md.; Donald Gibson ’75,
cardiovascular surgeon from Houston, Texas; and Luan Beaty Mendel ’75, a community
and church volunteer of Palo Verdes, Calif.