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Post by okinawatyphoon on May 6, 2009 11:34:23 GMT -5
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Post by 78crusader on May 6, 2009 11:48:35 GMT -5
VU doesn't promote the academic achievements of its students and the quality of its academic programs enough, in my opinion. Five Fulbright scholarship recipients. Sarah Ott was named a USA Academic All-American earlier this week (the fourth VU student in the last five years; no other school VU's size even comes close to that). The Christ College program is one of the best honors college programs in the country. Our engineering program is top quality, as is the geography/meteorology program. Okinawa, you work in admissions. Tell those guys to get the word out! Paul
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Post by jj on May 6, 2009 12:11:12 GMT -5
:thumbsup Fantastic! Congratulations to all. Q: Are there any athletes among the Fulbrights?
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Post by vuweathernerd on May 6, 2009 16:10:21 GMT -5
none of this year's recipients are athletes, to my knowledge.
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Post by fwalum on May 6, 2009 20:24:38 GMT -5
Joy Gieschen is a VU cheerleader. Her parents are Lutheran school teachers here in Fort Wayne.
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Post by valporun on May 9, 2009 11:18:29 GMT -5
While not an athlete this season, Sarah Ott was on the women's basketball team for three seasons. Now we have good understanding about why she left the program. Congrats to Sarah!
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Post by okinawatyphoon on May 9, 2009 23:52:01 GMT -5
Speaking of promoting VU's accomplishments more, there's an editorial in Torch this week that talks just about that.
"A Time To Brag
Valparaiso University needs to brag more.
I arrived at VU thinking it was a slightly above-average school. After spending four years of my short life here, it turns out that I was wrong.
VU has more to offer than ‘above-average.’
As most students will tell you, VU is far from perfect. It has its share of flaws: The weather, the pathways, any building from more than 20 years ago. There are some poor professors and some bad ones. The advising system needs a serious overhaul. Even the food, while much improved in the new Harre Union, takes a bit of getting used to.
But, honestly, these are minor complaints. I’ve spent time at other schools - universities that are considered ‘better’ than VU (St. Louis University, Denver University, Northwestern University) - and I can tell you that they have the same kinds of problems that we do, and often they have it worse.
And as far as academic quality, VU offers two things that a lot of top-notch academic institutions do not: Professors who are interested in teaching and direct access to those professors.
Immediately after graduation, your degree will be worth less than one that has the Harvard or Northwestern name on it. But after a few years of actually living in the real world, I’m betting that most VU graduates have found themselves just as well prepared as their peers from other schools.
So what is it that keeps this university trapped at the regional level?
Don’t take this the wrong way, but we’re too Lutheran. Garrison Keillor, a venerable scholar of Lutheranism, perhaps put it best: “The idea of sticking your neck out or proclaiming yourself is not a Lutheran trait.” To put it simply, VU is too modest.
VU is good, not great, because it has held itself back. Granted, this school will never carry the reputation of Yale or Stanford, but we’re better than we give ourselves credit.
So let’s start giving ourselves some credit.
When I came to VU, I had only the vaguest knowledge about its athletics programs. Not all of them are stellar, but with the recent move into the Horizon League, they all stand to improve quite a bit as they rise to the level of competition. Some of them already have. To use the cliché example, we’ve got as good a basketball program, men and women both, as any small school can ask for.
This university has a lovely campus, and the senior class knows what I’m talking about. There was a time when it was full of badly repaired pathways and every building looked like a hastily built hospital wing from 1948. Many of them still do, of course, but since my first look at VU five years ago, the campus and the surrounding neighborhood have improved quite a bit, and they look to continue that trend.
The student media here, namely WVUR, The Torch and The Lighter, have been taking home some impressive awards for years now even though they’re only accessible to people who live on campus while other collegiate programs have been on the Internet for years.
This year, VU will send five students into the Fulbright program. For those of you who don’t quite know what this means, read this week’s story in the Features section.
