In 2008, I moved from New Jersey to Minnesota. Folks in NJ were kind to say that I was irreplaceable, but later the college hired a Columbia University grad as my successor, who was probably a better scholar and teacher. My work was replaceable and replaced after all, but not my friendship with the wonderful people there. Even after sixteen years, I remain connected with many of them.
 
As I prepare to leave Minneapolis College next week, I have the same feeling about my transition. Someone equally or more competent will take my place, and the College will continue to thrive. My work here will soon be replaced, but I wish we'd cherish the friendship and memories we made together.

I won't see you for a while, friends! Until we meet again, you'll be in my fond memories. I wish you great success at work and much joy in life.

Sincerely,
​Ben Weng

Dear Colleagues of STEM,

My last day at Minneapolis College is Friday, 6/28. There are so many memories! I want to share one that's especially meaningful to me.

It was late February 2020. As COVID-19 started to unfold, you asked me what we should do. My response was that we should get ready to teach out the rest of the semester online, and probably for a longer time going forward. I posted this opinion on my blog, and a day later, the College asked me to take the message down because:

1. My personal opinion doesn't represent the College's stance, and
2. All of the faculty who read this blog would start to panic.

I took the blog down immediately, but I disagreed with 2). Not all faculty panicked. The STEM faculty, YOU, did not. That's how special you are and why our team accomplished so much despite COVID, enrollment decline, and many more challenges that sack the rest of the higher education world. We always work with what we have and we innovate to create successful outcomes despite many limitations. I appreciate that about our team.

Some say that the post-COVID world hasn't been kind to higher education, as crises continue to emerge, from student under-preparation to faculty burn-outs to the rise of AI. However, I am confident that you will overcome them and continue to excel. I know it whenever I recall the rally we made that spring. Changes will keep coming at us, many others will choose to bury themselves in denial, grief, anger or self-pity, but you are much better than that.

Thank you for being a great team in the past six years! This team is made for the Super Bowl, no matter who the general manager is. I look forward to hearing about more great work by you and your new leader.

Sincerely,
Ben

Someone asked me about suggestions for the next STEM dean at my college. I don't have any specific suggestion for any particular person, but these things seemed to work for me:

1. Innovate.
   
2. Lead, not govern or manage.
   
3. Boost team morale by celebrating progress and achievements.
   
4. Rally the team during both successful and challenging times.
   
5. Admit mistakes and correct them promptly instead of arguing.
   
6. Be nice to those who are nice to me. Be respectful and fair to those who are not.
   
7. Attribute success to the team. Take responsibility for setbacks.
   
8. Acknowledge other people’s experiences and feelings even if I disagree with their views.
   
9. Take every opportunity to recognize and highlight the success of each team member and department.
   
10. Avoid overwhelming others with excessive information, like this lengthy list.

(This is the first of a series of blog posts for the STEM faculty and staff before my departure from Minneapolis College.)

​Dear colleagues,

In less than two months, I will no longer be your dean. I want to take this opportunity to express my pride in leading a team of student-centered educators. I did not make you into such educators; you have always possessed that quality.

• In the face of a challenging semester when many students lacked the basic math skills for his class, Kirk Boraas (CHEM) told me that he was "thinking about what exactly the students need" so he could help them. (No, he did not suggest that we raise the prerequisites to Calculus 3.)
• Upon discovering that ASTR 1100 and CHEM 1140 were admitting students with lower reading placements, yet still achieving great course success, Nick Taylor (GEOL) and Rekha Ganaganur (CHEM) promptly implemented similar changes in their own courses.
• In response to the shift to online learning during and after the pandemic, Catherine Pham (ITEC) developed an orientation module specifically tailored for ITEC students. (No, she didn't ask them to sign up for a semester-long first-year experience course or a long orientation.)
• Prior to my tenure as dean, ITEC permanently removed the MATH 70 prerequisite for students entering the first computer programming course. This adjustment has opened doors for more students to pursue their passion for programming.
• The Math department created the Minneapolis Math Pathways, which help more students complete their graduation math requirements than anytime in the last 20 years. This achievement is particularly noteworthy considering the decline in the College's overall enrollment compared to previous years.

These are just a few examples of the incredible work being done within our departments. These things will undoubtedly leave a lasting legacy that uniquely defines us.

In higher education, a prevailing belief is often that students are ill-prepared to learn, and the solution typically involves requiring developmental courses as prerequisites. However, over the past six years, our team has defied this trend by innovating our curriculum and pedagogy. We have provided students with greater access without compromising academic success. I want to take this opportunity to applaud each and every one of you for your dedication and hard work. Unlike instructors at many other institutions, you go above and beyond by teaching students who would have otherwise been sent to developmental courses. Your commitment to their success is truly commendable.

As I prepare to depart from the college, I implore you to continue this journey with the same student-growth mindset that has guided us thus far. Let us not allow the rhetoric of student deficiency to infiltrate our team once again. Let us refrain from reverting to a system that requires more prerequisites or uses them as screening tools. When remediation is inevitable, let us ensure it is concise and provided just-in-time. Let us not place the responsibility of readiness solely on students or the preparatory classes we wish to send them, such as developmental courses or extensive orientations, and avoid dealing with students who may struggle to follow our lessons.

Please remember, this is not only a "Ben's thing." It is a thing for Kirk, Catherine, Nick, Rekha, and each and every one of us. It is *OUR* thing.

​Thank you for your unwavering commitment to our students and their success.

