Post by Blackfoot on Aug 13, 2007 15:42:15 GMT -5
Stanley Battle: A man with plans
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Late risers, beware. Stanley Battle is an early morning kind of man. The new chancellor of N.C. A&T goes out between 5:30 and 5:45 a.m. for his meditation and run.
"I have to do that in order to get myself squared away, ready for my day in terms of my faith ... That's my time to talk with God."
Then it's off to the southeast Greensboro campus — "I think it's important for senior leaders to be there on time, which means early" — for a day that may last until most of the staff have gone.
Battle, who became chancellor at A&T July 1, has plenty of goals: increasing retention and graduation rates, improving the university's School of Nursing, starting a faith-based initiative with the Greensboro community. Making sure financial practices at A&T are sound.
An internal audit at A&T earlier this year revealed several instances of financial mismanagement, including the misappropriation of a $500,000 federal research grant.
Battle faced similar challenges as president of Coppin State in Baltimore. There he inherited bad fiscal practices, which he helped that institution overcome. The A&T chancellor search committee thought his experience at Coppin would be a valuable asset in his new job.
Battle met early one morning (7 a.m.) with members of the News & Record editorial board to talk about both the challenges he faces at A&T and about his plans. Following are excerpts from that talk.
Q. What are your top three priorities at A&T, and why?
A. Students, students and students. We are a student-based institution. We are there for the students. ...
With that there's the need and understanding to support everyone on the campus. But everything revolves around those students. Everything. ...
From there you can talk about fiscal responsibilities, checks and balances, the nurturing of young faculty members ... and, of course, how we are perceived by people.
Q. What goals do you have in terms of enrollment, graduation and retention rates?
A. Those goals have already been set by higher powers. [The UNC system office, in conjunction with A&T, set the goals before Battle's arrival.]
We're not there. ... The retention rate has to be at 80 percent; we have to reach that goal in five years. [The rate for 2005 was 69 percent.] The four-year graduation rate goal is set at 28 percent. We're not there. Six years would be 50 percent. [Rates for 2004 were 19 percent and 38 percent, respectively.]
How you get there is very, very important. Standards in terms of students who were admitted. The need to meet the needs of the students who were admitted. This is a climate which is very, very competitive. ... The same student we're trying to attract at N.C. A&T is the same student who wants to go to Elon, who wants to go to College Park ...
There are students who are average, who are a step below, who have the potential. ... How we interface with GTCC [Guilford Technical Community College] to help us [reach enrollment and retention goals] is going to be very, very critical.
Q. How do you square that with some fairly ambitious enrollment goals?
A. I would like to see us carefully reassess our goals and concentrate on quality as opposed to quantity. ... If we work hard to retain the students that we currently have, we will have an opportunity to be a little more selective.
What we are going to be looking at is how we set some criteria for incentives, which is a retention builder, for students. I'm talking about money. ... There are some institutions here in North Carolina that put together some amazing packages.
Q. How would this incentives program work?
A. What we're going to do is look at students based on appropriate behavior, meeting standards at the institution, including an academic standard as well — a GPA within a given range for rising sophomores, juniors and seniors. ... We would have a certain number of dollars that would be set aside for ... students who have met the criteria. ... Those dollars would be available in the bookstore, and they would use those dollars for books and for supplies ... At the end of the year, if they didn't spend all that money, they could take it as long as their GPA is where it should be at and they met some basic criteria. ... It's just like working in industry and somebody provides an incentive or a bonus.
As we pick up some momentum, I think our students are going to be excited about it and our alums are going to be excited about it and we'll get other folks in the community excited about it and we'll get some additional support for it. But we have some resources that we can get it started.
Q. Will this be something where the standards are set so high that just a small percentage of students ...
A. No. No, sir. No way. It's not going to be low. It can't be the lowest common denominator. But it's ridiculous to set it so high where you will only be dealing with 1 or 2 percent of the population.
