Interview with A. D. Albright, March 7, 1989

Partial Transcript: And, uh--

Segment Synopsis: Albright believes that there are a lot of misconceptions about the formula for universities' funding. It began out of need and has become the widely-used mechanism for funding. Albright says that politicians either do not fully understand how the formula works or they cannot explain it to the public. He discusses how the formula works.

Keywords: Financials; Formula funding; Inequities; Percentages; Politicians; Providing for program cost calculations; Providing powers and duties; School funding formula; University funding

Subjects: College administrators; College environment; Education, Higher--Kentucky; Universities and colleges--Administration.; Universities and colleges--Finance; University of Kentucky

Partial Transcript: Now that, uh--it, it is not a, a suitable instrument, in my opinion, now.

Segment Synopsis: Albright says that he does not believe that the way formula funding is currently working is productive. Currently it is enrollment-based and feels that is too broad and doesn’t look at priorities and specific programs. Instead of being used based off need, it is more focused on getting funding. He feels that they do not need a single Board of Higher Education for the state and believes that they would take away from the institutions. People do not have enough faith in the higher education boards they currently have for higher education, so people have real concerns about creating a "super board."

Keywords: Board of Governors for Higher Education; Board of Higher Education; Board of Regents for Higher Education; Formula funding; Higher Education Advisory Panel; Problematic; Re-examination of formula funding; State Board of Higher Education

Subjects: College administrators; College environment; Education, Higher--Kentucky; Kentucky Council on Higher Education; Universities and colleges--Administration.; Universities and colleges--Finance; University of Kentucky

Partial Transcript: If, if, uh, if the formula as it exists right now was funded at 100%, would that solve UK's financial problems?

Segment Synopsis: If formula funding was 100% funded, Albright does not believe that it would solve the University of Kentucky’s financial issues. There was a shortfall, but that is because campaign expectations were not met. Albright and some others were told by the state that they needed to stop meddling in making estimates of the finances. He says that there were a lot of issues within school boards for funding and voting on issues.

Keywords: Committee to review legislative funding policies; Financial issues; Funding; Funding of the university system; Funding system reform; School boards; Solving the problem

Subjects: College administrators; College environment; Education, Higher--Kentucky; Universities and colleges--Administration.; Universities and colleges--Finance; University of Kentucky

Partial Transcript: You know, we're looking at a period in these interviews a little over twenty-one years ago...

Segment Synopsis: Albright says that there appeared to be some sort of corruption in the appointment of executives on the athletic board. People were being put in that raised many questions about the reasoning and why they were put into those positions. The university was also having trouble appointing a new athletic director at the time.

Keywords: Appointment; Athlete assistance programs; Athletic boards; Athletic directors; Athletics; Coach-athlete relations; Improving health and performance in athletes; Student athletes

Subjects: College administrators; College environment; College sports--Corrupt practices; College sports.; Education, Higher--Kentucky; Universities and colleges--Administration.; University of Kentucky

Partial Transcript: Well, desegregation was, uh, was an issue at the time, uh, to some extent.

Segment Synopsis: Albright discusses issues that can occur between college presidents and their board of trustees. He mentions examples from the University of Kentucky and Murray State University.

Keywords: Board members; Board of Trustees; Constantine W. Curris; Dino Curris; Dr. David Roselle; Dr. John Oswald; Investigation; Murray State University; Public relations; Reports

Subjects: College administrators; College environment; College presidents; Education, Higher--Kentucky; Universities and colleges--Administration.; University of Kentucky

Partial Transcript: This last, uh, little episode, uh, in which the, uh, president, in effect, responded to Wilkinson.

Segment Synopsis: Albright discusses politicians meddling in colleges, specifically discussing issues between UK's president David Roselle and governor Wallace Wilkinson regarding promising faculty members raises.

Keywords: Appropriations; Budgets; College teachers.; Eastern Kentucky University; Educators; Facilities; Maintenance; Operating budgets; Raises; Universities and colleges--Faculty.

Subjects: College administrators; College environment; College presidents; College teachers--Salaries, etc.; Education, Higher--Kentucky; Kentucky--Politics and government; Universities and colleges--Administration.; Universities and colleges--Finance; University of Kentucky; Wilkinson, Wallace G.

Partial Transcript: Well that story, uh, it seems to me, also indicates that if a president was able...

Segment Synopsis: Albright says that there is a natural distance between the university president and each individual faculty member, and that is normal, but it should be better. Communication needs to be improved between the two parties. Albright states that professors' advanced degrees teach them to question everything and sometimes makes it hard for them to blindly agree with the president's decisions. Albright ran community reconnaissance within the faculty to find the leaders of the group or the most respected professors. He wanted to find the ones who questioned decisions but were also open to hearing other opinions. He found a group of 15-25 and called them together to see what they thought about certain issues within the community. Albright found this very helpful and appreciated the extra opinions. The faculty became communicators within the community and helped spread the word. The meetings also showed that the administrators cared about the faculty’s opinions and were willing to listen. Albright realizes that this approach does not work with all personalities and that you have to be okay with the fact that your idea may be shut down.

