Joe Gottlieb: (00:01)
Welcome to Transformed, a higher digital podcast focused on the new why’s, the new what’s, and the new how’s in higher ed. In each episode, you will experience hosts and guests pulling for the resurgence of higher ed while identifying and discussing the best practices needed to accomplish that resurgence. Culture, strategy, and tactics, planning and execution, people, process, and technology. It’s all on the menu because that’s what’s required to truly transform. Hello, welcome and thanks for joining us for another episode of Transformed. My name is Joe Gottlieb, President and CTO of Higher Digital, and today I am joined by Dr. Anthony Wutoh, Provost and Chief Academic Officer at Howard University. Dr. Wutoh, welcome to Transformed. 

Dr. Anthony Wutoh: (00:54)
Thanks, Joe. Glad to be here. What do you want to talk about? 

Joe Gottlieb: (00:59)
Well, so glad you asked. I wanna talk about how you are driving strategic alignment through academic program innovation at Howard University. But first, tell me a bit about your personal journey and, and how it shaped your passion for the work that you do in higher ed. 

Dr. Anthony Wutoh: (01:15)
Sure. My, uh, I think it probably starts with, with my father. Um, my dad was a, uh, professor at the University of Maryland on Eastern Shore. He taught genetics and, and, and biology. And we grew up on campus. Um, and so when, um, I went away to college, you know, I went to pharmacy school, rarely following in my foot sister’s footsteps, became a pharmacist, and then did my, uh, PhD in, in pharmacy administration with an emphasis in, in pharmaco epidemiology. And so my, my plan when I graduated was to work in the pharmaceutical industry. I had, my dissertation was funded by a pharmaceutical company, and, uh, I really had no thoughts of, of an academic career, even though my dad was, was a professor. And when I, I found out about a position open at, at Howard, I, I rarely jumped at it. We had always held Howard in, in a high regard, but my plan was to be here for five years at Howard and then, uh, go and work in the pharmaceutical industry. And that was 27 years ago. And so I, uh, met a lot of great people, um, I believe very much in mentoring. Had a lot of excellent mentors and colleagues that I was able to, to work with. And, you know, when I, I joined the administration, I, I, at one point was the, um, dean of the pharmacy school. I was the assistant provost for international programs, and then, uh, was asked to serve in this role as provost, um, where I’ve served for the last eight years. 

Joe Gottlieb: (02:52)
Excellent. What a, what a nice background. It’s, it’s, it’s similar to many stories I’ve heard about the, the, the magnetism of higher ed, and in particular, a, you know, a specific institution that you might hold in high regard even before you get there. And lo and behold, you get close to that gravitational force and, and you’re sucked in. That’s excellent. Well, you know, Howard University, I’ve noticed, is right in the middle of implementing its strategic plan, uh, entitled Howard Forward 2019 to 2024. And I have to say, as someone who looks at a lot of strategic plans, I am really impressed with a few things in particular. First of all, the clarity of the five strategic pillars that Howard has set out for itself, but perhaps more importantly, the transparency and the specificity with which it’s tracking progress via milestones on very specific measures that I think, uh, are very, very powerful. 

Joe Gottlieb: (03:50)
And so what I wanted to start with, to set the context for, for this discussion today is, you know, as provost, of course, your focus is primarily on the first two strategic pillars, enhance academic excellence and inspire new knowledge. Um, but I’m just wondering how have the metrics that have been assigned to the, the pillars and the progress and the objectives for those two areas, you know, which are growing enrollment, uh, maintaining, growing retention rates, graduation rates, post-grad employment, post-grad compensation, and, uh, you know, additional research grants, how have those metrics actually helped you to drive strategic change rather than maybe created such a pressure cooker of urgency that might have stifled your ability to, to move forward? 

Dr. Anthony Wutoh: (04:38)
Sure. And then, first of all, I’m, I’m glad you noticed that we’re, we’re actually using our strategic plan. You know, one of the, uh, the, the ongoing jokes in, in academics is that you spent a, a year or more working on a strategic plan, and then it goes on the shelf and no one actually uses it. And, and, uh, president Frederick, uh, president was, was very intentional in that he wanted us to develop a plan, uh, that we would be able to actually utilize to improve, uh, the university in a number of different aspects. And so that rarely meant, um, developing metrics, um, that we would use, that we would track and that we would follow, uh, and that we would rarely use the strategic plan as a guiding light in terms of moving the institution forward. And to your point, uh, the, the two pillars that I’m, uh, responsible for enhancing academic excellence and then also our research, uh, enterprise, we, we wanted to give rarely focused attention to those areas. 

