Report of the President 2008-09

On a beautiful (and hot!) late spring morning in May, I had the pleasure of presiding over my seventh Guilford College Commencement. There’s nothing like the sight of hundreds of black robes and mortarboards making their way through the stately trees on the quadrangle lawn, their families, friends and professors watching with pride.

Trustee Charlotte Roberts, the invited speaker, told the soon-to-be graduates how she daily integrates the values from her Quaker upbringing with her responsibilities as president of a management consulting firm. She urged them to “find the right work for you and your soul,” and to try and see “that of God” in the people around them.

“Being generous in your relationships by seeing the Divine in others, listening deeply to discover who you are in community and living simply create a formula for weathering the oscillations in any economy,” she said. 

And oscillations we have certainly had. It’s difficult to recall a year with so many economic and political twists and turns as 2008-09. But living and managing by our core values – the equality of all in our community, gentle insistence on long-term stewardship, and others – Guilford emerged from the year not just having survived, but having exceeded many of its goals.

Process and Communication

You may recall the decision last summer to cut $2.7 million from our budget, based on a predicted shortfall in enrollment. It wasn’t an easy decision, knowing that this would mean no salary increases for employees and eliminating the equivalent of 20 full-time positions (mostly vacant and part-time positions). Optimism is a virtue, but not when planning a budget. We simply could not ignore the reality that, with operating income mostly dependent on student tuition and fees, expenses would need to be reduced.

Guilford’s leadership, including the faculty-led Budget Committee, made a great effort to be open about the need for the budget reductions and what form these cuts would take. Fortunately, our longstanding practice of communicating openly about the state of the college’s finances in numerous campus forums prepared our community for these steps.

These decisions were made and implemented in the summer and fall, preceding the collapse of the credit markets. Last winter, while other organizations were struggling to come to the realization that the sky had fallen, Guilford’s caution (and a better-than-expected spring enrollment) translated into a small budget surplus. As a result, we were able to deliver modest bonuses to our employees.

Sharing What We’ve Learned

One of my great personal pleasures is teaching in the executive programs sponsored by the Harvard Institutes on Higher Education, as I’ve done each summer since 1983. The current heads of many North Carolina colleges and universities have taken the courses I teach in finance.

During the past year, I’ve also been fortunate to be able to share what Guilford has learned from tough decision-making in our past with a wider audience. I’ve conducted seminars, workshops and Webinars on strategy and finance – particularly in a recession – for the Association of Science-Technology Centers, Council of Independent Colleges, National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, N.C. Independent Colleges and Universities and Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges. Earlier this spring, The Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed.com asked me to write commentaries about how Guilford’s Quaker principles help us respectfully and effectively communicate with one another during trying times.

Given my background in finance, I enjoy speaking and writing about the topic on a regular basis. And thanks in part to the leadership and engagement of so many in the Guilford community, I have specific advice and examples to share. From the trustees who volunteer time and expertise to the faculty who serve on the Budget Committee to the students who many times led the discussion about what Guilford is and should be – most of the people who deserve credit for our success will never get a byline in The Chronicle of Higher Education. But all of them make the college a place I’m proud to represent.

Excellence In and Out of the Classroom

Sonya Petroff ’09 presented her independent study project, “To Dance a Mask.” She hand-carved this mask with the help of an Indonesian master.

In February, Guilford’s second Undergraduate Symposium featured the work of nearly 100 students in every academic discipline who shared their best work in talks, presentations and creative performances.

Organizing the symposium is an incredible undertaking. Faculty from areas as disparate as chemistry, English and sport studies volunteered to collect and evaluate submitted projects, and then scheduled an afternoon of over 60 presentations scattered in several campus buildings. Students who have completed research over summer internships or as part of a senior thesis have the opportunity to present their work to the wider campus community.

