SUMMER 2016
President’s
INSIDER
FROM THE DESK OF CHRISTOPHER B. HOWARD, D.PHIL., PRESIDENT OF ROBERT MORRIS UNIVERSITY
Robert Morris University received big news in February: The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education reclassified RMU from a master’s university to a doctoral university, based on the number of doctoral degrees that we award each year. The most visible consequence is that U.S. News and World Report, in its flawed but popular college rankings, will now rank RMU among all doctoral institutions nationwide, which includes marquee names such as Stanford, Duke, Carnegie Mellon, Penn State, and Harvard. Exciting stuff, and maybe a little scary too. How does RMU stack up against these heavyweights? It’s true that the rankings are something of a beauty contest, heavily based on the opinions of top administrators at other institutions who may not be familiar with our university. But some of the criteria U.S. News considers are important, including graduation and retention rates. We should be judged on those things, and we compare favorably in these areas to many of the institutions in our new category. This new classification puts in sharp relief for RMU a choice every college and university faces. It’s best illustrated by a concept that economists call the production-possibility frontier, which illustrates, along a curve, the trade-offs an economy must make in producing the goods and services it needs. The production-possibility frontier tells you that to produce more of one good, you have to produce less of another — unless you find a way to grow your economy. The trade-off we face in higher education is between opportunity and excellence, and most colleges and universities choose to focus on one or other. Opportunity represents students who come from families or communities with fewer resources. They are more likely to be first-generation college students. They’re smart and work hard, but may not be as academically prepared as some of their peers.
The right institution, though, with strong personal and professional mentoring, can help these students thrive. They will become CEOs and civic leaders. They give back to their communities. Sound like anyone you know? RMU has helped thousands of students like this punch their ticket to the American dream, and we still do. Sometimes they take a circuitous route to college, like Josh Caskey ‘16, this year’s Presidential Transformational Award winner, whom you can read about inside. On the other end of the curve is excellence, which represents the valedictorians, the students who get a perfect (or near-perfect) score on the SAT. Their academic achievements mean they’ll have little trouble qualifying for scholarships. As our reputation has risen, RMU has drawn an increasing share of these students, and you can read inside about a couple of them as well. So, as RMU finds itself living in a fancy new neighborhood, alongside some of the most prestigious universities in the world, how will we define ourselves? Do we want to be an institution of opportunity or excellence? I think we should be the institution that has the audacity to do both. To push that production-possibility curve outward, we have to grow our own economy. We need to make RMU distinctive enough in the higher education marketplace that we attract the right mix of both kinds of students, while working hard to ensure our model of higher education remains financially viable. It won’t be easy. But I’m up for the challenge, and I expect you are as well.
Sincerely,
Christopher B. Howard, D.Phil.