Bethel University

Thank you to those of you who were able to join us for Bethel Backstage Pass. As was mentioned, there were many questions we weren’t able to answer at the event. This is the final post in a series answering some of those questions. If you have follow-up questions, please post them below.
-Jay

Have we explored strategies to improve relationships between the faculty and staff at Bethel? I know this is likely an issue in all of higher education, but I wonder if we could learn from other schools that have found ways to bridge the gap and create a healthier employee environment.

[David] The straight answer to the question, as it’s asked, is that we have not explored such strategies. I would hope that mutual respect among all Bethel employees is the norm. This was certainly the vision of our founder. When he founded what would become Bethel University, John Alexis Edgren said, “The relation between teacher and students should not be that of superior and subordinate, but one of real friendship and helpfulness, remembering that One is our Master, and we are all brothers and sisters.”

If faculty and students are to have this relationship of equality and friendship under the leadership of the Master, I have to think the same relationship of equality and friendship should apply to employees. But the fact that someone has asked this question clearly says that, for some people, these relationships are not what I would hope. Since honestly, we have not explored the question, we can only plan to do so and then seek to learn, from whatever source, whether we can employ strategies for improving these relationships.

All schools of Bethel have struggled to meet their enrollment goals for this fall. Bethel isn’t alone as many schools are struggling as well. What steps are we taking to be more successful next year?

[Joe] In terms of the College of Arts & Sciences, it’s important to remember that in the fall of 2011 we reached an all-time high CAS enrollment of 2,842 students. That is a fantastic accomplishment. Looking ahead to this fall, we’re currently ahead of last year in the number of applicants in the pipeline, but behind in terms of net deposits. Prospective students and their families appear to be delaying their decision to deposit until “all of the facts are in” – especially financial aid information. This delay is being experienced by our peer institutions as well.

The encouraging news is that over the past several weeks have gained ground in net deposits. Here are a couple of strategies we have deployed as part of this effort:

• Faculty and other educational leaders have partnered with the admissions team to contact prospective students to encourage them in the process.
• We scheduled additional on-campus events for our prospective students. We believe that simply getting prospective students on campus is very helpful in their decision-making process.

Finally, our spring-to-fall retention appears strong at this point. So overall, we are feeling pretty good about fall enrollment – but there is still a lot of work to do between now and September.

In terms of CAPS/GS and seminary, we have increased our investment in these areas as we head into 2012-2013. In addition, we have implemented new marketing and prospect relationship management approaches over the past year. We expect these investments to bear fruit this coming year in terms of lead generation and more efficient and effective prospect management processes. Finally, we are committed to improving our pipeline management approaches to more proactively identify issues and areas of opportunity, and to make necessary adjustments earlier in the recruiting cycle.

In the budget blog posts it was announced that there was very little funding for new projects for the next year. However, I have been in several meeting where departments are proceeding with their plans by adjusting their budgets. It would seem that at least some requests for new money were not necessary and maybe some of our budgets are slightly inflated?

[Kathleen] I’m encouraged to hear this. As a leadership team, we talked a lot about the fact that not every new initiative can be funded with new money; but rather, that sometimes in order to do something new we have to stop doing something else. Often times that is a hard decision to make. Hopefully what you are noticing is a reallocation of spending to match our strategic initiatives.

Fewer and fewer graduates I interact with seem to have an interest in their alma mater. This has an adverse impact on the future of BU for giving, for volunteering, and for admission references. How will Bethel respond to the increasing gap between young alumni and the school?

[Pat] One of our strategic initiatives is to engage students and young alumni. As part of our realignment of University Relations, we formally connected responsibilities and staff to work on that initiative. Specifically, the student led phone-a-thon, which seeks to make new connections with donors and friends of Bethel, has moved from the Office of Development to the Office of Alumni and Parent Services. Those offices are developing a multi-year program for preparing students to be engaged, active alumni upon graduation and in their upper level pre-graduate years. The concept is to nurture a lifelong relationship with students that will mature into stronger young alumni relationships and into later years. Bethel’s success and reputation are just as important and beneficial to alumni years after graduation as they are at the time of graduation.

It seems like Bethel could save significant amounts of money by looking at how we operate—our business practices and organizational effectiveness. Many companies have entire departments focused on such evaluation and improvement. Is this a consideration for Bethel?

