The Next President

This from Tom Eblen at H-L:

A job ad for the next UK president

Job Description: overworked, underpaid

Lee T. Todd Jr.'s decision to retire as president of the University of Kentucky in June has me thinking about what the advertisement seeking his successor should say.
Not what it will say, but what it should say.

Wanted: University of Kentucky president. As UK's 12th chief executive since 1869, you will be taking on perhaps the toughest job in Kentucky. It pays about a half-million dollars a year, but you could get more money for less work at another state's flagship university.

By the way, your salary will pale in comparison to the millions that go to your head basketball and football coaches. Don't expect any sympathy from the faculty and staff, who are generally underpaid and haven't received a raise lately. Or students and their parents, who have seen tuition double in recent years.

There is a lot right with UK. The university is more open, collaborative and entrepreneurial than it used to be. Enrollment, student performance, research and diversity are growing, and the university is producing some outstanding graduates, including doctors, engineers, architects, diplomats, business people and, believe it or not, world-class opera singers.

You will be succeeding Lee Todd, a passionate, energetic and visionary leader ...

Todd Touts his Numbers

UK President Lee Todd is bragging, and why not. After years of criticism over the university's perceived lukewarm commitment to African American students and faculty, Todd established a mission to make a better showing and has been tracking his numbers. He also took some shots over the school's lack of commitment to advancing women. He may not be able to claim that the university has arrived, but the data show a positive trend.

Todd has also been tasked to double the number of college graduates at the research university and that necessitates retaining students in the system until they complete their programs.

This from Lee Todd in Kentucky Alumni Magazine: (Warning: Big .pdf file)

2008 – ‘09: Statistics Tell A Powerful Story

• Record high number of freshman applicants: 11,120
• Record high number of Governor’s Scholars/School for the Arts Students: 389
•Record high retention rate: 81 percent
•Record high number of African-American first-year students: 347
•Record high number of African-American undergraduate students: 1,234
•Record high doctoral student enrollment: 2,391
•Record high first-professional (dentistry, law, medicine, and pharmacy) enrollment: 1,558
•Record high number of full-time faculty: 2,096
•Record high number of African-American faculty: 84, including a record 11 new African-American faculty
•Record high number and percent of women in executive/ administrative/ managerial positions: 234, or 48.4 percent
•Record high research expenditures of $337 million

I often use this space to feature one of our top students, share a story about a faculty or staff member who is leading us in our Top 20 mission, or tout a new outreach initiative.

Even though I am a UK College of Engineering alum, I seldom use this opportunity to simply hype numbers and statistics.

As I often say, it is the efforts of our students, alumni, faculty, and staff that are transforming communities across Kentucky, and I love to tell those success stories.

However, sometimes the raw information is so powerful that it is the story. Such was the case at your alma mater in 2008-09, when UK experienced a “record” year.

As impressive as these statistics are on their own, the depth and breadth of excellence that we are experiencing across the university community is what is so striking to me.

From measures in undergraduate, graduate, and professional education to diversity measures and research totals, UK is taking bold strides forward in a period of budget cuts and financial turmoil...

Todd endorses big jump in cigarette tax

This from H-L:

University of Kentucky President Lee T. Todd Jr. on Wednesday offered the strongest pitch from higher education officials for a significant increase in the cigarette tax.

While university presidents, including Todd, have refrained in the past from publicly endorsing tax increases of any sort, Todd said a sharp increase is necessary not only for budget purposes but especially for health benefits.

"I have been willing to come out and support the cigarette tax. I've always wanted to do it for health reasons, now it's tied directly to education," Todd said at the Lexington-Fayette government center during Gov. Steve Beshear's latest public event about his plan to plug a $456.1 million state budget shortfall....

Advocates say more cuts would be 'devastating'

This from C-J:

Advocates for human services, education and other state programs reacted with disbelief to news that the state is facing another large budget shortfall that could force more spending cuts...

...Gov. Steve Beshear said the state is facing a shortfall of nearly $300 million in the fiscal year that could force more cuts at agencies that have already experienced reductions as he sought to balance the current budget, which took effect July 1.

Beshear said yesterday that he will develop a plan to deal with the shortfall, including ways to increase revenue and cuts that could affect any agency funded by the state...

