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 Inaugural
Address
Herman J. Saatkamp, Jr.
The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey
Welcome
Continuity,
stability and a seeming permanence characterize the mountainous region
of East Tennessee where I grew up. Recently, as I received letters,
emails and phone calls from many life-long friends, I thought of these
characteristics, and today these thoughts continue.
It is
wonderful to be surrounded by students and colleagues from every institution
where I have taught: Vanderbilt University, the University of Tampa,
Texas A&M University and Indiana University Purdue University
Indianapolis. My family is here: Dot Saatkamp, my wife and partner
for more than forty years; our favorite daughter, Barbara Saatkamp
Taylor and her husband Mike; our favorite son, Joseph Saatkamp; and
my sister, Lionel Sands, who still lives in the beautiful hills of
East Tennessee.
From the
mountain ranges of my home state, you can look back to where you have
been and also to the horizon where you are going. So, it is also a
delight to be surrounded by new friends and colleagues who join in
assuring the future of The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey:
students, faculty, staff, trustees, Foundation Board members, members
of the Presidential search committee, alumni from every class that
has graduated from Stockton, President Emerita Farris, presidents
of other state colleges and universities, and leaders from our community
representing local, state, and national government, businesses, civic
and religious organizations, and non-profits. I am grateful to everyone
for attending.
But inaugurations
are not personal events; they are for the College. Serving as a bridge
between the past and the future, this inauguration provides a vantage
point between the past and the possible. And fortunately for Stockton,
our heritage and our prospects are filled with light and high promise.
It is
an honor being the President of The Richard Stockton College of New
Jersey and being with so many persons who have shared my past and
with many more who will share the future of the College. At the turn
of the 21st century, standing on the shore where land and sea begin
and continue, Stockton looks forward to a century of unparalleled
accomplishments in the face of both challenges and opportunities.
Challenges
Let's
talk about our challenges first. We have two principal challenges:
one intellectual and the other financial.
Intellectual
Challenge: Global and Regional
Our
greatest intellectual challenge is to renew liberal arts education
in the new, New Jersey. A new, New Jersey that is becoming global-not
only a gateway to New York City and Philadelphia, but an access to
a global economy and community beyond our state and national boundaries.
Gone are the times when "down the shore" meant only recreation,
relaxation and isolation. We still delight in and celebrate the remarkable
leisure features of our region, attracting significant visitors every
season and creating a quality lifestyle like no other in New Jersey.
But, even in this context, there is a new global setting for us and
our students.
As the
New York Times columnist, Tom Friedman, (NYT 24 June 2004)
wrote this past year:
When I was growing up, my parents used to say to me: "Finish
your dinner - people in China are starving." I, by contrast,
find myself wanting to say to my daughters: "Finish your homework
- people in China and India are starving for your job."
We must
prepare our students for the global challenge and for the local and
regional challenges.
Our education
must be shaped for a new, New Jersey where the demographics are steadily
moving southward in terms of population growth, economic development,
environmental pressures, diversification of our lives and communities,
and where Stockton's role in the education of our citizens is paramount.
Meeting this goal requires all the intellectual and practical wisdom
we can muster. It is a noble, mountainous challenge.
Financial
Challenge
Our
greatest financial challenge is to provide a sound fiscal base for
the current and future needs of the College.
Recently
some political commentators have dismissed higher education's ability
to meet societal needs and our own financial requirements. They
are suggesting that colleges and universities are out of step with
the rapidly changing intellectual and practical terrains of our
quotidian lives. They compare liberal arts education to chamber
music, noting it must be played at a particular pace and only after
considerable rehearsal and educational preparation. Hence, they
suggest its productivity will never increase and therefore its value
will decrease.
Is liberal
arts education like this? No, nor is chamber music. Think of CDs
and electronic downloads that do not have the same labor intensity
and time requirements as a chamber performance. And liberal arts
education and educators are both more adaptable and pertinent to
pressing issues, actually leading the way in many frontiers of education,
business and research.
Even
so, we should not downplay the financial challenges we are facing.
They are central to our mission and future achievements. And New
Jersey presents a special challenge, particularly for public higher
education. Not until the 1960s and 1970s did public higher education
rise above the horizon in New Jersey, even though we have a long
tradition of private higher education. Today we rank only 45th in
the nation in support of higher education, causing over 20,000 qualified
high school graduates annually to go out of state for their college
education because of a lack of space in our public colleges and
universities. And presently there is talk of a state budget deficit
and of reducing higher education funding in order to balance the
state budget.