[Kathleen] We agree that we should always be looking for ways to improve how we operate; however, we don’t foresee adding any dedicated staff to this effort. Rather, we will continue to encourage all of our areas in this direction and here are a couple of examples of work that is under way:

• We are currently implementing the Banner Relationship Management (BRM) module to help streamline business processes and improve operational efficiencies within enrollment management.

• Human Resources just completed a survey and analysis evaluating our organization design and its efficiency as compared to other benchmarked schools like us. This initial analysis focused on span of control (number of subordinates per supervisor), staff/faculty/student ratios, and the use of student workers. This information was shared with the Board of Trustees compensation committee last week and will be used with the Executive Leadership Team to educate and evaluate opportunities to create or enhance efficiencies in staffing and organizational design when vacancies occur as a result of promotions, retirements, etc.

As an alum and a staff member, I often advocated for students to take on debt to experience Bethel. I no longer feel comfortable doing that because of the cost of tuition. What is being done to control tuition?

I’m wondering if Bethel leadership is taking time to anticipate and reflect on these challenges so that we can be proactive in our response? If so, is there anything we’re beginning to do that we believe will help us navigate the economic struggles over the next 15 years? How can we as Bethel employees provide support to leadership as times grow increasingly challenging?

[David] The cost of higher education is in the news a lot, and it’s on everyone’s mind. But I suggest that focusing just on cost (“sticker price”) is shortsighted. Regarding tuition, because most students don’t pay the full tuition price, the real question is, “What is being done to control what students actually pay?” Let me focus on that question.

• We’re giving students more financial aid. In five years, our financial aid spending has gone from $16 million to $29 million per year.
• We’re keeping increases in student loans low. Student debt is not going up nearly as fast as financial aid, despite what we often hear. Just for information, about 80% of CAS graduates take student loans. These loans average $33,000 per borrowing graduate. And Bethel’s default rate is about 1%.
• We’re keeping our expenses as low as possible. This is hard, but we are working to spend money only on things that make the biggest impact. Holding down expenses means saying “No” to many good things in order to fund the best things.
• We’re helping students get through in four years (or less). Remember, at state schools, the average student takes longer to finish. If a state school student takes five years to finish, then the Bethel grad is earning a salary for an extra year, while the state school student is paying a fifth year of tuition. Four years of Bethel tuition minus financial aid, minus one year of salary, can often be surprisingly close to five years of state school tuition.
• We provide a superior education. New reports often focus on cost, but cost isn’t nearly as important as value. A higher quality education means that a Bethel grad has better skills to earn a better living, make a bigger impact in society, and serve Christ better.

So how can all Bethel employees work together to meet these challenges? My answer is “Create value … Communicate value.” Bethel is distinctive in its deep Christian commitment, its focus on transformational experience, and its excellence in educational achievement. Everything any of us does to build quality for our students will not only help the students, but it will build Bethel and grow God’s Kingdom, too. As each and every one of us does our best each day, we create value for our students. And since that value is high, let’s communicate. Tell those who ask that the commitments we make and the significant sacrifices our students (and families) make are worth it. Cheaper isn’t always better in the long run. Often, it’s quality that creates the greatest value in the end.

It’s my understanding that both gifts to the Bethel Fund and alumni giving in general are significantly down this year. What kinds of staffing and structural changes are being planned to address this issue in the months to come?

[Pat] Gifts and alumni giving are down this year. We’ve looked at the experience of other Christian colleges and MIAC schools and found that nearly all are experiencing the same decline. This indicates that at least it is partially the result of economic circumstances affecting donors’ ability to give and scarcity of jobs for new alumni. We cannot affect that factor. However, we have addressed the issue structurally by engaging more of the university in the fundraising process. Last fall the development office was realigned to partner with academic departments and athletics to more directly respond to the philanthropic interests of our donors and we expect to realize the benefits within the next year.

Secondly, with research, active referrals from Bethel friends, and greater community involvement, we are attempting to grow the donor base of Bethel both within the Bethel community and with the outside business and Christian community. With growth in our donor base will follow increased staffing to serve that base.

As an employer, what is Bethel doing to distinguish itself from other institutions beyond tuition benefit? What do we offer, should we offer, or could we offer to new professionals, those just entering the workforce, that would encourage them to make a career commitment to Bethel? Maybe we don’t want ‘lifers’ at Bethel anymore?

