Communications
On Wednesday afternoon, the Board of Governors for Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education unanimously affirmed the process and next steps for integrating California-Clarion-Edinboro in the West and Bloomsburg-Lock Haven-Mansfield in the Northeast.
The goal of university integrations is to expand opportunities for Mansfield University students beyond those a single institution can achieve on its own. University integration will retain the high-touch, personal on-campus experiences, services, and faculty-student interactions that have historically reinforced our campus identity, brand, and value proposition. University integrations will build upon on an existing foundation of collaboration and partnership to efficiently expand and deliver undergraduate and graduate programs across the region and beyond. As envisioned, university integration will also focus on enhancing our collective responsiveness to workforce-aligned, nondegree, certificate, and stackable credentialing programs to meet regional and statewide economic and workforce demands.
The next step in the university integrations process is the development of an implementation plan for the Bloomsburg-Lock Haven-Mansfield pairing, which could be presented to the Board for consideration as early as April 2021. The development of the implementation plan will rely heavily on transparent and consultative processes, and a great deal of inclusive planning and implementation across all of our faculty and staff.
We will also engage extensively with Mansfield University stakeholders throughout the process to seek feedback, inform important decisions, and keep everyone apprised of our progress, including but not limited to students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors, supporters, community members, our university affiliate entities, and other PASSHE institutions.
To this end, you may stay up-to-date on Mansfield’s ongoing progress by visiting the Mansfield University integration website.
I look forward to serving alongside every member of our campus community as we work together to ensure that all Mansfield University students have the opportunity to receive a high-quality education that is tailored to their needs, academic abilities, and career or employment goals. Your understanding, inclusion, and active engagement will be paramount to the success of Mansfield and its support of future generations of Pennsylvanians.
Sincerely,
Charles
Dear Mansfield University Colleagues:
Fall is upon us here in the Northern Tier of Pennsylvania. The entire region is awash in foliage displaying vivid yellows, oranges, and reds. I hope everyone seizes the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful weather. If you are able to do so in the company of family and friends, while also social distancing, then it will surely make this time of the season more enjoyable.
As we take a moment to appreciate the beautiful vistas around us, I also want to take just a moment to recognize the service of our Mansfield University faculty and staff and provide our campus community with an update on university integrations.
Last week we had the pleasure of honoring our faculty and staff via the virtual 2020 Annual Employee Recognition Celebration event. Dr. Kristen Long, Assistant Professor of Biology, received the Deans’ Award for Outstanding Academic Advising. Dr. Lynn Pifer, Professor of English, was honored with the Deans’ Award for Outstanding Teaching. The 2020 Employee of the Year Award was presented to Nichole Lefelhoc, Director of the Career Center. Congratulations to all our nominees, award winners, recent retirees, and employees recognized for their years of service. More information and the full virtual presentation can be found on the Mansfield University News site using the link above.
A special thank you to Dr. Jonathan Rothermel and the members of the Red and Black Committee for organizing the bring-your-own-lunch (BYOL) event in front of Elliott Hall last week. During times when our interactions with colleagues occur primarily through Zoom meetings, it was nice to see our Mansfield family come together in-person, albeit under social distancing requirements, in support of collegiality, fellowship, and our enduring campus spirit.
I also want to take this opportunity to provide our campus community with an update on the status of university integrations. If you were unable to attend Chancellor Greenstein’s Open Forum on Friday, September 18, I have included a link to the webinar. Please note that you will need to sign onto your verified Zoom account using your Mansfield.edu credentials.
To date, a preliminary integration team consisting of Provost John Ulrich, Vice President Todd Garnier, Professor and local APSCUF President Brian Loher, Communications Director Ryan McNamara, and I recently concluded our third and last workshop with our colleagues from Bloomsburg and Lock Haven. These workshops, facilitated by the consulting firm Deloitte, were designed to generate an exchange of ideas (at a general rather than a detailed level) about the opportunities that integration may afford us as we explore cross-institutional cooperation in both instructional and non-instructional areas.
As the process continues, we expect that more teams will be formed and greater inclusivity will emerge as we move into the integration planning and development phase in October, as required by the university integration process codified in Act 50 of 2020.
To say that the integration process that we will embark on is “critically important” is an understatement. If you attended the fall State of the University address, then you will recall the fiscal challenges facing not only Mansfield University, but also the State System and the Commonwealth. Pennsylvania and its State System universities will continue to face deeper fiscal deficits, exacerbated by the pandemic. While we will continue to pursue fiscal sustainability through our own, stand-alone fiscal sustainability plan, we must also concurrently pursue integration with our regional partners.
University integration presents not just a greater potential for moving further faster down the path of fiscal sustainability, but also the opportunity to redirect our important regional, rural-serving State System universities away from the inevitable path many have been going down for the better part of a decade. As the cost of education continues to rise and universities face growing financial pressures, the education gap (or achievement gap or opportunity gap) widens. This education gap not only adversely affects rural communities more acutely, but also has long-term economic impacts to the greater region, the Commonwealth, and generations of future Pennsylvanians.
Affordability, driven by the cost of higher education, is partly responsible for Mansfield University’s prior enrollment declines and the current fiscal reality. While Mansfield University’s strong enrollment growth over the last two years demonstrates great progress in positioning the university for future growth and sustainability, the need for a balanced budget and the continuing impact of the pandemic across all State System universities will require transformational change to ensure the viability of our regional institutions.
For the Mansfield-Bloomsburg-Lock Haven triad, this includes employing strategic approaches to meeting the higher education needs of our students by combining resources to enhance our responsiveness to regional economic and community development needs. We have an opportunity to build on a strong foundation of collaboration and partnership that already exists between these State System universities to efficiently support undergraduate and graduate program offerings, while also allowing for the development of workforce-aligned non-degree and certificate programs to meet the demand of current and emerging markets.
We will continually revisit an important and foundational tenet of higher education as we move forward: All students should receive a high-quality education that is tailored to their needs, academic abilities, and career or employment goals. Your understanding, inclusion, and participation will be paramount in the coming months and years. As educators and advocates for the role that this great institution serves, we must approach our work selflessly to ensure that Mansfield University and our other regional, rural-serving institutions can—together— continue to support future the needs of generations of Pennsylvanians.
Thank you for your continued support of Mansfield University and your personal investment in each and every one of our deserving students.
Sincerely,
Charles
Charles E. Patterson, PhD
President
- California University and Clarion University
- Edinboro University and Slippery Rock University
- Mansfield University and Lock Haven University
- California University, Clarion University, and Edinboro University
- Mansfield University, Bloomsburg University, and Lock Haven University
- California and Clarion - An integration would seek to stand up a low-cost, high-quality, fully online undergraduate degree and degree-completion program that is not currently available in Pennsylvania.
- Edinboro and Slippery Rock - An integration that would strengthen and broaden available academic opportunities by aligning two educational programs into one, driving down costs and coordinating enrollment strategies.
- Lock Haven and Mansfield - An integration that would add to the program array non-degree and stackable credentials that meet workforce needs in selected high demand occupations, all in partnership with regional employers.