February 2024
Dear Faculty, Staff and Students in the Klingler College of Arts & Sciences,
February has once again brought many causes for joy. They include faculty review season—a
chance to pause and appreciate the work of our faculty colleagues over the past year—in
addition to admissions visits and alumni events on National Marquette Day and beyond.
For those who celebrate Lent, I hope the season has been meaningful thus far. Lent
calls for both work upon the self and engagement with the world, inviting conversion
in our hearts and in our lives. Although our world privileges the quantitative, we
know that Lenten practices—prayer, fasting and almsgiving—are at their heart qualitative.
This distinction emerges meaningfully in a short piece called “The Purpose of Education” that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote during his student days: “education has a
two-fold function […]: the one is utility and the other is culture.” Contemplation
and action. Self and world. Faith and service. Such pairings call to mind our College
motto “the difference is in the and.” This and signals an opportunity to overcome dichotomies and find connections. To navigate ambiguity
and hold simultaneously ideas that may be in tension. Recently I’ve read two books
that speak to important tensions between the qualitative and quantitative, between
pursuing utility and engaging in practices that are ends in themselves. The Tyranny of Metrics, as its title suggests, explores the limits of quantification, showing how a simplistic
focus on metrics leads to “gaming the system” and a narrowing of purpose. It includes
a thought-provoking chapter on higher education. Optimal Illusions questions our culture’s obsession with optimization, offering a former insider’s perspective
on Silicon Valley-style business practices.
Although neither book is without its limitations, from our Marquette perspective each
illuminates the relation between mission and margin: for example, how to offer a world-class
Catholic, Jesuit education while balancing the budget. Quantitative measures are important, yet they do not fully capture the impact of a
Marquette Arts & Sciences education. These sentiments reflect a recent address in which Pope Francis remarked that Catholic universities are more than a business.
This idea echoes some passages from his Apostolic Exhortation The Joy of the Gospel, including an admonishment not to limit our efforts just to “management, statistics,
plans and evaluation” (paragraph 95) and an assurance that “mission […] escapes all
measurement” (paragraph 279).
Two new members of our College team—both A&S alumni—illustrate the connection between
the quantitative and the qualitative, the practicalities of our work and the possibilities
for our collective future. Mark Krusinski, a Criminology and Law Studies alum, has
joined us as the inaugural Arts & Sciences Executive in Residence. Mark is helping us to pursue high-priority objectives including student success,
community connections and strategic initiatives like BioDiscovery and the forthcoming
Institute dedicated to Care for Our Common Home. Cathy Brummer, a Sociology alum,
has joined us in the wake of Mary Dunnwald’s retirement as Director for Academic Business Affairs. Cathy’s experience and values illustrate the dual importance of metrics and meaning.
Cathy describes herself as “a lover of humanity” and a servant leader who feels a
deep connection with Marquette’s mission. During her undergraduate years, she especially
enjoyed studying with Dr. Rick Jones and taking courses on the sociology of health
care and the sociology of prisons. Cathy was a commuter student and would love to
mentor current commuters. She noted that “being in an organization where the focus is student success is a
dream for me.” Her professional record includes work with young adults and many years
in an academic environment with significant experience managing complex budgets. She
enjoys the opportunity to “show an impact in a data-driven way.” Cathy said that since
returning to Marquette late last month, she has appreciated the dedication and passion
of our faculty, the lack of emphasis on hierarchy and “the human side of this organization.”
As we balance metrics and meaning and continue on our Lenten journey, let’s remain
mindful of another passage from Pope Francis in The Joy of the Gospel: “Challenges exist to be overcome! Let us be realists, but without losing our joy,
our boldness and our hope-filled commitment” (paragraph 109).
As always, please feel free to contact me with questions, concerns or suggestions. I appreciate hearing from you and exploring
ways we can all work together for the common good.
Dr. Heidi Bostic Dean, Klingler College of Arts and Sciences
|