Please respond to the follwoing discussion questions, discussion responses should be at least 4-5 paragraphs in length and contain citations.

Responses may include:

• Providing feedback on your colleague’s perspective of the problem.
• Assuming a different role and providing a perspective that differs from your colleague’s perspective.
• Relating what you have explored about different degree paths to a role or perspective described in your colleague’s post.

Discussion #1:

The professional role I have selected is the role of a president. First, as the leader of an institution, it is critical to understand the climate of the institution. Gathering information is the first step in addressing any issue. I delegate administration or institutional advancement to facilitate a survey to current students, faculty, and staff. In addition, I would enlist the services of alumni affairs to provide an additional assessment in regards to the facilitation of the change. This will help gauge the need to change or not. Also in looking at the gathered data, I would consider the benefits to the institution in changing to a professional and technical institution.

Assuming the role of president, it is important to balance the perception of the stakeholders prior to making a decision. While being in a position of leadership, considering those perceptions would be beneficial to garnering support. Even if a difficult decision is to be made, taking this route will allow you to gather the needs and concerns of students and find a way to implement those needs into facilitating the change. In my experience, I have experienced great resistance from faculty, staff, and students when administration implements changes without incorporating input from other stakeholders. This is an issue I witness plenty. It is one thing to be a leader, but it is another to be an effective leader.

Discussion #2

The professional role that I selected associated with my degree and specialization is Provost.  As provost, I may first address the problem by conducting my own independent research.  This will allow me to stay abreast about the facts and benefits on both sides of the problem.  Since Rogal is trying to improve its national standings, I would also research other undergraduate institutions that have faced the same problem of choosing between professional and technical degrees or liberal arts education.  With this information, I can determine how it affected other institutions as a whole and their standings as well.  I will make sure I am keeping the stakeholders well informed of the issue and welcoming any feedback that they may have.  

It is important for me to already have trustworthy relationships with the stakeholders prior to the problem developing and the change derived from the problem as I will be relaying information that may affect them in several ways.  Those trustworthy relationships will help embrace and execute positive change.  I would collaborate with the deans of each school on how to best address the problem, create positive change, and how to effectively implement the change.  I would also investigate prior issues and the positive change created from those issues that have been previously implemented at Rogal.  I can use this data to compare similarities and differences of the issues and the change created from the problems. This may give me pointers on how to best deliver and incorporate the change.