The cover story of Time magazine, April 13, 1992, opened with the observation, "By the year 2000 American colleges and universities will be lean and mean, service-oriented and science-minded, multicultural, and increasingly diverse -- if they intend to survive their fiscal agony."

Since the onset of this decade, and even before, we at Potsdam College have been bracing our institutional fiber in response to such apocalyptic external forces. More specifically, we've focused on five priorities derived from our institutional mission that I have reasoned would appropriately position us for the 21st Century -- Diversity, Student- Centered Campus, Public Outreach, Effective Quality Teaching and Learning, and Efficient and Effective Management. I remain steadfast in my belief that these priorities are most appropriate to reinforce the values and mission of Potsdam College, especially when juxtaposed with the projections observed in the Time magazine citation. It is my hope that our priorities are sufficiently generic to allow us the flexibility to respond to the changing environment yet sufficiently focused to provide institutional direction when we are threatened.

Without a doubt, the fiscal agonies of the past four years have produced a leaner, and perhaps meaner, Potsdam College. There are fewer faculty and staff, fewer programs and higher tuition and fees. Yet our focus has remained service oriented.

* First and foremost is service to our students. I've called this "the student-centered campus." We must listen to what our students are saying to us.

* Second is service to our region and community. I've labeled this "public outreach." We must listen to what our public is saying to us.

* Further, the commitment to create a multicultural campus has been well documented with considerable programs in evidence. I've labeled this "diversity." Social justice and rapidly shifting demographics demand success here.

* Finally, given our emphasis on information technology during the past decade -- with personal computers widely available, with extended access to research resources, with teaching techniques and administrative databases -- we can lay claim, with only a slight stretch, to being science minded. I believe the latter is a reflection of our priorities in both effective and creative teaching and in efforts to manage the institution more efficiently.

All of this is not to say that everything is perfect here on the banks of the Racquette River, or that we don't have problems. Of course we have problems -- it is a tenet of the human condition. But I hasten to add that I believe we have the right people to solve these problems. What I am emphasizing is that our direction and priorities continue to be steady and consistent with external forces, and our strategies for resolving our problems are and will be congruent with the values and mission of Potsdam College. However, as the winds of change blow we must be ready and able to make adjustments in our course to achieve our 21st Century destination.

In the past years, I have delivered annually two formal State of the College addresses -- one in the fall semester and one in the spring term. The contents of these speeches usually focused on our priorities and goals with a program report addressing any new or proposed initiatives for the immediate future. Today I would like to modify that format by focusing on two issues -- both external forces or changes: student demand and technology. These two issues cut across and obviously impact each of our priorities, but most especially call attention to the importance of our campus planning process.

In the February 1993 issue of Policy Perspectives, a publication sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trust, it is suggested in strong terms that higher education's survival depends upon its capacity to repackage and redistribute goods and services in ways that respond more directly to consumers' tastes and lifestyles: "Businesses of every stripe find themselves dealing more directly with customers, offering more customized services and products, and in the process learning to apply new technologies to the task of reducing costs of both production and overhead."

The same societal forces are bearing upon higher education institutions as well. We must listen carefully to what our students, their parents and the taxpayers are telling us.

CURRENT STATUS

The changing student demand issues translate quickly to enrollment and related financial problems. In 1992-93, we fell 247 FTE short of making our planned enrollment targets. We were 80 FTE short in fall term 1992 and that was exacerbated by nearly 300 students who were expected to continue not returning in January 1993. Many of the non-returning students were part-time graduates who were affected by the poor economy, but nearly 70 undergraduate students withdrew to attend other colleges closer to home and/or to pursue programs that we did not have. So, clearly we have not only a recruitment problem but a retention problem as well.

An enrollment shortfall of this magnitude requires that we return funds to SUNY. The exact amount is as yet undetermined by Central Office. Thankfully, this loss of finances comes in the year when we did not experience serious mid-year budgetary cutbacks.