We seem to be in a mind-set where we want to concentrate on the brightest and the best. I was not part of that group when I was growing up. ... You don't measure a person's intellect based on a number. We're going to give them an opportunity with a number that makes sense and also to show us with behavior. Because if you act like a fool, you won't qualify. It makes no sense to reward somebody who doesn't know how to act.
Q. What kinds of things do you envision doing at A&T to equip these students to be more successful?
A. Something that I think people will be very excited about ... is being discussed very quietly right now. I can say that I've talked to my good friend Bill Cosby and he will be coming here to help us with some things.
This initiative will really reach back to children who are in grade school ... and we're going to push them.
We've been very arrogant in four-year institutions to assume that children are going to come to us prepared. We have to go get them and then prepare them. Obviously, because we're in Greensboro, we're going to concentrate here on doing that. I think if we do it well, it's going to send a great example to others.
The energy for me for that comes to me from the institution where I was, where we managed an elementary, a middle and a high school. When I got there, we had an elementary school that was a failing school. ... By 2003, it was off the failing list and rated as one of the top elementary schools in the city and one of the top elementary schools in the state. We developed a middle school and ... the Coppin Academy, which was a high school on campus. We are really proud of the work that Coppin has done and the achievement level of those students.
Q. Have you had conversations with [Guilford Schools Superintendent] Dr. [Terry] Grier?
A. Yes.
Q. And how does the program you currently have on the campus with the Guilford County Schools fit in to this Coppin Academy model?
A. We've got a lot of work to do. ... It would be unfair for me to make the comparison.
Q. What made the Coppin Academy so successful?
A. We had children who were concentrating, as my Daddy would say, "on getting their lessons." We had interviews before the children came into the program, we sat with their parents, teachers.
Q. There have been challenges in A&T's nursing program, where passing rates on the national exam have fallen below state standards. Is it on the right track now?
A. It's not on the right track as we speak. We all know that.
I'm looking at data trends. ... There are several points in time where the pass rate was pretty high ... then for some reason we made some changes. Why was that change made? What was the rationale for that? ...
We don't have enough associate and full professors. The clinical folks need some leadership and some guidance and direction. ...
We need to start with the freshman year or even before. If we identify a strong cohort of students interested in nursing in high school, why can't we begin to work with them and track them from that point?
Another thing we need to do: We have a great community college system here, a great relationship with GTCC; we haven't taken advantage of it. ... It makes no sense for us to try to do it all by ourselves. ... If they [community college transfers] come in [enroll at A&T] and they are already focused on nursing, that's going to help our retention and graduation rates.
Q. Critical audits of A&T have been a public relations issue and a morale issue. What's your assessment? Are things where they need to be now?
A. Everything is not where it should be. Not yet. Tremendous progress has been made.
The discovery and as it was reported were devastating. And it was reported over and over again. After it was reported once or twice, that was enough. Enough is enough.
We're working very hard. We're working very closely with general administration, [UNC President] Erskine Bowles and the rest of his team. In the process of doing that we're making some serious changes. We're going to upgrade some positions to vice chancellor level so we'll have them at cabinet level and there will be extreme accountability ... There are practices that are not in place and we're going to take the appropriate steps to make sure those practices are in place. There's some training that needs to be done. ...
When there's a fire and part of your house is burning, you put that fire out. Then you have work to do. That's where we're at.
This is my opinion. It certainly isn't at bad as it was described and presented. ...
I'm very optimistic, but I'm not comfortable, not yet.
Q. I don't want to misquote you, but you mentioned in a speech not dealing with campus issues through the media. Can you ...
A. I said we won't manage the institution through the front page of the News & Record or any paper. We have a responsibility to take care of our business on the campus. ... People are upset that their institution was on the front page. ...
Q. But A&T is a taxpayer-funded institution. That implies that taxpayers should know what's going on at the institution.
A. They will.
Q. Are you spending your initial weeks here talking to groups, to get a feeling for what people feel is needed at the university?