Dr. Anthony Wutoh: (05:42)
Um, we implemented a, an a comprehensive academic review. We, we, we call it our, uh, prioritization process. And, um, what we wanted to do is, is really review each of our academic programs, uh, for quality, for, um, currency, uh, for innovation, um, and also review each of our administrative areas. Um, were there areas where we could be more efficient? Were there areas where we could, uh, develop some cost savings, which we could then direct into the academic programs? And so I was very intentional that we were going to review each academic program and, and for us, uh, the prior academic review, um, had been conducted about 10 years previously. Uh, we had called it the, the Presidential Commission for Academic Renewal. Um, and so there, there were a couple of things that I wanted to accomplish. One, uh, to conduct a comprehensive academic review, uh, to look at programs where there was either low enrollment or, or we didn’t think were really going to be part of, um, our programming going forward. But I also knew we needed to, to start new programs. We needed, uh, more innovative programs. We needed programs that were contemporary. Um, and so I wanted to make sure that we were making room for new programs by, you know, stopping things that we didn’t think were gonna be part, um, of, of the academic activity going forward. And then using those, um, cost savings, um, to help us in the implementation of new academic programs. 

Joe Gottlieb: (07:31)
Gotcha. So you, you, you had a large program review. You, you looked at everything, everything was on the table? Uh, well, on the academic program as well as on the administrative program. Um, and, and so we were, I guess you were hunting for things then, that markers were either via low enrollment or known lack of fit with where you were heading. Um, you were, you were identifying programs that may not be the best to continue. Um, h how did you think about, how did you think about areas where you felt like you wanted new programs or addressing areas of scope that weren’t presently active? What, what, what, uh, what process allowed you two to make identify those that were, that felt like you were missing? 

Dr. Anthony Wutoh: (08:23)
Well, I, I think there, there were a couple of different things. There were some areas where we just saw really significant potential, and we had some pockets of, um, faculty either at engaged in teaching or, or research in those areas. Data science is one of those where we knew that this was a growing area. We knew that there was growing student interest, but we don’t have a school of data science. We didn’t have a department of data science. We had faculty, uh, doing, um, data analytics or statistics or, um, data related, uh, programming. Um, in our school of business, in our information systems program. We had faculty, obviously in, in, um, computer science. Uh, but we also had some faculty in, um, the College of Arts and Sciences. We had some researchers in the College of Medicine and our school of social work and, um, the College of Pharmacy. 

Dr. Anthony Wutoh: (09:22)
So we thought that there would be an opportunity there to really, um, look at data science as an area of growth, um, and, and, um, develop some programs and some activities around that. In some cases, there were, uh, it was really secondary to student demand. We, we know, we have a number of students, a lot of students who are interested in, in environmental issues who are interested in sustainability. Uh, so we recently just created a, uh, new department in our College of Arts and Sciences as an example, uh, where we, uh, reorganized some existing, um, units and, and some areas where we had, um, high research activity, but there wasn’t a dedicated department. And, and that in part was, was really secondary to, to student demand and, and also, um, faculty who were engaged in research in, in that area. And, and we also looked at, um, uh, I mean, we, we’ve worked closely with our alums, um, and, and have developed a number of, of corporate partners. 

Dr. Anthony Wutoh: (10:29)
And so in listening to things that they felt were areas of need, um, areas of, of, of, um, potential growth areas of future employment, uh, so we really tried to take a, a comprehensive look at not only what we were doing currently, but what the potential opportunities were, ways that we could continue, uh, to support our community, the, our corporate community and our alums, and, and creating, um, an environment where our students could be the most successful. Um, and so we, we used each of those to, to consider what new potential program opportunities there may be. 

Joe Gottlieb: (11:11)
Got it. Now, did that, would you say that that was, um, how did that review differ from what you’ve done in the last review 10 years prior? And, uh, and how do you see the whole concept of academic program review evolving over time? 

