Interview with Oregon State University President F. King Alexander

Today on Start The Week With Wisdom, Bridget and Paul are speaking with Oregon State University President F. King Alexander. Having been President of Murray State University, Cal State Long Beach, and Louisiana State University, Mr. Alexander has a broad perspective on higher education.

As an advocate for vulnerable students, Mr. Alexander has seen the pandemic bring unique challenges. Luckily he says they’re doing okay enrollment-wise, where a lot of universities are down, they are staying flat. However, because of the pandemic, the door has been shut on new international students coming in. They’re down approximately 96% from China, 94% from India, and 85% from Germany and Brazil. Mr. Alexander reminds us that 1/3 of Silicon Valley was built by international students, and their absence now will be felt for decades to come.

More and more, society is turning to Universities for help during this pandemic, and Mr. Alexander says they need the funds in order to help those most vulnerable during this pandemic. He says the C.A.R.E. Act helped some, but they need more. Looking back to 2009-2011, roughly 120 billion dollars in 3 stimulus packages went to higher ed, and we need to see that kind of help again.

Mr. Alexander says it’s been difficult moving into a new leadership role in the middle of a pandemic, but he thinks they’ll get through with greater trust. Anything can be an opportunity, and this is one to enhance trust in what we can achieve together. Mr. Alexander believes that if all the information is on the table, 9/10 educated people will come to the same conclusions. So, it’s about working together, sharing information, and leveraging each other's strengths. As difficult as it’s been to lead during a crisis, some good has come that Mr. Alexander hopes to remain. The faculty has been very flexible and is using new technologies to reach more people than ever.

Having taken very public positions on controversial topics, Mr. Alexander hopes to see more leaders on the front lines working to bring about change. One issue is keeping state legislators engaged as they’ve slowly been stepping away and federalized the state responsibility. This has directly resulted in the percentage of people with college degrees going down. The age group of 55-64 were rated #1 in percentage with degrees, with now the 25-34 age group being ranked #16.

--

Welcome to innovating together, a podcast produced by the University Innovation Alliance. This is a podcast for busy people in higher education who are looking for the “aha moments” that can propel their work forward. Innovating Together curates the best insights, research, and experts. To connect with us further, visit www.theuia.org.--