In a nutshell, Fulbright is one of the most selective academic programs out there. Five Fulbright scholars from the same university - especially a small, midwestern liberal arts school - is an astonishing example of academic excellence.
So why is VU hiding? Certainly the recent reorganization of university marketing stands to help give this school the good name it deserves. But it is imperative that bragging about VU becomes a habit, something that goes on outside of recruitment literature. Lutheran or not, reaching the next level in higher education is more a matter of shameless self-promotion than academic, athletic and extracurricular improvement.
So from a soon-to-be-graduate who wants to see his alma mater’s name rise from good to great, shed your Lutheran modesty. No one is going to brag for you. "
- Brad Anderson
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Post by vuweathernerd on May 10, 2009 15:05:18 GMT -5
brad's editorial hit the nail on the head. he's been trying to get that into people's heads for 3 years now, and for good reason. vu is afraid to toot its own horn too much, for fear of sounding self-centered. in reality, we just need to join the majority of american universities that promote their excellences as much as possible.
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Post by vu72 on May 11, 2009 7:07:41 GMT -5
In a nutshell, Fulbright is one of the most selective academic programs out there. Five Fulbright scholars from the same university - especially a small, midwestern liberal arts school - is an astonishing example of academic excellence.--Brad Anderson
Nice article by Brad Anderson. One thing he needs to remember, and which can help Valpo publicity wise, is this: Valpo is NOT a "liberal arts school". Sure it has a very well known liberal arts tradition including music, writing and sciences, but unlike say, St. Olaf College, Valpo has professional colleges of Engineering, Business Administration and Nursing. Almost half its undergraduate students study at one of its professional schools. So, Valpo isn't just a "college", it is a true "university".
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Post by agibson on May 11, 2009 7:24:01 GMT -5
I've never quite understood US News. But, is this what's kept us stuck in the regional rankings for all these years? With (all other?) master's level universities?
I've always wondered how we would have fared in e.g. the national university or liberal arts ranked.
Being highly ranked among midwestern master's universities is probably good for regional recruiting. Perhaps not coincidentally this is Valpo's base.
But, I do wonder if it hurts our national reach. Who from the west, the east, or the south, would be attracted to a school labeled "Midwestern"?
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Post by okinawatyphoon on May 11, 2009 7:37:53 GMT -5
But, I do wonder if it hurts our national reach. Who from the west, the east, or the south, would be attracted to a school labeled "Midwestern"? I can tell you that it probably doesn't help, as the "midwest" doesn't exactly conjure up an exciting image. However, I don't think being ranked 95th (or worse) in the country for liberal arts is that impressive either.
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Post by agibson on May 11, 2009 8:00:52 GMT -5
You think it'd be that bad? 95th?
I've not looked carefully at their methodology. Is it possible to get a decent estimate of where Valpo would rank?
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Post by okinawatyphoon on May 11, 2009 20:26:33 GMT -5
More evidence of Valpo's academic excellence: Valpo gets TWO Kemper Scholpars! Read the link below for a great article about Valpo's two Kemper Scholars. www.valpo.edu/news/news.php?releaseId=4061 A highlight: "Renner and Jarratt are the sixth and seventh Valpo students selected as Kemper Scholars over the past five years. While the Kemper Foundation normally selects only one Scholar from each Kemper college into each year's incoming cohort, this is the second time that two students from Valpo have been chosen. "
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Post by valpo04 on May 12, 2009 6:57:26 GMT -5
Who from the west, the east, or the south, would be attracted to a school labeled "Midwestern"? I was, but it was due to D1 athletics and the Meteorology program. I saw "Midwestern" and thought "Lake Effect Snow!"
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Post by agibson on May 12, 2009 9:59:24 GMT -5
No question there are reasons for Valpo to be a national draw.
Basketball (and other sports), Lutheranism, Christ College, and various other academic programs (including Met) come to mind.
But the "Midwestern" label can't help much. (Except perhaps when convincing the conservative parents of international students.)
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