Students tell us that it also helps them to have presentation experience as they leave Guilford for graduate school or professions. One of the advantages that a small college has over larger universities is this focus on individual learning opportunities, and also on interdisciplinary experiences. When a geology major sets up a poster on a hydrology study in the Carnegie Room next to a student looking at the effect of ankle-taping on athletes, they learn from one another in the best way.

During that same period, the men’s basketball team was quietly racking up wins (including Coach Tom Palombo’s 100th Guilford win). But after losing in the opening round of the ODAC Tournament, even the team was surprised to find itself advancing through the NCAA Tournament in March. A third-place national finish was the best since the 1973 NAIA Championship season.

That weekend in Salem, Va., wasn’t just memorable because of the student-athletes’ on-court performance. A bus-load of students travelled to Salem, Va., to support the Quakers in their semifinal game against eventual champion Washington University (Mo.). Other students, faculty and staff also made the trek for the weekend. It was gratifying to see so many alumni, including former Guilford basketball players, filling the stands.

Palombo and players like Clay Henson ’10 and Tyler Sanborn ’10 won post-season honors. But we’re just as proud of the fact that 11 of these players made Guilford’s student-athlete honor roll (a GPA of 3.0 or higher), including three who earned Academic All-ODAC honors.

Reunions of Friends

Mary Hobbs Hall residents reconnected at the reunion

Two special events during the past year brought together dear Guilford friends, many of whom had not returned to campus in many years.

In April, nearly 200 women who lived in Mary Hobbs Hall returned to campus for a long-anticipated reunion. Mary Hobbs was unique in that it operated as a cooperative for 90 years, with the residents preparing meals and handling all of the cleaning and other chores. Naturally, this sense of common cause helped forge friendships between the former housemates that in some cases have persisted for decades.

On that beautiful weekend, women who lived in Hobbs during different eras compared experiences. The Friends Historical Collection took advantage of the gathering to collect oral history interviews, which will provide valuable insights to future generations.

Former “Hobbs girls” volunteered hours upon hours of their time to pull together this wonderful event. They are part of a rich legacy at Guilford, and I hope that you’ll join me in thanking them for their commitment.

January’s dedication of the court in Ragan-Brown Field House to legendary men’s basketball and golf coach Jack Jensen turned into a mini-reunion of past student-athletes. As part of the college’s first Basketball Legacy Weekend on Jan. 30-31, we also honored six former players, hanging from the rafters replicas of jerseys worn by Dan Kuzma ’64, Bob Kauffman ’68, M.L. Carr ’73, World B. Free ’75, Elizabeth Parker Haskins ’76 and Laura Haynes Spainhour ’98. All are role models for leadership on the court and in the community.

Jensen, as most of you probably already know, coached four of Guilford’s five national champion teams – one in basketball (1973) and three in golf (1989, 2002 and 2005). But on the day the basketball court was named for him, Jensen was characteristically humble, thanking his family and recognizing all of the past student-athletes present.

“All of this is about relationships, and friendships made,” he said. I couldn’t agree more.

Bryan Series

The Bryan Series remains one of Guilford’s most noticeable public faces. Since 1996, the annual speakers series has presented talks by many of the leading intellectuals and public figures of the day: Tom Friedman (the very first Bryan Series speaker in 1996), Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell, Desmond Tutu, Toni Morrison and many, many more.

This year, for the first time since the series moved to War Memorial Auditorium and began public seating, it sold out on a subscription basis. Guilford typically holds back tickets which are distributed free to students, faculty and staff; other than these, every other seat in War Memorial was held by a season-ticket holder. It was indeed a strong lineup of speakers: authors Khaled Hosseini, Sir Salman Rushdie and Anna Quindlen, broadcast journalist Christiane Amanpour and former State Department official James Rubin.

Each of the speakers in the Bryan Series also visits with a small group of students for about an hour on campus before the public event in the evening. Imagine being an 18-year-old religious studies major and having the chance to talk with Sir Salman Rushdie about his depictions of Islam. Imagine being the editor of The Guilfordian and getting to talk with Christiane Amanpour or Anna Quindlen about the state of modern journalism.

