The unofficial online home for fans of the Old Dominion University Monarchs. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

SORRY IN ADVANCE OF THIS DIATRIBE.

I have watched ODU for going on three decades. Here are some of my personal observations AND OPINIONS of things that have occurred:

1. Cleaning of Hampton Blvd, expansion of the university to the east of Hampton Blvd, and adding of infrastructure to give the appearance of a 'real university' (under Koch)

2. Continued investment in infrastructure and buildings to enhance the campus look and feel. (under Koch and Runte, continued with Broderick)

3. Distance education investment (first televised class in 1986), eventually moving into more asynchronous and hybrid delivery modes (under Koch, Runte, and Broderick)

4. Engaging a research emphasis to pursue Top 100 research university status and trying to improve the academic stature and reputation (under Runte and abandoned by Broderick)

5. The decline of reputation (academic and research) as evidenced by falling off the ranking charts and running in the same ranks as Radford Univ, NSU, and CNU. (under Broderick)

6. Addition of football (under Runte and continued by Broderick)

7. Focus on 'acceptance' of anybody by the elimination of admission standards for incoming students - acceptance North of 87% (under Broderick)

8. Building the university for an 'undergraduate residential experience' with amenities and non-learning related emphases (under Broderick).

9. Adding 'feel good' programs, classes, and majors that produce students with little possibility of pursuing a career in those fields much less being able to pay back the associated student loans. (Under Koch, Runte, and Broderick)

10. Fostering the rise of the administrative university with increasing 'non-essential non-revenue producing' activities, offices, positions, and programs with noble intentions, but absent any direct ties to the true mission of the university or lean operation (under Broderick).

Personally, I think that the current pandemic, while unfortunate, is going to force some hard looks and decisions concerning: (1) what is really essential at the university in support of the mission?, (2) What can be 'thrown overboard' without impacting the mission?, (3) What is the identity of the university - distance education, urban residential undergraduate teaching; research and scholarship; selectivity in admissions; job placement upon graduation?, and (4) What 'frills' should never have been pursued in the first place and are only weighing down the institution now?

As the saying goes, anyone can steer a ship in calm waters, but true leadership is tested having to steer a ship through the storms. Not sure that ODU has the right leadership to most effectively weather this 'hurricane' -- upcoming months will tell.

That’s similar to how I see it, but I would give as much credit to Runte as Broderick for the shift to the vastly improved residential aspect. Runte apparently pissed off a lot of politicians, but IMO she did great things for the school itself. She just created ill will in Richmond we are still fighting against. I wish the state would have embraced her vision. I’m surprised but not surprised the politicians can’t see the value of an academically prestigious destination research university in Hampton Roads.

(05-14-2020 02:17 PM)blueandsilver Wrote:  5. The decline of reputation (academic and research) as evidenced by falling off the ranking charts and running in the same ranks as Radford Univ, NSU, and CNU. (under Broderick)

9. Adding 'feel good' programs, classes, and majors that produce students with little possibility of pursuing a career in those fields much less being able to pay back the associated student loans. (Under Koch, Runte, and Broderick)

Just a couple reminders.

We've been only been ranked in the top tier by USNWR three times ever. The first time was 2017 under Broderick;
https://www.odu.edu/news/2016/9/us_news_...r4Cy1MpB-E

We were ranked in the top tier for the second time in 2019 under Broderick;
https://www.odu.edu/news/2018/9/u_s_news...r4DAFMpB-E

The third time was this year under Broderick. We also had the undergrad business and engineering programs ranked this year;
https://www.odu.edu/news/2019/9/u_s_news...r4BilMpB-E

(05-14-2020 07:57 PM)monarx Wrote:  That’s similar to how I see it, but I would give as much credit to Runte as Broderick for the shift to the vastly improved residential aspect. Runte apparently pissed off a lot of politicians, but IMO she did great things for the school itself. She just created ill will in Richmond we are still fighting against. I wish the state would have embraced her vision. I’m surprised but not surprised the politicians can’t see the value of an academically prestigious destination research university in Hampton Roads.

There is more to enrolling a class than just getting good rankings. ODU has a mission and in it mission there are value statement on the education they will provide and to who. ODU's mission like many public institutions is to provide accessible education to the residents of the areas in which they exist. That means keeping admission criteria reasonable. If ODU were looking for ways to increase selectivity they could look at the out of state markets, much like WVU does. At WVU if you are a state resident you need a ridiculously low GPA to get in, but if you are out of state, it is much tougher to gain admission. My issue is that ODU has abandoned much of their out of state recruitment. I work in admissions for a school in Philadelphia and my territory includes MD, VA, DE, DC, and Western PA. Other than VA, I rarely see ODU in any of those areas. When I worked at ODU, we were all over the east coast from NC to New England.

(05-14-2020 09:55 PM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(05-14-2020 02:17 PM)blueandsilver Wrote:  5. The decline of reputation (academic and research) as evidenced by falling off the ranking charts and running in the same ranks as Radford Univ, NSU, and CNU. (under Broderick)

9. Adding 'feel good' programs, classes, and majors that produce students with little possibility of pursuing a career in those fields much less being able to pay back the associated student loans. (Under Koch, Runte, and Broderick)

Just a couple reminders.