Is this recruitment-retention problem an aberration or is there a pattern developing? In an effort to answer this, an inspection of Fall 1993 application data is instructive. As of February 26, 1993, applications for admission among first-time students were 15% (500 students) less than on the same date in 1992; transfer applications lag 29% (297 students) behind 1992. While it provides little comfort, every state-operated college in SUNY is an average of 9% down from a year ago. Chancellor Johnstone has called several conferences with presidents and enrollment managers in an effort to deal with the problem.

As I announced in the fall 1992 State of the College address, the enrollment problem was likely to be the major issue before us. Fortunately, there are some short-term actions that can be taken now to improve our position. Later in this address I will suggest several intermediate and long term strategies. However, I believe that a closer look at our situation is in order.

As you are well aware, the enrollment issue at Potsdam College has for the past year occupied an inordinate amount of my time as well as that of my staff. For example, you may recall that the Director of Enrollment Management began reporting directly to me this past fall. The entire State University of New York is dealing with a shortfall in applications due to a decline in high school graduates and dismal economic times. Students are opting to attend college closer to home, at both the community college and four-year levels, or delaying the decision until finances become more viable for them to attend college. To compound the situation, private colleges are offering financial aid packages that in essence make them more attractive financially than SUNY. The overall impact to Potsdam is exacerbated by not having a population base of non-traditional students and part-time faculty to draw from, curricular offerings that, on the surface, may not be meeting the demand of students, and a scholarship base (common to state institutions) that cannot compete with the heavily endowed private colleges.

Our objective is to increase awareness of what Potsdam has to offer, thereby increasing our inquiry base and nurturing the interest of prospective students to the applied and, ultimately, enrolled status. I state this sequence to clarify that the larger the inquiry base and the larger the applicant pool, the stronger the academic preparation and profile of the Potsdam student -- such students have made this college successful and desirable for other students.

What are we doing to meet this objective?

1. We are targeting a recruiting strategy to those areas that have the highest visibility for Potsdam. With budget constraints, it is necessary to be as cost effective in our recruiting efforts as possible, without compromising the outreach efforts necessary for every institution.

2. We are suggesting a repackaging of our current curricular offerings that best market to students and parents. This is not advocating, necessarily, new majors, but presenting to the public how our programs can be applied successfully to present and future career choices. I'll have more specifics on this strategy later in this address.

3. We are implementing a timely and appropriate financial aid offer in the form of grants, scholarships and loans that will help counteract the private vs. public cost differential.

With the assistance of faculty, staff, students and alumni, efforts throughout this past year have been escalated in anticipation of the decline in applications. These have included telephone calls to inquiries and accepted students, new marketing publications, greater advertising outreach, student ambassador programs, local community solicitation, guidance counselor information sharing, high school departmental communication, personalized notes to students, national and international market evaluation -- to name a few.

In another very exciting development, we intend to use technology in our recruitment efforts. High school guidance counselors have connections to the national Internet; soon high school students will have their own Internet connections. When Potsdam College puts its college-wide information system on Internet this spring, every academic department should be represented with powerful marketing information about its programs, its faculty and the success of its alumni.

Every department on campus affects enrollment. A student who is satisfied with his or her education and the available services from first inquiry to graduation is an invaluable reference for future students. The time is at hand for all of us to be aware of the difficulties and the need for all of us to contribute our time, ideas and support in the continuing effort to gain a strong enrollment position. I am confident that with your help we can be successful in the short term (next fall). But what about the longer term (next decade)?

THE FUTURE

When confronted with financial hardship, our College has in general proven to be resilient and resourceful. There appears to be a growing understanding in our College community of the need to align our future goals and dollars. This is most evident as I monitor the tense debates concerning our residence hall and PACES budget deliberations. We have made painful reductions in programs and staff; we have postponed faculty and staff appointments; and salaries have not kept pace with inflation. In recent years, tuition and fee increases have allowed many more programs to remain a vital component of Potsdam College; unfortunately, these increases have also rendered our institution less accessible to area students. This is reflected in a downturn in our enrollments for this spring term as well as in an alarming reduction in applications for next fall. In my opinion, we have now arrived at that critical juncture when less-essential programs and personnel are no longer available as an offering for the next budget shortfall.

