UM Curators meeting via tweets
Like most of you, I am not at the University of Missouri Board of Curators meeting in Columbia today. But I am listening in to parts of it through a live audio stream. And for the first time, I am also following it via tweets. Yes, showing that they are indeed down with the kiddos these days, the communications office of the UM system is tweeting from the meeting.
So here is a recap of the meeting thus far via tweets:
- BF praises @mutigersdotcom coach Mike Alden for dedication to athletics, community values…. from HootSuite (”BF” is curator Bo Frasier)
- ^BF wishes @mutigers good luck against Longhorns for @MU_Homecoming game…….
- Forsee: “Our planning view should be … that we could have as much as a 10 percent challenge to our operating budget.”……..
- Forsee calls for renewed emphasis on boosting faculty, research base
- Citing tough economy, emerging trends affecting higher ed, Forsee calls for new revenue sources, continued cost diligence: http://ow.ly/waWd
- Williamson discussing @mumedicine funding issues, says school is working to raise funding rankings……Hal Williamson, vice chancellor of University of Missouri Health System)
- Williamson discussing H1N1, flu issues and challenges they present…..
So there you have it. But for those of you who are more old school, and prefer to get your news updates in snippets longer than 140 characters, here is also a press release the university put out about Forsee’s comments at today’s meeting:
Citing tough economy, emerging trends affecting higher education, President Forsee calls for new revenue sources, continued cost diligence, ‘transformative measures’
University to undertake ‘fundamental re-examination’ at the heart of what it does: ‘the engagement of students, faculty in learning process’
COLUMBIA, Mo.-After more than a year of cost-cutting measures that achieved nearly $64 million in savings and reinvestment in priority programs, University of Missouri System President Gary D. Forsee today told curators that “there is more we can-and need-to do.”
Forsee outlined nearly a dozen major national issues and trends affecting America’s higher education landscape, and then focused on a number of specific challenges for Missouri, ranging from the economy and declining funds for higher education to the need for more graduates in science, engineering, math, technology (STEM) and the health care professions.
“Our university’s four campuses and health system must respond, must anticipate and must be innovative in solutions” to the unprecedented level of change affecting higher education and the nation’s economy.
He added that he and his colleagues are engaged with key stakeholders to evaluate and examine a range of “new ways to maintain the university’s core mission of quality teaching, making the student-faculty experience our No. 1 priority.”
Forsee said that “how we navigate the next 10 years will determine the success of our institution in 2020. This next decade must be a transformational time. We need to make sure Missourians can continue to get a great education that remains as affordable and accessible as it is today.”
He said a number of specific actions the university will pursue include:
- Continued budget and cost diligence
- Making competitive salaries and benefits a strategic priority
- The convening of regional forums (campus-focused) on capital project funding
- Exploring elements of the learning process that can strengthen engagement between faculty and students and improve affordability, including e-learning, year-round programs, better alignment with community colleges and high schools, and three-year or “no-frills” degrees; and
- Pursuit of new revenue sources-from partnerships such as the Tiger Institute and initiatives that result in jobs and start-up companies, and applying market-based approaches to tuition across the system’s four campuses, to partnering with the state-as was done with Caring for Missourians-to create a match for grants in the STEM disciplines.
In December, Forsee said he plans to review with the curators progress made on the five strategic priorities he spelled out earlier this year: http://www.umsystem.edu/ums/curators/meetings/20090206_stateofuniversity.pdf.
This review will include findings from two task forces-one of which is identifying programs offered by the University of Missouri System to improve students’ interest in going to college and their academic readiness for post-secondary success. The other is taking a look at how well the university is preparing students to meet the strategic workforce needs of employers and how to cultivate a tighter synergy with public and private sector organizations.
Oh yeah, and, um, I have a Twitter page, too. It’s been on a long hiatus, but I am hoping to now become a more dedicated tweeter (twitterer?). Check it out at www.twitter.com/kavitakumar. OK, so it’s a work in progress. But I promise, the tweets will start coming.
See, I’m down with the kiddos, too. 
The Grade is the St. Louis region’s premier blog on education and child welfare. To read other recent posts, go to www.stltoday.com/thegrade.
Kavita Kumar covers higher education for the Post-Dispatch. 
I’m disappointed you couldn’t actually be in Columbia for the curators’ meeting. I know there is a cost involved in sending a reporter to the meetings, and I’ve sat through my share of yawn-inducing university administration meetings. (I covered higher education in Oklahoma in the mid 90s.) But when we’re dealing with such an influential body facing so many issues and serving so many people, having a person — or two — present is such a vital service to taxpayers and to the state.
Tweeting during an official meeting? This is the most idiotic thing I have ever heard. Social media platforms have their place. People need to try to stop trying to fit them into every aspect of life.