TCU 360: Inside the mind of Chancellor Victor Boschini

[TopFrog]

TCU 360: Inside the mind of Chancellor Victor Boschini

By Ryan Osborne

To understand the complexity and depth of Victor Boschini, you’d first have to understand this: He doesn't take himself very seriously.

Ask him, and he’ll tell you what he thinks: He’s not very smart, he doesn’t reflect on much and he doubts the university will ever reach the same academic stratosphere as Harvard, which, to him, is a good thing because he hopes it never will. He doesn’t own an iPod or “whatever those things are called.” He works. He spends time with his family. He travels. He watches Jeopardy.

Even as the university’s chancellor, Boschini teaches a freshman education course. He answers his own emails. He meets with students.

On some nights when the rest of the third floor of Sadler Hall is emptied out, Boschini will plug his phone into a docking station by the window in his office and put an eight-song playlist on repeat. Connie Francis and Kid Rock echo through his office space. ...

http://www.tcu360.com/campus/2012/11/16521.inside-mind-chancellor-victor-boschini

 

[Frogs On A Plane]

I would rather go inside the mind of a Greg Jennings. Brrrruuuuhhhlllleeeee.

 

[purpledawg]

Good article. Very interesting man and a good leader for TCU. Can't imagine Uncle Bill teaching a class when I was there. VB sounds like a fun professor.

 

[rifram09]

Where is Scarface on this?

 

[researchfrog]

Nice article. Good to see that Crunch was accurate in recalling Boschini's thoughts. So it should be clear that it is time to ride VBo out of town on a rail and long past time to find a chancellor that is both focused on raising TCU's status and on positioning the school to survive the bubble popping.

I don't know VBo--Michael Ferarri was chancellor when I was a student. Until Crunch's thread a few weeks ago, I had no idea things were so bad. Boschini should be fired solely for admitting that he is not very interested in raising TCU to elite college status and that he is content with TCU's status. (That lack of discipline in acting as the university's CEO makes how they mishandled the drug sting thoroughly unsurprising.) TCU may not have the academic tradition of Duke, Rice, or Tulane, but if George Mason can raise its academic profile from a commuter school in the slums of Baltimore to highly acclaimed over the course of 20 years, why can't TCU do something similar?

All I see is a chancellor who used his predecessors' hard work in growing the endowment to help finance a construction boom, just like almost every other college in America; who watched the student body improve mainly as a result of football success and UT and A&M capping admissions under the 10% plan; and who has no vision beyond what already exists.

 

[rifram09]

That is an interesting article. I'm surprised to hear him say he doesn't think we can or should improve our academic profile. I disagree with that to a certain extent. We should gradually improve our profile as high as we can.

Nonetheless, I think his vision is what we need right now. Just as the previous chancellor built up the endowment, VBo is building the experience at TCU. That is the next step in the evolution; the next building block. I'm fine with him focusing in building a completely renovated university with an all new feel ad vibe. When that is accomplished, and the debt is paid off, and the endowment is growing again, perhaps the next chancellor will endeavor to make the academic side more prestigious and expand offerings.

For now, we're moving in a great direction. Rome wasn't built in a day. The foundation is becoming more solid by the day, and we have lots of room for growth.

 

[researchfrog]

I will vehemently disagree, Riffram. The construction boom at TCU is the same thing we see at Baylor, UTA, University of North Texas, SMU, or any other university. Crediting VBo with doing the same thing as all of his peers is pointless. Given the size of TCU, the alumni network will always be small, which leaves academic rigor as the sole area for real growth. And VBo's not very interested in that area.

 

[rifram09]

I will vehemently disagree, Riffram. The construction boom at TCU is the same thing we see at Baylor, UTA, University of North Texas, SMU, or any other university. Crediting VBo with doing the same thing as all of his peers is pointless. Given the size of TCU, the alumni network will always be small, which leaves academic rigor as the sole area for real growth. And VBo's not very interested in that area.

Fair enough. I said I agree with you that academic profile should be an area of focus. And I agree that it is somewhat of a red flag that he says he doesn't want to become Harvard or Rice. But at the same time, maybe he is just managing expectations. It's not like he said he wants our academic profile to be stagnant. He just said he wasn't trying to become a peer group with Harvard or Rice. I'm not sure that's a bad thing for now. We don't have the endowment or history to jump to that level right now. It will take gradual improvements.

Moreover, we are seeing those gradual improvements whether he claims them as a goal or not. Each year we have climbed several spots in the rankings. Why is that? I think in large part it is due to the uptick in applications which is a result of the football team, and the experience TCU provides its students. Until such time as we stop climbing the rankings, what is wrong with focusing on building the infrastructure and experience at TCU? When we plateau in the rankings and we have no more real need for facility improvements, I think that is the time that we shift our focus to improving our academic profile solely. Until then, we are killing two birds with one stone, so to speak.