Dr. Anthony Wutoh: (11:27)
Well, one, one of the things that, that I wanted to make sure was a clear part of our message was that this wasn’t gonna be a one-off. Um, and that you wouldn’t have to worry about another review for another 10 or 15 years. We really wanted to make this part of a continuous improvement process. And so one of the things that we, we messaged to, to our faculty and staff and students was that we want, want to conduct an academic review of our programs on a rolling basis every four or five years. Um, and that this shouldn’t be seen as, oh, no, they’re gonna look to cut programs Again, no, the, the, the, the goal really is to, to make sure that we’re creating a sustainable way, uh, to approach excellence in everything that, that we do. And, uh, to the extent that we identify, Hey, you know, this is a program we need to invest more in. 

Dr. Anthony Wutoh: (12:22)
Uh, so one of the things we did as a result of the academic review was we identified areas of strategic priority for the university that we wanted to, to make sure that there was additional investment, um, in those areas. Uh, we also, you know, identified a, a couple of programs that we thought, uh, made sense at the time to close. Um, and we created a, a new mechanism, um, to review potential new programs, uh, to make sure that we were investing fully in, in new program proposals that were, were reviewed and, and approved, and that they made sense based on sort of the broader, um, outlook of where the university was going, what goals we wanted to accomplish, what were the metrics that we were, were putting in place. So one of the significant differences was that we, we wanted to be clear that this was going to be a continuous process of, of review. Um, and, and again, not just the, well, we’ve done it, but worry about it again, 10 or 15 years from now. 

Joe Gottlieb: (13:31)
I, yeah, I hear several things in, in, in that description that, uh, I feel are worth noting. So not only a more fulsome up and down and sort of 360, uh, review, more continuous prepare for something that will allow us to, to stay more self-aware of where programs are, how they’re performing. Um, I love the, the, the idea of, of sourcing multiple, uh, perspectives. So student demand being one, but existing faculty research, and then of course corporate partners looking for, um, new types of graduates, new skills, capabilities, et cetera. Uh, a nice balanced process. So shifting gears then, as you, as you examined what you had and may perhaps new programs that were under consideration, what sort of creative funding strategies have helped you drive and improved alignment with Howard’s mission and strategic plan by virtue of what gets fined, what doesn’t? 

Dr. Anthony Wutoh: (14:36)
Well, we, we created a, um, an office of academic innovation, um, and really that office oversees the, the proposal review process. Um, and so if a dean, if a, a department chair for faculty member has an idea about a pet potential new academic program, it grow, goes through this program innovation and review, um, committee that does an assessment. Um, it, it, um, takes into consideration a number of factors. And then we’ve also engaged a, um, consulting firm that does an independent, uh, review in terms of what is the workforce demand, um, what is the student demand, um, you know, are there comparable programs in in the region? Um, what has been the response to, to those programs, whether it is a certificate, an undergraduate or, or graduate or professional degree. And we take all of those things into consideration and, and the final determination of, um, what we’re going to support. 

Dr. Anthony Wutoh: (15:43)
One of the additional criteria was that we really wanted to promote interdisciplinary collaboration and partnership. Uh, we have 14 schools and colleges and a number of academic programs. And so we, we incentivize and we made it clear that programs that were interdisciplinary and collaborative would get a higher, um, score, if you will, and, and, and, and had a much higher likelihood, uh, of being, um, approved and funded. The other thing was that we were also prioritizing programs that had an online component. So whether they were fully online programs or they were hybrid programs, again, um, we, we wanted to make sure that, um, our programs, our faculty were making the best use of technology and looking at, um, using online methodologies, um, in the consideration of new, new programs. 

Joe Gottlieb: (16:42)
Excellent. Um, so some great takeaways there for folks evaluating their programs. Uh, I love the idea of how you, you not only looked at workforce demand, but then are there, are there other programs already in our area serving, uh, in that, in that regard, in that, in that domain? And how are they doing, right? Like, and, and can we put our fingerprints, our unique stamp on that as Howard? Um, I imagine you’ve probably saw some examples where, um, you felt like you’d be in a great position to quote, compete for that demand, uh, and perhaps a few others where you felt maybe, maybe not so much. So maybe that was factoring, did that factor into some of your decisions? 