Campus Visitors of Note

Anthony Bourdain served up some interesting comments at his Feb. 18 talk

Our students were able to meet a number of the campus visitors over the past year, each of whom presented a thought-provoking program:

Amy Goodman, host of the radio news program Democracy Now! appeared in April at a fundraiser for WQFS.

Bobby Seale, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, spoke as part of Guilford’s observance of Black History Month and Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Friends Center welcomed Joe and Terry Graedon, hosts of the public radio program “The People’s Pharmacy;” author Shane Claiborne, ethnographer Althea Sumpter and anti-violence activists Eduardo ’73 and Lucy Diaz.

Rabbi David Saperstein, the director and chief counsel of the Religious Action Center in Washington,
D.C., spoke about the use and abuse of religion in politics. Saperstein, whom Newsweek named the country’s most influential rabbi, is the father of Danny Saperstein ’12.

Heidi Sinclair, the chief communication officer for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, met with Principled Problem Solving Scholars in February. Sinclair is the mother of Jack Sinclair ’10.

Walter Isaacson, noted journalist and author, shared his insights on political history in early October (coincidentally, on the night of one of the presidential debates between Senators Barack Obama and John McCain).

Anthony Bourdain, the so-called bad-boy chef, didn’t visit campus, but appeared at the first Bryan Series “bonus” event, held at the new Durham Performing Arts Center. The sold-out crowd found him most entertaining.

Other developments in each of the college’s five divisions are summarized here:

Academic Affairs: Faculty Development

Guilford’s core business is and always will be the education of our students. To that end, the academic division has increasingly emphasized faculty development. When our faculty members have opportunities to engage with their students and with one another, as well as take advantage of enrichment activities, it’s the students who ultimately benefit.

The college has two programs that directly fund faculty development: the Campbell Awards, exclusively for untenured faculty, and the Kenan Grants, mainly for tenured faculty. The college also funds travel to conferences and support for research for tenured faculty through the Academic Dean’s annual budget. An untenured faculty member wanting to attend an academic conference or meeting of a professional association or to undertake research may apply for funding from the Campbell Awards. Tenured faculty rely on the Kenan Grants and grants from the Academic Dean’s budget. Both the Campbell and Kenan programs were especially critical this year, when the college’s overall budget cuts restricted the funds available for faculty travel funded by the Academic Dean’s operating budget. The college was able to fund all travel requests by reducing the maximum Kenan awards from $600 to $500 and through the Dean’s office only funding travel for those presenting papers or participating in panels at professional conferences. Untenured faculty were least affected since they continued to receive the maximum of $1,000 per year through the Campbell Awards.

Other programs support faculty work on campus. New faculty members meet biweekly for lunches and introductions to various staff from Hege Library, the Office of Admission and other invited guests. The complete faculty are invited weekly to lunch in the Gilmer Room where programs and discussions related to teaching are sponsored by the Faculty Development Committee. In addition to presentations of research, Faculty Development workshops (held about once a month during the fall and spring semesters) cover a number of issues facing our teachers, such as teaching interdisciplinary courses, writing for faculty reviews, diversity in the classroom and teaching writing in one’s discipline.

When new tenure-track faculty join the college, each is assigned a mentor from the ranks of veteran faculty members. The head of the Faculty Development Committee ensures that the pairs meet with one another as soon as possible following the start of the semester. It is critical that the mentor and mentee have a productive, open relationship. Many of the pairs observe one another’s classes and even treat their combined classes to lunch over a more casual discussion of teaching practices. In addition, Faculty Development Associates, senior faculty with accomplished teaching records, work with faculty following reviews preceding the tenure review, to help facilitate improvements mandated by the Faculty Affairs Committee.

The Faculty Development Committee is developing a Web page with information about development programs at Guilford, notes from workshops and links to other resources. Additionally, several of our faculty members are working to improve ties to faculty development staff at other colleges in the region to exchange ideas about improving teaching. 