...[E]ducation officials worry about the effect of further cuts on their already-lean budgets.

University of Kentucky President Lee Todd said more cuts would be "challenging, especially when they come mid-year."

"We spent half the money and we can't change our budget a lot," he said. "We'll continue to operate as best we can."Richard A. Crofts, interim president of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, said higher education officials believe they offer a long-term solution to the state's economic woes by producing a more educated workforce.

"We realize there are serious problems. But we also believe we are part of a positive solution," Crofts said.

Kentucky Education Commissioner Jon Draud said it would be "incredibly difficult" to cut any more money from the state's kindergarten-12th grade education budget.

"These are tough times and I understand that," he said. "But this would be more than devastating to our school districts and it would really impact our children."

The Kentucky Department of Education already had to cut $43 million for professional development programs and after-school services, as well as money for textbooks. In addition, more than 1,100 jobs were cut by the state's public schools this year, according to a recent survey released by the Kentucky School Boards Association.

Cordelia Hardin, chief financial officer for Jefferson County Public Schools, said the district's revenue outlook already is poor.

"We are already committed to teaching staff, we can't make staffing cuts in the middle of the year," she said...

UK students, leaders decry effigy of Obama

This from H-L:

Hundreds of students and several Democratic officials expressed outrage and embarrassment Wednesday after an effigy of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama was found hanging from a tree early Wednesday on the University of Kentucky campus.

The racist act was emphatically rejected by hundreds of students and community leaders attending a quickly-called campus forum to discuss racial issues Wednesday evening.

"Our time at this university is too short to sit idly by and allow these things to continue," said Tyler Montell, president of UK's student government association. "This is not a concern of any single race. Today, every student is a victim. Every member of our student body must now become part of a greater change."

Meanwhile, UK police and the Secret Service are asking for the public's help in finding who hung the effigy — which wore an Obama mask and had a noose around its neck — in a tree near the Rose Street parking garage...

Wouldn't Happen Here, says Todd

This from the Herald-Leader:

Todd says UK safeguards would prevent research scandal

University of Kentucky President Lee T. todd Jr. will deliver his State of the University Address at 12:30 p.m. Thursday on the Patterson Office Tower Plaza, behind Main Hall.

UK Student Government President Tyler Montell will also speak. A free lunch will be available to the campus community in the plaza from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

University of Kentucky President Lee T. Todd Jr. says UK has sufficient safeguards to prevent a scandal like the current one at the University of Louisville over the alleged misuse of federal research dollars and the awarding of an unearned doctorate.

Todd, in an interview before his State of the University Address on Thursday, was specifically asked whether he thought UK had enough safeguards in place.

"I certainly do," Todd said. "I feel very confident."

The UK chief said "we may be bureaucratic, as some people think," but he added that internal procedures, by moving at a moderate or slow pace, provide for thorough review.

Todd declined to speak directly about the U of L situation, and he is not expected to bring up the imbroglio during his address Thursday.

The U of L situation involves apparent misuse of research funds by Robert Felner, its former education and human development dean...

C-J on Ramsey

This from C-J:

The right message

It's appropriate, at this point, to praise University of Louisville President James Ramsey.

However, before we do, it's important to review a little history.

Last March 30, in one of the most astonishing declarations ever published in these pages, Dr. Ramsey took the opportunity to praise the 2008 Kentucky General Assembly for its attention to higher education. He said the message sent by lawmakers was clear:

"Both chambers are willing to make tough decisions to make higher education and financial aid for college students a top priority. They understand our mission to double the number of Kentuckians with college degrees will transform lives and boost Kentucky's economy…. I want to say a heartfelt thank you to the General Assembly. Our legislators have decided we cannot afford the opportunity lost and instead have stepped up to support higher education."

In fact, as Dr. Ramsey later concluded, what the General Assembly did to higher education was "ugly" -- a 6 percent slashing that has left our public campuses littered with lost jobs, program cuts and tuition hikes.

Indeed, this legislature sapped momentum at all levels of education.