 

[researchfrog]

Nothing is wrong with building infrastructure, unless the higher ed bubble pops while the debt is still outstanding and TCU suddenly faces a declining enrollment. Since there is no way to know when that will happen, it makes sense to position TCU as both affordable and more academically rigorous. Maybe I just see the world different:

What Boschini said, to me, is like a public company CEO saying he or she is not interested in growing profits or revenues. Look at it this way: TCU is already in the top 100 of the US News rankings. Becoming more academically elite is one of the few ways up. It would also better position the school to survive the bubble popping.

 

[rifram09]

Nothing is wrong with building infrastructure, unless the higher ed bubble pops while the debt is still outstanding and TCU suddenly faces a declining enrollment. Since there is no way to know when that will happen, it makes sense to position TCU as both affordable and more academically rigorous. Maybe I just see the world different:

What Boschini said, to me, is like a public company CEO saying he or she is not interested in growing profits or revenues. Look at it this way: TCU is already in the top 100 of the US News rankings. Becoming more academically elite is one of the few ways up. It would also better position the school to survive the bubble popping.

Following your analogy, I don't think VBo said he didn't want to grow revenue or profits. It's more like he said he wants to have a different, more aggressive capital structure than you would prefer.

You are worried about the education bubble, so you want a more conservative approach. He, for whatever reason, seems to assume we are well positioned for any hypothetical education-bubble popping. Idk why. Don't know enough about TCU's books to know whether you or he is right about that. As high as tuition is right now, I think it's likely that a great deal of our students have financing in place that doesn't rely solely on student loans. That's a complete guess and could be wrong. But it just stands to reason that students wouldn't want to assume that much debt. I doubt TCU is just blindly raising tuition without doing market research to determine what their target students can bear. We'll see though. I sure hope you never get to say I told you so! That will be a bad situation!

 

[SuperToad]

"$$$$$$$$$$$$"

 

[researchfrog]

I'm not for being conservative. I'm for more aggressive fundraising to improve aid packages. I'm for more rigorous academic coursework, particularly with respect to course prerequisites and coursework required to graduate. I'm for taking a deliberate approach, like GMU did, to build strong graduate programs by hiring undervalued scholars. And I realize this is probably a fruitless quest. TCU isn't against the wall. I don't expect to see innovation until that happens and, if that happens, it will probably be too late.

 

[joejordan]

Thank you.

While I understand the desire to 'be more like Hahvahd', the incentive to do that just is not there. While TCU has indeed improved it's academic profile over the past 20 years, the primary focus has been on creating well-educated, ethical leaders equipped to navigate the modern world, to think and lead in new directions and become productive members of their communities. I think the University results have been stellar in that regard.

Please don't take VBo's humility and self-deprecating humor too seriously. He is a fine college administrator, with a sharp mind, and a firm grasp on where the BoT of this University want to go, and he knows how to get there. In fact, we are well on the way to their shared vision for TCU. This place fills a particular need in the cornucopia of college choices. If it doesn't meet you, or your child's needs, I'm sure there are others that do.

Is that so bad?

 

[Deep Purple]

researchfrog, you're attributing things to Boschini he didn't say, then blasting him for your suspicions rather than his actual position.

He didn't say he doesn't want to raise TCU's academic profile. In fact, he's already done that and is still doing it.

He said TCU will not become an elite school (a top 20 institution like Harvard or Rice) without changing its very character, and TCU's character is what makes it such a distinctive and attractive place. Moreover, we're never going to go there because in order to break the top 20, you have to displace somebody else. Who's that going to be? We going to replace Columbia? MIT?

What you're really advocating is that we sacrifice everything that makes TCU unique and become just another pathetic Harvard wannabe. Another SMU, another Baylor.

No thanks. That may be your vision for TCU. I doubt many share it.

And speaking of all that building Boschini has been doing, how do you suppose TCU would have attracted all the higher-caliber students we've been pulling in if we were still offering them classrooms, laboratories, and residence halls that are 40-50 years out of date?

 

[rifram09]

I'm not for being conservative. I'm for more aggressive fundraising to improve aid packages. I'm for more rigorous academic coursework, particularly with respect to course prerequisites and coursework required to graduate. I'm for taking a deliberate approach, like GMU did, to build strong graduate programs by hiring undervalued scholars. And I realize this is probably a fruitless quest. TCU isn't against the wall. I don't expect to see innovation until that happens and, if that happens, it will probably be too late.

I hear you. And I don't disagree about following a model similar to GMU at some point in the future. But between building up the infrastructure and experience at TCU, or doing those "under the radar" type of improvements*, I'm glad TCU leadership has chosen the former.

I think we disagree about when and why TCU should make these improvements. I don't think it will take TCU getting "against the wall" before they make "GMU" type of improvements. I just think it will take TCU getting to a point where those are the only type of improvements that can be made. Right now, we are experiencing success with improving both the experience of being a Horned Frog AND improving the academic profile of the university. When we hit a place where both of those things can't be accomplished simultaneously, then I think we need to do what you are suggesting.

