Spring 2001

Great Days:  A Letter From the President


The Graying of the Professorate

When I look in the mirror I see ample evidence of a phenomenon that is sweeping academe in America - "the graying of the professorate."  (Yes, I could also make a case for the "balding of the professorate" but that will wait for a future column.)

A huge transition is changing the face of Rose-Hulman, but not its mission or core values.  Many faculty members who began serving this college in the last quarter of the 20th century are retiring.  During each of the past three years, we have lost more than 200 years of teaching experience to retirement.  Faculty with experience ranging from 25 to 30 years are moving on.  Many of the departing faculty take with them what I call "legend" status.  Their names will be recalled at class reunions for years to come.  They have committed their lives to Rose-Hulman and served it well.

The length of service is a testament to the Rose-Hulman community.  We have a culture where many people drop in for what was planned to be a couple years and they end up spending a career here.  They find an environment that encourages them as educators and they get to work with great students. Rose-Hulman is not utopia or Camelot, but it shares the same zip code.  It’s a hard place to leave.

But inevitably the time to move on will come and it means change for the college.  This is never more obvious to me than during spring retirement dinners, which provide bittersweet moments.  We celebrate the careers of the faculty who are leaving, but we also sense a loss. For we are seeing our friends move on, and they take with them experience and years of institutional memory.

Although we will miss our departing colleagues, they are being replaced with new faculty who bring the same dedication and commitment to teaching that has been the hallmark of the Rose-Hulman experience for more than 125 years.  Everyone who comes here subscribes to our mission and vision to optimize the student experience.  I am confident we will not drop a pace as the baton is passed to a new generation of faculty.

With change comes the opportunity for new ideas and perspectives.  Our new faculty bring a fresh outlook that can build on the foundation of those who have gone before. This change is a chance to make a good thing better.  Our new faculty and staff come from the world’s finest graduate schools, and they bring industrial experiences that enrich the classroom experience for our students.  I marvel at their zeal for teaching and at their expertise.

The infusion of new ideas must take place for a college to grow and improve.  Rose-Hulman has never been afraid to debate ways to make its educational experience better.  Debate is healthy as long as it does not distract us from our core values that focus on educating tomorrow’s engineers, scientists and mathematicians.  New faculty form one of the avenues by which we can stimulate the discussion of new ideas.

The graying of the professorate has hit us, but it has not hurt us.  This transition is a time to salute and say thanks to the retiring faculty who have dedicated their lives to Rose-Hulman.  It also is a time to salute and say thanks to those new faculty who have joined the Rose-Hulman family and embraced our mission.