This happened because the Republican Senate, operating on Sen. Mitch McConnell's advice and at President David Williams' direction, wouldn't raise taxes -- wouldn't even agree to a cigarette-tax hike the public overwhelmingly approved, and wouldn't even let the public consider expanded gambling.

Much to his credit, Dr. Ramsey now has called attention to this debacle by refusing a raise or a bonus. It was the right thing to do.

By contrast, University of Kentucky President Lee Todd refused an additional $50,000 he could have received but accepted a $95,000 bonus, which he will have to explain to faculty and staff who had their pay frozen or their jobs cut, and to students who were hit with another tuition hike, this time a brutal 9 percent.

This time, Dr. Ramsey is sending the right message. It's a message that Gov. Steve Beshear would do well to repeat daily on his upcoming tour of the state:

The legislature is not tightening government's belt. It is strangling Kentucky's future.

Holding the line

This from C-J:

The heady days of the Kentucky General Assembly passing House Bill 1 seem so far behind us now. It was a little more than a decade ago, in 1997, when lawmakers, Gov. Paul Patton and business people from all over the commonwealth came together to think really big about reforming the higher education system in this state. Their vision was no less than to change the culture -- and economic hopes -- for Kentucky.

Apparently, times and priorities have changed. This spring, many of the public colleges and universities have been hit by what Tony Newberry, president of Jefferson Community and Technical College in Louisville, calls "a double bind": First, their budgets were cut by the General Assembly and the Governor by 6 percent. Then last week, the Council on Postsecondary Education scaled back their requests for tuition increases.

The community colleges took the biggest hit. They had requested a 13 percent tuition increase to make ends meet. Last Friday, the CPE announced it was holding them to 5.2 percent instead.

But the CPE was right to do so. The community college system exists to serve the most vulnerable students -- those who are most likely to drop out if staying in school gets any harder for them than it already is. Many community college and technical school students are single parents, adults who are supporting themselves or their families while they go to school, or minorities who are the first generation in their families to go to college. For almost all community college students, the price matters.

And as the cost of four-year institutions continues to rise, it becomes even more critical that community colleges stay affordable. Kentucky's already cost more than similar schools in other states.

Earlier this month, when the CPE held hearings on the tuition increases, University of Kentucky president Lee Todd asked an essential question: "Are we serious about trying to move this state forward or not?" A poor state like Kentucky, which remains near the bottom of the educational heap, is foolish to be cutting back on education. Everyone knows education is the key to making us more competitive in a global
world.

Unfortunately, the legislature and Governor felt otherwise. Now the college and university presidents and their boards of trustees will have to pick among the bad choices.

So...How'd the Tuition Hearings Go?

This from C-J:

Tuition hearing turns tense
U of L's Ramsey, Cowgill square off

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- A tuition hearing before the state's higher education board grew heated at times yesterday, with one university president calling the board's budget model "crummy" and telling the official who created it his "credibility is at stake."

The exchange occurred between University of Louisville President James Ramsey and Brad Cowgill, the outgoing president of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education.

The two sparred several times during U of L's tuition proposal presentation to the council's Budget and Finance Policy Group. At one point, Ramsey said he would be "blown away" if the council doesn't approve the university's 9 percent tuition increase.

The council, which has the authority to set tuition rates at public universities and colleges, is scheduled to vote on increases May 9. Cowgill indicated last week that the council may reject some of proposed increases out of concerns about affordability.

"I don't know how you can do that," said Ramsey, noting that U of L's increase mirrors the rate the council used when it presented its budget proposal to Gov. Steve Beshear last fall.

"It was never a promise," Cowgill responded, explaining the percentage was used as part of a model to help members of the General Assembly understand the relationship between state revenue and tuition.

"You've got a really crummy model," Ramsey shot back. "Your logic isn't flying with me." The two continued to disagree several more times, with the most heated exchange coming during a discussion over whether U of L was looking to tuition to make up for the shortfall in state revenue,

"We're not coming anywhere close to making up the shortfall," Ramsey said. "We're trying to move forward with what you are holding us accountable for."

Cowgill noted, however, that the university's proposal documents say the tuition increase is tied to the cut in state funding. Ramsey responding by saying, "All right. All right, Brad. You win the legal argument. Mark one down for Brad Cowgill." ...