To secure our long term future we must be prepared to make adjustments in the basic structure of the enterprise. I believe that we are confronted with the same forces that have brought about the restructuring of other American enterprises. We must ask fundamental questions: what product or service does our public seek? What are the nature and needs of our students? How can we retain our effectiveness while improving efficiency? How can we retain the traditional ideals of liberal education in this world of change? How likely is it that budgetary restoration is likely to occur in New York?

While I have posed these questions rhetorically, permit me to offer a response to the latter. The New York Governor has proposed a $1 million increase (4.5%) for Potsdam College in 1993-94. Many of us have been, and will continue, our lobbying of the New York Legislature to ensure its approval. But this increase will cover only negotiated salary increases and increased utility costs; it does not represent restoration of any funds lost in past reductions. Since an additional $11.8 million is needed in restoration funds for SUNY to balance its accounts, it is conceivable this $11.8 million shortfall at the system level could translate to a net loss for Potsdam College. Yet, because of the horrific cuts of the past three years, we are in an optimistic mood.

My real point here is this -- the return of old revenues is not likely to occur. Thus, my challenge to all of us is to make adjustments in our enterprise. In order to have a coherent sense of vision and purpose, and a strategy for achieving our mission and goals in an era of change, we must be ready and able to make some adjustments in our course.

We must, above all, come to grips with the two overwhelming external forces previously mentioned that are most responsible for the reshaping of both private and public American enterprises: changes in technology and changes in student demand. Changes in technology have had a major impact on the Potsdam College campus. In the past few years, personal computers, modems, networks, fax and video machines have become fixtures on our campus. Electronic technology used for research, scholarship and administrative functions has altered our landscape. The focus for the final years of this decade must be on making strategic investments to increase academic productivity and re-examine administration processes for greater efficiency. We must now explore ways to utilize the full potential of technologies to reshape traditional ways of doing business. We must continue to develop new strategies that employ technology to improve learning--perhaps new kinds of courses or alternative modes of instruction. For example, utilizing inexpensive electronic teaching tools (i.e., electronic blackboards) that will allow us to bring instruction out to where the students are, whether that be in Watertown or Akwesasne or the correctional facilities. A recent visit with the faculty and staff of the Division of Information Services revealed a high level of sophisticated and creative use of technology available here at Potsdam College. Please give that staff a call. They have possible solutions for several of our problems. Technological innovation can provide opportunities for us to retain our effectiveness while making us more efficient.

Changing technologies are a prelude to shifting student needs and demands. Non-traditional students (23 years and older), who make up an expanding market share of college enrollments throughout New York, and increasingly at Potsdam College, often seek specific knowledge, skills and certificates as opposed to the traditional baccalaureate degree. Even more traditional age students tend to seek programs in the emerging fields of this last decade of the 20th Century. The community colleges have worked in this market for decades and, at present, the community college model is flourishing in spite of the stagnant economy. We do not wish to be a community college; however, we would do well to acquire their adaptive qualities. On a proactively adaptive note, in mid-February I received the following report from the Potsdam College Marketing Committee:

"While we realize the importance of maintaining our liberal arts curriculum and therefore our mission as an institution, we appear to be losing ground in our applicant pool due to the lack of vocationally oriented programs that address the growing needs of students as they relate to job growth in the 21st century. What students respond to is uniqueness in curriculum choice and success in future goals. We see a growing demand for programs of study in such areas as: Health, Environment, Informational Technology, Social Services, Special Education, Criminal Justice and Communication.

"The Marketing Committee wishes to bring this to your attention and asks that a faculty-driven committee, with additional members from the Marketing Committee, be assembled to investigate curriculum modification that would best capitalize on the future enrollment needs of Potsdam College. With the emphasis on each institution in the SUNY system being accountable for its enrollment, the timing for such a study appears to be critical. While continuing our efforts to presently market Potsdam College in an effective and innovative manner, this recommendation is presented to you with our strongest endorsement."

