Pace Paw Print

February 4, 2008

To the Editor:

In my more than two decades at Pace, it is rare that I have been able to say this: The most recent Pleasantville Faculty Council meeting (Feb. 1) was an experience that gives me hope for the institution and optimism that we will right ourselves and return to financial health and be able to place all of our concentration and resources where they belong: on providing the best possible education for our students.

The leadership of President Steve Friedman and the hard won, initial successes of Interim VP for Enrollment Management Robina Schepp are taking us in the right direction and reversing trends in both leadership and enrollment that have moved us backwards in recent years. I am impressed by the clarity of vision and realistic goals of our new President and his ability to speak plainly and openly about issues facing Pace and what our choices are in addressing them. Here is a leader who is open to ideas other than his own and possessed of the people skills to engage in discussion without alienating everyone in his path.

I am also very impressed with the changes wrought by VP Schepp in the short time she has been leading Enrollment Management at Pace. We are now ahead of rather than behind other institutions in our enrollment and recruitment processes and we are seeing the payoff even in this spring semester. VP Schepp has a clear grasp of what is going on in general and at the level of detail and has already shown the kind of management skills that take a faltering operation in hand and turn it around in spirit and in reality. Though careful not to paint too rosy a picture for fall, given what VP Schepp told us Friday, there is every reason to be confident about the path that Pace is on now. I applaud her hard work and initial successes. For both President Friedman and VP Schepp, the proof of success won't come any time soon, but I am finally confident that we have the right leadership in place, a leadership that trusts Pace people with the truth and includes us in the tough decisions that the University still has to make. Congratulations to the "new team."

Dr. Rebecca Martin

Chair,

Departments of English and Modern Languages and Cultures

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