We've been only been ranked in the top tier by USNWR three times ever. The first time was 2017 under Broderick;
https://www.odu.edu/news/2016/9/us_news_...r4Cy1MpB-E

We were ranked in the top tier for the second time in 2019 under Broderick;
https://www.odu.edu/news/2018/9/u_s_news...r4DAFMpB-E

The third time was this year under Broderick. We also had the undergrad business and engineering programs ranked this year;
https://www.odu.edu/news/2019/9/u_s_news...r4BilMpB-E

They really should promote that more. It’s a big deal. It’s hard for me to believe ODU doesn’t “strive for” rankings. Where I work, it’s one of the main things we care about. To the point we have people who’s sole job it is to work to game the rankings, make sure everything is submitted, analyze every aspect to figure out how to rise, make sure students are happy and participate in the reviews, send PR kits to other Deans to influence the peer ranking etc. And tons of schools do this. We received info from FIU a while back that impressed one of our Deans. I guarantee that helped their peer evaluation with him. Regent throws a billboard up on 64 every time they get a decent ranking. It’s helped their rep considerably too. We should make people aware US News lists ODU “Coastal Va’s top tier national university”.

Not sure about the academics as it has been almost 20 years since I went through. Seems to be the same reputation it has been through the 40 years I've been alive... lower tier state school that anyone graduating HS can get into, but a great value for its top programs (dental, engineering, business). Despite arbitrary rankings from clueless magazines, I don't think that has ever changed. I do feel like there was more of a pride within the student body when Runte was there (more extracurricular engagement, more students wearing ODU gear, more people hanging out with each other, more going on around campus organically) ... but again, Im not on campus everday and just going off atmosphere when I am around for mostly athletics. Broderick has done a good job of continuing to develop the "campus look". Not sure how hard that is but I'll give him credit there... the campus looks good. Not keyed in enough into academia to really understand the job. Always assumed it was more of a figurehead, like the Queen of England, and the power was really with the Board. Runte was definitely a better figurehead. Not to say he doesn't have some magic sauce in other areas of responsibility.

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(05-15-2020 07:21 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  Not sure about the academics as it has been almost 20 years since I went through. Seems to be the same reputation it has been through the 40 years I've been alive... lower tier state school that anyone graduating HS can get into, but a great value for its top programs (dental, engineering, business). Despite arbitrary rankings from clueless magazines, I don't think that has ever changed. I do feel like there was more of a pride within the student body when Runte was there (more extracurricular engagement, more students wearing ODU gear, more people hanging out with each other, more going on around campus organically) ... but again, Im not on campus everday and just going off atmosphere when I am around for mostly athletics. Broderick has done a good job of continuing to develop the "campus look". Not sure how hard that is but I'll give him credit there... the campus looks good. Not keyed in enough into academia to really understand the job. Always assumed it was more of a figurehead, like the Queen of England, and the power was really with the Board. Runte was definitely a better figurehead. Not to say he doesn't have some magic sauce in other areas of responsibility.

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I think ODUs academic rep has risen quite a bit since the 80s/90s, though it seems to have dropped in some programs. Back then Oceanography and Physical Therapy were highly regarded and Engineering was on the rise. Now it seems to be more about Engineering, Business and Education. The admissions standards have risen significantly, I know people who didnt get into ODU over the last decade. From what Im told you need at least a B average to get in. Of course a "B" in 2020 is probably closer to a "C" in 1985 standards, so maybe they are close. The average SAT at ODU is a 1098 these days. Im sure thats way higher too. But again, there is a major emphasis on the SAT these days that wasn't there in the 80s/90s. Back then a B average and 950 SAT would get you into VT, much less ODU. Regarding the rankings, 20 years ago USWR put college rankings into 4 tiers. Now they've combined what are basically the top three tiers into their "ranked" universities. ODU used to frequently be near the top of tier 4, and occasionally snuck into the bottom of tier 3. Now we are frequently near the bottom of "ranked" top tier schools, but sometimes fall out altogether. That tells me we are probably a little better regarded than 20 years ago, but not much. In contrast, GMU and VCU are consistently in the top tier. GMU significantly so. VCU only about 40 or 50 spots higher which is basically insignificant and mostly due to MCV, PR and the F4. If you look at comparable schools, 20 years ago Radford and CNU were well behind Old Dominion. Many would consider CNU to have passed us and Radford to have caught up. ODU and VCU are about the same, but VCU has momentum. I cant remember the last time I knew of friends kids who chose ODU over VCU. And GMU has taken their money and political clout to carve out a nice academic rep with their business and law schools especially. I hoped ODU was doing that with Engineering, but others are also improving there at the same pace. Not sure what happened with Oceanography. You would think ODU would be a national leader there with our literal on campus access to the Bay and Atlantic Ocean.