[Kathleen] Bethel has worked hard to ensure that we continue to offer a competitive benefits package. Last summer we asked our insurance broker, the Hays Companies, to conduct an analysis comparing Bethel’s benefits plans to other peer schools. Of the 10 schools surveyed, including major Minnesota private colleges and CCCU peers, Bethel’s total benefits package ranked first. Bethel’s retirement plan, which provides a 10% employer contribution without any match required from the employee, ranked number one along with the dental and supplemental life insurance plans. Bethel’s health plan and tuition benefit were competitive as well.

Beyond offering a strong benefits package, we also recognize we need to work on improving how we strategically grow and develop all employees, including new professionals, so that their valuable talents can be retained. The ongoing work on the staff compensation and performance management plans is designed to address 2 parts of this effort: more closely align salary increases with performance and provide a robust performance management tool to facilitate feedback for growth and development. Once those tools are in place we will look at adding programs for career planning, which may include features such as a 360-degree tool for career development and growth.

As there have been several retirements of key leaders in the past few years, it seems like Bethel has been caught off-guard. As we plan for the future, are we giving any thought to succession planning for leadership at all levels?

[Jay] The trustees continually think about succession planning. It is usually not a good thing to have the leadership team retire together. There is much more age diversity in the current team. We recognize this as an issue at various levels. Within the faculty we have provided leadership development opportunities for several faculty who have interest in academic leadership.

Could someone address the significant disparity between the funding for Staff Appreciation Day and the various faculty retreats? For example, the CAS Faculty retreat is a 2-day event and the staff event is only a half-day.

[Kathleen] This is a good question because they are quite different events and serve very different purposes.

The CAS faculty retreat is a faculty development workshop to prepare for the start of the academic year. It is a working event and attendance is required. This is the only required meeting for the faculty during the year. The total budget for the event is $12,000 and covers the rental of the facility and food for the attendees. It is scheduled for 1.5 days in August each year.

Staff Appreciation Day is a day set aside to recognize our full and part-time staff for their contributions to the university by providing a worship-filled, fun and relaxing time to gather with university friends while acknowledging the Distinguished Service and Excellence in Management award recipients. The budget for this half-day event is $3,000—in addition to the cost of salaries and wages for the day away from work.

Thank you to those of you who were able to join us last week for Bethel Backstage Pass. As was mentioned, there were many questions we weren’t able to answer at the event. We’ve got a couple of blog posts planned to explore some of these questions. If you have follow-up questions, please post them below.
-Jay

I don’t think there’s been an update on the Seminary VP/Dean search in quite a while. Where are we at in the process? Do we have a date we’d like to have someone hired by?

[David] The Trustees meet on May 9 and 10, and as part of that meeting they will receive a report from a Seminary Deep Dive Task Force composed of some Trustees and Bethel administrators. The full Board will discuss it in detail. When the first part of the search process for the Seminary VP and Dean did not lead us to the person we believe was right to lead our seminary, we decided to pause the search process to allow for the completion of the deep dive process. We wanted to be sure that the conclusions of the deep dive process are taken into account as we seek the new VP and Dean.

Some have asked why the Task Force is bringing its work to a conclusion before the VP and Dean is hired. Isn’t the VP and Dean the one who should lead the vision process? This is a good question. The task force is creating a report that includes what we are calling “intentional incompleteness.” While the report contains very significant recommendations, it also leaves open important areas for further development. So we will seek a VP and Dean who will concur in a deep and natural way with the general direction and guidance that the report has laid out. And we will also ask the VP and Dean to take a number of next steps to flesh out and implement the general direction laid out in the report.

Given that the task force has completed its work, we will restart the search process by mid-May. The Search Advisory Committee is ready to meet right after the Board meeting to pick up where they left off and to continue the search process.

As a longtime staff member, I was really disheartened by the response Jay had in the previous Backstage pass about young staff and faculty—essentially stating they should move on because few opportunities for advancement exist. With this approach, we risk losing a lot of talent and institutional knowledge unnecessarily. What will BU do to promote and reward young talent within the institution?

[Jay] My response to the final question of the first Backstage Pass was certainly a downer! I was trying to honest about the fact that there are a limited number of places to move up at Bethel. Not all RD’s will become VP for Student Life at Bethel even though we have some great RD’s.

That being true, it is vital that we find ways to recognize, reward, and provide growth opportunities for employees. Part of that is being done through the Staff Compensation Management Plan. The review of job descriptions, move toward a compensation model that recognizes superior work, and benchmarking current compensation against an aspirant group are important.

