Listen Here
By Victoria Hansen
hansenv@findlay.edu
The University of Findlay began a week-long open forum series with the final four candidates to replace the retiring Dr. Katherine Fell as UF’s president.
On Monday, March 30 the first candidate for university president, Dr. Lori Werth spoke about the tumultuous future higher education faces. Werth laid out her visions to help UF weather the storm in her presentation, “The University of Findlay: Navigating Challenges and Opportunities in the Next Decade.”
Born in Romania, Werth immigrated to the U.S. with her family when she was a young child.
“I still think about the day that we came and I started school,” Werth said at the forum. “I remember watching my teacher moving her mouth and not understanding a word that she was saying.”
Her family was helped by another family at the Church of God they attended who taught them English and how to adjust to life in the United States. After graduating from high school, Werth attended the College of Idaho, a private liberal arts college, where she studied pre-med and met her husband, Eric. The Werths now have three young adult daughters, Erica, Emily, and Ellie, and an Australian Shepherd named Pepper.
Werth worked in enrollment management as the interim dean of admissions at the College of Idaho and as the vice president for enrollment management and marketing at the College of Saint Mary. Recently, she worked as the provost and later executive vice president and chief strategy officer of the University of Pikeville. At Pikeville, Werth secured $25 million in funding to found the College of Dental Medicine at the University of Pikeville. Werth said experiences like starting the dental school taught her how to expand and innovate, and if she becomes UF president, she will bring this strategic growth to UF.
Werth said that she was drawn to UF due to its ecumenical approach to its religious background, recent fundraising success, and its partnerships with other schools for programs like its 3+3 law program and its 2+2 engineering program. She also talked about her love of the liberal arts and how UF has embraced them.
“I’m a product of the liberal arts, my husband is, my daughters are, and so I never thought in my wildest dreams that as a biology and chemistry major, I would end up here on this stage this morning,” Werth said.
Along with these strengths, Werth presented four potential dangers for UF. The first danger she discussed was the demographic cliff. The “demographic cliff” refers to there being fewer college-aged young adults in the U.S., meaning that there are fewer people going to colleges. Werth addressed this by introducing new, high-demand programs such as hydroponic agriculture, and innovating with NCAA programs like stunt cheer or bowling teams to attract more students.
The second danger is the unaffordability of college and the lack of perceived value of a college education.
“Everyone wants higher education, though nobody wants to invest in it,” Werth said.
She previously spent a week in Washington, D.C. lobbying against student loan caps to make it easier for students to be able to get money to pay for college. As president, she would advocate for innovation in UF programs by considering 90 credit bachelor’s degrees, different models of instruction, and different academic calendars.
The third danger played into the previous two, being that there are more than 10 colleges and universities within a 50-mile radius of UF. Werth suggested analyzing which schools are competitors for UF and which ones aren’t. She suggested the school compete with competitors, and form partnerships with schools that aren’t.
The final danger that Werth proposed was the constantly shifting landscape of technology and talent.
“It’s about understanding where we need to pivot, especially our undergraduate students, and helping them prepare for careers that are not even here today and technology that is not even here,” Werth said.
Werth said she wants UF to embrace new technologies like AI and hydroponics and place an emphasis in all programs on team building, leadership, and entrepreneurship.
“I will need to be able to work with other people, and I’ll have to be able to build a team and pivot and continue learning to fit the needs of the future,” Werth said.