Keywords: Communication; Communicators; Community reconnaissance; Comparing; Complete; Faculty leadership; Faculty research; Faculty task force; Office of the President; Opinions; President and faculty; Relations; University presidents

Subjects: College administrators; College environment; College presidents; College teachers--Social conditions; Education, Higher--Kentucky; Educators; Universities and colleges--Administration.; Universities and colleges--Faculty.; University of Kentucky

Partial Transcript: Uh, I know at, uh, at Northern, uh, I ran the, I ran the reconnaissance...

Segment Synopsis: Albright ran the community reconnaissance among the faculty at Northern Kentucky University to address the direction of the institution. They needed to figure out how to organize themselves to accomplish their goals. Albright chose 45-50 faculty members and divided into three groups. Each group dealt with the same topic and came up with statements and program emphasis that led to the relationship with UK and the development of the master's program. Albright tried to use program clusters in this group but it did not mesh well in this environment so they used a more conventional way of organization.

Keywords: Community reconnaissance; Faculty leadership; Managing; Masters programs; Professional relationships; Program clusters; Pure knowledge

Subjects: College administrators; College environment; College teachers--Social conditions; Education, Higher--Kentucky; Educators; Northern Kentucky University; Universities and colleges--Administration.; Universities and colleges--Faculty.; University of Kentucky

Partial Transcript: It's, uh--you mentioned psychology.

Segment Synopsis: Albright discusses the history of the University of Kentucky Department of Psychology. The ties between the psychology department and education are interesting because of the history of testing. One of the studies they conducted was about ethnic intelligence, with Ed Newman. The department found a difference in intelligence between white and African American children. This was not a “harmless” psychology department; they influenced the way people thought about things. Albright says that if you don't accept a study's conclusion, question the methodology. He determined it was safer to question the research based on the methodology than the hypothesis. The psychology department was divided into clinical, research, and other.

Keywords: Department of Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology; Department of Psychological Foundations; Difference in intelligence between ethnicities; Ed Newman; Ethnic intelligence; Ethnicity; National Resource Center for Child Development; Psychology departments

Subjects: College administrators; College environment; College teachers--Social conditions; Education, Higher--Kentucky; Educators; Universities and colleges--Administration.; Universities and colleges--Faculty.; Universities and colleges--Research; University of Kentucky; University of Kentucky. Department of Psychology

Partial Transcript: That leads me into another area I want to explore with you briefly.

Segment Synopsis: From 1963-1968, the number of graduate students increased significantly. Albright says he could feel the difference, an institutional shift into developing the graduate programs. This was a deciding factor in making UK a more comprehensive university because if they wanted to grow the graduate programs, they had to hire better professors and offer more programs to attract students. It meant library and fellowship development. Everyone could sense a movement and excitement; they began going after grants and seeking out improvements. The psychology department also got involved in testing intelligence here as well.

Keywords: Comprehensive university; Department of Psychology; Fellowship development; Graduate programs; Graduate schools; Institutional shifts; Psychology Department; Special Programs Department

Subjects: College administrators; College environment; College teachers--Social conditions; Education, Higher--Kentucky; Educators; Universities and colleges--Administration.; Universities and colleges--Faculty.; Universities and colleges--Research; University of Kentucky; University of Kentucky. Department of Psychology

Partial Transcript: How this relates to the previous topic we were talking about in terms of the psychology department...

Segment Synopsis: Albright talks about certain tests that graduate students and other students have to take to get into University of Kentucky programs. He talks about how these tests are not accurate. He talks about a new aptitude test called the GRE. There have been some problems with the accuracy of this new test.

Keywords: ACT; Aptitude tests; College Entrance Examination Board; Differential aptitude tests; Entrance exams; GRE; Graduate programs; Scholarships; Vocational aptitude tests

Subjects: College environment; College students.; Education, Higher--Kentucky; Universities and colleges--Entrance requirements.; Universities and colleges--Evaluation; Universities and colleges--Examinations; University of Kentucky

Partial Transcript: Uh, not all departments or disciplines, uh, went along at the same pace or at the same quality level.

Segment Synopsis: Albright talks about the language barrier within different programs at the University of Kentucky. When transfers come in from other schools or other nations and they don’t speak English, there are a lot of problems communicating with them. He poses a couple of ways to solve this problem, but says it will take a long time to fully fix the issue.

Keywords: Academic language; Communication between programs; Culture; Different nationalities; Language barriers; Languages; Task Force on Acquisition and Distribution of Foreign Language

Subjects: College environment; College students--Social conditions; College students.; Education, Higher--Kentucky; University of Kentucky