The Marketing Committee members have done what I requested of them last September. Through a study and analysis of market conditions and subsequent discussion, the committee has recommended that we explore a half dozen program changes in an effort to attract new students. This is one of those adjustments that I spoke of earlier -- we must respond to changing student demands.

In the short run we cannot, and in the long run it may not even be necessary to, introduce new programs in business, nursing or technology, but we must repackage and market what we already do in health sciences, environmental studies, social services and information technology. We may in the long run have to modify our commitment to the pure liberal arts curriculum, but right now -- and for next year -- we must think anew about those courses and those programs which are already offered in our liberal arts curriculum that may directly respond to students who are increasingly concerned about careers and employment. For example, prospective employers should be confident that all graduates of Potsdam College are able to use the information technology tools appropriate to their major -- to "hit the ground running" in their first job after graduation.

I have asked the Director of Enrollment Management to work with the Dean of Liberal Studies and appropriate faculty and department chairs to define model SIIM's -- Student Initiated Independent Majors -- and other concentrations and programs within our curriculum that we can market to students starting this fall. No faculty prerogatives will be violated; no new majors or minors will be created without Faculty Assembly approval; but we will have new curricular initiatives in key areas identified by the Marketing Committee as attractive to potential students. On a very positive note, on March 15 I hand delivered the School of Professional Studies' new graduate degree authorization request for a special education program to Provost Burke at SUNY Central. I also spoke with several key staff concerning their support for this vitally needed new program for Potsdam College. In that same positive spirit, I ask each department to make whatever adjustments are necessary in curriculum, planning, scheduling, recruiting and retention to assist the College in resolving a potential enrollment shortfall.

More to the point, listen to our students and to our prospective students. What are they telling us? I urge all faculty, staff and students to respond energetically and supportively to this effort. The viability of Potsdam College may depend upon your participation. These are only a few, but important, adjustments. Our mission remains intact! We must respond rapidly. As Ralph Waldo Emerson has said "While traveling across thin ice our only safety is our speed."

We will also need more intermediate and longer term plans and implementation strategies that respond to changing student demands and technology with fewer financial resources. Now the classic dilemma: How to do more and better with less! To that end, I will look with confidence to our participative campus planning process to provide answers to these vexing questions. Permit me to review the nature of our College-wide planning initiatives.

Planning efforts recently completed and others underway or nearing completion should give us increased confidence in the College's ability to position itself more competitively, to serve students better, and to create an even more effective teaching-learning environment in the years ahead. The Middle States Self-Study and the preliminary Marketing Committee Study, both completed last spring, resulted in a great many valuable recommendations for dramatically improving campus programs and services in just about every facet of our institutional mission. Progress in completing the Middle States Evaluation Team's recommendations will be monitored by the College Planning Committee. Additionally, each member of my Executive Staff is developing action plans for implementing these changes beginning in the 1993-94 academic year. This year I have also established a permanent Marketing Committee which is responsible for identifying both short and long range marketing problems, opportunities and strategies. Its first recommendation has been accepted, as mentioned earlier in this address. I look forward to its next set of recommendations.

The College Planning Committee, now a permanent committee of the Faculty Assembly, is currently in the process of studying the Middle States team's recommendations, the Marketing Report recommendations, the President's Goals for 1990-95, the SUNY 2000 Master Plan and our own current Master Plan Update. The Planning Committee's work will result in a revised Strategic Plan for the College. The Planning Committee will conduct review sessions with the vice-presidents, deans, directors and department chairs in preparing its recommendations for the most important goals for the College over the next three to five years. The resultant campus Strategic Plan will be a highly participative effort based upon thorough campus consultation and the use of the most recent planning efforts noted earlier. I have asked the Committee to complete its work by the middle of the fall semester, 1993.

I want to say a few words about the campus Master Plan Update I referred to a moment ago. As most of you know, the Master Plan Update is the first major, coordinated update of our physical facilities and overall campus layout in about 25 years and will, in turn, provide the foundations for accommodating our programs and activities for the next 25 years. While there are several areas of the Master Plan still under study, I am hopeful that the final plan document will be completed by the SUNY Central master plan office later this spring. The issues of changing student demands and technology are addressed in the plan.

