Podcasts Education Changing Higher Ed The COVID-19 Pandemic Through the Lens of Long-time Higher Education Leader Dr. Gordon Gee | Changing Higher Ed 038

The COVID-19 Pandemic Through the Lens of Long-time Higher Education Leader Dr. Gordon Gee | Changing Higher Ed 038

Published: April 8, 2020, 6:30 a.m.

Higher education already was\xa0facing major challenges, but an unprecedented black swan event \u2013 the COVID-19 pandemic\u2014is testing the resiliency of colleges and universities across the country.\xa0Long-time education leader Dr. E. Gordon Gee offers the wisdom he has gained from serving as a university president for 40 years. Dr. Gee believes that serving in this role is one of the most important callings in this nation.\xa0

Dr.\xa0Gee\xa0has led five institutions (West Virginia University, University of Colorado, The Ohio State University, Brown University and Vanderbilt University),\xa0and served\xa0twice as president of The Ohio State University and West Virginia University.\xa0He\u2019s had 24 individuals who have worked for him who\xa0are currently serving as\xa0university presidents.\xa0\xa0

Navigating Turbulent Waters\xa0

Dr. Gee has not seen anything like what higher education is currently experiencing. While he\xa0went through the stock market crash of 1987-88\xa0while\xa0at\xa0the University of\xa0Colorado\xa0and led other institutions during\xa0several recessions and meltdowns, he\xa0believes the COVID-19 pandemic offers\xa0a different type of challenge because this is a national\xa0issue that affects everyone at\xa0the human\xa0level.\xa0\xa0

This pandemic has effectively shut down the entire nation and its commerce. While that is unsustainable over the long haul, this shutdown also shows a sense of spirit and commitment\xa0that will bring us together.\xa0 Dr. Gee believes that we have lived\xa0in a toxic world in which we yell at each other instead of having conversations. He\xa0suggests that social distancing may bring people together because we\u2019ll realize there\u2019s more to life than the daily commerce of being ornery.\xa0

Learning on the Job\xa0

Dr. Gee\xa0states that there\xa0is no playbook for being a university president, that\xa0each\xa0university is different and each institution\xa0changes\xa0over time. One of the mistakes that\xa0some presidents\xa0make is that when\xa0they assume a presidency for a second time, they believe\xa0they know what they\u2019re stepping into. That is an incorrect assumption.\xa0Dr. Gee noted that during\xa0both of\xa0his second presidencies, he had to de-learn the institution in order to relearn\xa0them. That proved to be a real challenge.\xa0

In addition, leaders are playing in a field (the pandemic) where they don\u2019t have previous knowledge.\xa0\xa0Education in general is the fuel that runs the nation\u2019s democracy and will continue to be an important part of the country\u2019s future. However, education will be dramatically different after the pandemic and that new model is still emerging.\xa0

Dr. Gee\xa0stated that\xa0faculty and colleagues who were Luddites\xa0have shifted to being online over a two-week period, and they are discovering\xa0that they can be\xa0effective and engaged,\xa0and\xa0are\xa0doing many wonderful things. He points out that opportunities do abound when individuals are forced to do\xa0something outside their comfort zone.\xa0

Finding the Institutional Calling\xa0

While this is a\xa0global\xa0black swan event, this also is a situation where we\xa0can\xa0use our ingenuity, inspiration and creativity to move to what\u2019s next. Dr. Gee encourages higher education leaders to lead their institutions in such a way that adds to the national conversation and the value of higher education, in particular.\xa0\xa0

Dr. Gee believes that each institution needs to find its\xa0individual\xa0calling, its own unique mission and differentiation. He\xa0cautions that\xa0ratings and rankings\xa0such as\xa0those in\xa0U.S. News and World Report\xa0have caused institutions to lose what is unique\xa0about them, which\xa0leads to\xa0institutional\xa0mediocrity.\xa0\xa0He believes higher education institutions need to return to their respective roots, whether that\u2019s public, private, religious or some other\xa0mission/focus.\xa0Institutions have their own unique character and culture that evolves so leaders have to figure out the culture in order to change it.\xa0

