Professor Mel Rozen died last week. His wife, Elaine, passed away just a day earlier. This is a very sad story. Mel and Elaine were both only 64 years old. Mel had just decided to retire so that he and Elaine could spend more time together and with their family. Mel and Elaine were important members of the Ohio Dominican family … and they will be missed by all.
Mel Rozen was a dedicated teacher, a talented artist and a good man. I met Mel during my first weeks at Ohio Dominican six years ago. He stopped by my office to welcome me to the campus. These visits by faculty and staff were not uncommon for a new president. But I remember Mel’s visit as being somewhat unique.
Mel didn’t talk about himself. It took several questions before I learned that he was a professor of art and had been at Ohio Dominican for almost 30 years. Mel didn’t tell me about his needs or the needs of his department. He preferred to tell me about the history and beauty of Wehrle Hall. Mel didn’t give me advice about how to be a good president. He told me how hard it must be the lead a college and that he would try to help me in any way possible.
What Mel did for almost an hour was tell me about the students at Ohio Dominican. With a twinkle in his eye and a grin on his face, he regaled me with story after story about the wonderful students he had met at Ohio Dominican … met not necessarily taught. His stories were not about his teaching success but of the success of our students. He knew about their lives, the challenges they had overcome to receive an Ohio Dominican education, and their talent. He loved teaching and he truly understood the role of a college professor.
Mel’s other passion was his family. He was always telling me stories about his son, Seth, and his daughter, Daphne. He was proud of them and everything they did in their lives brought joy to Mel and Elaine. Ohio Dominican will not be the same without Mel and Elaine. Please keep the Rozen family in your thoughts and prayers.
This will be my final blog entry. As most of you know, I will be leaving Ohio Dominican University in a few weeks to assume the presidency of Anna Maria College in Massachusetts. I am really not sure who has been reading this blog or if it has been of any interest or help to the readers. What I do know is that I have enjoyed writing these entries and sharing my perspectives on Ohio Dominican and higher education. Thank you.
There are many exhilarating times in the life of a University. But none is more exciting than Commencement. It is the chance to share in and recognize the success of our students. Beginning with our Baccalaureate Mass Friday evening and culminating with Commencement on Saturday morning, it is simply the best time of the year.
On behalf of our Board of Trustees, our faculty, staff and administrators, and over 16,000 active alumni/ae around the world, I extend my congratulations to the women and men who will receive their Ohio Dominican degrees at our 87th Commencement exercises.
The evidence of the value of a college degree is overwhelming. Many research studies have demonstrated that there is a clear and positive correlation between a college degree and professional, personal and economic success. It changes a person’s life and impacts the rest of their life in many ways. At Ohio Dominican, we also believe that our graduates have learned and developed life skills and commitments to service and citizenship … to living lives that benefit the Common Good. We believe that our graduates will be leaders and exemplary role models in their professions and in their communities.
But Commencement also provides extraordinary evidence of the value of reaching and achieving personal goals. It demonstrates the sense of accomplishment and the feeling of self-worth as so many of our graduates reach a point in their lives that required great sacrifice and supreme effort. For many of our graduates, earning their degree necessitated financial sacrifice and overcoming many life challenges. As they walk across the stage to receive their diplomas, they are cheered by parents, children, spouses, family members and friends.
As the President of this great university, I have the opportunity to do many exciting things. But nothing is more satisfying than handing our graduates their diplomas. I am proud of these men and women. I applaud their success and accomplishment. And I welcome them into the family of Ohio Dominican alumni/ae.
Earlier this week, Lee Shulman announced that he will retire next year from his position as President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. I suspect that most people hardly know this name. But for those of us in higher education, Lee Shulman has been a significant figure and his retirement will mark the end of an era.
At a cursory level, Mr. Shulman is best known for coining the phrase, “the Scholarship of Teaching.” Much of his writing and research over his long career has centered on improvements in classroom instruction. But he has also been instrumental in engaging important national conversations about redefining scholarship, exploring reward structures for faculty members, changes in the classification system for colleges and universities, and the relationship between professional education and the liberal arts.
In my opinion, Shulman’s greatest contribution has been his focus on the improvement of teaching. He encouraged the academy to become more analytical of teaching, to study and investigate how we teach, how we assess student learning, and how we engage students in the learning process.
I thought it was interesting that at the same time that Shulman’s announcement of his impending retirement was made, an article was released about the increasing percentage of college and university students who fail to attend class. In interviews with a number of college professors who confirmed this growing trend, their solution was to make attendance mandatory, give more pop quizzes and use more technology.
Having heard Shulman speak many, many times over the years and used his books and research in courses, I reflected on what his response to the attendance problem might be. I suspect his answer would be that professors should work harder to make their classes so interesting, so engaging, so meaningful … that students will want to attend. Shulman would place the responsibility on the professor and not on the student. And I suspect that he would be chagrined at the increasing rate of class cancellations by professors, which conveys something about the value and the importance of the class to their students.
There are many important issues facing higher education. Issues related to assessment, access, and affordability dominate the news. Internal discussions about governance, accountability, and resource allocations consume much time. But there is no more important issue than the quality of instruction … the quality of our teaching … the classroom experience for our students. Shulman was a voice for reflective practice, for a continuous examination of how to teach better. He spoke with great admiration for college and university professors who had a passion for excellence. Lee Shulman was right. And we should thank him for his long and dedicated career to making higher education better for all of us.
(As always, your comments and questions are welcome.)
The impact of the Virginia Tech tragedy remains with us in many ways. Colleges and universities continue to review their emergency and security plans … as they should. Mental health professionals continue to discuss how to better address student issues on campuses … as they should. State and federal legislators hold hearings and debate gun policies and privacy laws… as they should. And the media continues to provide stories about the student who committed these horrific acts, the victims and their families, and the issues related to campus and community safety and security … as they should.
As time passes, the raw nerve of Virginia Tech will lessen and be replaced by the next unimaginable event in our world of never-ending crime and violence. And that is a reality we must sadly face. Violence is a part of our culture. A day does not go by that we don’t hear about violent crimes in our own communities, in our nation, in our world. And violence takes many forms. While we react viscerally to senseless murders and overwhelming crimes like Virginia Tech, we seem to be less concerned and somewhat immune to the daily evidence of incivility, verbal abuse, racism, poverty and the social injustices that impact our worlds in similarly tragic ways.
One of the immediate reactions to the Virginia Tech tragedy is the need by our students and their parents to receive assurances that they are and will be safe. At a weekend orientation for incoming freshmen at another institution, a colleague shared with me how parents demanded a “guarantee” that their child would be safe. Sadly, there are few guarantees in life. Despite all the safety and security procedures and plans, regardless of the levels of counseling and student services … tragedies will take place on college campuses, just as they will take place in our world.
My best answer is individual responsibility and action. While we each run some risk of being an innocent victim, we all have a responsibility to be an active citizen. We may not be able to change the world, but we can change our own local environment in positive ways. The responsibility for campus safety and security does not rest solely with our security force and administrators. It is the responsibility of everyone on campus.
We must work harder to create and sustain positive environments and accepting communities. While individuals will vary in their points of view and interests, we can all act more civilly to everyone; we can all take an active role in working for the Common Good. The lesson of Virginia Tech should not lead us to finger pointing but rather to joining hands to work for a better world … to be better people. No one can guarantee that these tragedies will end, but it is a certainty that we can do more to make our campuses stronger and better communities for everyone.
(As always, your comments and questions are welcome.)