After the hearing, Ramsey said: "We don't take any joy in sitting here and asking for a 9 percent increase. But something has to give." ...

Things went better on Friday:

...Council officials noted that in the decade since the state enacted changes that sought to dramatically increase the number of degrees, state funding for universities and tuition rates have almost doubled, but degree production has increased far less dramatically.

Eastern Kentucky University President Doug Whitlock said he is working to increase productivity on his campus through better coordination of student support services, and working more closely with school districts to prepare students for college. "I think the onus is on us to show better productivity," he said.

University of Kentucky President Lee Todd said his campus is also taking steps to increase degrees, including hiring more advisers and seeking to decrease class sizes. But, he said, he is not at the point where he thinks students are being priced out of
higher education.

"I don't hear that on campus. … We're not out of bounds in this state," he said. But he said Kentucky needs to increase funding to state universities, which he said are the long-term solution to the state's economic problems.

"Are we serious about trying to move this state forward or not?" Todd said. "I think we have to make our minds up."

State Rep. Harry Moberly, D-Richmond, chairman of the House budget committee, said he thought it was appropriate for the council to ask the universities about their degree productivity and that the community college system's proposed increase struck him as exorbitant.

At the same time, Moberly, who is also a top administrator at EKU, agreed with Todd about the need for more state funding. "The burden will be on the governor and the General Assembly to either cut the budget or raise revenue," he said.

Lee Todd on UK

This from UK President Lee Todd:

The University of Kentucky's budget for 2008-2009 will be very tough.

We face reduced state appropriations and increased costs, and we must handle those realities without massive tuition increases.The three percent recurring budget cut imposed by the Governor this year, combined with an additional three percent cut in our state appropriations for 2008-2009, means we will have $20 million less in state support next year.

In addition, our enrollment this year was lower than expected (primarily due to a decline in transfer students), resulting in fewer tuition dollars and less capacity to absorb cuts in state appropriations. We also anticipate a substantial increase in utility costs next year.

Finally, the economic outlook for the next couple of years in Kentucky and the rest of the U.S. is not promising.

Assuming this challenging financial environment does not change, we have begun making decisions about next year's budget.

* Our first responsibility is to keep costs for our students as low as possible, while maintaining the quality of their educational experience. I will recommend to the Board of Trustees at their April 22 meeting that tuition and mandatory fees increase nine percent for in-state students and 6.6 percent for out-of-state students for 2008-2009. This places an even greater burden on our students, but it is the smallest increase we can afford without severely compromising quality, and it still leaves us well short of the funds we need. Covering the entire reduction in state appropriations would require an 18 percent tuition and mandatory fee increase. That is simply too high. And it still would not cover increases in fixed costs, such as utilities.

A tuition forum will be held April 18.

* We will increase student financial aid to partially off-set the impact of the tuition increase.

* We have explored every avenue to increase salaries for faculty and staff, but the funds are simply not there. So UK's proposed budget will not include salary increases for faculty and staff (this does not include hospital system employees).

* To partially make up for the fact that salaries are not going up, the University will absorb all of the increase in employee health insurance premiums (UK HMO plans) next year.

These decisions still leave the University well short of the funds needed to maintain spending at the original 2007-2008 level. I therefore have directed the Provost and Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration to begin working with the deans and other senior administrators to implement a $14 million reduction in the University's budget. We intend to give maximum flexibility to the colleges and operational units to absorb their share of these reductions.

We all want a healthier budget, with lower tuition and an increase in salaries. But this tough budget does not change our responsibilities to the people of Kentucky. We owe it to them to give it our very best, regardless of the budget conditions we face.

They still need their flagship university to be affordable. They still need their statewide research university to be dedicated to fighting disease, creating businesses and jobs, and improving lives. They still need their land-grant university to reach out to every community and every family in our state. And they still need their University of Kentucky to aim to be among the Top 20 in the United States.

It will take our individual and collective best to work with this imperfect budget and continue to make progress on top priorities. I am confident in the goodwill and resilience of the University of Kentucky community.

SOURCE: Campus-wide email

Lee Todd on the State Budget

The Kentucky House of Representatives has approved its version of the state's budget for 2008-2010.

