Balancing Mission to Market: Becoming Southern New Hampshire University*

Peer Review, Winter 2004 by Noyes, Elisabeth J, Gustafson, Richard A

When he established the New Hampshire School of Accounting and Secretarial Science in downtown Manchester, H. A. B. Shapiro, its fonnder and first headmaster, did not quit his day job. Instead, Shapiro continued his own accounting practice for many years, while simultaneously pursuing the school's goal: to make it possible for young people entering accounting work to learn the theory underlying the methods they used, to learn the "why" as well as the "how" of accounting. The School offered only a limited set of post-high school certificate and diploma programs. It occupied two second-floor rented classrooms and a small office, employed a staff of two teachers and a secretary, and, in its first year, enrolled seven day students and thirty-five evening students.

This small, proprietary business school that, in 1932, offered accounting and secretarial courses to forty-two students, has grown into a flourishing non-profit university that, today, supports a broad array of undergraduate, Masters-level, and doctoral programs for more than 1,700 full-time day students and nearly 6,000 undergraduate, graduate, continuing education, and distance education students. This once modest, two-classroom operation has grown into a university with a 280-acre campus and satellite campuses in several other U.S. states, as well as overseas.

Most importantly, however, the story of Southern New Hampshire University is the story of an educational vision expanding to include elements of liberal learning as it responds to changing needs of society and learners. It is the story of a vision that stays tethered to its roots even as it grows to reflect the aspirations of a competitive university in the twenty-first century.

Transformations

Although the curriculum was expanded in the 1940s and 50s to include business management, the School remained small until the early 1960s, when an increased number of evening programs offered at satellite locations throughout the state enabled enrollments to expand to accommodate the baby boomers and the thousands of returning Vietnam veterans. This expanded enrollment enabled a continued and exclusive locus on business programs.

The early 1970s witnessed a move to a new, more traditional campus, as well as program expansion into computer information systems for business and the start of a MBA program for part-time evening students. A new continuing education format-undergraduate courses on eight-week cycles and graduate courses on twelve-week cycles-attracted adult learners because they could organize a manageable schedule yet still make good progress toward their degree goals.

The Pressure of External Forces

In subsequent years, the gradual decline in the number of high school graduates and the conclusion of hostilities in Vietnam spelled trouble for many enrollment-driven colleges. New Hampshire College had anticipated this approaching environmental challenge and, in the mid-1970s, began to recruit international students. Entering this market early enabled the College to develop a competitive edge. A steady flow of international students sustained the undergraduate and graduate business programs in what were otherwise difficult times for recruitment.

Despite positive enrollment strategies, the external challenges lacing all small private colleges of the time continued to mount. New Hampshire College had been able to maintain a relatively narrow program base-business, accounting, computers, hotel management, business education-while also diversifying its audience-full-time day, part-time evening, weekend, off-campus satellite centers, international students, the military. This strategy enabled the College to concentrate its significant faculty resources, library resources, and specialized equipment and facilities.

As other local colleges began to offer business programs, the traditional day enrollment at New Hampshire College began to drop. And as the state colleges shifted from an exclusive locus on teacher preparation to become more comprehensive, they too began to offer programs in business and computers. Liberal arts and technical colleges followed suit.

By the 1980s, these and several other developments conspired seriously to erode the distinctiveness of New Hampshire College. The competitive advantage had been lost; the College was losing traditional day school enrollments, experiencing operating deficits, and struggling to keep programs attractive for future business majors. International enrollment, however, remained strong, and undergraduate and graduate continuing education enrollments remained stable as students sought practical degree programs to help them keep or find jobs.

Broadening the Liberal Learning

In the early 1990s, a series of strategic thinking sessions with faculty, staff, and trustees resulted in a major shift in direction. Recognizing that preparation for the professions requires a broad background, and appreciating that good citizenship is an integral component of professional education, the College decided to broaden its program base judiciously, to locus on academic credibility, and to revise the curriculum to accommodate a wider range of majors. It was this shift that laid the foundation for a new institution of higher education that, a decade or so later, would include a school of liberal arts and emerging schools of education and community economic development.