Dr. Gee\xa0also\xa0believes that\xa0identifying the institutional\xa0soul\xa0is important. This allows\xa0colleges and universities to\xa0attract the best and brightest both in terms of students and faculty\xa0who align with this viewpoint.\xa0\xa0

He\xa0also\xa0higher education has lost that focus in many ways, and that\xa0institutions need to stop being ivory towers and instead become helping hands.\xa0

Responding to\xa0the\xa0COVID-19 Pandemic\xa0

West Virginia University\xa0has\xa0had a wide-ranging response to the pandemic. The institution\xa0has numerous hospitals so they are the major health provider in the state.\xa0 The university immediately told students not to come back to campus\xa0and moved classes online.\xa0

Dr. Gee\xa0also\xa0worked\xa0closely with state government to\xa0come up with\xa0the\xa0state\u2019s\xa0response. In addition, the university\u2019s vice president for health sciences is the state\u2019s Coronavirus czar\xa0and is overseeing the state\u2019s response. Dr. Gee believes that\xa0the university is playing a\xa0major\xa0leadership role\xa0due to the institution\u2019s academic\xa0offerings\xa0as well as its hospitals.\xa0

Dr. Gee also is focused on helping the university move forward organizationally. He\xa0meets every Monday morning with the communications and recruitment teams\xa0to come up with plans. He\xa0also\xa0sends out regular\xa0\u201cGee-Mails\u201d\xa0but\xa0he also does\xa0small vignettes,\xa0calls\xa0graduating and new\xa0students, and\xa0offers\xa0ideas\xa0(such as reading lists)\xa0to share with interested stakeholders.\xa0\xa0

During this time, he believes that institutions need to be proactive in recruiting and retaining students, faculty and staff, even though the financial implications are going to be immense. This recruitment and retention needs to be based on the institution\u2019s uniqueness.\xa0

Increased Pressure to Differentiate\xa0

The response to the COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating the changes in higher education by a decade or more. Dr. Gee believes this will require higher education to think about differentiation more deeply. He has found that institutions historically have moved into a common amalgamation in which they all want to look like each other instead of differentiating themselves. He\xa0believes\xa0that successful universities and colleges in the future will have figured out how to set themselves apart.\xa0\xa0

He also is concerned that land grant institutions have drifted toward being like every other higher education institutions. Dr. Gee pointed out that President Abraham Lincoln established these institutions to create comity and community in order\xa0to overcome daily cycles that exist in the lives of individuals. He believes Lincoln would be very disappointed in some of today\u2019s land grant institutions.\xa0\xa0

Dr. Gee points out that in West Virginia, which is a small state with every\xa0imaginable\xa0problem, the university has the opportunity to create solutions. He believes West Virginia University\u2019s calling is to make 1.8 million West Virginians feel valued and that they have an opportunity in life.\xa0\xa0

Moving Forward\xa0

Pointing out that large universities have\xa0a number of moving parts, Dr. Gee noted that any time there is complexity, it makes it difficult for people to determine which way to go.\xa0He believes in strategic action\xa0(instead of strategic planning)\xa0and taking advantage of what happens in the moment.\xa0\xa0

Dr. Gee noted that when people reach the top of the mountain, they tend to want to slide down the other side to get to normal\xa0as\xa0they previously defined it. However, we won\u2019t be going back to the \u201cprevious\u201d normal; instead, we\u2019ll be in a \u201cnew normal\u201d that will emerge out of the current situation.\xa0

He suggested that leaders can be architects of this moment or they can be victims.\xa0He believes\xa0that leaders and institutions should learn, reinvent themselves,\xa0and move on in ways that weren\u2019t being considered 1-2 months earlier.\xa0

Dr. Gee also emphasized that the ability\xa0to take advantage of the change,\xa0to aggressively differentiate oneself,\xa0and continue to look to the horizon\xa0has not diminished.\xa0He\xa0said that those who look\xa0only\xa0to the moment are going to be increasingly irrelevant and mediocre; these institutions may not survive.\xa0However, if institutions use\xa0the wisdom of the moment and make tough decisions, they\xa0have a better chance of survival.\xa0\xa0

