Reporter Volume 25, No.20 March 10, 1994

In 1969, when 28-year-old D. Bruce Johnstone wrote his doctoral thesis
on the need for innovation in higher education, he hinted at a career
of impassioned advocacy for learning and ambitious ways to achieve it.
	SUNY Chancellor since 1988, Johnstone resigned effective March
1 for reasons of poor health. He leaves a legacy of achievement and
contributions to SUNY and higher education throughout the nation and
world, according to a resolution passed Feb. 24 by the SUNY Board of
Trustees. 
	The Trustees recognized "with appreciation, esteem and
affection this great educational leader who, during his tenure over
the past five-and-a-half years, has made extraordinary contributions
to the growth and development of his beloved University."
	As educational philosopher and statesman, the SUNY Trustees
said, "Dr. Johnstone's leadership in higher education became
recognized nationally and internationally. He stimulated both
discussion and action on what higher education must do to be more
productive in the future."

SUNY 2000
	Johnstone's "greatest legacy," the Trustees said, was the
insight of SUNY 2000: A Vision for the New Century. Under his
leadership, SUNY 2000 launched an examination of the University's role
in meeting evolving social needs. The document grapples with the
challenge of changing a large institution in a time of increased
demands for efficiency and productivity. According to the report,
formally adopted on Sept. 25, 1991, SUNY must show aggressive
leadership in addressing the needs of the state, and seek additional
non-state funding, if the 64-campus system is to achieve greatness in
the next century.
	Johnstone said at the time: "A plan for a large complex
institution like a university will probably not, in the end, yield
goals that will surprise or shock the reader any more than it will
contain goals that will profoundly wrench or disrupt the institution.
The past is both rewarding and constraining. What any institution can
or will become is very much a function of what that institution is and
has been. The degrees of true freedom in a university's plan are few
even if it must be prepared to do battle for certain changes. In
short, the State University of New York is on a good course, from
which it should not veer dramatically.
	"At the same time, a plan can and ought to matter. That is,
the existence of a sound plan, with a clear and immediate action
agenda, ought to focus energies, inspire new and creative behavior,
and in the end alter the trajectory of where the institution has been
going prior to the plan."
	SUNY 2000 called for more attention to the state's changing
populationQone that will be more ethnically diverse and older. For the
writers of the report, the demographic message was clear: "Public
higher education must assume an increasingly important role in an
increasingly multicultural society."
	The report also envisioned a bigger role for SUNY in educating
more health-care workers. "Already too many New Yorkers are not
receiving the health care they need because hospitals are overcrowded,
health professionals are unavailable, and services are not organized
to reach all who need them.	"Education is the key to New York's
health in the future. Not only will the state require increasing
numbers of health professionals over the next decade, the
professionals themselves must be educated to use the latest technology
and to offer service to a diverse population within a range of new
settings."
	The Trustees' Feb. 24 resolution reaffirmed the Board's
commitment to SUNY 2000, taking note of the programs already initiated
as part of it, and making mention of the broad support the plan has
received from Gov. Cuomo and legislative leaders.

Preserving quality 
	Despite the fierce financial pressures of the late 1980s,
Johnstone managed to keep SUNY on track toward goals of excellence and
access, UB President William R. Greiner pointed out. "Bruce Johnstone
has been a leader of good heart and great vision for SUNY. His
commitment to State University and his own personal dedication to the
system have been crucial during recent years, as SUNY has faced fiscal
and organizational challenges."
	Adds Frederic V. Salerno, SUNY Trustees Chairman: "He has
provided a steadfast commitment to excellence for public higher
education during one of New York State's most crucial periods of
economic planning and recovery."
	SUNY officials point to continuing national recognition of
SUNY's quality undergraduate education (the most recent Money Magazine
ratings place five SUNY campuses in the top ten best college buys in
the northeast, along with Harvard, Yale and Columbia). Johnstone also
made a priority the excellence of SUNY's graduate programs and
professional education, advances in health care, and cutting-edge
research.

An impassioned advocate
	From the beginning of his tenure, Johnstone insisted that
quality not be undermined by prevailing political and economic forces.
In 1989, he argued SUNY's case in a hearing before the Senate Finance
Committee and the Assembly Ways and Means Committee.
	The "crippling" cuts recommended in the executive budget of
1989-90, would imperil the State University, Johnstone said. These
could not occur without consequence, he said, "regardless of our good
will and managerial skills.
	And, he said, both to those in the legislative hearing room
and elsewhere in the capitol, "this is my messageI
	"Inot that we cannot cut any further, because any agency can
always get smaller, particularly if there is no regard for the
consequence;
	"I not that we will not cut any further, because I suspect, in
the end, that we may have to, even with your support;
	"I but that there will be consequencesQlosses to the
StateQfrom any level of cuts. And we believe that the losses to the
State from the full measure of cuts in the executive budget would be
so damaging and so long lasting that we need (your) help."

