Inaugural Address

Herman J. Saatkamp, Jr. 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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