A. A lot of time. There's not enough time. My problem is that I'll stay too long. I'm doing about two-and-a-half, three hours per visit. You just can't give enough time. ...
It's not just the campus. I'm on four boards and I just got here, which says a lot about the institution ...
It's important for me and my wife to figure out how we want to make a contribution as individuals. ... We've been visiting churches. ... There's something in mind that I have as a faith-based initiative. There are a lot of discussions that must take place in order to put that together. ... We will have something that is quite significant and hopefully it will be very, very broad-based. ..
Q. Can you say more about it?
A. Not at this time because I need to talk to a lot of people. ... I have some ideas in terms of what I would like to see, but I've got to work with the folks who are here. Part of that is just to go and visit as many churches as we can. ...
I can say a little bit about what we did at Coppin. ... We had an amazing initiative with two powerhouse preachers. They were able to grant us a Sunday a year in funding. We had one church that gave us $10,000. We used that money for scholarship support. ... In turn, we worked with them to do some things on the campus. We provided some support for them. They wanted to have a banquet or something. ... We didn't charge them anything for the facility. It was a win-win for all of us.
I would go out and speak at these churches. I would never accept any honorarium. Every penny would come back to the campus. I was able to bring in about 20 grand to the campus. It was all scholarship money.
Q. And you also gave some performances....
A. Yes. Two Brothers Plus One. [Battle is a singer, and he has an identical twin who also sings.] At Coppin, when we did that first concert, we made a lot of money. The place was packed. Then we did a second one ... and we just did a free will offering. That free will offering was pretty doggone good ... It was about 10 grand. Then they said, "Will you do more?" and I said, "Let's slow this train down. ..."
We had two concerts with "The Lion King" cast. I sang with them. We really had a grand time.
I sang with the gospel choir. I'm primarily classical, but singing with them was a lot of fun.
Q. Are you a tenor?
A. I'm a lyric baritone in the upper range. I can sing tenor as well as baritone, but I'm a baritone.
Q. How do you see A&T's role as an economic engine in Greensboro?
A. If you look at the Gateway University Research Park, it's amazing. You have A&T and UNCG working together. I was amazed that the two institutions are doing that and they weren't killing each other. It's the new entree for the new industry that's going to be coming to this community. ...
How we link with GTCC is important. ... As [GTCC President] Dr. [Don] Cameron says, for every skill addition, we have to have technicians. ... We have to have a strong partnership.
You also can look at the campus from the standpoint of what we do for the opportunities for upward mobility in employment. New money and old money mixed. And then [there is] that commitment and participation and involvement from the business community.
Q. It's close to football season. What are your expectations for the Aggie program?
A. I hope they do well. From where I sit, I'm concerned about all of our athletes doing well academically. ... I want to see them graduate. I want to see them do well beyond football. ...
I played football and I did pretty well. There was a season we won every game and there was a season we lost every game. I can call that up and remember it, but I can't play football anymore. When I sit down with athletes I tell them, "You can only dunk that ball for so long. You can only run fast for so long."
Q. Your impressions of Greensboro?
A. Really enjoy it. It's kind of fun when you can come to work and don't have to get on the interstate. I can stay at work as late as I want and be home in 10 minutes, 12 minutes.
I really like Sunday. Because it's quiet. It reminds me of when I was in Springfield, Mass., as a boy growing up.
Q. What books are you reading nowadays?
A. The Bible. Every day. I'm a connoisseur of the Bible.
I don't have a lot of time to read for fun. ... What I do is listen to a lot of music, particularly classical music. It helps my blood pressure. .... It just brings everything down.
Q. Do you think A&T will be mostly African American 20 years from now?
A. I think you will have a tremendous increase in diversity, though I think the majority will continue to be African American. ... We never stopped students from other races and ethnic groups from coming to historically black institutions. We aren't about to start [doing that] now.
www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070812/NEWSREC010201/708120318/-1/NEWSRECRSSARKIVE
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Late risers, beware. Stanley Battle is an early morning kind of man. The new chancellor of N.C. A&T goes out between 5:30 and 5:45 a.m. for his meditation and run.
