Penn State will not be joining a trend among research universities to seek out nationally renowned faculty.

Many research universities hire high-profile faculty hoping to improve the schools' reputation. But continued budget cuts and reductions in state allocations have caused Penn State to focus on increasing the caliber of the professors it already has, rather than recruit big name professors from around the country.

It is a shame that budget concerns are preventing Penn State from attracting renowned professors. But in this case, it seems that necessity is indeed the mother of invention. Instead of spending millions of dollars on a few big name professors, Penn State's financial woes have forced the university to concentrate on the overall quality of teaching at Penn State. In the end, this might benefit students more.

A university's national reputation is largely based on research productivity. Hiring high-profile faculty would help Penn State to continue to improve in this area.

But the meaningfulness of a diploma from Penn State is also determined by how prepared and educated its students are when they enter the work force. This depends on professors' teaching skills, perhaps more than their research productivity.

Penn State simply does not have the money right now to hire nationally renowned researchers. But working to improve current faculty members' teaching skills will cost far less. Penn State can use the money it is saving by not hiring big name professors to institute teaching skill programs, such as the one provided by The Schreyer Institute for Innovation in Learning.

Also, the money saved by not hiring a nationally renowned professor can be used to hire several faculty members, thus combating growing class sizes, a concern at Penn State.

Penn State's national reputation is already in good standing. It does not need to spend large amounts of money on high profile professors to boost its prestige.

The university is taking the right step to maintain its reputation through focusing on improving the quality of instruction at Penn State.