You seem to think TCU is heading for a crash, and I just don't see why you say that. On the one hand, you say we are only doing what our peer group is doing, and therefore that is an indictment of VBo. (That doesn't jibe with reality, however, because we are gaining ground in the rankings as compared to our peer group... but that's not my point here.) On the other hand you say that TCU is not positioned well for some inevitable bubble-popping doom. Well, if we are doing the same things as our peer group, we should theoretically not be any worse positioned than them, right? Perhaps you are saying that we should position ourselves for "the pop" so that we can withstand it better than our peer group. If so, I characterize that as being conservative.

*You may disagree with my characterization of those improvements as "under the radar." Perhaps that isn't the best way to describe them. It's just how I view them.

 

[BABYFACE]

Thank you.

While I understand the desire to 'be more like Hahvahd', the incentive to do that just is not there. While TCU has indeed improved it's academic profile over the past 20 years, the primary focus has been on creating well-educated, ethical leaders equipped to navigate the modern world, to think and lead in new directions and become productive members of their communities. I think the University results have been stellar in that regard.

Please don't take VBo's humility and self-deprecating humor too seriously. He is a fine college administrator, with a sharp mind, and a firm grasp on where the BoT of this University want to go, and he knows how to get there. In fact, we are well on the way to their shared vision for TCU. This place fills a particular need in the cornucopia of college choices. If it doesn't meet you, or your child's needs, I'm sure there are others that do.

Is that so bad?

Agree with you Crunch.

I guess our view of seeing thing is different than research frog. Nothing wrong with differing opinions.

I am a believer in niche markets. Find something you do well and differentiate yourself from the competition. It appears to me that is what CVB is doing.

 

[joejordan]

Find something you do well and differentiate yourself from the competition.

Goldang it, why can't I be pithy?

 

[TCUdirtbag]

Nice article. Good to see that Crunch was accurate in recalling Boschini's thoughts. So it should be clear that it is time to ride VBo out of town on a rail and long past time to find a chancellor that is both focused on raising TCU's status and on positioning the school to survive the bubble popping.

I don't know VBo--Michael Ferarri was chancellor when I was a student. Until Crunch's thread a few weeks ago, I had no idea things were so bad. Boschini should be fired solely for admitting that he is not very interested in raising TCU to elite college status and that he is content with TCU's status. (That lack of discipline in acting as the university's CEO makes how they mishandled the drug sting thoroughly unsurprising.) TCU may not have the academic tradition of Duke, Rice, or Tulane, but if George Mason can raise its academic profile from a commuter school in the slums of Baltimore to highly acclaimed over the course of 20 years, why can't TCU do something similar?

All I see is a chancellor who used his predecessors' hard work in growing the endowment to help finance a construction boom, just like almost every other college in America; who watched the student body improve mainly as a result of football success and UT and A&M capping admissions under the 10% plan; and who has no vision beyond what already exists.

This is insanely idiotic. You clearly have no idea what you're talking about and are making outrageous claims based off a single SKIFF article of all things.

 

[illini_frog]

As a student, here's a few things I'm noticing...

We don't spend money on useless "stuff" as bad as we employ a lot of unnecessary employees. I study in an area where I see full-time, salaried employees of TCU taking 1-2 hour lunch breaks, and being in charge of areas of campus life that could be run by students and/or just eliminated.

Our freshman class is a lot more homogeneous that our upperclassmen. There are plenty of seniors who don't fit the stereotypical TCU girl/guy image, but way less of them in the freshman class. Our already suffering diversity is getting worse.

We need to seriously re-evalutate our FSL office and staff, and how they handle student issues, particularly Greek Life. I'd really like to see 2nd semester rush happen, but it's apparent that our campus doesn't have the balls to stand up to the Greek powers that be (and just FYI, I'm Greek, so I'm not a hater or anything). I just think 2nd semester rush would benefit the student body gigantically.

Library needs to be bigger, I can go in on a Wednesday afternoon and will have trouble finding a spot. I can't imagine what it'll be like come finals.

We also seriously need to re-evaluate our quality of professors. We have SOOOOO many who are just death-by-powerpoint teachers. Sometimes I wish class sizes were bigger just because the only thing the smaller class size does is make it harder to skip class when going to class is pointless. I'm in both AddRan and the College of Education, and the best teachers aren't necessarily the smartest ones, it's the ones who are easy to listen to and make class interesting. We have so many smart professors who have terrible teaching skills and I dread going to class.

The food quality at the BLUU isn't horrible, but the service is.

Oh yeah, and our parking situation is an embarrassment.

 

[BrewingFrog]

Funny, but hasn't TCU recently risen to the Top 100 Universities, have a Business School ranked in the Top 10, and done a ton of construction and practically re-made the entirety of the physical structure of the Campus?

Yeah, VBo is just sitting there with his thumb in his butt.

The "drug sting" press conference was an embarrassment, but that was on the University Police Chief. I am dismayed that VBo has not asked for that insubordinate jerk's resignation, but in all other respects, I feel that he's done a fine job.