Tag Archives: Land Grant University

Apr 9 2012

Myke’s Answers to the Penn Stater Magazine


Marlene “Myke” Atwater Triebold, Ballot Position No. 60

Marlene “Myke” Atwater Triebold ’72 H&HD Real Estate Consultant, Coldwell Banker United Realtors Niceville, Fla. Read Triebold’s official bio and position statement here.

Answers to Questions

1. In view of sharply declining state appropriations, what steps should Penn State be taking to secure its financial future?

Review ALL budget items at department level, and direct every department to identify and prioritize cost saving measures, with the directive of a 10% reduction in costs to each department as the goal. If a department is unable to accomplish this, they must identify the reasons and justifications that they are unable to accomplish this goal. Initiate a cost saving competition for all faculty, staff, students, alumni to identify areas of waste and areas where streamlining services can be accomplished. Reward outstanding contributions with a notable prize and recognition for their contribution to the future of the University. Institute a group or committee charged specifically with the task of working closely with legislators to emphasize and explain our need for state funds and the benefit that state funding renders to the Commonwealth’s economic well-being. Identify ways that legislators benefit by the contributions Penn State makes to their local constituency. We need to help Harrisburg understand why their appropriations benefit everyone in PA—not just the students and employees of Penn State.

2. The rising cost of tuition nationally is making college less affordable for many students. Outline the steps you believe Penn State should be taking to address the issue.

First, I recommend a moratorium on building of new facilities. Even though many of the new facilities have been built with the use of private donations (which makes us look like a private university with donor’s names on the facility), the cost of maintenance, staffing, and operation gets absorbed by the general budget which explains why our operating budgets are ballooning. Initiate an exploration with other universities to address how they have managed to keep their tuition down—investigate and implement ideas that have worked. Initiate an exploration with other major corporations to address cost saving measures. Penn State has a wealth of alumni who have tremendous knowledge leading profitable organizations. Formation of a group separate and apart from the board of trustees to make independent suggestions of improvement should be sought.

3. What form should Penn State’s land-grant mission take in the 21st century?

As the original land grant university for the commonwealth, our mission is to serve the citizens and promote the economy and well being of a well educated society within the state. As Penn State has grown, our reach has gone far beyond the boundaries of Pennsylvania. However, I believe that our first responsibility is to educate the students of Pennsylvania. Exploration of the reasons Penn State has the highest tuition compared to other land grant universities is of utmost importance. While Penn State’s administration and board of trustees have played a role in furthering problems with the appropriation of state funds, beginning with more and more campaigns for private donations, and what appears to be an unbridled growth of building and acquisition of the physical plant at the main campus and commonwealth campuses, we ARE THE—I REPEAT—THE Land Grant university deserving of the lion’s share of monies available from state funds. Penn State must deal more honestly and openly with State government to accomplish this goal. Closed books do not encourage the state to open the purse strings—opening the purse strings means demonstrating the cost benefits to the Commonwealth’s economy. Conversely, we need to demonstrate the loss to the Commonwealth if Penn State is “private.”

Mar 27 2012

Penn State Board of Trustees: Myke Promises To Give Her Blood, Sweat and Tears To Alma Mater


by    , www.statecollege.com  on March 26, 2012 10:25 AM

As an undergraduate at Penn State, Myke Triebold served as the original campus coordinator for the American Red Cross blood donation services. Under her leadership, she said, a once-defunct student organization increased its annual bloodmobile donations to 4,700 units a year from 400. The third-generation Penn Stater would go on to teach at the university and live in the State College area for 22 years.

“Penn State is in my blood,” she said. Now, Triebold is prepared to give her blood – sweat and tears, too – as a member of the Board of Trustees.

Currently a real-estate consultant in the Florida panhandle, Triebold said the decision to run for the board was an awakening, forcing her to ask herself how she could step up to the plate and make a difference. There’s no limit to issues she’d tackle: From improving student life to fixing current bylaws to dealing with the fallout from November, Triebold said she has the ability to best serve Penn State.

It has been troubling to watch a board that seems so closed off and what seems to be the lack of ability by members to speak freely, she said – comparable to a secret society.

“The recent events have pointed out to me that the university has a broken and outdated system that has consolidated power in a few that clearly has not always acted in the best interests of the entire university,” she said. “November ripped a scab off. Those who love Penn State are bleeding.”

Things need to change, she said, and that starts with a more transparent Board of Trustees. Triebold said she sat and watched in disbelief when no one else spoke up to explain the decision or answer questions on that fateful night in November.

