FAYETTEVILLE : Gearhart takes job on road
Posted on Sunday, August 24, 2008
FAYETTEVILLE — Like the 3, 000 freshmen expected to begin classes Monday at the University of Arkansas, G. David Gearhart plans to do a lot of listening at first. Though an old hand on campus, he is about to embark on his first school year as chancellor. Before he maps where he wants the university to be in the next decade or so, he wants to hear lots of ideas.
Since taking the helm July 1, Gearhart has begun a series of “listening tours” that are taking him to audiences of parents, alumni, legislators, supporters and university friends statewide.
On Sept. 9, he plans to take a busload of UA deans, vice chancellors, faculty and student leaders, and others to a two-day retreat atop Petit Jean Mountain near Morrilton.
There, Gearhart will seek feedback on whether UA’s current vision statement and 2010 goals should be retooled or extended. He’s not offering many specific ideas, yet. The last thing he said that he wants is a top-down, directed vision.
“Coming out of that will be a better road map that has better buy-in from the university,” Gearhart said as he sat down in his corner office Aug. 18.
“The goals aren’t going to be worth anything if the university leadership doesn’t accept them,” he said. “I suppose I could just put my thoughts out there, but that wouldn’t be fair to everyone.”
OK, maybe a few thoughts, but the new chancellor said he wants to be cautious.
He’s well aware of human nature, of that tendency for employees to transform a boss’ suggestions or opinions into directives.
His predecessor, John A. White, took a similar approach to whittling his broad vision down to a specific approach. White also talked to Arkansans about what UA should be. A couple of years after he became chancellor in July 1997, White’s own staff retreat resulted in the vision statement describing UA as “a nationally competitive, student-centered research university serving Arkansas and the world,” among other things.
During Gearhart’s decade as UA’s vice chancellor for university advancement, he demonstrated an easy manner, confidence and ability to relate to people from all walks of life.
Even now, wearing the chancellor’s mantle, he can transition easily from a serious discussion of issues one moment to a casual, off-the-cuff joke the next.
“Have you seen my ‘Students First’ sign ?” Gearhart asks as he gets up from his conference table, walking to a book case that bears the plaque.
“I thought about putting it on my desk but then thought that might be too obnoxious,” he quipped with a casual smile.
“We want to be more student-centered,” he said, dropping a gold lapel pin on the conference table. Gleaming out of its miniature cellophane envelope, the pin bears the “Students First” phrase stamped in red, a tiny “1” replacing the letter “i.”
One way to do this is by cutting any unnecessary bureaucratic red tape that staff can find, said the chancellor, who spent parts of last week helping students move into the dormitories as part of the university’s volunteer mover teams. He helped a UA senior lug a bulky refrigerator up three flights of stairs, only to find they had the wrong room number, he recalled with a grin.
COSTS, ACCOUNTABILITY During the first listening tour July 13 in Hot Springs, Gearhart heard from an invited group of graduates, donors and parents of students who shared concerns about admissions, campus facilities and athletics. “The main issue I heard, frankly, is accessibility — the cost,” Gearhart said. Those in the group saw UA as a “good bargain” — particularly compared with private colleges, but also in comparison with public universities outside Arkansas, he said. Still, they were looking for ways to pay rising college costs and talked about things such as scholarship support and financial aid.
The new chancellor said he takes the cost concerns seriously.
“It’s imperative that we look at the whole issue of cost savings. Where we can cut costs. The whole issue of accountability,” he said.
“I’d like to be able to say that no student would be denied an education at the University of Arkansas because of their pocketbook,” Gearhart said. “I’m not sure we can say that now.”
He estimated about 50 percent of UA students leave school with some amount of debt. The average debt load: $ 19, 000.
If student costs are a concern, Gearhart also has acknowledged the need for the campus to cover its own costs.
He revealed in June that UA officials already had set in motion a plan to have students begin paying a mandatory $ 2 per-credit-hour fee this fall.
The fee will finance a 30-year bond issue — initially sought to buy the neighboring Fayetteville High School property.
The overall fee will phase in, rising $ 2 a year until it reaches $ 10 per credit hour by 2012, with a sunset clause ending it when the bonds are retired. The UA withdrew its $ 50 million offer for the high school last week, with Gearhart citing renovation needs for existing buildings.
Students study in Vol Walker Hall, a historic building that has needed renovations for two decades. Peabody and Ozark halls are others in need of work that could benefit students in the near term, he said.
“The truth is, we have millions of dollars of need on our own campus,” he said. ENDOWMENT RESTRICTIONS
As White’s architect for a seven-year, $ 1 billion fundraising campaign that ended in June 2005, Gearhart is familiar with questions on how the university can need more money for daily operations and new buildings when it’s sitting on an $ 877 million endowment.
The bulk of the endowment is invested, generating dividend or interest income for programs, or other expenses, as specified by donors.
Earlier this year, UA was among 136 of the country’s most well-endowed universities and colleges that provided financial details to the U. S. Senate Finance Committee. Its inquiry sought information on how the schools help students financially.
UA reported to the committee that donors had placed permanent spending restrictions on 98. 6 percent of its endowment. In fiscal years 2006 and 2007, the endowment paid out 5 percent in spendable interest and fund fees.
“There are some who think the university is sitting here with pots of money,” Gearhart said. “And that’s just not the case.”
As of Aug. 18, other listening tours were planned for Conway, Little Rock and Texarkana, with several more to schedule, Gearhart said. Later on, he’ll do similar events out of state in cities such as Chicago, which have significant UA alumni populations. Other possible stops include Dallas, Houston and St. Louis.
MISSION: BRAINSTORM Next month’s brainstorming session with Fayetteville campus leaders will take place at the UA System’s Winthrop Rockefeller Institute at Petit Jean. Participants are asked to read two books: My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student by Rebekah Nathan and Future of the American Public Research University, co-edited by a former head of UA-Fayetteville’s University Relations office, Roger L. Williams. They’ll hear briefings from Jim Purcell, director of the Arkansas Department of Higher Education, and UA Athletic Director Jeff Long.
Gearhart wants to hear thoughts on increasing campus diversity, when the university should begin its next major fundraising campaign, how to keep improving its student retention and graduation rates, how best to increase the number of Arkansans with bachelor’s degrees, what capital improvements are most needed and tips for going “green.”
Other questions include whether the university should update White’s enrollment goal of 22, 500 students by 2010 and how will UA handle the numbers of returning military veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan under the revised GI Bill.
Participants will discuss whether to raise the bar on some 2010 goals and perhaps drop others as unrealistic, no longer necessary or impossible to track against other schools.
The participants might decide to extend the target time to 2015, UA’s sesquicentennial of 2021 or both, Gearhart said.
“We’ve not had a real review of the core curriculum at the university for many years,” perhaps as long as a quarter-century ago, he said.
For now, the new chancellor is finished revealing his thoughts, at least until after the retreat and the town-hall gatherings wrap up in six to eight months.
“We figure we need to listen a lot,” Gearhart said. “We need to let our constituents tell us what we’re doing well and what we’re not doing so well.
“ There’s no better time than a transition.”
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