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At the joint
National
Associate of Land Grant and Public Universities (APLU) and Urban Serving
Universities (USU) annual conference this week I had the pleasure of
“pitching” an idea for PSU. The
competition was to showcase ideas universities had to create better alignment
between what a student learns and what employers need. The Innovation Pitch
Challenge session was modeled on the television show
Shark
Tank (which I admit, I had not seen until we were selected for this
competition).
Our Idea
In September, we, along with dozens of universities,
submitted an idea. Ours was to create a professional master’s program in Industrial
Mathematics; a proposal that had been originally submitted by the mathematics
and statistics department for the
Provost Challenge. PSU was
among 11 universities selected to make a pitch at the conference. Each
participant had five minutes for the presentation.
Big Thanks
Mathematics Professors
Jay Gopalakrishnan and
Gerardo Lafferriere were the
brains behind the idea for the program and the content of the script. Thanks also to Professor
Devon Allen in the School of Theatre and Film who spent a session coaching me on how to
memorize the script (which I did and now can recite it for anyone!), and to
Mark Wubbold in the President’s Office
for helping me make math flash cards of the mastery and competencies handed out
to the judges.
The Pitch
Here is my pitch. I share it because the ideas your
colleagues have for this proposal is exciting. Please note the script was not
written to be published, but to be delivered verbally.
I want to start with a
question: What does 5x5x5x5x5 equal? A
well-formulated question with a precise answer, 3125. But wait, in rare cases are problems so
easily defined or so easily solved. Imagine training that would prepare
employees already in the work place to address computationally intensive
problems in science and industry.
I have a proposal for
a professional master’s degree in industrial mathematics. A program that meets business and industry’s
need for dealing with complex, discontinuous and disruptive change. An academic
program that lies in that void between basic undergraduate math programs and
our research-focused mathematical doctoral programs. A program that takes the concepts and
fundamentals and applies them-- not to the well-formulated questions-- but
rather to identifying messy questions that exist in our knowledge-based
industries.
Think about
it--practitioners trained in logical thinking within a business setting;
employees that are able to effectively use contemporary computational and
statistical tools. A program that has
higher level skills grounded in mathematical thinking and theory, but not one
that trains someone to be a mathematician. Just last week, I had four business
dean candidates tell me that computational and analytical skills are what
employers want most.
I get this. I am not a
mathematician. My background is cartography and GIS. I have been a faculty member
for over 3 decades and my research and teaching has led me to understand how to
deal with change and complex problems.
But I have to say, had I become a practitioner early in my career I
would have so benefited from a program like this. Not only would I have had the skills to map
things, but I would have had the perspective to conceive of potential complex
interrelationships that go beyond the lines on the map.
We’ve done the math—by
working with employers we’ve identified 5 mastery areas where a student would
gain 5 competencies each to create this customized program. 5x5 in this case is
not 25. Learning is exponential —I can truthfully say it is 5 to the power of 5.
One of the most powerful forces in the world is the exponential power of
mathematics. Regardless of how knowledge
changes—there is one universal constant—math.
Employees need these skills in their back pocket.
This program is
targeted for people already with jobs as engineers, supply chain managers,
social entrepreneurs, and even cartographers.
The program will be delivered online, competency based, have no credits,
will count experience, and is learner paced.
The number one thing
employers are asking for are employees that can innovate. This program delivers
on that. We will produce practitioners with mathematical knowledge as applied
to their broader skill set. The saying
“do the math” exists for a reason. The evidence shows--Math is a constant no
matter what disruptions take place –you all know this, you’ve done the math--
at the heart of all innovation lies computational thinking.
We have the experience
to design this program in less than 12 months—Portland State has just innovated
over a dozen large-scale curricular projects in 6-12 months through a
university-wide crowdsourcing effort called rethink PSU.
We are asking for
$5,000, but wait, per each of the 5 mastery areas –do the math—5x5 --we are
asking for a total of $25,000. Thank you.
The Many Wins
Unfortunately, we did not win the competition. But we do have some wins to show for it. A number of participants and members of the
audience thought the idea our mathematics faculty had was “brilliant.”
I learned a lot about the potential this program could have for PSU, and
Gerardo’s great sense of humor helped make for a good pitch.
And, upon getting the news that we had not won, I received a great email
from mathematics saying:
“All that energy you brought to this effort has energized us
and the proposal. None of this effort was wasted. Thank you again.”
This kind of creative thinking on the part of faculty is part of PSU's DNA. My thank you to Jay, Gerardo and their colleagues!