"I have to do that in order to get myself squared away, ready for my day in terms of my faith ... That's my time to talk with God."
Then it's off to the southeast Greensboro campus — "I think it's important for senior leaders to be there on time, which means early" — for a day that may last until most of the staff have gone.
Battle, who became chancellor at A&T July 1, has plenty of goals: increasing retention and graduation rates, improving the university's School of Nursing, starting a faith-based initiative with the Greensboro community. Making sure financial practices at A&T are sound.
An internal audit at A&T earlier this year revealed several instances of financial mismanagement, including the misappropriation of a $500,000 federal research grant.
Battle faced similar challenges as president of Coppin State in Baltimore. There he inherited bad fiscal practices, which he helped that institution overcome. The A&T chancellor search committee thought his experience at Coppin would be a valuable asset in his new job.
Battle met early one morning (7 a.m.) with members of the News & Record editorial board to talk about both the challenges he faces at A&T and about his plans. Following are excerpts from that talk.
Q. What are your top three priorities at A&T, and why?
A. Students, students and students. We are a student-based institution. We are there for the students. ...
With that there's the need and understanding to support everyone on the campus. But everything revolves around those students. Everything. ...
From there you can talk about fiscal responsibilities, checks and balances, the nurturing of young faculty members ... and, of course, how we are perceived by people.
Q. What goals do you have in terms of enrollment, graduation and retention rates?
A. Those goals have already been set by higher powers. [The UNC system office, in conjunction with A&T, set the goals before Battle's arrival.]
We're not there. ... The retention rate has to be at 80 percent; we have to reach that goal in five years. [The rate for 2005 was 69 percent.] The four-year graduation rate goal is set at 28 percent. We're not there. Six years would be 50 percent. [Rates for 2004 were 19 percent and 38 percent, respectively.]
How you get there is very, very important. Standards in terms of students who were admitted. The need to meet the needs of the students who were admitted. This is a climate which is very, very competitive. ... The same student we're trying to attract at N.C. A&T is the same student who wants to go to Elon, who wants to go to College Park ...
There are students who are average, who are a step below, who have the potential. ... How we interface with GTCC [Guilford Technical Community College] to help us [reach enrollment and retention goals] is going to be very, very critical.
Q. How do you square that with some fairly ambitious enrollment goals?
A. I would like to see us carefully reassess our goals and concentrate on quality as opposed to quantity. ... If we work hard to retain the students that we currently have, we will have an opportunity to be a little more selective.
What we are going to be looking at is how we set some criteria for incentives, which is a retention builder, for students. I'm talking about money. ... There are some institutions here in North Carolina that put together some amazing packages.
Q. How would this incentives program work?
A. What we're going to do is look at students based on appropriate behavior, meeting standards at the institution, including an academic standard as well — a GPA within a given range for rising sophomores, juniors and seniors. ... We would have a certain number of dollars that would be set aside for ... students who have met the criteria. ... Those dollars would be available in the bookstore, and they would use those dollars for books and for supplies ... At the end of the year, if they didn't spend all that money, they could take it as long as their GPA is where it should be at and they met some basic criteria. ... It's just like working in industry and somebody provides an incentive or a bonus.
As we pick up some momentum, I think our students are going to be excited about it and our alums are going to be excited about it and we'll get other folks in the community excited about it and we'll get some additional support for it. But we have some resources that we can get it started.
Q. Will this be something where the standards are set so high that just a small percentage of students ...
A. No. No, sir. No way. It's not going to be low. It can't be the lowest common denominator. But it's ridiculous to set it so high where you will only be dealing with 1 or 2 percent of the population.