Dr. Anthony Wutoh: (17:25)
It did, yeah. AB absolutely. There, there were some programs and you know, I, I could give a couple of examples, um, data science as an example where there are, uh, a growing number of institutions that have developed data science programs. Um, but this was an area where we felt that, um, we could put a unique stamp on a data science program at as Howard University, you know, we like to say that social justice is, is within the incorporated in the d n A of of Howard. And so whether, um, a student is a medicine student or a social work student or engineering student or a divinity student, there’s an aspect of social justice that really is a part of their, their education and their experience. And so we looked at data science and, and, and we thought, you know, we already had some faculty, um, at the university who were doing data science work or doing data science research, but as I mentioned, we didn’t have a school or a college or a department, uh, of data science. 

Dr. Anthony Wutoh: (18:30)
So we, we, we, um, decided to take the approach of creating a center for applied data science and analytics. And so that center sits in the office of the provost because we, we didn’t want it in any individual school. We were concerned about it becoming siloed, and, and we thought that we would have a really great opportunity for it to be interdisciplinary. So faculty can be, um, a fellow in the center, whether they’re in our College of Arts and Sciences, or in our College of medicine, or in our school of social work, or a school of business or any of the other schools. And, and they would have, um, of course, their primary appointment in their school or college and a, um, secondary, um, fellow appointment, um, in the center. The the other thing we decided to do, we were, were fortunate to be able to get, um, funding from MasterCard, um, to, to help us stand up the center and make one of our primary goals, um, recruiting new faculty to the university, uh, with expertise in, in data science and analytics. 

Dr. Anthony Wutoh: (19:40)
And so, uh, we are in the process of conducting a cluster hiring initiative. And, and, and we created this, um, this interesting opportunity for our deans to apply for, uh, um, one of these, one or two of these faculty in data science, um, that would be funded out of the office of the provost. And so it wouldn’t impact the budget, uh, of that school or, or that dean. Um, and, um, again, if as we recruited those faculty and hired them, they would have a primary appointment in one of the schools or colleges, and they, they would have, uh, an adjoining appointment, um, in the Center for Applied Data science and, and analytics. And, um, we, we also try to help promote interdisciplinary collaboration by requiring, um, at least two schools had to partner together in, in submitting an application. Um, and so we had some, some interesting configurations. 

Dr. Anthony Wutoh: (20:42)
Our College of Arts and Sciences partnered with the medical school, uh, our pharmacy school and the medical school partnered, uh, together, and we had, you know, some other collaborations and, um, you know, had received some, some really interesting proposals. And so where in the process of, of recruiting seven faculty in, um, data science, um, but may have a background rarely in health sciences or may have a background, uh, in economics or, or a background in another area. Um, and they will, um, work collaboratively as fellows in, in this interdisciplinary center for applied data science and analytics, but be housed in one of our 14 schools and colleges. Um, and, you know, also, you know, hopefully help try to spread the gospel of interdisciplinary data science work. What the other thing that, um, that, uh, funding for MasterCard is allowing us to do is to create a master’s degree program. 

Dr. Anthony Wutoh: (21:46)
Uh, so we’re starting a, a master’s degree in applied data science and analytics. And really our framing is, um, that certainly we want those students to have an underlying, um, understanding of the technology mm-hmm. of data analytics and data science. But again, we want to apply a Howard University social jo social justice perspective, uh, so that we’re helping to use data science to answer some of these broader societal issues and problems. How do we use data science to address healthcare disparities? How do we use data science to address issues related to criminal justice reform? How do we use data science, uh, to address some of these, um, longstanding issues regarding socioeconomic disparities? And so, again, the, uh, framing of data science, but using it in a way that addresses and speaks to the mission of, of Howard, and we’re, we’re really, really excited about the, the potential for that program. 

