Interview with Robert F. Sexton, October 10, 2000

Partial Transcript: This is Bob Sexton, I am Executive Director of the Prichard Committee, we're in our offices and it's Tuesday or Wednesday--

Segment Synopsis: Robert F. Sexton begins the interview talking about his formative years in Cincinnati and Louisville and education through graduate school. He talks about his early career working in higher education, and his transition into work at the Council on Higher Education.

Keywords: Council on Higher Education; Honors program; John Stevenson; Office for Experiential Education

Subjects: Education, Higher; Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence

Partial Transcript: Well how did the Kentucky Council on Higher Education come to put together a task force like this one?

Segment Synopsis: Sexton talks about the politicized environment and lean educational funding which lead to the formation of the Prichard Committee. He talks about issues of allocating scarce resources as a primary consideration motivating educational reform. He discusses the choice of Ed Prichard as committee chair, as well as the recruitment and selection process for committee members. He talks about the importance of women on the committee which represented an innovation in higher education leadership at the time.

Keywords: Ann Miller; Board of Tax Appeals; Council on Higher Education; David Grissom; David Jones; Educational funding; Edward Prichard, Jr.; Harry Snyder; John Stevenson; John Y. Brown, Jr.; Martha Layne Collins; Pam Sexton; William T. Young

Subjects: Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence

Partial Transcript: How would you describe, um, the level of free reign that Snyder gave you with regard to the selection process?

Segment Synopsis: Sexton talks about the process of selecting members of the community. He talks about the dynamics and substantive deliberations within the committee as it worked on higher education reform. He discusses the social milieu among the committee members that developed as they worked together.

Keywords: Council on Higher Education; Edward Prichard, Jr.; Harry M. Snyder; Lois Weinburg; News media; Richard Wilson

Subjects: Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence; Prichard Committee on Higher Education in Kentucky's Future

Partial Transcript: Well I guess a great story, I can't remember who it was from, I think it might have been from Dot--or it might have been from Wade Mountz about when, was it George Y. Brown came in--

Segment Synopsis: Sexton talks about Prichard's witty personality and his failing health. He talks about how these qualities appealed to others, particularly Governor John Y. Brown who had limited interest in the committee's work. He talks about the committee's substantive findings, including the need for increased educational investment (implying higher taxes), focused missions and faculty development. He notes these objectives were not politically popular.

Keywords: Council on Higher Education; Dorothy Ridings; Fund for Excellence; Harry Snyder; John Y. Brown, Jr.; Undergraduate education

Subjects: Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence

Partial Transcript: And here's a question because nobody-- like I, I learned this from listening to the earlier interview with you--

Segment Synopsis: Sexton talks about leaving the Council on Higher Education due to tensions with Harry Snyder. He says he left with the intention to establish the committee as a non-profit focusing on primary and secondary education. His discusses in general terms the political tensions within the Council on Higher Education.

Keywords: Gary Cox; George Boone; Harry Snyder; Pam Sexton; Pat Kafoglis; Phil Lanier; Wade Mounts

Subjects: Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence

Partial Transcript: Um, I'm thinking--there's another moment at which--like, I didn't get very much from my other interviewees about this kind of tension...

Segment Synopsis: Sexton talks about Prichard's leadership style which preferred strategic formulation rather than administration. He continues his discussion of the behind the scenes dynamics of setting up the committee as a non-profit.

Keywords: Edward Prichard, Jr.; John Bell; Junior League; Pam Sexton; Wade Mountz

Subjects: Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence

Partial Transcript: Well if I might back up a little bit more, just to explore this a little bit more about your decision to stay with the Prichard Committee.

Segment Synopsis: Sexton talks about his personal reasons for continuing the work of the Prichard Committee.

Keywords: Education reform

Subjects: Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence

Partial Transcript: Well um, related to this is another place that I'm hoping that you, because if you don't do it then nobody's going to enlighten me, is this decision to go from higher education to K through 12.

Segment Synopsis: Sexton talks about the reasons the reconstituted Prichard Committee shifted its focus from higher education to primary and secondary education.

Keywords: Council on Higher Education; Education reform; Elementary education; Nation at Risk; Secondary education

Subjects: Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence

Partial Transcript: How do you look at his role in shaping your choices around, you know, becoming a public intellectual, running this organization? I mean it, it seems you look to him as a mentor...

Segment Synopsis: Sexton talks about how Prichard was not a mentor to him because he acted more as an ally.

Keywords: Edward Prichard, Jr.; Harry Snyder

Subjects: Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence; Prichard, E. F., (Edward Fretwell).

Partial Transcript: A phrase that comes up often with regard to the role of the Prichard Committee in this whole, ed reform process is brokering reform.

Segment Synopsis: Sexton talks about approaching education reform from two directions, from below and above, simultaneously. He describes the role of the committee as a nexus or broker between parents and teachers at the local level and politicians and administrators at the state level. He says that the committee provided leadership by setting the reform agenda.

Keywords: Leadership Without Easy Answers; Private schools; Ronald Heifetz; Social activism

Subjects: Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence

Partial Transcript: Well, where are we today with regard to educational reform in relation to what you thought was possible when you started off with this?

Segment Synopsis: Sexton observes that the committee began its work at its creation without an established agenda, so evaluating its success through comparison is difficult. He suggests that the ongoing public conversation on education reform is a testament to both its success and its limitations.

Keywords: Carnegie Forum on Education and the Economy; Ford Foundation; Marc S. Tucker; National Commission on Education and Economy (NCEE)

Subjects: Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence