Good afternoon. Thank you for joining me for this annual Founders Day Convocation. I begin by congratulating today’s awardees and welcome their family and friends to this assembly.

 

Today’s Convocation is historic in that we celebrate the 125th anniversary of Creighton University. It is, indeed, tempting to dwell nostalgically on the accomplishments of the last twelve and a half decades; but being the disciplined speaker I am, ours will be a fleeting glance at the past. It is equally tempting to stop and inventory our present wellness. That, too, shall be done with equal brevity. It is, of course, the past and the present that provide the threshold to the future and to the Creighton University of tomorrow.

In 1878 the estate of Edward Creighton, executed by his wife Mary Lucretia, provided the Creighton College with a building, six acres of land and $100,000. As my predecessor Mike Morrison liked to say, "And today we still have all three!" The doors on the east front of the Administration Building opened in September 1878 to 120 eager students and a faculty of five Jesuits and two lay persons, one of whom was a woman.

 

In September 1879 a local journalist wrote:

 

"The College has entered its second year, with the prestige of success of an unequivocal kind...it has established itself in the community, as is evidenced by its increased attendance and the uniform kindliness of expression with which it is spoken of in our midst...it has achieved a success which is gratifying and commendable."

 

As we gather here today it is evident that across the generations the Creighton College truly has attained the high expectations that the Omaha community set for it when classes began five score and five years ago. For today Creighton University is "eminently successful" and has "achieved successes that are both gratifying and commendable."

 

We build on the accomplishments of the likes of Edward and John Creighton, their spouses Mary Lucretia and Sara Emily, the McShane and the Furay families; Jesuit giants Frs. Shaffel, Dowling, Rigge, Reinert, Kelly, Linn and Morrison; the names of our lay colleagues and graduates alike have shaped this community-names such as Criss, Begley, Daly, Pittman, Ricketts, Gibson, the Vacanti brothers, Klutznick, Peter, Silas, Abrahams, Blue Spruce, Keough, Johanns and Michael Anderson.

 

• The Creighton of today is nationally recognized as the leading comprehensive university in the Midwest;
• It is nationally acknowledged as a leader in providing community service to the needy of our region and far beyond the city limits;
• It is known for its cutting edge research in hereditary cancer, bone density, osteoporosis and Alzheimer’s disease;
• Creighton is synonymous with student centered education and the setting for significant undergraduate student research;
• Creighton is a faith-based institution faithful to its Catholic identity and mission; a mission lived out in significant service to the local church and to the interfaith communities of greater Omaha;
• Nationally recognized for the success of its athletic programs-women and men-on the fields and courts but most importantly successful in the classroom and in graduation box scores;
• Home to a Native American studies program unique for a Jesuit campus, enrolling a growing community of Native American students;
• Exhibits a newly forged fiscal stability, disciplined hiring and spending policies;
• An impressive array of construction and renovation projects are transforming the face of the campus: Hixson-Lied Science Building, Rigge and Criss renovations, the soccer field, junior-senior housing, the CUMC Cancer Center, the Center for Aging and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit;
• The Office of Health Sciences Multicultural and Community Affairs is applying a multi-million dollar grant to the recruitment of minority students and faculty and thus enhances our ability to deliver health care to diverse populations;
• Our 125 celebrations have been extraordinarily successful in the quantity, quality and diversity of programs. >From the Law School’s discussion of Mexican migration to Nebraska to the international forum presented by the Dental School and the Center for Health Policy and Ethics. These and all other 125 events showcase the academic quality of the University and the commitment of students and faculty alike to reflect on the serious issues of the day;
• You may have noticed a bit more blue on campus and at athletic events. The "Getting Blue" concept developed by Residence Life, Student Activities, Creighton student government and Athletics began a new tradition-game day shirts, tailgates and picnics on the mall have contributed to enhance student morale and participation;
• The 03-04 first year enrollment was the result of coordinated efforts from across the campus: Admissions and Financial Aid, Residence Life and University Relations. Over 250 alumni volunteers assisted the Undergraduate Admissions Office in student recruitment efforts across the country.

The question before us is this: As we embark on the next 125 years, what is the best direction to take to enhance the educational experience of our students? This is a challenging question because we have in place a nationally recognized quality education marked by our student-centered approach and faith-based mission.

 

From my perspective there is only one response as we cross the threshold of our future. We cannot turn back and we cannot stop to luxuriate on our present wellness. Rather we have to move forward with boldness.

 

We have to take bold steps to create our future, a deliberate and "willed future," as the premier, national, comprehensive university of our size and complexity. While presently regionally dominant we will strive to be nationally prominent in what we do best. We will seek a bold tomorrow!

 

That prominence will come not from an expanded campus, or an enriched endowment, or an enhanced role in the Omaha community, or from athletic championships. To be sure all of those elements will play a part in this quest for national prominence.

 

The engine driving our future, however, is our renewed commitment to academic quality; an enhanced dedication to the fundamental activities of a university-creating, preserving, integrating, transmitting and applying knowledge. That is to say an enhanced commitment on the part of the Creighton faculty to teaching and research; and a renewed commitment by the Creighton staff to student-centered, student-nurtured service and support.

 

In what follows I will briefly touch upon (1) the external environment that will influence our future; (2) share strategies for an academic renaissance; (3) and reflect on our mission and identity as we commence the next century.

Creighton, like every institution, cannot function in a vacuum, indifferent to local, national and international events, trends and forces. September 11 irrevocably altered that. The external environment must be monitored closely, especially in these three clustered indexes.

 

1. Demographics:
• Over the next decade Nebraska will experience a 7% decline in high school graduates; in Iowa it will be an 8% decline. The growth will be in the west, Sunbelt, Florida and the southeast. And that growth will be significant.
• By 2020 the minority population will be 35% of the nation’s population.
• By 2015 64% of America’s student population will be students of color.
• Global terrorism will continue to have a negative impact on the flow of international students to America’s campuses.
• Obviously Creighton must address these factors as we manage our future enrollments. These challenges are real and not in our control.
2. Economics:

Economics will be another factor of significance.

• Revenue shortfall will continue to plague state budgets resulting in reduced support for state funded institutions. These institutions will turn to the private sector to make up their shortfall. At the same time these institutions, experiencing the same demographic pressures as Creighton, will aggressively recruit for the same students.
• Other economic considerations include college costs and affordability; the debt load of graduating students; long-term endowment performance; fund-raising opportunities for the shrinking philanthropic dollars; and the increasingly costly federally mandated regulations across all educational and health care institutions.

      3.  Technology:

Technology is changing the way we live. Technology is changing the face of the University. The reality is that the fundamental activities of the University are being deeply affected by ever evolving technological factors.

 

It has been noted: "Because information technology changes the relationship between people and knowledge, it is likely to have a profound impact on both the mission and function of the university." (Futures Forum 2003, p.13.)

Given this context, what is Creighton to do to achieve a renaissance of academic quality? The genesis of this initiative is found in the Strategic Plan, Project 125, which states: "We will nurture Creighton’s academic excellence...where model teacher-scholars engage students in innovative, integrated and values-centered learning, research and patient care.

 

The remaining comments focus on the academic heart of the Creighton enterprise - to those areas under the competent batons of Prof. Wiseman and Dr. Enarson.

 

In preparing these remarks I sketched out five expected outcomes of the Creighton graduate:

 

1. A disciplinary competence and/or a professional proficiency aided by a liberal education and a global perspective;
2. Ethically competent and values centered;
3. Possess a disposition towards service and an engaged civic responsibility;
4. An ability to communicate-written, verbal and technical; and
5. A disposition towards life-long learning.

 

You are already doing an excellent job in our classrooms, laboratories, and clinics. Many of these outcomes presently "mark" the Creighton graduate-undergrad and professional. So how do we improve the process and the outcome?

 

The answer resides in an interwoven tapestry of enhanced technology, cooperation and collaboration across academic units, creative and timely courses, programs, and research design, and on-going program review. All guided, of course, by fiscal discipline and fiscal reality.

 

(A) An understanding and effective use of technology is essential for students and faculty alike.

 

For Creighton the exciting results of integrating the high tech knowledge age into our quality academic programs has two distinct but related goals. First, the growth and endorsement of "E"-learning (electronic learning) will encourage and sustain learning communities that enhance the educational, personal and career development of our students.

 

Second, the integration of learning information technologies into quality programs, curricula and administrative processes are guided by our vision of a Creighton "learning network."

 

A primary goal of the learning network is to create an "on-demand and around-the-clock" learning environment that is rich in resources that are accessible in the places that we gather, live and work-residence halls, classrooms, libraries. This goal seeks to integrate information and communication technologies within and beyond the classroom and to create an "anywhere, anytime access" learning network which ensures students and faculty a universal and equal access to information technologies and resources.

 

The goal is to seamlessly integrate technology into our learning communities. To that end we will - among other things:

 

• Provide technically rich teaching spaces across campus;
• Extend our wireless network;
• Implement a unified e-mail and calendar system;
• Create diagnostic and study tools for students to evaluate their progress, measure their skills and remedy their deficiencies;
• Support online learning and collaboration;
• Provide greater access to information and research sources.

 

It is our intent that the Creighton learning network will strengthen the University’s strong tradition of academic excellence by combining it with advanced technological infrastructure to create a fully connected living and learning environment.

 

(B) The focus of any academic renaissance at a university of our complexity and size must be interdisciplinary in nature-combining the research skills of scientists with the acumen of business professionals and the communication skills of educators and lawyers.

