New
Look, New Plan for Texas Wesleyan
New
Texas Wesleyan leaders on board, Guided by a strategic plan for the future
JERI PETERSEN - Aug 25
Purists
might argue that educational institutions should not be run as a business;
others would argue they have to stay afloat to accomplish their mission.
Texas Wesleyan President Hal Jeffcoat knows both sides of the argument.
Shortly after he had assumed leadership of the university nearly three years
ago, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools placed Wesleyan on
probation for a history of poor management, and gave the new administration one
year to redress the problems. Jeffcoat began implementing reforms, and
Wesleyan’s probation was lifted after 11 months.
...
By
Sept. 1, three new resources will be in place. Wesleyan trustee Gary W. Cumbie
will become vice president of University Advancement, in which position he will
direct fundraising, alumni and community relations. On June 1, Robert L. Minter
replaced Louis McLain as dean of the business school; McLain was promoted to
chief investment officer last year after having served as business dean since
1996. Frederick G. Slabach became the fifth dean of the law school.
...
Slabach inherits a law school whose applications have jumped 58 percent during
the last five years. Median LSAT scores have risen from 149 to 151 and median
undergraduate GPAs have increased from 2.95 to 3.04. In addition, the first-time
bar passage rate climbed from a high of 71.57 percent in July 1998 to 85.71
percent in July of 2001. The law school scored 81.91 percent on the July 2002
Texas Bar exam.
“Our LSAT increase ... may not seem like a lot to those who don’t understand
the scoring, but that may mean 7 to10 percentage points,” Slabach said.
“That will put us ahead of more than 40 fully ABA-approved schools in the
country.”
Despite its successes over a short period, negative publicity surrounding the
SACS probation caused faculty, staff and alumni of the fledgling law school,
newly accredited by the American Bar Association, to worry about its future,
Jeffcoat said. It was then that rumors began to fly about a possible sale.
“The board of trustees … never placed the School of Law on the so-called
market block. Instead, the board fulfilled its fiduciary duty and entertained
offers, finally deciding not to pursue any negotiation,” Jeffcoat said. “The
board affirmed our mission to provide access to legal education of high quality.
Today the School of Law operates with a surplus, [with] such revenues restricted
… to the enhancement of law-related programs.”
Slabach said his goals include expanding space for the law library, to obtain
membership in the prestigious Association of American Law schools within three
years and implementing a certificate program in legal research writing to make
graduates more marketable.
...
Wesleyan
is one of only a handful of law schools that requires a certain number of pro
bono hours as promotion of professional values, and one of those values is
access to justice, Slabach said.
“[We] create a culture here that shows students they’re not just preparing
for a trade, but for a profession, with an obligation to society; one of those
is to provide legal aid to those cannot afford it,” he said.
Minter said community service also benefits students directly.
“Getting involved in the community not only provides a service but it also
gets the students to apply what they’ve learned in the classroom,” he said.
With significant successes behind him and definable goals for the future,
Jeffcoat said the next step is to build the university’s scholarship endowment
and to re-invest money into improvement of capital facilities.
Having state-of-the-art facilities will not only make Wesleyan competitive with
other universities, he said, it will also help build a sense of pride and
community among students, faculty and staff.
