DEAR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS,
Twenty-first century America is awash in data, and for better or worse, numbers rule our lives. Companies like Google and Amazon amass troves of data about our purchases and online behavior to deliver customized advertising and product recommendations. Elected officials use finely parsed voter registration data to draw legislative districts that give one party an insurmountable electoral advantage over the other. The fate of our public school districts hinges on the reams of data produced by standardized testing. Yet, with all this data at our disposal, we still don’t always know whether we are measuring the right things with the right numbers. It’s a dilemma that vexes many of us who work in higher education: Does the service we provide, at considerable cost, produce the correct outcomes? That’s the dilemma that Purdue University President Mitch Daniels set out to resolve when he partnered with the Gallup organization to develop a survey that would identify the undergraduate experiences that contribute to personal and professional satisfaction. The Gallup-Purdue Index (page 16) is prescriptive as well as descriptive: It tells colleges and universities what they need to do to turn out graduates who are highly engaged and fulfilled in their personal and professional lives. When RMU set out to develop its next strategic plan, we did not know the Gallup-Purdue Index was in the offing, and we certainly did not anticipate the sobering message it would send about our industry’s shortcomings. But as we pored through the results and took note of the factors of success the GPI identified, we realized we had found an ideal tool to assess the quality of the education and experiences we provide our own students. That’s why we are now one of 12 universities nationwide to partner with Gallup and administer the survey to our own graduates to determine where we can improve. We sent email invitations to complete the survey to a list of alumni who received bachelor’s degree from RMU, and we are grateful to all of you who participated. As you read about our next strategic plan on page 12 of this issue of Foundations, you will see how closely its initiatives dovetail with the measures of success identified by Gallup. As many of you know, I will be leaving Robert Morris University at the end of the current academic year to become the president of Rider University in my native New Jersey. This was a deeply personal decision for me, and it will not be easy to leave all the wonderful friends, including many of you, that my wife, Polly, and I have made in the RMU community. These have been 10 wonderful years for my family and me, and I am proud of all that you and I have achieved together. With your support, the next president will take your alma mater to even greater heights. Robert Morris University’s best days are yet to come.
Sincerely,
G R E G O R Y G . D E L L’ O M O , P H . D . PRESIDENT