1. Jerry Davis forcefully argued against overreach by the federal government in higher education. | 2. A seamless link between K–12 education and higher education, said Linda Endecott,
contributes to the well-being of communities. | 3. Clif Smart debunked assertions that current students don’t have a strong work ethic. | 4. K–12 systems are collaborating with universities and with businesses in new, meaningful ways, said Tom Trigg.

The challenge for David Cook, vice chancellor of the KU Edwards campus, is to align campus offerings with work-force needs in the Kansas City region. “What keeps me up at night,” said Cook, “is making sure we are doing the right thing and providing the right kind of services.”


Assets

In summarizing the various pressures institutions that face, Ron Slepitza observed that “students are really re-quired to do more, and yet sill posses
a lot of the core, fundamental values.” This focus has the inevitable result
of causing administrators to focus on deficits. Slepitza asked his colleagues “to spend some time focusing on the assets.”

Leo Morton welcomed the opportunity of being chancellor of the University of Missouri–Kansas City and all of the demands that came with the opportunity. “I wake up every morning really excited about the progress we are making on strategies to address declining state support, increasing enrollment, retention and graduation rates, affordability, compensation for our faculty, and fundraising,” said Morton. “It’s a huge abundance of issues, but I think we are making good progress.”

Prema Arasu, CEO of Kansas State University’s campus in Olathe, expressed her faith in young people and spoke of the opportunity to bring a more business-centric, innovation-driven approach to higher education.

“We focus on the negatives,” conceded Shawn Naccarato, but for all of Pittsburg State’s issues with the Legislature, the university has still found a way to fund the $70 million worth of capital improvements taking place on campus now. That includes a $30 million center for the arts funded by private sources as well as a new indoor event facility being built thanks to a $5 million investment from the city of Pittsburg. “Our attitude,” said Naccarato, “has been we are going to grow it locally and not count on Topeka or D.C. to save us.”

Adversity, Michael Droge observed, inspires ingenuity. In Park’s case, when the government suddenly pulled support for the active-duty military just a few weeks before the semester started, Park was able to repurpose some existing funds and offer scholarships. “We had to act in short order,” said Droge, “but the university came together, and the [staff] were proud of what they did.”

Ron Slepitza spoke of the “richness” that comes with having assembled a student body at Avila that includes both traditional and non-traditional students. This rich diversity of experiences, said Slepitza, “adds to the conversation and helps students see the connections between what they need to be doing, what they desire to do, and what’s expected of them in the work force.”

“The young people are great young people,” said Michael Austin, the provost of Newman University in Wichita, Kan. Austin’s belief in them was confirmed after spending part of the summer on a school trip to Guatemala. “I saw so much growth, so much embracing of other people, so much embracing of ways of life that the students had no experience with,” said Austin, “and I came away from that trip feeling very good about the future of this country.”

“To build on that,” said Clif Smart, “I really think there is more that is positive about our students.” He commended their work ethic, given that many students are working 20, even 40 hours a week, taking full loads of classes, participating in the life of the university, and are engaged in their community doing volunteer activities.