 

That dimension of cross-unit collaboration inspired the Hixson-Lied Science Building and it must continue to inspire our work today. But such work can only commence in earnest when the University supports opportunities that encourage faculty from across the University to consult and collaborate with each other and share their interests.

 

To that end this spring Vice Presidents Wiseman and Enarson will host Creighton’s first ever joint "academic forum," allowing faculty from all schools and colleges to discuss their work with each other.

 

In a similar vein, the University has created a "Board of Undergraduate Studies" that brings together the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Business Administration, the School of Nursing, the School of Pharmacy and Health Professions and University College (among its other members) to coordinate and discuss issues and programs that specifically impact the quality of undergraduate education.

 

We have also hired a "Director of Freshman Programs" to create a more holistic freshman experience and expanded our efforts to make service learning more readily available across the undergraduate curriculum for interested faculty and students.

 

Then too, through our "Office of Teaching, Learning and Assessment," we are working to instill a University-wide culture of assessment that is critical to our identity-enabling us to measure whether and how well we do what we say we do: graduating students who will act ethically; who have developed a sense of service and civic responsibility; who can demonstrate competence in their chosen field of study, and who can communicate effectively. In short are the "marks" of the Creighton graduate, referenced earlier, an accurate reflection of a Creighton-educated person?

 

At the more specific level, the Colleges of Arts and Sciences and Business Administration have expanded their faculty to meet student needs and they have embraced opportunities for student travel, student summer research and student community life using incentive monies from Academic Affairs. These funds, I might add, have been created by a more stable and predictable administration of our budget.

 

The Graduate School has developed a highly successful Masters of Arts in Ministry, also using a distance component.

 

It should be noted that University College and Summer Sessions has developed a cadre of special programs that have allowed it to become completely self-supporting!

 

(C) Now, as we turn to the Health Sciences, there are clearly defined trends afoot to enhance the overall quality of our commitment to value-centered education, research and patient care.

 

It is the intent over the next 10-15 years to transform our Health Sciences education, research and clinical missions to achieve a new threshold of excellence in all programs. Critical to our success in this area will be information technology. It is Creighton’s intent to be nationally known for innovation in the application of educational technology to promote lifelong learning in health care.

 

Creighton’s Health Science programs will maintain our commitment to a values-based education. Given the present crisis in health care, many question whether the health professions can retain the core values on which they were founded. Creighton will continue to stand as a beacon to others in its commitment to professionalism and the ethical development of our students. Key to this will be our continued dedication to service in the Omaha community and beyond. For service is a Creighton hallmark!

 

Creighton will take the lead in interprofessional education. Historically our efforts have been unsuccessfully focused on the provision of elective opportunities for students from the various Health Science schools. Today, the Health Science Deans working with Dr. Richard O’Brien, as Director of Interprofessional Education, have committed to a new paradigm for interprofessional education "emphasizing evidence based practice, quality improvement approaches and informatics."

 

Research is a second component of this commitment to academic excellence. In the past, Creighton has been noted for selected areas of research excellence. As we move forward we will be placing renewed emphasis on the importance of our research programs and encourage joint research ventures. This commitment to research growth extends across the spectrum of basic, translational, clinical and public health research.

 

The School of Medicine has embarked on a planning process for the future of its research programs. At the same time, a University committee chaired by Dr. Robert Heaney is exploring strategies to enhance the growth of clinical research at the University. Common to both endeavors is a look at what core facility and support personnel are needed to grow our research mission.

 

The third component of our commitment to excellence is our clinical service mission. The branding of "Creighton University Medical Center" has been highly successful in creating a unified Creighton clinical presence in our community. Our clinical mission is growing and we are recognized locally and regionally for excellence in multiple areas. Our challenge is to continue to develop clinical programs and enhance patient satisfaction.

 

In partnership with the hospital, the Creighton University Medical Center will strive to become the academic medical center of choice in our region with a strong and rigorous referral network enhanced by our relationships with our graduates, community, physicians and hospitals. The growth of our clinical programs will necessitate - in the not too distant future - new facilities.

 

Creighton is clearly on the move. We have achieved regional dominance and national prominence in many areas of the University. As we move into our second 125 years we are crossing a new threshold of excellence. Our expectations for ourselves are higher and must be so to continue to move forward!

 

(D) Finally, you may recall, last year, I asked for unit specific and program specific review. I am happy to report much of that has taken place or is presently underway. Law, Athletics, Pharmacy, OT, Nursing, the Education Department, and Medicine recently had successful accreditation visits. Departmental reviews are ongoing in Arts and Sciences. As an institution, Creighton must be focused especially in the areas of teaching, learning and assessment.

 

As I said last year: "The challenge for deans and faculty is to seize this opportunity; to do it seriously, honestly, and creatively." So it remains today. Program review is an essential part of this academic renaissance.