Our
challenges are mountainous, both in terms of renewing liberal arts
education in the new, New Jersey, and of meeting the financial demands
of a thriving college. But we are up to it and each challenge presents
multiple opportunities.
Opportunities
Our principal opportunities are, like our challenges,
financial and intellectual. We need to establish the infrastructure
for the financial and programmatic needs of Stockton College and in
so doing, to raise the banner of liberal arts education to meet the
needs of our community, region, state and nation.
Financial
Opportunities
Financially,
it is important to note that investment in Stockton is a good investment,
a strategic investment that assures the economic development of the
region and assures our state and nation an educated public that contributes
to the well-being of all citizens. Every dollar invested in Richard
Stockton College has a multiplier effect in our region and state,
bringing a financial benefit of two to three times the initial costs
and resulting in better jobs, highly trained and educated employees,
and engaged citizens that contribute to the well-being of our social
and cultural activities.
And there
is hope that the political leadership at the state and national level
recognize the strategic centrality of higher education to the economic
and lifestyle future of the state. Our political leaders here today
represent the progressive side of our leadership: including local
leadership in Galloway Township and Atlantic County, and throughout
the shore and southern New Jersey.
In mentioning
names of individuals, one always runs the risk of omitting people
who should be mentioned. Noting that risk and apologizing for those
I have missed, let me mention only a few of political leaders who
have expressed an individual interest in Stockton College while I
have been president - certainly there are many more.
In State leadership:
Paul Fader, representing the Governor, and who will play
a significant role in the next administration.
Senator Bill Gormley
Senator Bonnie Watson Coleman, former chair of the Board of Richard
Stockton College
Assemblyman Frank Blee, who also teaches at Stockton
Assemblyman Kirk Conover
Assemblyman Chris Connors, who is an alumnus of Stockton
Assemblyman Jeff Van Drew
Assemblyman Louis Greenwald
In national leadership:
Senator Jon Corzine, represented by Barbara Wallace at
this inauguration
Representative Frank LoBiondo, our local representative
Representative Rob Andrews
Representative Rush Holt
In addition,
beyond state and federal support, we need to position ourselves in
the region so that our alumni, Foundation Board, Board of Trustees,
faculty, staff and students take a lead in providing support for the
College.
At my
previous university, we received a gift of $1.3 million for scholarships.
It came from a retired 94 year old gentleman who lived very modestly,
and he wanted to do something worthwhile with the funds he had. When
we announced the gift, Sam, the donor, who is slightly hard of hearing,
turned to me whispering (at least he thought he was whispering, but
everyone else could hear). He asked, "Herman, how long did you
say these scholarships will continue." And I said, "Sam,
this is an endowment. It will continue so long as there is a university;
basically it will continue forever." He smiled and said, "Herman,
that's a good answer." And everyone smiled.
It is
a good answer, and that is one of the reasons people see investments
in Stockton as good investments. Endowments provide continuity, stability
and permanence to the College.
The Richard
Stockton College Foundation has placed a central focus on scholarships
for our students, working hard to assure that students have the financial
support to come to college. This is why Dot and I, along with others
in the Stockton community, targeted scholarships in our giving to
the Foundation. Our students are promises we make to a future that
we will not see, and the Foundation Board is working hard to make
sure we keep our promises.
In addition,
our programs and activities need support, and recently an alumna,
Mady Deininger and her husband, Joel Peterson, began an endowment
for the Visiting Writers' Series in honor of Stephen Dunn.
And the
Pappas family recently endowed a named professorship in the Interdisciplinary
Center for Hellenic Studies, the Clement and Helen Pappas Professorship
sponsored by their children Dean, Peter and Marina.
And the
Advisory Boards of the Holocaust Resource Center, MAHG, Business Studies,
and other programs are joining us in working towards endowments for
the College.
We should
not forget that within the next 20 years there will be the greatest
intergenerational transfer of wealth that has ever occurred in the
United States -- literally trillions of dollars. As we look to the
future of our College, estate planning should be a central part of
it. The well-known saying, "Where there is a will, there is a
way," might be revised to read, "Where there is a will,
we want to be in it."
And we
must not only meet the financial needs of the College, but also our
facility needs.
Today,
we will dedicate the Elizabeth B. Alton Auditorium. In doing so, we
recognize our founding mother whose dedication and vision made possible
all the achievements within the College. And every dollar given to
renovate the Alton auditorium will be matched by the College, dollar
for dollar.
We are
developing a new Master Facilities Plan for the College. Our Trustees
are renewing their confidence in the future of the College by approving
more than $100 million in bonds to meet our pressing facilities needs.
Throughout
all our efforts, educating our students is foremost. That is why we
have launched a program to reduce the faculty/student ratio and to
build the endowment of the College to support faculty and students.