For some employees, there is great joy in being where they are in terms of their position. For others, there is a desire to move into progressive positions of responsibility and leadership. Whatever employee perspective is held, we need to encourage, recognize, compensate, and reward according to job performance. We are taking steps in that direction and need to do these things better.

Is the plan for CAPS/GS to continue to create learning sites throughout the Twin Cities? If so, can you provide an update?

[David] CAPS/GS does not have a completed plan to create more learning sites in the Twin Cities. We can say CAPS/GS is in a planning process to determine how, when, and where to add new learning sites. But the completion of that planning process is still in the future. Of course, CAPS/GS already has a significant presence at the teaching site in Bloomington. That is a prime location and has created good buzz for Bethel. But we believe we must increase our activities there if we are to meet the full potential of that location. So currently, we are in discussion about the models that would allow CAPS/GS to create another similar site in a very different part of the Twin Cities. This is a big commitment that involves important risks. It also creates significant opportunities, however, and that is why the planning process will continue.

Has there been any discussion around telling perspective students and families, “We’re going to provide an absolutely wonderful education, a best in CCCU career office, and excellent internship opportunities. We’ll not only NOT raise tuition, but lower it. But we won’t join the amenities war, you won’t be able to swim in our pool, etc.?”

[Jay] Our first task is getting students to enroll. What attracts students is different in each of our schools. Adult learners are looking for different things than 17-year olds. Some would argue that with CAS students we are in an amenities war and that the Brushaber Commons is an example of that. I understand the perspective but strongly disagree with it. For example, with Brushaber Commons, I see more Seminary employees and students in conversations with other parts of campus in the Monson Dining Center. I see hundreds of CAS students interacting and studying in groups late into the evening. I see many conversations between faculty and students and among faculty in the Brushaber Commons. All of these contribute to the type of learning environment we value.

With respect to the many other facilities on the Campus Master Plan, I believe they are answers to the questions, “What does it take to educate well?” At this point our facilities hamper excellent education. That is true in business, in the sciences, and in other areas. My hope is that in a decade we will have facilities as good as the faculty who teach in them. To achieve that, it is hard to imagine cutting tuition or the cost of education unless we went to a radically different financial aid/net tuition revenue model. On the other hand, it is hard to imagine not moderating tuition increases and working hard to find ways to deliver education more efficiently.

Questions on Bethel’s relationship to the military.

[Jay] Thank you for your question, now asked a second time. I can tell from the length of your question and the concerns you express that this issue is very important to you. Your question calls for a response that does not fit easily into a typical blog posting. At the end of your paragraphs, you ask me to respond to a series of direct questions, and that is what I am attempting to do. My guess is that you will find it less than satisfying because it will not be a full debate on the pros and cons of pacifism, nonresistance, just war theory, preventive intervention and Bethel’s stance on each of them. Your comment about the American flag as a symbol of “the empire” also suggests that underlying this discussion is a deeper question about the nature of “citizenship,” a conversation for biblical scholars and political scientists.

Do you agree that Bethel should be a place where we can respect different people’s views on the military? Yes – it should be and it is. I see this modeled on campus, knowing people who have strong nonresistance commitments and people who are quite comfortable with military intervention in a variety of settings. A place like Bethel should help students examine various positions from a biblical perspective and decide how to act in light of convictions that come from careful reflection. We have courses that do this well.

If so, do you see how flying the American flag (especially in Benson Great Hall), promoting the military through the yellow-ribbon program and other avenues elevates a pro-military position? In my mind there is a difference between patriotism and loyalty to one’s country and being pro-military. I am thankful to be an American, particularly since I have lived elsewhere. There are many American policies that I disagree with and would resist as a matter of Christian conscience, but that does not make me think that flying the flag is a bad thing. We are not a church (I think flying a flag in church is inappropriate, particularly given our baptistic tradition of separation of church and state). Flying the flag on campus seems appropriate to me. I also think there is a difference between being pro-military, militaristic, and supportive of people who have served in the military. I think we are being supportive of people who have served in the military. I would strongly resist being militaristic. I don’t think we are being pro-military – that would signal for me that we are going out of our way to encourage military enlistment above other avenues of service or encouraging military action or involvement without thoughtful biblical critique.

And if it appears a pro-military position is being portrayed on campus, what steps will you take to neutralize this? Since I disagree with your premise, I do not think specific steps are needed. I hope the Bethel community is always one where ideas about war and peace are studied from a biblical perspective, where differing points of view are honored, and where people who have served in the military are treated as people created in God’s image.