Consulting
Professional Staff Seminars

In the mid-nineties Gregory began directing “The Idea of the University” seminars for professional staff: those persons who in every university run the offices that do recruiting, finances, admissions, safety, public relations, fund raising, alumni relations, library management, student activities, information technology, and so on. He now performs this service on a regular basis at Butler University. He also directed the seminar for professional staff at Emory University when he was in residence there as a Visiting Professor.

Comments from participants
about Gregory's "Idea of the University" Professional Staff Seminars.

Gregory’s “The Idea of the University” seminars are based on the following principles:

• That many of today’s professional staff in academe—while usually very bright, talented, and good-willed—often have little experience or knowledge of academe’s distinctiveness as an institution. In short, many professional staff, as Gregory always says in his opening day seminar at Butler, “have no idea why working for Butler is any different than working for Buick.”

• That professional staff will perform their jobs more effectively if they understand more fully the intellectual, political, educational, and ethical issues resonating at the core of every institution of higher education.

• That professional staff need to understand the sense in which they, like faculty, also perform important teaching functions (for the public, for the press, for alumni, for each other, and so on) even if they never enter a classroom.

In keeping with these principles, Gregory provides brief readings to the participants that highlight certain issues and topics that are then discussed by the group in an orchestrated conversation that allows the participants to share questions, ideas, experiences, and knowledge.

"The Idea of the University" Seminar Aims and Content

Purpose

• “The Idea of the University” seminar pursues knowledge about the distinctive nature, mission, and value of institutions of higher education both to individuals and to society. Hopefully, as participants gain a deeper appreciation and understanding of the special nature of the place they work, they will be better able to understand each other’s jobs and motives.

• The seminar should also help participants better understand how their particular activities fit into the general plan of the university’s educational objectives.

• A less obvious but deeper hope is that the participants will both take more pleasure in their work and value it more highly because of the way in which the seminar helps them better understand the powerful influence that the university potentially exerts on society for rational process, for social justice, and for bringing the life of the mind to bear all aspects of life.

• Finally, the purpose of the staff seminars is to create an enrichment activity, not another job, as participants learn to think beyond their own duties and about education in general.

Objectives

The objectives of this seminar are to help the participants:

• reflect upon what students may hope to gain from a college education on all fronts—developmentally, intellectually, ethically, morally, professionally, and existentially;

• recognize and discuss the hitherto implicit assumptions we all make about schooling, learning, and teaching, as well as why and in what ways these three are important;

• distinguish among the various kinds and traditions of education such as liberal education, vocational education, professional education, scientific education, belles-lettristic education, credentialing education, and so on;

• understand something of the history and role of the university as an important institution in modern society, from the time of the Greeks to the present;

• get to know and appreciate each other from different departments and divisions and to understand how their different activities all serve the larger mission of the university;

• understand the sense in which university teaching exists on a continuum that includes both faculty and staff

Participants

• I limit seminar enrollment to twelve participants.

• I enjoy mixing staff from all areas of university operation.

• The seminar is best served if participants include a mixture of senior and junior staff persons, men and women, ethnic diversity, and widely varying departments of operation.

• Staff are not generally compensated, but the seminars are usually scheduled over an extended, two-hour lunch time, and the university generally provides a handsome catered lunch.

Format and Schedule
The seminar can be compressed or expanded to fit any time frame:

• a day or two
• a week or two
• a semester in residency as a Visiting Professor
• I do/have done all of the above.

Director’s Fees
Contact Marshall Gregory directly.

© 2005 Copyright Marshall Gregory