Joe Gottlieb: (22:53)
Wow. There’s so many things going on there. What a great example. I just see, you know, your, your heart, you’re leveraging external funding. You’re, you’re being smart about very scarce resources in terms of data science, uh, professionals and ability to hire expertise into, into the faculty ranks. Um, you’re, you’re then also enabling this and really driving this collaboration across departments, uh, which helps you do two things, right? It enriches the way you’re looking at the subject matter, for sure. And it, it helps you to break down organizational silos. And then meanwhile, uh, for sure, an indelible stamp on, on the topic with how Howard is looking at data science, uh, through the lens of social justice. Um, just so many different things that are lined up there that, uh, our listeners can think, think about as they think about academic program innovation and how to, how to think very strategically about evolving a portfolio, uh, of academic programs, uh, with both your mission and involve your mission in mind, but also the scarcity resources and these, some of these funding models which need to get, need to get creative at times. Very interesting. You know, it reminds me of a recent conversation I had with the former president of Governor State University, Elaine Maiman, um, Maiman. And she had, she had been very active in the, the, uh, the effort of writing across the curriculum. So she has a, a textbook, she co-authored, uh, the writer’s resource and had been very instrumental early on in developing these writing across the curriculum programs because it was being discovered, of course, that writing was important for everyone, not just English majors. 

Dr. Anthony Wutoh: (24:41)
Imagine that. Right, right. 

Joe Gottlieb: (24:44)
, I think we joked about this earlier when we were chatting. I, uh, I remember probably being the, the beneficiary in engineering school when, uh, it was, it was even our professors in engineering were recognizing that to have engineering skill was not sufficient. That to be able to articulate engineering notions via good writing was gonna be important. And so here you are taking, uh, sort of a data science across the curriculum type approach, both to serve the richness and possibilities of that multi-domain thinking, but also to, um, to be smart about scarce resources and, uh, and leverage across the organization. 

Dr. Anthony Wutoh: (25:23)
Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, to, to the point that you’re making, um, everyone really is, is, is resource constrained. Some institutions certainly have more resources, um, than others, but you, I don’t often meet folks that say, I have plenty of money to do everything that I want to do . So it, it really is a matter of, of making the best use of resources to, uh, implement the mission of the university and create as many opportunities as our students that we can, but in a, a, a rational and practical way. 

Joe Gottlieb: (25:56)
Makes total sense. And it’s a great example, as I mentioned. Let’s talk about another example. Another one of your programs is you refer to as the degree completion program. So let’s talk a little bit about that and how it also fits squarely within the mission and and plan at Howard. 

Dr. Anthony Wutoh: (26:13)
Sure. We, you know, we, we’ve been looking at a number of metrics. One, our on-time graduation rate and our, um, six year graduation rate, which, um, fortunately have both increased tremendously, uh, over the last several years. But, but it also, uh, pointed out to us that we have, uh, a number of, um, former students who, for one reason or another, um, secondary to personal circumstances, um, have not been, been able to complete, uh, their Howard degree. And in some cases it may be, um, financial and in other cases, family, um, health or personal reasons. And so we, we really wanted to create a way, uh, for those former students to be able to complete their Howard University education. And we know, um, because we, we draw students from around the country, uh, that they’re all not necessarily in, in the DC metropolitan area. So again, looking at, um, online and, and, and, and virtual instruction, making sure that we were creating a, a mechanism that, that made sense, uh, for them. 

Dr. Anthony Wutoh: (27:26)
So we, we’ve been working on this for a couple of years now, um, and, and are looking to, to implement this, um, very shortly. One of the things that, um, we, we wanted to take a look at, um, was in order to create as many opportunities for as many students as possible, rather than, than a single degree program, say a, a business degree or a communications degree or an English degree, an area, a student may have started creating a, a more holistic way, uh, for any of those students to be able to, uh, complete their Howard University education. And so that’s one of the things we’re working closely with, um, our school of education now, uh, and have been working with our, our College of Arts and Sciences and, um, look to, to, to put that out very shortly. 

Joe Gottlieb: (28:20)
And where does it go from here? Uh, do you see this program expanding, um, beyond those folks that, you know, started at Howard but didn’t complete? 

Dr. Anthony Wutoh: (28:31)
Certainly, uh, I think our, our first commitment and our first priority was to our former students, but we also know, uh, that there may be students who may have started at, at other institutions, and again, for, for similar reasons, uh, family, personal, financial health, um, had to stop out and giving them an opportunity to, uh, pursue a Howard University degree. So our first priority is really making this available for our former students. Um, but we think that there’s an opportunity for us to, to create a broader, um, platform once we’re able to, um, to create the opportunity for our students and, and work out any, um, any, any kinks that may need to be worked out. And then, um, broaden the opportunity beyond former Howard students. 