“I would have been standing on the steps of Old Main handing out leaflets. Maybe I’d be fired, but by George, they’d know what happened. Bylaws be damned,” she said. “I’ve stood up to employers before, and it cost me two jobs. I’ve done that twice in my life, and I’m not afraid to do it again.”

One conversation Triebold says the board shouldn’t even entertain is the buzz suggesting Penn State go private, now that the governor has proposed deep cuts to funding – attempting to slice the university’s nearly in half. More responsible spending decisions can be made, she said, rather than hasty decisions.

“Penn State going private is just wrong. There’s no justification for it at all,” Triebold said. “We are the land-grant university – and that’s it.”

As former health-education instructor and gymnastics athletic trainer at Penn State and the wife of Buzz Triebold, Penn State’s director of environmental health and safety, Triebold realizes the importance of higher education and time spent at Penn State for the students. More emphasis needs to be placed on finding a way to offer students the highest-quality education at the lowest price, she said.

Her sticking point is change, and Triebold says she stands out where it matters to make a difference.

“I think we have enough lawyers and company presidents,” she said. “I want to be a representative voice on the board for the average person who has pride in the past, present and future of Penn State.”

Mar 15 2012

Penn State should remain Land Grant, not Private


I am in complete, unequivocal, unwaivering support of Penn State remaining the land grant institution that it began as.  Penn State has a responsibility to the citizens of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (who,by the way, provided the funds over the years to create and maintain the school) to remain as their one and only land grant school.  History, tradition and responsibility count.  I take great pride in the fact that I went to MY state university–and will fight vehemently to maintain that status as the prime educator for the taxpayers of Pennsylvania

Unfortunately, the current board seems to be looking for ways to destroy that status.  No wonder the state legislature is questioning whether we are THE state university or a private institution.  Now I know why they keep cutting funding to us–if the board is questioning our status why should Harrisburg not question it, and cut our funds accordingly–they must be thinking-okay, if they want to be private, go for it.  It seems as though the board just wants to be private so they can keep secrets from the citizens and taxpayers of the Commonwealth.

I am outraged that the board has gotten us all into this position!  If elected as a trustee, I will devote my time to exploring how we got here and how to change it so Penn State is no longer the most expensive State University in the country (a dubious distinction)!

Mar 14 2012

Penn State–Are we another Cornell?


For years, lawmakers have groused that Penn State walks, talks and spends like a private school. As state support continues to slide, university officials say that idea may not be so far-fetched. In response to a question Tuesday about the possibility of the university’s “becoming more private,” board of trustees Chairwoman Karen Peetz said all options are on the table. Peetz said she’s talked with representatives from Cornell, a fellow land-grant university that receives some government support but remains private. Cornell’s structure could give Penn State guidance in moving past its state-related status, she said during a meeting with faculty. “I think the Cornell model is of great interest,” she said. “They appear to have successfully managed the public/private.

 

Looks like she is admitting that they have done a poor job of managing the public–I happen to agree with her on this!

Mar 10 2012

PSU-ReBOT Research Committee Progress Report


PSU-ReBOT Research Committee Progress Report

We are Penn Staters Reforming the Board of Trustees. Our mission is nothing less than to fix Pennsylvania State University. We will do this by reforming the Board of Trustees via legislative action at the State level. This task will require the involvement of Pennsylvania voters, Penn State alumni, faculty and friends. It will also require work on our part to propose a system of governance that better represents all Penn State stakeholder groups and comprises a small enough size to be efficient and effective. We have been busy researching other Land Grant Institutions and have some good news.

Land Grant University Data Collection is Complete

After 6 weeks of data collection, the research committee is currently in the review process. The committee reviewed the structure of sixty land grand institutions across the United States. Two non-land grant institutions within the State of Pennsylvania were also reviewed (The University of Pittsburgh and Temple University).

Our thanks to the 14 committee researchers that diligently sifted through web pages to locate the answers to the questions. Your hard work and determination is sincerely appreciated.

Now that the data collection is complete, the next step will be to review and analysis. We are fortunate to have PhD researchers within our group that are currently in the process of doing this. Some of the data sub-groups that are being reviewed are:

  • University size
  • Number of branch campuses
  • Number of faculty
  • Percentage of State funding
  • Number of voting members of the board
  • Number of non-voting members of the board
  • Number of Ex officio members of the board and which titles represent this
  • Governor appointed on the board
  • If governor appointees are approved by senate or other vote
  • Is the Governor on the board and voting privileges
  • Number of faculty on board and voting privileges
  • Number of current students and voting privileges
  • Number of alumni on board and voting privileges
  • Selection processes of all board members (appointed, ballot, ex officio)
  • Term limits

The research committee plans to have data analyzed by Monday, March 12, 2012 with an executive summary to follow sometime after.

