The Rocket Nation Blog
In July 2023, a volunteer effort was launched to build grass roots awareness of the enrollment, financial and morale crisis at The University of Toledo. All posts shared on social media can be found below.
Rocket Nation Recovery Posts
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 41
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 41 - great article. Yes, history shows that when UToledo Football appears on national TV website visits, inquiries, and enrollment applications go up....
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 40
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 40 - insightful message from a UToledo alum from New York. "I've been following the questions your posts have raised about UT since July. It made me think about what The Rocket Nation should expect from our next leader. If I were a trustee,...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 39
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 39 - In Part 6 the concept of being uncomfortable with the questions being raised about UToledo was discussed. https://rocketnetworker.com/2023/10/07/rocket-nation-recovery-part-6/ A prominent CEO prompted that post when they suggested...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 38a
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 38a - one of the questions raised in yesterday's post has been answered. Question 5 - Provost Search - is it true that the UT employee leading the Provost search lives in South Carolina? If true, does this mean there are no candidates with...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 38
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 38 - are the wheels turning at UToledo? 1. Enrollment Census Report - is It true that UT changed their enrollment policy early this year to enable students to register for multiple semesters at once? If true, what impact did this have on...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 37
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 37 - yesterday's rivalry game between UToledo and BGSU was awesome! Congratulations to the players, coaching staff and Coach Candle for navigating a rough night to a great win! Thank you for fighting for UToledo!! With each snap of the...
Rocket Nation Recover Part 36
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 36 - UT faculty union leaders response to UT leaders (https://rocketnetworker.com/2023/10/07/rocket-nation-recovery-part-30/) If you were a trustee how would you respond? "President Postel opened his rebuttal letter of September 27, 2023 by...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 35
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 35 - Election Day Many serious issues face voters on Tuesday. Issues 1, 2, and 3, school board members, judges, council members, etc. So, please vote!! But for The Rocket Nation the real question is which hat should we wear to support the...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 34
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 34 - - update and a heartfelt message received from a UToledo alum and long-time business leader. Update - the UToledo board of trustees held yet another emergency meeting earlier this week to discuss the future direction of the...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 33
Rocket Nation Recover Part 33 - A few weeks ago the Part 25 post shared a message from a department chair at UToledo. https://rocketnetworker.com/2023/10/07/rocket-nation-recovery-part-25/ The message below is from another department chair in response to a question in...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 32
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 32 - since July over fifty posts have been shared with questions about the UToledo enrollment, financial and morale crisis. Every day messages stream in requesting a central place to see all of the posts. My apology for the delay! You can...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 31
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 31 - UToledo Enrollment Update. In June 2023 UToledo Leaders and Trustees extended the contract of the Interim Vice President of Enrollment Management until December 31, 2023. The contract was renewed after 24-months of serving as the...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 30
Rocket Nation Recover Part 30 - UToledo Homecoming 2023 was awesome! Congrats to the students, staff, faculty, administrators, and leadership for a job well done! With Homecoming behind us and year four well underway, it's time to return to the reality of the...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 29
Rocket Nation Recovery #29 - Interesting perspective on UToledo. https://lnkd.in/gwsG95eh Is this article suggesting that an enrollment, financial and morale crisis has been underway at UToledo since 2010? The UToledo 2017 - 2022 five year plan called for a...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 28
Rocket Nation Recover Part 28 - headlines for an interesting day ahead at UToledo: 1. The Board of Trustees meets after uneventful sub-committee meetings on Monday. Their last planned meeting is December 6th - - interesting meeting day choice. 2. UT Interim Vice...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 27
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 27 - "President Rodney Rogers Contract Extended Until 2028, Gifts $77,000 Performance Bonus For The Fifth Straight Year To Support Student Success At BGSU". https://lnkd.in/g4Tq9PQt If you were a UToledo trustee, how would you interpret...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 26
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 26 - as a forward looking UToledo trustee, how would you interpret yesterday's Leadership Letter To The Editor? Would you interpret this as the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Or a narrative to spin partial truths to...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 25
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 25 - thank you UToledo Deans, Administrators, Faculty and Staff for your messages! Your message below summarizes one consistent theme. "People are willing to pay for things of value. In other words, people will pay a high price for a great...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 24
Rocket Nation Recovery #24 - Thank you for the insights and questions about Grand Valley State University. A couple of your questions caught my eye . "Is it possible that UToledo is losing direct from high school students to Grand Valley State University? As a forward...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 23
Rocket Nation Recovery Part #23 - it's important that we celebrate when UToledo has a win - - as an institution, in academics, in research, with students, in sports, with alumni, and all other wins. UToledo moving up from 285 to 280 in the national university rankings...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 22
Rocket Nation Recovery #22 - If you were a trustee preparing for the September 27th board meeting, would you expect a discussion about how UToledo's Fall 2023 Enrollment results compared to other urban universities? Would you start the conversation by establishing a...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 21
Rocket Nation Recovery Part #21 - Interesting spin on the Fall 2023 UToledo enrollment numbers and graduation rates. What's your take on the message? https://lnkd.in/gCDBRezH If you were a trustee reading this press release and preparing for the September 27th board...