[Back to Minneapolis Math Pathways]
​
Question 1. Would I lose enrollment by cutting developmental mathematics?
Answer:

• The enrollment shouldn't be a concern. For sure you will lose some students in the developmental courses, but you will get them in the college-level courses. In the case of Minneapolis College, our math enrollment in Fall 21 remains virtually the same as Fall 19 (aka the last pre-pandemic normal year), defying the statewide and college-wide downward trend during the same period. We also reach historic highs in Fall 21 in both the number (>700) and the percentage (75%) of college-level math enrollment.
• (This is politically risky to say, but...) What's more important, student success or the enrollment?

Question 2. Can you share your curriculum and pathway design with my faculty?
Answer:

• We are happy to show your faculty what we do, but use caution before directly transplanting our pathways to your campus.
• A math reform can be successful and sustainable only when it is faculty-driven. We have had our own share of math reforms that faded for the lack of faculty ownership, like the self-paced ALEKS algebra and the Statway. Our new pathways work well for us because they are faculty-driven and home-grown.

Question 3. My math department gives me many questions and reasons that they can't lower the prerequisites. What do I do?
Answer:

• Although I am a mathematician myself, I trust the work to the faculty. Content area faculty are the experts who should be solving the problems instead of throwing them out for the administrators to solve. You can connect your team to those who have had success (like my team) or send them to workshops and trainings. In any case, offer the support but not the solution. (Do I sound like a thesis advisor?)
• On the other hand, the administrators do have clear expectations and should challenge the department when needed. Your math faculty is a group of highly qualified professionals who are well educated, extremely intelligent and absolutely passionate about teaching.  Trust them and support them, and they will get it done.

​

[Back to Minneapolis Math Pathways]
​
Question 1. ​Your pathways are different from Dana Center's co-requisite model. Why?
Answer: ​

• The co-requisite model works well for those who are willing to reduce developmental math but are not ready to condense it into one semester. In a sense the co-requisite model is a compromise between shortening the pathway and covering a workable amount of developmental math.​
• Minneapolis College doesn't need the co-requisite model because we have successfully consolidated all the developmental math into one semester. This is a rare feat but we are hardly the first to accomplish it: Metro State University has a long-running single-semester developmental math model with no co-requisites.

Question 2. Your Statistics pathway requires one semester of developmental math. Would you make it even shorter by switching to Dana Center's co-requisite model?
Answer:

• The math department considered this but decided against it. I will not speak on their behalf, except that the decision was not capricious.
• As an administrator, I appreciate the simplicity of having a single shared developmental course for College Algebra and Statistics.  After all, the more new courses the harder to staff them, and the more risk of having under-enrolled or cancelled classes.
• (New in Spring 2022). We have completed a revised statistics curriculum that requires no prerequisites and no co-requisites.  The zero-prerequisite Statistics course will be piloted in Spring 2023.

Dear Colleagues,

We made it through 2020!  I wish you a much deserved restful winter break.  Wherever you are, may your winter break be peaceful, and your 2021 be fantastic.

Sincerely,
​Ben

Dear Colleagues,

Happy Thanksgiving. We have almost completed this unusual year, and I am thankful more than ever for so many things you have done for our student and our college.

I am thankful for your hard work in teaching students despite the many limitations. I am thankful for the extra care you give to students who experience insecurities in health, employment, housing and many other aspects of life during this time. I am thankful for your continued effort in making our programs and courses better. Above all, I am thankful for your resilience during this turbulent time of pandemic and social instability. As a team, we did not panic, we made plans based on science and reality, and we responded to situations capably. Our calmness and consistency is a stabilizing force for our students and the entire college community. I am honored to be part of this team.

Thanksgiving is a time for family. My wife and I are first generation immigrants with no other family members nearby except our three children. I am thinking of everyone in the Schools of SciMath and ITEC: You are like my extended family, and I truly appreciate you. We might not see one another all the time, but we care about one another doing well, and we won’t hesitate to to support one another in times of need.

Thanks again for what you do and for who you are. I wish you and your loved ones a fantastic Thanksgiving break.

Sincerely,
Ben

Dear Colleagues,

Since the pandemic began, you have done great work and demonstrated great resilience. I really appreciate it. Above all the things, I am especially grateful for your empathy for the students at a time when they need it more then ever.

Let me share with you a story from my 20's.

In Taiwan, the Army would send troops to help farmers harvest. In 1996, as a military officer, I led a team of 15 soldiers on a harvesting mission to Chu-Shan, one of the poorest towns in the nation. During the mission, an old woman asked us for help. Her rice plants were covered by weeds and the grains were in horrible condition. Her family planted the rice in the spring, but unexpected illnesses took her son, husband and brother-in-law in the same month, leaving her alone with a farm too big to work on. She was ashamed of the terrible crops, and it took her a lot of courage even to come forward to us for help.

My team and I ended up going the extra mile and breaking several protocols for her, including delivering her rice to the wholesaler with a 2½-ton 6×6 truck, which was for military cargo only. Luckily we were not reprimanded when our commander found out, but we wouldn't have cared anyway. Like one of the young soldiers put it, "She could have been my mom. I would never forgive myself if I don't help."

​To this day, I still remember the look in her eyes, a mixture of sorrow, helplessness and shame. It was her reality, but not her choice.

When I became a teacher, I quickly experienced the job's many stressors, like the frustration and disappointment when students don't do well or don't seem to care. But before feeling overly negative or making unfavorable judgments, I always recall my encounter with this unfortunately woman. I'd rather believe that many students are like her: They might have done poorly or don't even seem to care, but it is the result of their reality, not their choice.

Thanks for being there for our students. They can't choose their reality, but they have chosen Minneapolis College and they have chosen to trust you as their teachers. Let's continue to do our best for them.