We seem to be in a mind-set where we want to concentrate on the brightest and the best. I was not part of that group when I was growing up. ... You don't measure a person's intellect based on a number. We're going to give them an opportunity with a number that makes sense and also to show us with behavior. Because if you act like a fool, you won't qualify. It makes no sense to reward somebody who doesn't know how to act.
Q. What kinds of things do you envision doing at A&T to equip these students to be more successful?
A. Something that I think people will be very excited about ... is being discussed very quietly right now. I can say that I've talked to my good friend Bill Cosby and he will be coming here to help us with some things.
This initiative will really reach back to children who are in grade school ... and we're going to push them.
We've been very arrogant in four-year institutions to assume that children are going to come to us prepared. We have to go get them and then prepare them. Obviously, because we're in Greensboro, we're going to concentrate here on doing that. I think if we do it well, it's going to send a great example to others.
The energy for me for that comes to me from the institution where I was, where we managed an elementary, a middle and a high school. When I got there, we had an elementary school that was a failing school. ... By 2003, it was off the failing list and rated as one of the top elementary schools in the city and one of the top elementary schools in the state. We developed a middle school and ... the Coppin Academy, which was a high school on campus. We are really proud of the work that Coppin has done and the achievement level of those students.
Q. Have you had conversations with [Guilford Schools Superintendent] Dr. [Terry] Grier?
A. Yes.
Q. And how does the program you currently have on the campus with the Guilford County Schools fit in to this Coppin Academy model?
A. We've got a lot of work to do. ... It would be unfair for me to make the comparison.
Q. What made the Coppin Academy so successful?
A. We had children who were concentrating, as my Daddy would say, "on getting their lessons." We had interviews before the children came into the program, we sat with their parents, teachers.
Q. There have been challenges in A&T's nursing program, where passing rates on the national exam have fallen below state standards. Is it on the right track now?
A. It's not on the right track as we speak. We all know that.
I'm looking at data trends. ... There are several points in time where the pass rate was pretty high ... then for some reason we made some changes. Why was that change made? What was the rationale for that? ...
We don't have enough associate and full professors. The clinical folks need some leadership and some guidance and direction. ...
We need to start with the freshman year or even before. If we identify a strong cohort of students interested in nursing in high school, why can't we begin to work with them and track them from that point?
Another thing we need to do: We have a great community college system here, a great relationship with GTCC; we haven't taken advantage of it. ... It makes no sense for us to try to do it all by ourselves. ... If they [community college transfers] come in [enroll at A&T] and they are already focused on nursing, that's going to help our retention and graduation rates.
Q. Critical audits of A&T have been a public relations issue and a morale issue. What's your assessment? Are things where they need to be now?
A. Everything is not where it should be. Not yet. Tremendous progress has been made.
The discovery and as it was reported were devastating. And it was reported over and over again. After it was reported once or twice, that was enough. Enough is enough.
We're working very hard. We're working very closely with general administration, [UNC President] Erskine Bowles and the rest of his team. In the process of doing that we're making some serious changes. We're going to upgrade some positions to vice chancellor level so we'll have them at cabinet level and there will be extreme accountability ... There are practices that are not in place and we're going to take the appropriate steps to make sure those practices are in place. There's some training that needs to be done. ...
When there's a fire and part of your house is burning, you put that fire out. Then you have work to do. That's where we're at.
This is my opinion. It certainly isn't at bad as it was described and presented. ...
I'm very optimistic, but I'm not comfortable, not yet.
Q. I don't want to misquote you, but you mentioned in a speech not dealing with campus issues through the media. Can you ...
A. I said we won't manage the institution through the front page of the News & Record or any paper. We have a responsibility to take care of our business on the campus. ... People are upset that their institution was on the front page. ...
Q. But A&T is a taxpayer-funded institution. That implies that taxpayers should know what's going on at the institution.
A. They will.
Q. Are you spending your initial weeks here talking to groups, to get a feeling for what people feel is needed at the university?
A. A lot of time. There's not enough time. My problem is that I'll stay too long. I'm doing about two-and-a-half, three hours per visit. You just can't give enough time. ...