Rocket Nation Recovery
Rocket Nation - great to see fellow UToledo alum Jack Kosakowski and the Junior Achievement Team working with the Carlson School of Business at the University of Minnesota! Would be great to have Jack stop by his alma mater for a leadership program! Maybe he should be...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 20
Rocket Nation Recovery Part #20 - big win for The Rockets on Saturday. Congrats to Brian Blair and his team for a great game day experience. Kudos to Coach Candle and the team for a job well done! Will UToledo leadership score a big win with this week's enrollment...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 19
Rocket Nation Recovery Part #19 - the Interim Provost over the past year has been let go. Dr. Scott Molitor has been named Interim Provost. Scott has 20+ years at UToledo, lives in the community, and can hit the ground running. https://lnkd.in/g6Px2mbp While this is a...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 18
Rocket Nation Enrollment Fall 2024 - - this is positive news to celebrate! Great to see UToledo enrollment reaching out to engage alums in the all hands on deck effort to bring 3,000 to 4,000 new students to UToledo in Fall 2024! Recommend that you bring your high...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 17
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...
Rocket Nation Fun Photo Friday
Rocket Nation Fun Photo Friday - - while doing research in support of the Metro NYC Alumni Chapter I came across this photo from September 6, 2006. A joint meeting with the UToledo Enrollment leadership team across the street from Radio City Music Hall. This meeting...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 16
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 16 - is it true that the UToledo board of trustees will meet for their summer retreat this week? As a trustee, before charting a future direction for UToledo would you want Wednesday and Thursday's meeting to: 1. Have UToledo leadership...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 15
Rocket Nation Recover Part 15 - next week the UToledo board of trustees will meet for their summer retreat. If you were a trustee, would you expect the retreat to focus on short term steps to immediately address the enrollment, financial and morale crisis? Would you...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 14
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 14 - week seven begins with UToledo leaders holding alumni meetings in Atlanta, a little over 1,000 students moving into the dorms, and the UToledo board of trustees planning for a summer strategic planning retreat during the first week of...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 13
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 13 - UToledo enrollment census report. Thank you for all of the messages yesterday! You're asking great questions about the historic enrollment data. Yes, there is a great deal of confusion about the numbers. Here's a link to the official...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 12
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 12 - another interesting story from The Blade.What does Bowling Green State University's record enrollment of 3,550 students mean to UToledo? Is it true that UToledo's first year students direct from high school will be under 1,800? Is it...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 11
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 11 - an interesting perspective from The Blade https://www.toledoblade.com/opinion/editorials/2023/08/16/editorial-postel-pay-prudent/stories/20230816029 With leadership entering year four at UToledo, this editorial makes a really good...
Rocket Nation
Rocket Nation – here's the press release from yesterday’s UToledo emergency board meeting. https://lnkd.in/gshpEQ9n Here's The Blades interpretation https://lnkd.in/g9xUTCW5 What is your interpretation? How do the 60% of Rocket Nation members that live beyond 50-miles...