List of Land-Grant Universities

With the exception of the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) and Temple University, which are both Pennsylvania schools that receive State funding, the list of land-grant universities included in our research includes:

  1. Auburn
  2. Alabama A&M
  3. University of Alaska
  4. University of Arizona
  5. University of California
  6. Colorado State University
  7. University of Connecticut
  8. University of Deleware
  9. Deleware State University
  10. Florida A&M
  11. University of Florida
  12. University of Georgia
  13. Fort Valley State University
  14. Univesity of Hawaii
  15. University of Idaho
  16. Purdue
  17. Iowa State University
  18. Kansas State
  19. University of Kentucky
  20. Kentucky State University
  21. Louisiana State University
  22. Southern University & A&M College
  23. University of Maine
  24. University of Maryland @ College Park
  25. University of maryland Eastern Shore
  26. University of Mass Amherst
  27. Mass Institute of Technology
  28. Michigan State University
  29. Iuniversity of Minesota
  30. Mississippi State
  31. Alcorn State University
  32. University of Missouri
  33. Lincoln University
  34. Montana State University
  35. University of Nebrask Lincoln
  36. University of Nevada
  37. University of New Hampshire
  38. Rutgers
  39. Cornell
  40. NC State University
  41. NC A&T State University
  42. North Dakota State University
  43. Ohio State University
  44. Oklahoma State University
  45. Langston University
  46. Oregon State University
  47. Penn State
  48. Temple (not a Land-Grant University)
  49. Pitt (not a Land-Grant University)
  50. University of Rhode Island
  51. Clemson
  52. South Carolina State University
  53. South Dakota State University
  54. University of Tennessee
  55. Tennessee State University
  56. Texas A&M
  57. Utah State University
  58. University of Vermont
  59. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
  60. Virginia State University
  61. Washington State University
  62. West Virginia University
  63. West Virginia State University
  64. University of Wisconsin Madison
  65. University of Wyoming

Jan 18 2012

Penn State Board of Trustees needs a “Whistleblower”


After reading the writings of one candidate for the Penn State Board of Trustees, I have the following observations:

The “lowest” rank of members of the Board of Trustees at Penn State seem to consist of those new members (of which I would like to be one), who believe that the Board is actually a deliberative body entrusted to watch over the moral, financial, and educational integrity of the University. In keeping to its original purposes — education of the citizens of Pennsylvania–according to the charter naming Penn State, the Farmer’s High School (reason for location in the geographical center of the state) as the Land Grant University in Pennsylvania.

This group has apparently seen its experience as one of heartache and disappointment. Their opinions were rarely asked for. It has been said that they are never told much of what is going on, except to receive the meeting agendas a week or so before the meetings, there is little for them to do but to attend the meetings and approve whatever is on the agenda. If they raise any serious question, they are told to meet with the appropriate administrators who will answer their concerns — after the meeting is over.” (look out, here I come)

Well, as a trustee, I think it would be my responsibility to follow up with those appropriate administrators and get the answers if I couldn’t get them from fellow board of trustee members. I might not be popular with other board members, (people who question the power brokers are not usually liked very much) but I would have pursued the answers vigorously. As I explained last week to an emeritus associate professor from Penn State in State College, I might have been on the steps of Old Main handing out leaflets to inform and/or I would have been seeking others who could have made a difference by getting the word out. I can guarantee that I wouldn’t have been standing behind a Vice Chairman looking like I had just rubber stamped and agreed with actions that were clearly illegal and morally bankrupt (broken sunshine laws, and a note with a scribbled phone number delivered at bedtime–really?). I am appalled that even now, two months after that famous meeting, that not one board member has spoken out about what happened. The minutes, which you can read here on http://www.PennStateTrustee.com are ambiguous and tell us little (no surprise).

To have people running for the board who were members during the past 30 years now claiming to want to “clean house” seems a bit odd to me. If we had more whistle blowers on the board during the past 30 years, maybe the “November massacre”, the “Penn State Scandal” would not have occurred. I have been proven to be one of the 2 out of 1000 individuals that Eric Silver, a PSU sociologist, referred to in his article in the black covered Penn Stater.

I always try to work within the system first, but if all else fails, and I feel wrong has been done, it is my intention to do what I can to make it right. There are numerous examples in my life that I can show that I bucked the system, and others benefited. I hope to have the opportunity to do the same for my beloved alma mater, Penn State Forever.