Joe Gottlieb: (29:21)
You know, one of the areas that I’ve talked to several, um, people about in the, in the higher education ecosystem is the whole notion of certificates and in particular, the, the use of certificates a along the journey of a, of a two and or four year program, so that we have better outcomes for those students that don’t complete the traditional degree programs. And so let’s say that they, you know, they get started, but they stop out and let’s say because of a, a health, uh, issue that they have personally or within their families, just as an example, right. Um, if they’ve gotten a certificate along the way, then maybe that certificate will help them gain employment during the situation where they’re not able to attend school full-time. What is your opinion on, on how that fits with, I know this is, is a concept, it’s attractive, but it ha you know, practically speaking, mechanically speaking, there’s a lot of moving parts. So are you guys looking at this and if so, what, what, what, what’s your, what’s your thinking on the matter? 

Dr. Anthony Wutoh: (30:30)
Right. What we’re actually looking at it in, in a couple of different ways. One, um, for our, um, typical degree students, our, our undergraduate students, for example, um, we know that we have, uh, a significant number of, of undergraduate students, uh, who are in a traditional major, um, but may also have an interest say, in cybersecurity. So we do have, uh, a cybersecurity, uh, certificate that, that we offer. And, and the number of students who are, um, participating in that are, are typical four year undergraduate degree students who see this as an opportunity for them to also, um, one expose themselves to cybersecurity. And they see an opportunity, you know, I may be an English major or a psychology major, but there’s a great opportunity for me to really develop skills in this other area that may increase my, uh, employment potential. Uh, but we also see to, to the point that you were making someone, um, who may either already have a degree, um, or potentially hasn’t completed a degree and sees, um, a certificate in, in, say, cybersecurity again, is something that they can complete in, in a shorter period of time mm-hmm. 

Dr. Anthony Wutoh: (31:51)
And may give them skills to be able to, to either Im improve their, their current employment opportunities or consider em employment in an area that they’re not already in. So we’re looking at it really from, um, both of those perspectives, creating additional, um, areas of, of, of interest and opportunity for traditional students, um, but also creating opportunities for, uh, students who may be returning to the workforce looking to re-skill, um, or our, um, uh, older, um, non-traditional students. And, and, and looking for a way to, to really improve their, uh, career options. 

Joe Gottlieb: (32:36)
Makes a lot of sense. I would, I think that Howard would be in a, in a unique position to serve there, especially as that degree completion program expands and, and perhaps evolves. So in summary, Dr. Uto, what, what three takeaways would you offer our listeners on this topic of driving strategic alignment through academic program innovation? 

Dr. Anthony Wutoh: (32:58)
Well, I would say, you know, one thing that we’ve, we we’ve rarely have, um, tried to, to address is, is traditionally, um, universities don’t tend to be places where change happens quickly or, or that we’re used to things like metrics and, and, and, and trying to define our progress, um, um, in, in, in those, um, ways. But defining success in quantitative terms really can accelerate academic program innovation, which is one of the things that we really are, are committing to. Um, secondly, the, the keys are to make it easy to understand the rules. What, what are the metrics that we’re using, uh, giving folks an opportunity to weigh in as those decisions are being made early, um, providing enough latitude for, for innovation and, and also proactively supplying synergies that that help the numbers and the metrics to, to work. And probably thirdly, I would say, um, that evolution, innovation is, is imperfect by design. And so, uh, paying attention to results and, and course correcting as necessary, um, is really essential to sustainable success. 

Joe Gottlieb: (34:17)
Well said. Dr. Ruto, it’s been a pleasure having you on the podcast today. 

Dr. Anthony Wutoh: (34:23)
Oh, certainly. It’s been, been my pleasure as well, Joe. And, and hopefully, um, we’ll be able to talk a little bit more as we, we move further in, um, our strategic plan. And we are actually planning for the next phases beyond 2024. Um, but, but always excited to talk about things that we’re doing, um, in terms of academic innovation and ways that we can create, create more opportunities, uh, for our students to be successful. 

Joe Gottlieb: (34:50)
I’d enjoy that and I’ve, I’ve got no doubt that Howard will, will continue to advance and excel, uh, and its very strategic mission. I also like to thank our guests for joining us. I hope you have a great day, and we’ll look forward to hosting you again on the next episode of Transformed.