As we do with our students, we will continue to be invested in the success of our faculty members.

Advancement: Giving that Makes a Lasting Impact

Christina Gidynski ‘54 made a gift pledge to fund professorships and scholarships

As noted on the first page of this newsletter, Guilford this year achieved an unprecedented fundraising total of $10.8 million in gifts and pledges. Most of that amount was made up of gifts designated to a particular purpose – establishing a professorship or a scholarship, for instance, or leading a fund for a proposed student fitness and wellness center. Absent those designated gifts, it’s unlikely that the projects would happen at all.

The Edward M. Armfield Sr. Foundation’s $1 million gift funded the installation of artificial turf in Armfield Athletic Center (story, p. 11). Another family foundation gift of $2 million will fund approximately one-quarter of the cost of the proposed fitness and wellness center. Alumni like Christina Gidynski ’54 generously support Guilford as well as pay tribute to the mentors from their own student days. Gidynski’s $2 million bequest will fund a professorship in psychology and student scholarships in several departments. Similarly, a $1 million commitment by Malcolm ’50 and Jeanne ’48 Campbell caps their generous support of a grant program for English majors, named in honor of Jeanne’s beloved teacher Dorothy Lloyd Gilbert.

Unrestricted gifts also greatly benefit the college by allowing us to fund a needed initiative without spending from the operating budget. For instance, an anonymous unrestricted gift of $100,000 allowed us to expand and improve the wireless communication network on campus.

Gifts to Guilford, whether restricted or unrestricted, do more than establish a program or fund construction of a facility. This funding also allows the college to expand without having to dip into either the operating budget or other endowed funds. Donors not only enrich the experience of current and future students; they contribute to Guilford’s long-term financial stability.

Campus Life: Promoting Health and Wellness

Our culture has plenty of preconceived ideas about college life: constant parties, late night coffee shop runs, the “freshman fifteen.” As academically focused as our students may be, they’re not immune to these cultural pressures telling them what a “real” college experience involves.

Unfortunately, an unhealthy lifestyle during one’s college years can do lasting damage. At best, this behavior can severely impact a student’s ability to participate fully in classes and extracurricular activities. At worst, a student develops habits of alcohol and drug abuse that can be difficult to break in adulthood.

During the last year, the Office of Campus Life has taken steps to promote student health and wellness with an eye toward improving the students’ overall college experience. If we don’t want our students seeking out parties every weekend, it’s incumbent on us to provide them with fun social opportunities that don’t revolve around alcohol abuse.

One of the first things that Dean of Students Aaron Fetrow did last summer was to expand the residence life staff, hiring professional hall directors (rather than students) for the first time. These RHDs managed wellness initiatives in addition to their usual duties, organizing athletic events and social activities. Likewise, these RHDs played a crucial role in developing a smoking cessation program, surveying tobacco use on campus and offering connections to NC QuitLine.

That effort will continue over the next year as Guilford transitions to being a tobacco-free campus. Additionally, the campus life staff will offer a program to orient new students to use of the college’s fitness facilities and sponsor a morning walking group.

Enrollment: Who will Come? Who will Stay? Who will Leave?

Those are the three questions always on the mind of leaders at a tuition-driven institution. We frequently describe Guilford as a being a tuition-driven institution; in fact, almost 80 percent of the college’s yearly operating budget comes from student tuition and fees. As a result, when we develop each year’s budget, we have to closely monitor the number of students we expect to enroll. We look at how many students we expect to leave (including graduates), how many we expect to return and how many we expect to come to Guilford for the first time.

We base this second figure – returning students – on an eight-year historical average of the number of students who come back in the fall. Currently, that figure tells us that we can expect 85 percent of traditional students (excluding graduates) enrolled in the spring semester to return the next fall. It’s tougher to pin down the exact number of students who will enroll for the first time. So we develop goals for our worst-case, middle-case and better-case scenarios. The budget is based on the amount of revenue the college would take in under the worst-case scenario. We almost always exceed that number, but we feel that it’s prudent to be conservative in this area.