Innovation in meeting new challenges
	Johnstone also sought to encourage new sources of revenue and
thoughtful restructuring of the system itself.
	In a five-year summary of his office's principal activities,
Johnstone said central administration, guided by the Trustees, had set
forth the following priorities:
	n handle budget cuts with minimal long-term damage to the
university system and its core missions of access, learning, research,
and service;
	n enhance management efficiency and accountability, beginning
with central administration;
	n establish medium and long-range planning goals to maintain a
coherent vision for the university's future ;
	n assure capacity for new investments and campus renewalQin
spite of economic hard times;
	n continue the establishment and renewal of systemwide Trustee
policies in order to form appropriate guidelines for aggressive and
creative management actions, both campus and system;
	n strengthen political advocacy with the Executive, the
Legislature, and community college sponsoring governments;
	n sharpen and strengthen the image and appreciation of SUNY
among its many constituencies: future students, their families, and
others who may influence their enrollment decisions; public agencies,
businesses, and other users of SUNY's research and training
capabilities; and the national and international worlds of higher
education. 
	Johnstone's summary notes that "there have been closures of
entire programs, retrenchments of senior faculty and professional
staff, lower real earnings for those who kept their jobs, greater
workloadsQand diminished services for students. 
	"Yet compared with the demoralization and contentiousness that
so frequently accompanies such distress in other states, the SUNY
budget strategy has been achieved with a widespread appreciation of
its clarity, fairness, and general intelligence."
	Another highlight, Johnstone said in his report, is the
successful decentralization of much budget and management authority to
campuses, and the move to effect greater efficiencies in central
administration.

1994-95 budget recommendations
In Jan. 31, 1994, testimony before the Senate Finance Committee and
the Assembly Ways and Means Committee, Johnstone said the 1994-95
executive budget "meets the costs of already negotiated salary
increases and minimal inflationary cost increases, and would allow
SUNY to maintain its current programs. It is the first budget within
recent memory that does not include reductions. 
	"Last year," Johnstone added, "with the help of you, your
legislative colleagues, and the Governor, the State University turned
the corner and began the road to recovery after years of severe
erosion of our faculty, support staff, plant, and equipment. We look
to 1994-95 hopeful that this trend will continue in recognition of the
enormous importance the State University must play in the expansion of
opportunities for all New Yorkers. This hope has been realized in the
Governor's Executive Budget for our state-operated and funded
campuses."
	At the same time, Johnstone outlined four SUNY priorities in
1994-95: 1) community college support; 2) $4 million statewide to hire
additional faculty. This would permit the system to add additional
course sections, particularly at the undergraduate level, to decrease
the time it takes students to graduate. 3) $3 million for student
support services, such as career counseling, advisement, child care,
etc. 4) Operating funds for the Graduate Research Initiative (GRI).
	
Learning productivity
	During his years in Albany, Johnstone championed the concept
of "Learning Productivity," his nationally acclaimed proposal to
increase the effectiveness of student learning. In a talk at Canisius
College in October, 1992, Johnstone said capturing "lost time" could
reinvigorate higher education. The "lost 12th grade," he said, is a
potentially rich period of learning that vanishes once students have
applied to college. Why? "There are so few stakes attached to hard,
diligent application throughout that entire 12th grade. The attention
to the learning task is minimal in American secondary schools and
perhaps less than it should be in American colleges," Johnstone said.
	Time, he said, is also lost once students begin their college
careers. "Students are taking longer and longer to graduate. What used
to be four or five years for the baccalaureate degree is now six years
plus," Johnstone said. Universities, he said, should clarify their
expectations for the preparation of entering students.
	Additionally, he noted, scrutiny of higher education's method
of delivery is timely given the financial crisis facing higher
education and public concern about rising costs. Johnstone said he
favored more "teaching to mastery," more computer-assisted learning
with the goal of self-pacing and individualization of instruction.
"Yes, some may need more time, but many others need less time."
	Identifying what he termed "the underlying overwhelming
challenge" to American higher education as the need to be more
productive, "to do more and better with fewer resources," Johnstone
has since proposed that the most effective way to control the rising
cost of education is to reduce the total number of semesters a student
spends in college. To do this, he said, all students who can do
college-level work, such as advanced placement courses in high school,
should be encouraged to do so, and earn credits toward their college
degrees.
	In April 1993, the chancellor sent a letter to almost 200,000
eighth graders throughout New York, encouraging them to take more
rigorous Regents level courses in high school to better prepare them
for college work. This was followed by a second letter in January,
1994. Related to this campaign are "SUNY 2000: College Expectations,"
a description of SUNY's expectations of incoming freshmen, and the
Mathematics Alert Program, intended to encourage increased 12th grade
enrollment in math courses. 
	And, Johnstone noted in his recent testimony, "there is also
recognition in this (year's) capital budget of the enormous emerging
importance of educational technology. The proposed $5 million for
telecommunications and computer-based technology will allow an
expansion of our cost-effective 'distance learning' and electronic
classrooms, as well as the new Internet system."

Professional contributions
	Johnstone serves as chair of the College Board, is president
of the National Association of System Heads, and is a member of the
board of the Job Training Partnership Council of New York State, the
National Faculty Exchange, and the New York State Higher Education
Services Corporation. An internationally recognized authority on the
economics and financing of higher education, he has written two books
and many articles on the subject, primarily in the field of student
finance. His most recent works deal with United States and West
European higher education and finance.
	Prior to his appointment as chancellor, Johnstone served as
president of Buffalo State College. He was the first SUNY chancellor
to be named from one of the system's campus presidencies. He also
served as executive assistant to the president and then as vice
president for administration at the University of Pennsylvania, a
project specialist for the Ford Foundation, administrative assistant
to then U.S. Sen. Walter F. Mondale, and as a high school teacher of
economics and American history.
	He holds a B.A. in economics and a master of fine arts in
teaching from Harvard, and a Ph.D. in education from the University of
Minnesota.

Expresses thanks
	"It has been a privilege to work with SUNY's outstanding
Trustees and presidents over the past five years," said in a message
distributed by his office last month. "Their commitment to quality is
strong and their collective wisdom is one of SUNY's greatest
strengths. Given their leadership, and the leadership of Provost
Joseph C. Burke, one of the key architects of SUNY 2000, I am very
optimistic about State University's future. We have come through tough
years not only intact, but strong, determined, and on the right
course."