And we are moving forward with academic programs, including the new
Honors Program and the new Faculty Development Program.
Meeting
the foundational needs of the College is not a small task, and we
are up to it. But meeting these needs only provides the foundation
for what we are really about.
Intellectual
Opportunities: The Higher Practicality of the Liberal Arts
Our
second opportunity is to highlight the higher practicality of the
liberal arts. American tradition emphasizes practicality in all
aspects of our lives, but beyond training for jobs there is a higher
practicality needed to secure the well-being of our nation and state.
A prominent
19th century figure1
in medicine noted that the purpose of medical education is not to
enable physicians to earn a living; it is for the health of the
community. In a similar way, higher education is not just so that
our students can get their first job and earn a living; it is for
the well-being of our community.
This
higher practicality of the liberal arts is evident in remarkable
ways. Colleges are the centers of thinking, and thinking is prized
now more than ever before. At no time has there been a greater need
for a liberal arts education.
The
higher practicality of the liberal arts can be seen in everyday
situations. The ATM machines that we use are the result of one of
the highest forms of math, number theory that often is not practical.
The scholarship of a little known professor at Princeton, Bernard
Lewis, recently became quite significant as our focus on Iraq became
central to U.S. policies. As hurricanes close in, our Stockton Coastal
Research Center becomes even more important; as the demand for well-prepared,
adaptable and intelligent employees increases, our graduates are
in greater demand; as understanding our past presses on us, our
Holocaust Resource Center and Master's degree in Holocaust and Genocide
Studies become even more important; as our population ages, our
work in the health sciences becomes more important as well as our
alliances with the two hospitals located on our campus; and as the
grim demands of the world shadow our steps, the lively intelligence,
humor and delight of the liberal arts brightens our way.
The
higher practicality of the liberal arts brings benefits to each
individual. Our quality of life is not measured by its length but
by its heights and depths. In that regard, the enduring quality
of a liberal arts education is not something that can be lost. It
is more important to read world literature than only to prepare
for one's first job. Of greatest importance is an education that
provides a critical appreciation of other cultures, of the challenges
to equal rights and social justice, and of the natural and social
structures shaping our lives.
The
higher practicality of the liberal arts also benefits our state
and nation. We need educated citizens and intelligent leaders who
can 1) read, write, speak, and think clearly and effectively, 2)
who have a knowledge of history and of other languages, 3) who have
a critical appreciation of how we acquire knowledge about our natural
and social structures - who can intelligently assess the implications
of genetic discoveries for human behavior and intelligently ask
why some societies flourish and others perish; 4) who have a knowledge
of moral values and aesthetics; and 5) who are experts in their
chosen field. These characteristics are the core of a liberal arts
education.
The
higher practicality of the liberal arts brings global benefits.
Central to the liberal arts is an understanding of ourselves and
of others. As Hannah Arendt writes:
The more people's standpoints
I have present in my mind while I am pondering a given issue, and
the better I can imagine how I would feel and think in their place,
the stronger will be my capacity for representative thinking, and
the more valid my final conclusion, my opinion.2
The capacity for thinking beyond one's self,
for learning from others, is the liberal arts.
Harper
Lee portrays it well in her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, when
the father Atticus explains to Scout, his young daughter, that in
order to understand another person, you have to stand in their shoes,
walk around in them for awhile, and see the world from their perspective.
Or as
my grandmother once told me: the real purpose of education is to overcome
thick skulls and hard hearts.
In a time
of challenges and opportunities, it is also a time for courage: the
courage of the liberal arts to impart knowledge about the fundamental
issues of social and individual life, and the courage to raise serious
questions, and the courage that heightens our curiosity and the adventure
of learning.
It is
also a time for the economy of courage. We cannot do everything, but
we can do some things very well. And one of the principal tasks at
Stockton is to renew ourselves to the liberal arts as we choose our
future.
Conclusion
Three
final remarks: 1) In the face of these significant challenges and
opportunities, there is not one thing we can do about them, but there
are many things to do. 2) In the face of these significant challenges
and opportunities, there is not one person who can assure that we
meet them successfully, but there are many of us, working together,
and that will assure success.
And finally,
3) in choosing our future, I am honored to join you as the fourth
President of The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey in meeting
these challenges and shaping our opportunities. Thank you.
1Rudolf
Ludwig Karl Virchow. German Pathologist and statesman, born October
13, 1821, Schievelbein, Pommern, Preussen; died September 5, 1902,
Berlin
2Arendt,
H. (1968) Between Past and Future. New York: Penguin Books.,
p. 241.
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