In a very difficult economic environment, the House has made tough decisions and put together a budget package that would protect higher education. The House voted to restore the 12 percent cut - approximately $40 million - in our funding that was originally proposed in the Executive Budget.

I am very grateful to the members of the House for their support. And I commend everyone willing to support a budget package that increases the cigarette tax.

I spend a lot of my time talking about the "Kentucky Uglies." One of those is the poor health that haunts too many of our fellow Kentuckians for too much of their lives. We will make progress in building a healthier state if we make it harder for Kentucky's adults to continue a terrible habit and if we make it harder for Kentucky's kids to start.

The House budget is a strong and positive step forward in the budget process. But it is important to understand that this process is not over. This is Day 45 of a 60-day legislative session. The Kentucky Senate still must develop their version of the budget. The House and Senate must then agree to a final budget before sending it to the Governor for his review.So there is still a lot of work to do.

I have been talking with the Senate about UK's needs and the importance of maintaining their flagship University's momentum. It is a momentum they helped build with the last budget and we need their help to sustain it. I am telling them that we have used their past investments to recruit Kentucky students to our campus and ensure their success. I am telling them about the talented faculty and staff we have recruited to campus to join this community of dedicated professionals already making a difference for businesses and communities and families across Kentucky.

Kentucky's current budget problems will be repeated over and over again unless we invest in our colleges and universities. We know strong colleges and universities go hand-in-hand with more educated and healthier populations. Average household incomes are higher in states with nationally recognized postsecondary systems. Unemployment rates are lower and fewer public dollars are spent on health care. These states have healthier children and fewer people living in poverty.

Building a world-class postsecondary system in general and a Top 20 research university in particular will not happen overnight. And it will not happen at all if we cut our universities every time budgets are tight. Our success depends on a sustained commitment from our students, our faculty and staff, our donors, and our state.

Over the next three weeks, the state budget will be the dominant topic of discussion. But our University's work is too important to be distracted by conversations in Frankfort. Our students need you to stay focused on helping them be successful. Kentucky's businesses and communities need you to stay focused on helping them make progress. Kentucky's families need you to continue working toward making their lives better.

I will continue every day to make our case for the funds we need to build the University we want.I appreciate your dedication to the cause of building a better University of Kentucky and, by doing that, a better Kentucky.

SOURCE: Campus-wide email

Tough Choices with Damaging Consequences: Lee Todd on the Impact of Budget Cuts at UK

Tuesday night I attended Governor Beshear's Budget Address, where he introduced his recommendation for 2008-2010. He has proposed that the University of Kentucky's state appropriation be cut by an additional 12% in 2008-2009 and remain flat in 2009-2010, which equates to $50 million less in our appropriation each year of the biennium. The Governor warned us a few weeks ago that the tough budget environment would force him to recommend a substantial cut for UK and all of postsecondary education. His recommendation is now in the hands of the General Assembly.

It is very important that you understand three things.

First, if the Governor's recommendation is enacted by the General Assembly (and that's a big "if"), it would have a devastating impact on our University. Let's be clear about this - the cuts the Governor proposes would require tough choices with damaging consequences. Because over 75% of our state appropriations are used for salary and benefits, we would have to consider everything - including layoffs, salary and benefit freezes, and program closures - to handle a cut of this magnitude. Our students would face substantial tuition increases, fewer scholarships, and greater personal debt. We have not made any specific plans because we want to see how the General Assembly responds. But we will take some precautionary measures to prepare ourselves in case the budget does not improve substantially. We will be communicating with affected areas about these measures.

Second, you need to understand that the fight for UK's budget is not over - it is just beginning. This is a 60-day process. This is only Day 16. As soon as the Governor finished his speech Tuesday, I started making the case to our friends in the legislature and to the people of our state that any cut in support for higher education - and certainly one of this size - is bad public policy. Our state faces budget challenges today because too many of our citizens are poor and too many of them are sick and too many of them have limited futures. And the only way to change that is to maintain our commitment to building strong universities and especially a strong flagship. It is that simple.

