As Al Bowman nears the end of his 10 years as president of Illinois State University, he sat down for an interview with The Pantagraph about his years of service and what’s ahead for him, the university and higher education in general.
The ISU Board of Trustees discussed the final four presidential candidates during a closed session on Saturday. The board could name Bowman’s successor at its regular quarterly meeting on Friday, although a definite timeline has not been announced.
“It’s been an interesting run because in many ways the deck was stacked against us. When I took office, the state had budget problems and public higher education was being cut. Of course, the demographic changes. So there’s been lots of financial challenges. But I think the key to the success of this institution is that we developed a plan that was right for Illinois State and that made sense in the marketplace.
“You know, like any business you try to find a niche that allows you to exploit your strengths. And in the case of Illinois State, when we were having a debate in the mid-1990s about what direction the institution should go, we coalesced behind a plan that made undergraduate education the center of everything we do. And so we invested in the undergraduate experience. And I think we incorporated a number of key elements that one sees in private universities into our undergraduate experience. And in doing that it brought us more capable students. It certainly excited donors who were interested in getting involved in the campus. Faculty have been very happy with the quality of students we’ve been enrolling over the last 10 years.
“I also think that we’ve hired very, very capable people around campus. Senior leadership is very good at what they do. Our middle managers are deeply committed to the institution and doing a good job. And then when you get down to the department level, the department chairs, which is where I came from, department chairs are passionate about the academic experience and building our indoor Tracking.
“So, at the end of the day what you’ve seen over the last 15 years of so is an institution that I think got almost everything right. … Almost. You’re never perfect. But we developed a plan that I think resonated with the public and, consequently, people were willing to send their children here. The institutional progress, of course, I think is the best evidence that the plan worked. Because when you look at the last 10 years and the change in our institutional ranking, it’s clear that the prominence of Illinois State has really risen.
“This is the first time in our history where for the last 2 years we’ve been in the top 100 among public universities in US News & World Report. And now we have a number of programs across campus that have national rankings and that allows us to attract good solid faculty. Those good faculty are very competitive in the grants arena. More evidence that we’ve gotten hiring right is seeing the amount of grants and the number of grants and sponsored programs that have been funded. In the last 10 years, faculty and staff have been awarded a quarter-billion dollars in grants and contracts. And now we have over 100 faculty members who have accumulated more than a million dollars in individual awards.”
“There are some facility goals that I thought I could get accomplished but the severe recession made it difficult for the state to fund the academic projects that were on the table. I’m very happy that the governor has approved the fine arts project. But I thought I could get the library project done before I retired. We’ve outgrown the library. It really needs to be doubled in space. I know it will happen eventually. But that was a project that was near and dear to my heart.
“There are some academic buildings that need attention. DeGarmo. Williams Hall, we’d like to remodel. That building has lots of potential. Metcalf lab school — I’d like nothing more than to snap my fingers and build a new building for Metcalf out on the Gregory Street property. And I think that will happen eventually as well.”
“So, at the end of the day what you’ve seen over the last 15 years of so is an institution that I think got almost everything right. … Almost. You’re never perfect. But we developed a plan that I think resonated with the public and, consequently, people were willing to send their children here. The institutional progress, of course, I think is the best evidence that the plan worked. Because when you look at the last 10 years and the change in our institutional ranking, it’s clear that the prominence of Illinois State has really risen.
“This is the first time in our history where for the last 2 years we’ve been in the top 100 among public universities in US News & World Report. And now we have a number of programs across campus that have national rankings and that allows us to attract good solid faculty. Those good faculty are very competitive in the grants arena. More evidence that we’ve gotten hiring right is seeing the amount of grants and the number of grants and sponsored programs that have been funded. In the last 10 years, faculty and staff have been awarded a quarter-billion dollars in grants and contracts. And now we have over 100 faculty members who have accumulated more than a million dollars in individual awards.”
“My happiest memory is learning that the state was releasing the capital dollars for the Schroeder Hall project. In part that one was personal because I was a new president and that was my first major building project.
“It was also important because the campus desperately needed that project to get done. The building was in terrible shape and lots and lots of complaints from faculty and staff. We had constant problems with the roof leaking; heating and cooling was a challenge. And so it brought be a great deal of personal satisfaction. And then, professionally, it was important because it showed the campus that Illinois State could get big things done even in a challenging financial environment.
“The biggest disappointment is the accumulated erosion of state support for public higher education. Public universities educate the majority of students in this country. Illinois has had a pretty good reputation of supporting public higher education. But it’s clear that those priorities have shifted. Now in part the priorities have shifted because there are greater demands on the state budget. But it’s also very disappointing that at a time in our country’s history when educating citizens with advanced training is important to our economic development we’re pulling our investment away from public higher education and I think we’ll pay a price for that down the road, if we haven’t already.”
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