Reinventing\xa0Higher Education\xa0\xa0

Dr. Gee and his team are taking a careful look at their recruitment and retention of faculty, staff,\xa0and students. They also are looking carefully at the programs being offered and he anticipates that West Virginia University will move to a hybrid\xa0approach that includes online and in-person instruction.\xa0\xa0

However,\xa0Dr. Gee\xa0said the most important thing that\xa0West Virginia\xa0University\xa0is doing is focusing on its culture.\xa0Higher education institutions have very bright faculty, staff,\xa0and students,\xa0but also can have toxic cultures\xa0that\xa0can\xa0cause stakeholders to migrate\xa0into their silos as well as departments and colleges\xa0to\xa0aggressively compete with each other.\xa0Dr. Gee\xa0believes this\xa0configuration of the academy is\xa0antithetical to change.\xa0\xa0

To combat this, West Virginia\xa0University\xa0is moving to a more horizontal instead of a vertical\xa0approach. This involves\xa0moving across\xa0the institution so that the intellectual breadth draws on all the strengths of the university instead of being limited by\xa0departmental and college boundaries.\xa0He also advocates or the creation of centers, institutes,\xa0and working groups.\xa0\xa0

Dr. Gee\xa0believes\xa0that\xa0institutions that are wise enough to say that \u201cthe emperor has no clothes\u201d and\xa0then\xa0move on to a new configuration that is more aggressively modern and agile will be the ones that will make a difference in the world.\xa0This\xa0change effort\xa0involves taking the institution and rearranging it based on ideas and how we think,\xa0as opposed to how\xa0the institution was\xa0structured\xa0when it started\xa0100 years ago.\xa0

He\xa0is a great believer in a one-university model in which everyone is connected by the intellectual ideas, research opportunities,\xa0and teaching that allow individuals to connect in much different ways. He also believes that disciplines should be integrated. For example,\xa0neuroscience and biostatistics should not be isolated; they should be part of the\xa0human wellness program that incorporates\xa0all\xa0of the institutional assets.\xa0\xa0

Dr. Gee\xa0also\xa0said\xa0that higher education needs to get rid of the old reward and recognition structure. He advocates for individuals being recognized and rewarding for doing individual work.\xa0 For example, some faculty will be able to write\xa0the\xa0great American novel while others are great teachers. Each should be able to shine in the areas where they excel\xa0versus the old model of 40 percent research, 40 percent teaching, and 20 percent service. This will greatly change how universities move forward.\xa0\xa0

Three\xa0Recommendations for Higher Education Leaders\xa0

Dr. Gee suggested three takeaways for higher education leaders:\xa0

  • Make certain you are constantly informing and communicating and probing the campus. Commit to creating\xa0a culture of understanding and community.\xa0
  • Use this black swan moment to learn about your institutional\xa0strengths and weaknesses. Think about what to sustain and what is not sustainable. Make the\xa0tough choices.\xa0
  • Differentiate your institution. Identify what\xa0is unique and why you are there.\xa0What will make your institution one of the future and not of the past?\xa0

Bullet Points\xa0

  • The COVID-19 pandemic is a black-swan event that will cause immense change in higher education, and accelerate needed changes by 10 or more years.\xa0\xa0
  • To be successful, higher education leaders need to learn on the job. This pandemic offer a new opportunity to do just that.\xa0\xa0
  • The pandemic provides an important opportunity for institutions to begin to differentiate themselves.\xa0
  • COVID-19 offers an opportunity for higher education to forego the ivory tower image and instead offer a hand of support.\xa0
  • Institutions of higher education need to be proactive in recruiting and retaining faculty, staff,\xa0and students during the pandemic.\xa0
  • Colleges and universities need to use this time to differentiate themselves. Highlighting those unique capacities can be the difference in surviving this current global crisis.\xa0\xa0
  • Moving forward, institutions need to rethink the higher education model and culture. There needs to be more of a horizontal focus so that colleges and departments no longer dictate what happens within an institution. Instead, colleges and universities can bring together the best minds across campus as well as celebrate and reward each individual faculty member\u2019s\xa0creative gifts.\xa0

Links to Articles, Apps, or websites mentioned during the interview:\xa0

Guests Social Media Links:\xa0

  • Dr. E. Gordon Gee\xa0
  • Twitter:\xa0@gordongee\xa0\xa0

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