This University can be the catalyst for change because we attack Kentucky's problems - we educate students, improve the health of Kentuckians, and build businesses and create jobs. We know we can make a difference. And we know the General Assembly believes in our work. They acted with boldness and vision two years ago when they funded the Top 20 Business Plan as the mechanism for improving the condition of our Commonwealth. Kentucky's hope for a better future summons them again.

We will work with our supporters in the General Assembly to find ways to build a budget that maintains our momentum. We have a plan for progress and that plan is working. I am confident in our message and in the General Assembly's willingness to help us as much as they can.

Third, the next two months will be full of debates in Frankfort and stories in the papers. It is easy to get distracted by all of that. My job is to worry about the budget and work with the General Assembly to improve the proposed budget. This University needs each of you to stay focused on your responsibilities - the hard work of helping our students succeed in our
classrooms and laboratories; doing research that stretches our knowledge and improves lives; and reaching out to families, businesses, and communities across our state. Our argument for state support is made stronger every day because you are working every day to make a difference in the lives of our students and Kentucky's people.

Thank you for that effort.

Lee Todd

SOURCE: Campus-wide email

Getting the University of kentucky to Aim Higher

LEXINGTON, Ky. — A thick loose-leaf book jammed with charts and graphs details Lee T. Todd Jr.’s ambitious plans for the University of Kentucky.

But in a recent speech to a chamber of commerce, Dr. Todd, the university’s president, summed them up in three brisk words: “Research drives jobs.”

His own life story encapsulates the idea.

Dr. Todd grew up in a small coal-mining and farming town in western Kentucky, graduated from the university and earned a Ph.D. in electrical engineering at M.I.T. He returned to his Kentucky alma mater to teach before leaving to spend 18 years creating two successful high-tech companies here, in a state better known for thoroughbreds and bourbon than for digital innovations.

The connection between research and job creation also suggests the scope of Dr. Todd’s ambitions. He wants to raise the academic performance and national standing of the university because he thinks that is the best way to improve the state’s economy and reduce the scourge of what he calls “the Kentucky uglies” — high rates of diabetes, lung cancer, illiteracy and poverty.

“What the state needs is a more educated work force,” Dr. Todd told members of the Scott County Chamber of Commerce during an address at a luncheon recently in nearby Georgetown.

“We’re going to have to have more graduates in our economy if we want it to grow.”

Plenty of presidents at state universities across the country have come up with plans for growth and improvement. But few have created a strategy as rigorous, statistically driven or transparent as Dr. Todd’s, and few bring to the task his sense of mission.

“This is really the key: We grow up in Kentucky being told we’re not very good, we can’t compete,” he said at the lunch. “And that’s not true.”

“My point is that Kentucky needs to have big ideas,” he added.

Few ideas are bigger than the one that Dr. Todd, 61, began promoting when he became president in 2001: getting Kentucky into the top 20 among public research universities by 2020.

It took 18 months to develop a plan, with the aid of consultants, to enhance the academic reputation of a university best known for its basketball teams, which have won seven national championships.

The first step for Dr. Todd and his team was to devise their own system for rating state universities. It involves measuring indicators like graduation rates; the academic quality of entering students; the number of Ph.D.’s being produced; the scholarly citations and awards amassed by the faculty members; and the dollar value of federal research grants awarded to the faculty members. Then, they designated benchmarks by which the university’s progress could be measured over the years.

The data showed that the University of Kentucky had a long way to go. Only 60 percent of its students graduate within six years. It has fewer professors and fewer well-paid faculty members than the more prestigious flagship universities whose company it would like to join. By its own system, the university ranks 35 out of 88 public research universities.

The plan had no shortage of doubters, including many professors and trustees. Professors were put off by the title of the president’s plan — the Top 20 Business Plan — and its data-based methodology.

“It smacked of corporate management,” said Ernest J. Yanarella, a political science professor who has taught at the university for 37 years.

But Dr. Yanarella, like many others, ultimately supported the plan because, he said, it was rooted in substantive educational concerns.

“What Lee was emphasizing was the critical importance of this university to the economic well-being of the people of Kentucky,” said Dr. Yanarella, one of two faculty members on the university’s board.

There are already signs of momentum. The university, which had 45 endowed professorships a decade ago, now has 235. It won $300 million in federal research grants this year, compared with $100 million in 1997...

This from the New York Times.