Skip to main content

At Academic Council, Vince Price Talks Higher Education Issues With Faculty

Vince Price talks with faculty during a special session of the Academic Council Thursday. Left is Academic Council Chair Nan Jokerst. Photo by Chris Hildreth/Duke Photography
Vince Price talks with faculty during a special session of the Academic Council Thursday. Left is Academic Council Chair Nan Jokerst. Photo by Chris Hildreth/Duke Photography

In his first public meeting with Duke faculty, President-Elect Vince Price began with a message about accessibility in higher education, saying that financial aid was expensive but represented “a wise investment” that could support and strengthen other university priorities.

At an hour-long question-and-answer session with the Academic Council Thursday, Price said he was committed to improving accessibility to higher education, but acknowledged the substantial endowment resources that will be required.

“The students we are admitting now are showing us that financial aid is a wise investment,” said Price, who will succeed Richard H. Brodhead as Duke’s 10th president on July 1. “We need to ID diamonds in the rough. Our job in some ways is to define talent and groom and develop it. At Duke, it can be easy to let that talent come to us, but I want us to be aggressive about going out and finding those who are thriving despite obstacles.”

He extended the financial aid discussion to graduate and professional students, saying support for these students is just as critical as it is for undergraduates.

“I don’t want law students who want to go into, say private practice, deciding instead to join a large law firm just because of the amount of loans they carry,” Price said. “Our goal must be to help students make the right decisions for the right reasons.”

He acknowledged that at a time of many budgetary challenges, boosting financial aid resources doesn’t necessarily mean making tradeoffs and cutting other critical areas such as research.

“It’s in the interest of faculty members that we bring in the best students. Raising financial aid doesn’t have to be in tension [with faculty support] because a $1 spent on financial aid also supports our ability to invest in attracting the best faculty.”

But Price added that it is also incumbent on Duke and other higher education institutions to aggressively make the case for continued federal support. “There’s no question that at a moment when we are so well poised to make a number of great discoveries, it would be a terrible shame if the U.S. withdraws its support for research investments.”

He extended the argument to support for the liberal arts model of education, saying that while higher education has a valuable role in labor-force development, its mission must be more than that.

“The idea that higher education is an institution that protects the opportunities of bright people to engage in undirected scholarship is powerful …,” Price said. “We can’t abandon the project of liberal arts education. We have to be more persuasive about that critical role of the university.  We are a model for higher education institutions around the world, and it’s ironic that our society is backing away from that project at the very time it’s being adopted by other societies around the world.”

Price spoke on a variety of issues during the session:

Ties between the university and the health system: “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for a strong relationship with the hospital,” Price said. Coming from the University of Pennsylvania, Price said he has experienced the value of such cooperation. He added that he’s impressed with the process by which Provost Sally Kornbluth and Chancellor for Health Affairs Dr. Eugene Washington coordinate work.

But he acknowledged that “there are so many uncertainties in health care that it is a bit unnerving.” He said solving the challenges facing the hospital and health care in general will require closer coordination with units across the campus. “It’s not just an opportunity, but there’s a responsibility for virtually every unit on campus to be part of that conversation.”

The growing role of master’s education: A topic of significant faculty discussion over the past two years, master’s education will continue to grow in importance because of the value the degree brings, Price said.  Done well, as at Duke, he said that provides value to both the student and the institution. However, he said, many institutions do it poorly and run the programs as revenue generators. “To me, that’s a missed opportunity for the student and for the institution.”