Haas opens academic year with message of accountability

Before a standing-room-only crowd of faculty and staff members, President Thomas J. Haas opened the academic year with a clear message about accountability and gave a "dashboard of indicators" to measure performance that goes beyond tuition rates.

Speaking before the fall convocation ceremony August 24, Haas told the audience that enrollment for the fall is projected at 23,500. The largest number of students ever at Grand Valley comes at a time, he said, when Michigan’s economy is the most unpredictable.

“This development — managed enrollment growth coupled with an unstable state economy — presents us with challenges and opportunities,” he said. “How we meet them will determine whether Grand Valley continues to be the most desirable university in our cohort.”

Haas said he understands that discussion about increasing tuition rates while keeping higher education affordable are important components of accountability. But they are not the only factors, he said.

“Other measures: retention and graduation rates, access, program and research offerings, financial stewardship, economic development, and the success of our graduates are actually the best indicators of how universities perform,” he said. “Unfortunately, these key indicators have been wholly absent from the debate in Lansing. This needs to change.”
The university’s performance demonstrates its accountability, Haas said.

Among the statistics he relayed were the following:
• 97 percent of Grand Valley graduates are working or enrolled in graduate school

• 88 percent of working graduates are employed in Michigan

• The freshman-to-sophomore retention rate is third best in the state.

“Student success is job one. We must and will be accountable and as such those who support us can be confident that the benefit to our state and region will increase every year,” he said.

Haas concluded his 30-minute opening address with five imperatives for the upcoming year: embrace diversity, broaden the base for financial support, manage enrollment, continue facilities master planning and human resources planning.

Speaking to new students at convocation, Haas continued his messaging and told the Fieldhouse audience that Grand Valley delivers on its promises.

“We promised you a caring faculty when we recruited you to Grand Valley and that is exactly what you will find,” he said. “You will also find that these teachers are also researchers involved in active scholarship and mentors involved in the larger community.”

He was joined in addressing the convocation audience by Provost Gayle R. Davis, Chair of University Academic Senate Rob Franciosi and Student Senate President Frank Foster. Franciosi, professor of English, encouraged students to embrace their new surroundings and broaden their horizons.

“Culture does manifest itself to some extent on our surfaces,” he said. “Why else are we on stage wearing these outfits, except as gestures toward our academic history and culture. Part of intellectual maturity, however, is learning to engage external surfaces as much as possible from the inside. The only way to do that, to my mind, is first to plumb the depths of who you are — and where you are.”

Foster advised new students to participate in student clubs and organizations and enjoy being part of a community.

The faculty awards that are a traditional highlight at convocation will be presented during a February ceremony.

To read President Haas' entire Faculty/Staff address, click here. To read his convocation speech, click here.