On September 30th, 2016, the College of Engineering’s ENGAGE climate survey results were presented in back-to-back town halls by Dr. Sue Rankin of Rankin & Associates, the consulting group that performed the survey. The town hall, full report, and executive summary are still available at: https://www.engr.psu.edu/engage/
The 9-minute (loosely-)transcripted contiguous YouTube audio excerpt below includes the Rankin's broad-sweeping generalization at the end of the talk that highlights systemic issues in the College of Engineering and is followed by Q&A with the audience. An interjection from Josh Troxell, who served as the College of Engineering safety officer at the time, noted some of the figures presented were "above safety thresholds". The College of Engineering Dean Amr at the time, who commissioned the climate survey, indicated that he sought for the survey to serve as a benchmark for recurring surveys, tentatively slated every 3 years, to hopefully demonstrate progress.
Rankin also pointed out data that was a likely symptom of the poor climate in the college, stating "You're losing faculty. You're losing them. They come but they don't stay". I could hazard some guesses as to why... but won't here now.
The 9-minute (loosely-)transcripted contiguous YouTube audio excerpt below includes the Rankin's broad-sweeping generalization at the end of the talk that highlights systemic issues in the College of Engineering and is followed by Q&A with the audience. An interjection from Josh Troxell, who served as the College of Engineering safety officer at the time, noted some of the figures presented were "above safety thresholds". The College of Engineering Dean Amr at the time, who commissioned the climate survey, indicated that he sought for the survey to serve as a benchmark for recurring surveys, tentatively slated every 3 years, to hopefully demonstrate progress.
Rankin also pointed out data that was a likely symptom of the poor climate in the college, stating "You're losing faculty. You're losing them. They come but they don't stay". I could hazard some guesses as to why... but won't here now.
Outside of the excerpt, I personally found Rankin to be an incredibly compelling, engaging speaker. Very much a no-nonsense, straight-shooter. It's been a while but if memory serves, she explained her backstory, which included quite amazingly being fired from Penn State twice but hired three times. Her firing was part of the subject of the Training Rules documentary, (I haven't watched it FYI) which looked at LGBTQ discrimination by former Penn State women's basketball coach Rene Portland. The Orlando mass shootings of LGBTQ-friendly club Pride had occurred just a few months prior to the town hall and Rankin spoke on how heart-breaking it was for someone that had devoted their life and career to paving a better, safer future for the next generation of LGBTQ individuals. Suffice to say, she exuded gravitas--that was a refreshing change to academia.
Rankin cited her frustration frankly with academia, saying "I'm sick in higher ed... collect the data, make a nice little task force, they create some nice actions that go into a plan. Where does the plan go?... on a shelf. That's not gonna happen in this case. I've been promised, right?" She turned to Dean Amr, who shortly thereafter took a new position at the University of Houston. Unfortunately, the scope of her study was limited to the College of Engineering where the Dean would represent only an 'n of 1'. Otherwise, I might be able to ask what her data says about the retention of university deans.
Based on Elnashai's promise, 2019 would be the next benchmarking year. Looks like, however, that Elnashai's torch won't be carried on by new Dean Justin Schwartz---not that Elnashai's quiet, nearly indiscernible ramblings projected confidence in the promise of his follow-through.
Rankin cited her frustration frankly with academia, saying "I'm sick in higher ed... collect the data, make a nice little task force, they create some nice actions that go into a plan. Where does the plan go?... on a shelf. That's not gonna happen in this case. I've been promised, right?" She turned to Dean Amr, who shortly thereafter took a new position at the University of Houston. Unfortunately, the scope of her study was limited to the College of Engineering where the Dean would represent only an 'n of 1'. Otherwise, I might be able to ask what her data says about the retention of university deans.
Based on Elnashai's promise, 2019 would be the next benchmarking year. Looks like, however, that Elnashai's torch won't be carried on by new Dean Justin Schwartz---not that Elnashai's quiet, nearly indiscernible ramblings projected confidence in the promise of his follow-through.
