Stiff challenges for UNI’s new leader

By The Gazette Editorial Board

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Incoming University of Northern Iowa President William Ruud doesn't strike us as a boat-rocker who will bring about dramatic change. Most of the ideas he discussed when we met this week seemed to be expansions or revisions of current approaches.

Our initial impression from our meeting with Rudd this week is that he will be effective at rebuilding fences with faculty and will serve as an enthusiastic ambassador for the school - both important.

Those things might be a priority for UNI in the short term as it regroups from budget shocks, steep cuts and anger caused by both.

Yet it will take bold ideas and strong leadership to ensure that Iowa's smallest public university can offer competitive and cost-effective educational programs for years to come.

Rising costs and declining state support have caused financial headaches for all of Iowa's public universities, and placed an ever greater financial burden on students and their families. But perhaps no institution has had such a difficult time of it as UNI, which can't rely on the bolus of research dollars and out-of-state tuition that has somewhat softened the blow for its larger sister schools.

A one-time $10 million bump in state funding will help stabilize the school's budget for two years, but that's not a permanent solution.

The biggest challenge of Ruud's tenure will be preserving and improving academic integrity while making the school sustainable long term.

To that end, Ruud did mention some ideas - such as embracing and encouraging online learning for all UNI students, developing partnerships with area high schools and better familiarizing faculty with the skills and expectations of tech-savvy students of the future. He talked of forging partnerships with high schools and “collaboratively competing” with the University of Iowa and Iowa State University.

We also were intrigued by Ruud's thoughts about possible efficiencies to be gained by sharing course content across schools. We're eager to know more and see what strategies his administration unfolds.

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