Staff photo / Dan Pompili Carolyn Smith Keller, the last of three finalists for Youngstown State University provost, addresses faculty, staff and students at an open forum on Tuesday afternoon.

YOUNGSTOWN — The last of three candidates for Youngstown State University provost spoke to members of the campus community Tuesday.

Carolyn Smith Keller, associate provost and professor of social sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, addressed about 20 faculty, staff, and students in the Schwebel Auditorium in Moser Hall, and took notice of the small showing.

“The number of people in this room shows that morale (at YSU) is not at its highest,” she said. “But there’s a good bunch of people here still committed to teaching and learning.”

Smith Keller, an Ohio native born in Cincinnati, spoke candidly throughout her presentation and question-and-answer session, about her experience as a faculty member and administrator, what she sees in Youngstown State, and how she would address issues the university faces.

“I understand what I’m walking into,” she said. “As an outsider, I’m impressed by what you’re doing. You clearly care about students and helping them succeed.”

But Smith Keller said YSU’s business practices merit a critical eye. She showed a chart that tracked the university’s enrollment since it became a state institution in 1967, and questioned whether current business practices and university operations are really designed to handle enrollment like the university saw in the years between 2009 and 2013. That was one of the highest periods in the school’s history, and it has been followed by a near historic low.

She said that while growing enrollment and retaining students is important, the university also needs to have a clearer understanding of how it will serve incoming students.

“Can courses and programs be offered in a sustainable manner, and are they truly core to making students into well-rounded graduates and citizens?” she asked.

Smith Keller said that not all majors require a large curriculum, and universities like YSU need to avoid pitfalls like making a course required just because newly hired faculty have expertise in that area.

With the university adding more two-year associate degree programs, many focused on bringing in students displaced by the closure of Eastern Gateway Community College, she said programs need to be current, clearly listed in the catalog and online, and the university needs a plan to actually help students get through the program in two years.

“I do not wish to tell you how to teach your curriculum. I do wish you to look at it critically in order to improve it,” she said.

Smith Keller also suggested the university work harder to develop curricular pathways with technical colleges and work with local industry to build career tracks into major programs. She admitted she does not have all the answers.

“I do not come here with a silver bullet because I do not believe there is one,” she said. “I do come with an intent to work diligently and collaboratively with you.”

Like Alyson Gill, who spoke Monday, Smith Keller’s experience has largely been in a nonunion state, although she said both of her parents have union backgrounds and she finds collective bargaining valuable.

“Unions are very good for setting expectations and standards, and collective bargaining is important and can be a great recruiting tool,” she said.

She also said she finds shared governance an important and even critical part of her process.

“I’m likely to draft things based on discussions and put it in front of you and tell you to go out and talk about it,” she said. “That’s how we get policies that work for everyone.”

Smith Keller said communication needs to go both ways, and she thinks it is important to discuss business decisions with faculty and have conversations about issues such as return on investment. She said she knows that faculty may not always understand administrative decisions and it is her job to help them understand. She added, though, that the union may not always like her decisions.

“There may come times when I look at things that have been negotiated to your benefit, and I may have to argue that those are not sustainable practices and not something we should be doing,” she said. “Change is very important right now, and I have seen unions stand in the way and stop change, and I’ve seen them help it along too.”

Smith Keller also addressed concerns about issues like a drop in research activity at YSU in favor of a more public service-focused model.

“I can imagine a space where they are complementary,” she said. “I think the institution can certainly support both.”

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