The Master Plan work has been going on for the past two years and has involved faculty, staff and students from all areas of the campus with the focus on physical improvements and greater efficiencies for our academic programs and student services. I want to thank all of you here today who shared your knowledge, experience and vision for Potsdam College and helped shape the priorities for our Master Plan. Overall, it appears that the Master Plan will call for some $40 to $50 million in capital construction and rehabilitation funds for our campus beginning about 1997.

Let me briefly review some of the major elements of the Plan:

* expansion and technological upgrading of Crumb Library

* rehabilitation of Satterlee Hall, including enhancement of academic facilities for both Professional Studies and Liberal Studies

* construction of an in-fill building between the College Store and Thatcher Hall to accommodate an enlarged bookstore and more centralized dining facilities

* improvements in student activity spaces and student organization offices as well as a 24-hour computer study center and post office in the Student Union

* creation of a campus community center area with a pedestrian mall made possible by the closing of Barrington Drive between Lehman Hall and Sisson Hall

* relocation of some key student services closer to the core of the campus community center

While these are some of the highlights of the Master Plan to date, there is another, more immediate, step being taken in connection with the Plan. The SUNY Construction Fund has made available $200,000 for funding of classroom improvements across the campus. These funds represent extra dollars to the College that are not a regular part of our budget allocation. I am indeed grateful to SUNY Central for this generous consignment. A classroom modernization committee, chaired by Kari Blinn, has recently submitted a report to me outlining several recommendations based upon months of consultation with faculty, staff and students. I have accepted these recommendations and have submitted a project request to the State University Construction Fund. I have asked Bill Fisher to work with SUNY staff to facilitate the design process in anticipation of having work begin on the classroom improvements as early as this summer. Recommended projects include technological and pedagogical modernization of six to eight classrooms as well as the purchase of teaching tools such as VCR's and multi-media carts. This project could not be more timely in view of our needs.

The State of the College address in the fall term will focus on the recommendations of the College-wide Planning Committee. Dr. Jack Riordan continues to perform yeoman service to the College in coordinating all campus planning activities.

To deal more specifically with the changing technology issues I will meet with the campus Information Services Oversight Committee chaired by Dr. Mark Coleman and the staff of the Information Services Division to discuss their efforts to:

1. Strengthen the mission for Potsdam College's Information Services Division in response to the challenges outlined here today

2. Update the Campus Computing Plan

3. Develop a College-wide Information System

4. Explore ways through technology to retain our effectiveness and improve our efficiency.

The colleges and universities that will remain strong well into the 21st Century are those which have adapted to this new age of information technology. Accordingly, I want to ensure the coordination and maintenance of information technology and services on our campus. We must be confident that we are leveraging our investment in this area for the maximum benefit of Potsdam College over the coming five years.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

In summary, we must now explore ways to utilize the full potential of technologies to re-shape traditional ways of operating our College and to meet student demands. We must continue to develop new strategies that employ technology to improve learning and teaching, efficiency and effectiveness -- and, likewise, explore new strategies that employ technology to bring instruction to new markets and in order to efficiently and effectively administer the institution.

External forces such as changing student demands and changes in technology will continue to provide challenges for Potsdam College. I continue to believe that progress toward accomplishing our five priorities through participative, short and long term planning and implementation will position Potsdam College well in the decades before us. We must continue to be flexible and responsive to societal, economic and technological forces and yet remain extraordinarily focused in an institutional direction when threats appear on the horizon. Again, we must listen to our students and their parents.

To repeat my opening -- The cover story of Time magazine April 13, 1992, opened with the observation, "By the year 2000 American colleges and universities will be lean and mean, service oriented and science minded, multicultural, and increasingly diverse -- if they intend to survive their fiscal agony."

With your continued support and increased commitment to the problems, programs and procedures outlined here today, Potsdam College will not just survive but flourish as it has for 177 years. This is a clarion call for action. I need your help.

Thank you.