Rocket Nation Change In Direction
Rocket Nation Change In Direction? Today the UToledo Board of Trustees will meet in "executive session to discuss the employment and compensation of a public employee." Will this meeting mark the beginning of a reset in leadership direction or a vote of confidence to...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 10
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 10 - - as you enter the weekend please pray for the UToledo Board of Trustees. According to the UToledo Board webpage they will convene a remote meeting on Monday, August 14th. One item is on their agenda "executive session to discuss the...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 9
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 9 - a couple of recent posts used The Principles of Strategic Management as a framework to assess the situation at UToledo. They asked if the root cause of the morale, enrollment and financial crisis could be traced to structural problems...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 8
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 8 - the last post used one element of The Principles of Strategic Management to assess the situation at UToledo. It asked if structural problems in UToledo's strategic intent could be the root cause of the morale, enrollment and financial...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 7
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 7 - The Principles of Strategic Management consist of strategy formulation, execution, and evaluation. The foundation of strategy formulation is an institutions strategic intent. Could structural problems in UToledo's strategic intent be...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 6
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 6 - over the past three weeks many questions have been asked about UToledo leadership and the enrollment/financial crisis. Most have messaged that the questions caught you off guard. Some dismissed the questions and the messenger. A few are...
Rocket Nation Art On The Mall
Rocket Nation Art On The Mall - what a beautiful day to be on campus! Billy Pierce and the alumni association event team put on another great event. Love the new venue layout! Nice to see the Alumni Association Trustees working hard to support the event. The best part...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 5
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 5 - for those that have been asking how you can help UToledo - - here's one way. Join The Team. When preparing for your interview don't forget to check out the IRS 990 form. Understanding how the foundation works and being prepared with...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 4
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 4 - thank you for the blizzard of private messages. Your concerns, ideas, questions, and data is amazing! The majority of you are asking "what can be done to quickly turn things around at UToledo?" Great question. Many of you have stated...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 3
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 3 - as a UToledo volunteer for nearly 40-years it's interesting to watch how things are unfolding inside the university and in the business community. While that's working its way through, here's another example of the countless world class...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 2
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 2 - Here's another example of the countless world class academic programs at UToledo. The Ed Schmidt School of Professional Sales. This College of Business program is rated one of the top programs in the country for the past 20-years. Take...
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 1
Rocket Nation Recovery Part 1 - since time is of the essence, what can you do to help UToledo enrollment today? While the UToledo Board of Trustees works to finalize annual performance bonuses for the administration and scrambles to figure out an emergency...
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Rocket Nation Sadness Posts
Rocket Nation Sadness Part 11
Rocket Nation Sadness Part 11 - thank you to the local business owners around UToledo for your messages. The short answer is, no. I had not thought about the economic impact that the UToledo enrollment and financial crisis is having on local businesses....
Rocket Nation Sadness Part 10
Rocket Nation Preview Day Part 2 - thank you for all the messages about the UToledo Preview Day. As mentioned in my previous posts - - I'm praying that I'm wrong. It appears that I'm partially wrong about Preview Day. I posted that the deans, department...
Rocket Nation Sadness Part 9
Rocket Nation Preview Day 1. So, you and your high school senior and junior, are attending a concert. As you walk toward the arena you notice license plates from ten different states. WOW! This is going to be great! The salespeople and ushers are helpful,...
Rocket Nation Sadness Part 8
Rocket Nation Sadness Part 8 - UToledo enrollment data. If you were a pilot and your altimeter showed 13,800 feet and climbing, but your co-pilot's showed 12,800 feet and descending, and your flight engineers showed 11,900. What would you do? Would you...
Rocket Nation Sadness Part 7
Rocket Nation Sadness Part 7 - over the past two weeks hundreds of employees from all levels and departments within UToledo have reached out. A shocking number of former Deans, VP's, Provosts and other people have also shared their thoughts. Two themes have...
Rocket Nation Sadness Part 6
Rocket Nation Sadness Part 6 - in Summer 2021 Ohio University brought in a new President. The outgoing President had the self-awareness, courage and love of OU to step down. A retired Dean from the OU Family. An insider who knew the institution. He...