Last summer, it appeared that the state of the economy would negatively impact Guilford’s enrollment, and we accordingly reduced the year’s operating budget. The first-year traditional class included 406 students, and we saw an increase in adult student enrollment (as is typical in an economic downturn). The fall headcount was 2,641, down slightly from the previous year’s total of 2,688 students and the first enrollment decline in this decade.

However, the spring 2009 enrollment figure – 2,614 students – was nearly 200 students above what we’d projected, and included a record number of traditional students. A closer look at the numbers showed that 95 percent of the traditional students who had attended Guilford in the fall (excluding graduates) returned for the spring semester, above the nine-year average of 91 percent. Moreover, the persistence rate for adult students was 83 percent (above the nine-year average of 81 percent).

Aside from the impact of enrollment on the college’s finances, these trends are encouraging because they show that Guilford is not only attractive to prospective students but a place they want to stay and complete their education.

Finance and Administration: A Staff that Meets the Need

In January, Jerry Boothby, vice president of finance and administration since 2003 (and a longtime colleague of mine), announced his retirement, effective as soon as a suitable replacement can be found.

Jerry’s departure has been an opportunity for evaluating exactly what the job of vice president should involve. Previously, this umbrella covered not only the college’s finances, but management of facilities and auxiliary services (such as dining services and the campus bookstore). However, it’s become clear that this position needs to be allowed to focus entirely on finances. (The complexity of an organization like Guilford, not to mention our national economy’s volatility, calls for a vice president’s utmost attention.)

So, in preparation for a new vice president for finance, we restructured the division to remove non-finance concerns from the vice president’s purview. To that end, both Jon Varnell and Jimmy Wilson ’84 have taken on new duties within the department.

Jon, who is associate vice president of operations and facilities, will now oversee operation of the college bookstore (contracted to Follett) and will report directly to me. Earlier this year, Jon assumed oversight of dining services, contracted to Meriwether Godsey, adding to his duties handling all facilities management.

Jimmy, who has served as controller since August 2007, will assume greater responsibilities in the area of strategic budgeting and planning. He will be responsible for financial modeling and budgeting as it relates to the college’s strategic planning needs. As such, he will join the college’s Strategic Long Range Planning Committee and work with the Planning Committee of the Board of Trustees.

In another finance area move, in March the college hired Eric Krpejs of Greensboro as associate controller, with day-to-day oversight for purchasing, accounts payable and other business office functions.

As a result of these changes, a new vice president will have greater freedom to focus on the college’s fiscal policy, investments, long-term budget strategy and – above all – continue Jerry’s wonderful track record in communicating about critical financial matters with everyone in the Guilford community.

Saron Smith-Hardin ’09 addressed graduates, friends and families

In closing, I’d like to return to Commencement. In addition to an invited speaker, Guilford always selects two students to deliver remarks. One of them, Saron Smith-Hardin ’09, was a Spanish/Latin American studies double-major from Milford, Conn. Smith-Hardin, who also had a minor in peace and conflict studies, was a four-year Bonner Scholar who coordinated the Glenwood Library ESL service site last year.

“Answering questions, and moreover, questioning answers, something we do well at Guilford, promotes a shift in consciousness, a change,” she told her graduating classmates. “Change has taken place in you and in me, and as we continue to change, so will the world. The next big change, our departure from Guilford, may seem scary or even sad.”

“But if we approach the challenges ahead with a sense of gratitude for how much we have received, how much we’ve learned and how much strength we have developed in our time at Guilford, that next step is not so scary, nor sad. It becomes a celebration of what we can offer, what our potential is, thanks to our experiences here.” 

Thank you, Saron, for that wonderful reminder.

Sept. 1, 2009