Rocket Nation Recovery Part 17 – with last week’s board of trustees 2-day retreat complete and the Labor Day Holiday Weekend behind us, will it be back to business as usual for UToledo leadership? Or did the board of trustees decide to change its vision and strategic direction to urgently address the enrollment, financial and morale crisis?
If you were a trustee leaving last week’s retreat:
1. What specific metrics would you have put in place to drive leadership accountability to address the crisis?
2. Would you expect weekly and monthly updates on on operational, tactical and activity level metrics until the crisis is over?
3. What steps were put in place to cascade the outcomes, gain alignment and buy-in at the operational level (colleges and shared services departments), tactical level (department chairs), and activity level (faculty and staff)?
4. How confident are you that the retreat ended with changes that will bring 3,000 to 4,000 first year students to UToledo in Fall 2024? What tactical data will you receive as a trustee to analysis
5. Was an emergency retreat scheduled to have leadership of each college and shared services department present detailed plans and metrics on how they are aligning to urgently address the crisis?
As the trustees prepare for their September 27th board meeting, what expectations would you have if you were a trustee? Would you expect:
1. A tactical review of the make-up of the Fall 2023 first year students? How many have below a 2.0 GPA compared to Fall 2022? How many are from Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Detroit compared to Fall 2022? How many are living on campus compared to Fall 2022? How many are Pell Grant compared to Fall 2022? What other tactical data would you expect to review?
2. A tactical review of the enrollment funnel for the first three months of the Fall 2024 recruiting cycle? Are inquiries and applications up or down compared to this time last year? How are numbers looking in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Detroit?
3. A tactical review of the medical college and hospital performance during the first three months compared to last year?
As a member of The Rocket Nation how comfortable are you that UToledo leadership is implementing tactical change in time to drive Fall 2024 enrollment?
It’s ok to feel uncomfortable in a crisis. Please pray for thoughtful, compassionate accountability and urgent actions to revitalize The Rocket Nation.
