Provost candidate says higher education faces many challenges

Le Gene Quesenberry, the last of four candidates for Montana State University-Northern's provost positions to be interviewed, talked Wednesday about the importance of collaboration and reaching out to nontraditional students during a public forum in Hensler Auditorium in Northern's Applied Technology Center.

"Everything I do is going to be based somewhat on data," she said. "That does not mean I won't have some qualitative data in there as well, but I want data points, I am not going to make decisions based on anecdotal evidence or relationships. It has to be based on what does this information, what does the data tell me, what does the data allow me to predict."

Quesenberry, the interim president of the American University in Nigeria, is among the candidates being considered to replace Provost William Rugg who retired June 30.

Elizabeth Mauch, a professor and former dean at the College of Education at Bloomburg University in Pennsylvania was interviewed Sept. 11. John Pratte, a physics professor and former dean of the College of Mathematics at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro was interviewed Monday. Neil Moisey, director of core curriculum for HealthCare Montana, a federal grant program at the University of Montana and special assistant for academic affairs at UM was interviewed Tuesday.

Quesenberry also served as provost and executive vice-president of academic affairs at American University from March 2016 until last February. She was also president and vice president of academic affairs at the Royal University for Women in Bahrain from August 2011 to March 2016, and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics & Strategic Research July 2009 to July 2011.

Quesenberry holds a Juris Doctorate from the Gonzaga University School of Law in Spokane and a Bachelor of Arts from Washington State University in Pullman.

During a PowerPoint presentation, Quesenberry spoke about the challenges facing higher education. She spoke about Northern's 2017 to 2021 strategic plan which has four main goals, efficiency, stability, engagement and collaboration.

"This relates exactly to the what challenges in higher education are today," Quesenberry said.

Working together, Quesenberry said, means faculty will not have to bare the consequences of not working together.

Academic affairs has to be involved, she said, but she compares what needs to happen to dragon boat racing. It's not about power or strength, she said, it is about this idea of being able to cooperate.

"Even if something is administration's responsibility ­- enrollment, management, marketing those are things that the administration takes care of - student affairs sits on the academic side of the house and finance sits there as well," Quesenberry said. "Academic Affairs is not successful if we don't have students; we are not successful if we don't have faculty. So those are two things as provost I am very interested in protecting. I want to grow student enrollment, I want to retain students I also want to protect faculty because they are a valuable resource."

Engagement and education are integrally involved in optimizing enrollment developing schedules, restructuring general education and developing minors that Northern is interested in developing, she said.

Quesenberry said that in the coming decades higher education will have to deal with many challenges, including changing demographics that will bring adult students back to college, economic conditions that will affect small universities and changing technologies.

She said universities will often be competing with one another and requires them to distinguish themselves. Quesenberry said she thinks Northern has done an excellent job in distinguishing itself.

"This is the first time I have seen this kind of institution that is organized in this way," Quesenberry said.

Vo tech and technical colleges back east don't offer broad knowledge, communication skills and team building skills that are needed, she said.

"So this is a unique place, as far as I am concerned, that will help with your competitive edge," she said.

Changing demographics, Quesenberry said, offer opportunities such as reaching out to nontraditional students, adult students with families and careers, to create "new pathways to success."

"Have we thought of every possible way a student can get into MSU-N, whether they are at a distance or working or when they have family at home? Are we thinking about how to reach those individuals so we can think about how to make their access to us easier?" she asked. "This is incredibly important: If you want to be competitive locally you have to work with people who think differently and are differently then you."

A university also needs to support those students academically after enrollment such a s academic planning about what courses they should take and where.

"It's very important for academic affairs to work closely with these individuals who are in these other areas. Again, we are all doing the same thing," she said. "Academic affairs is not successful if we don't have students, we are not successful if we don't have faculty. So those are two things as provost I am very interested in protecting, I want to grow student enrollment, I want to retain students. I also want to protect faculty because they are a valuable resource."

As provost, she said, she would have to have conversations "to figure out what works for you, what direction you are going in, what you are already working on."

She said doing so will avoid loss of resources already invested and keep staff and faculty from becoming angry.

Inside and outside of the United States, Quesenberry said, people are questioning the value of a degree and whether or not it is worth the investment. She said the Great Recession in 2008 caused a lot of that questioning.

She said it's important that the importance of liberal arts be communicated to students and student counselors.

Quesenberry said there is value in talking to students about why they are taking certain courses when they don't know why they are required to take them.