Rocket Nation Sadness Part 5
Rocket Nation Sadness Part 5 - the news of the crisis at UToledo is no longer hidden behind the scenes. The time for awareness building about the severity of the enrollment and financial crisis is over. The time for courageous, energetic, kind and immediate...
Rocket Nation Sadness Part 4
Rocket Nation Sadness Part 4 - with UToledo enrollment and financials in free fall decline. With a lack of inspired, creative and capable leadership in place. What would you do if you were a CEO or owner of a company in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan?...
Rocket Nation Sadness Part 3
Rocket Nation Sadness Part 3 - so with UToledo enrollment in a free fall decline is it true that dorm occupancy is down from around 3,600 to a little over 1,400? Is it true that the President just gave the VP of Enrollment a contract extension to December...
Rocket Nation Sadness Part 2
Rocket Nation Sadness Part 2 - - if you were leading a university with a capacity of 24,000 students and your enrollment was down by 50% (to 12,000) would you hire a VP of Enrollment whose last four employers had less than 3,000 students each? One wonders...
Rocket Nation Sadness Part 1
Rocket Nation Sadness - - over the past 5-years UToledo enrollment has been in a free fall decline. Is it true that Fall 2023 enrollment will be under 12,800 students with undergraduate enrollment a little over 9,000? Who should be held accountable?
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Rocket Nation Spotlight Posts
Rocket Nation Spotlight Part 10
Rocket Nation Spotlight Part 10 - Mike Fabec UToledo has been a staple in my family for four decades. While running the Metro New York City Alumni Chapter from 1995-2015 my wife Debbie and I had the honor of riding in many Homecoming Parades. This played a...
Rocket Nation Spotlight Part 9
Rocket Nation Spotlight Part 9 - Brad Windbigler In September 1983, as a rising sophomore at UToledo, some friends from high school asked me to join them at a gathering. A group of men were talking about starting a new fraternity at UToledo. Forty years...
Rocket Nation Spotlight Part 8
Rocket Nation Spotlight Part 8 - H. Michael Chung - Seoul South Korea Post from March 13, 2019 "Rocket and Huron Nations - fun breakfast this morning in Trenton, MI with UToledo alum John Shepherd, President Thyssen Krupp Engineered Plastics and Eastern...
Rocket Nation Spotlight Part 7
Rocket Nation Spotlight Part 7- Hirzel Canning and The Hirzel Family have supported the Toledo area for decades. Their work ethic and creative business approach are great examples of entrepreneurship at its best. Their Dei Fratelli Brand tomatoes, pasta...
Rocket Nation Spotlight Part 6
Rocket Nation Spotlight Part 6 - another proud UToledo alum achieving success on the world stage! Eric Nilsson
Rocket Nation Spotlight Part 5
Rocket Nation Spotlight Part 5 - Another great niche academic program that will draw students from around the world to UToledo. https://www.sens.org/introducing-srf-university-of-toledo-phd-program/
Rocket Nation Spotlight Part 4
Rocket Nation Spotlight Part 4 - more about the nationally ranked Cosmetic Science Formulation program. Tell your kids, neighbors, colleagues and everyone you meet about this program. This program is a prime example of a niche program that can draw students...
Rocket Nation Spotlight Part 3
Rocket Nation Spotlight Part 3 - Rocket Nation - great to see Kevin Wickenheiser and Steve Sass leading the way in manufacturing execution software and automation system integration. Bringing jobs to Toledo and building UToledo's brand around the world.
Rocket Nation Spotlight Part 2
Rocket Nation Spotlight Part 2 -- this is one example of the many outstanding niche academic programs at UToledo. Jada is a great student leader that came to Toledo from New Jersey for this program. What would happen to UToledo enrollment if senior leaders...
Rocket Nation Spotlight Part 1
Rocket Nation Spotlight Part 1 - Running the Metro New York City Alumni Chapter for 20-years was a huge honor. Always loved meeting fellow Rockets at events like the one in a few weeks in Atlanta. Such a great opportunity to hear about the good things going...
