Pizza with Greene: Flavorful Q&A

(Jo Wei Looi/Western Herald)Dr. Timothy J. Greene, provost and vice president for academic affairs (far right), answering a question during a Pizza with the Provost session held in the Bernhard Center on Wednesday.

On Wednesday night, Western Michigan University Provost Tim Greene fielded questions and concerns on academic policy from students over pizza.

Every semester, the Western Student Association hosts Pizza with the Provost, an informal session for students to get to know their provost.

As provost, Greene is the vice president for academic affairs, which means he is in charge of all things academic, including department heads, provosts, the registrar’s office, financial aid, and faculty.

Greene became provost in the fall of 2008. Before that, he was the engineering and applied sciences dean since April 2005. He also served as assistant vice president for research and academic affairs as well as the engineering dean at the University of Alabama. He has also worked at Oklahoma State University and Virginia Tech.

Greene talked about many new measures that will be implemented at WMU in the coming year.

Greene announced a new certificate program for students. Certificates would act as a way of acknowledging new areas of study where the university does not offer a major or minor. He said that a certificate will require around 12 to 18 credit hours; they will not be needed for a degree but will go on a graduate’s transcript.

“That’s your passport to go out and find that sort of job,” Greene said.

Unlike majors or minors, certificates need the provost’s approval, and do not go through the state.

Such topics such as diversity inclusiveness and sustainability will probably be the first to have such a program, Greene said. “[These] are important topics and we need to have something on your resume and we really can’t wait for the next generation.”

When the issue of financial aid was brought up, Greene announced that WMU will launch a comprehensive campaign next year. “It’s a big push with the alumni and major donors to get major gifts,” he said.

A large portion of the money raised from the campaign will be added to an endowment for student scholarships.

Currently, Greene said that for every dollar of tuition students spend, 25 cents goes to a fund for financial aid.

A major item discussed Wednesday night was online courses. Greene said that there will be a push for classes on the internet for students who want to study abroad but whose programs may not have courses that will transfer to WMU.

Greene said that such a student can take online courses from WMU while abroad. “If you want to, you can sit on the Champs-Élysées… find a WiFi site and do your homework,” Greene said. “That’s my sort of education.”

For campus proper, Greene said he was in favor of hybrid classes, where some of the professor’s lectures are recorded and posted on the Internet, adding that it will allow more time in class for discussion.

“When you get to class, you can put the chairs in a circle like this and say ‘what did you get out of this lecture? How would you do that?’” Greene said. “All of a sudden the class is a conversation…to me that is more interesting.”

Greene also gave practical advice for students when addressing their professors.

“Faculty don’t like to hear, ‘what’s my grade.’ What you need to be asking is ‘have I accomplished and learned what you think I need to know in this class,’” he said.

He also shared “Greene’s Secrets to Getting Good Grades” — “get in the mind of the faculty,” he said. “Think about what a faculty member is dealing with. They have taught the course many times, they’ve heard the same questions over and over again, and they typically just hear complaints. What they want to hear from is a student who really wants to learn the material.”

He also told stories of his time as an undergraduate and professional. One of his best memories was as the president of Society of Manufacturing Engineers when he gave another society member the chance of introducing former Dallas Cowboy’s coach Tom Landry at their annual conference.

“Every time I see her she says, ‘That was the most exciting thing in my career,’” he said. “You have the ability to give that opportunity to someone else. That’s what leadership is. Not the fact that you’re the leader, but [that you have] the ability to enrich somebody else in your organization’s life.”

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Posted by HeraldAdmin on Dec 3 2009. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Cody Kimball
Web Manager: I'm a Communication Student at WMU, a SCUBA Diver, Boater, Ordained Minister, Notary Public, Web Designer, Film Maker, DJ, and of course a Journalist. Born and raised in Port Huron, MI and a graduate of SC4. http://www.codykimball.com