It's not just the campus. I'm on four boards and I just got here, which says a lot about the institution ...
It's important for me and my wife to figure out how we want to make a contribution as individuals. ... We've been visiting churches. ... There's something in mind that I have as a faith-based initiative. There are a lot of discussions that must take place in order to put that together. ... We will have something that is quite significant and hopefully it will be very, very broad-based. ..
Q. Can you say more about it?
A. Not at this time because I need to talk to a lot of people. ... I have some ideas in terms of what I would like to see, but I've got to work with the folks who are here. Part of that is just to go and visit as many churches as we can. ...
I can say a little bit about what we did at Coppin. ... We had an amazing initiative with two powerhouse preachers. They were able to grant us a Sunday a year in funding. We had one church that gave us $10,000. We used that money for scholarship support. ... In turn, we worked with them to do some things on the campus. We provided some support for them. They wanted to have a banquet or something. ... We didn't charge them anything for the facility. It was a win-win for all of us.
I would go out and speak at these churches. I would never accept any honorarium. Every penny would come back to the campus. I was able to bring in about 20 grand to the campus. It was all scholarship money.
Q. And you also gave some performances....
A. Yes. Two Brothers Plus One. [Battle is a singer, and he has an identical twin who also sings.] At Coppin, when we did that first concert, we made a lot of money. The place was packed. Then we did a second one ... and we just did a free will offering. That free will offering was pretty doggone good ... It was about 10 grand. Then they said, "Will you do more?" and I said, "Let's slow this train down. ..."
We had two concerts with "The Lion King" cast. I sang with them. We really had a grand time.
I sang with the gospel choir. I'm primarily classical, but singing with them was a lot of fun.
Q. Are you a tenor?
A. I'm a lyric baritone in the upper range. I can sing tenor as well as baritone, but I'm a baritone.
Q. How do you see A&T's role as an economic engine in Greensboro?
A. If you look at the Gateway University Research Park, it's amazing. You have A&T and UNCG working together. I was amazed that the two institutions are doing that and they weren't killing each other. It's the new entree for the new industry that's going to be coming to this community. ...
How we link with GTCC is important. ... As [GTCC President] Dr. [Don] Cameron says, for every skill addition, we have to have technicians. ... We have to have a strong partnership.
You also can look at the campus from the standpoint of what we do for the opportunities for upward mobility in employment. New money and old money mixed. And then [there is] that commitment and participation and involvement from the business community.
Q. It's close to football season. What are your expectations for the Aggie program?
A. I hope they do well. From where I sit, I'm concerned about all of our athletes doing well academically. ... I want to see them graduate. I want to see them do well beyond football. ...
I played football and I did pretty well. There was a season we won every game and there was a season we lost every game. I can call that up and remember it, but I can't play football anymore. When I sit down with athletes I tell them, "You can only dunk that ball for so long. You can only run fast for so long."
Q. Your impressions of Greensboro?
A. Really enjoy it. It's kind of fun when you can come to work and don't have to get on the interstate. I can stay at work as late as I want and be home in 10 minutes, 12 minutes.
I really like Sunday. Because it's quiet. It reminds me of when I was in Springfield, Mass., as a boy growing up.
Q. What books are you reading nowadays?
A. The Bible. Every day. I'm a connoisseur of the Bible.
I don't have a lot of time to read for fun. ... What I do is listen to a lot of music, particularly classical music. It helps my blood pressure. .... It just brings everything down.
Q. Do you think A&T will be mostly African American 20 years from now?
A. I think you will have a tremendous increase in diversity, though I think the majority will continue to be African American. ... We never stopped students from other races and ethnic groups from coming to historically black institutions. We aren't about to start [doing that] now.
www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070812/NEWSREC010201/708120318/-1/NEWSRECRSSARKIVE
However, I'm trusting Battle's follow-through will be as strong as his presentation. Let's get this show on the road, enough with the shullbit.
