18 August 2004
(full text available at http://www.spsu.edu/president/StateOfUniv2004.htm)
I see a future with two major characteristics of SPSU:
- we graduate engineers with a social conscience,
o who understand the relationship between science, engineering, technology, and society
o who can make informed and responsible decisions
o who can apply their knowledge to solve real-world problems
- we graduate non-engineers with an understanding of technology
o who can make informed and responsible decisions
o who can apply their knowledge to solve real-world problems
Everyone – everyone - on campus has a role in making this happen.
I see a University whose curriculum includes both engineering technology and selected traditional engineering programs to serve the needs of the State of Georgia.
I see a University with an outstanding faculty who incorporate their own practical experience and disciplinary knowledge into their teaching.
I see a University that provides strong support for faculty teaching, scholarship, and professional development.
I see a University that teaches predominantly in small classroom and laboratory settings, with a few large classes that make the smaller classes possible – as well as supporting reassigned time for faculty to engage in scholarship and professional development.
I see a University that prepares its graduates with both technological and intellectual skills, so that they are prepared for both their first and the last jobs in their professional careers.
I see a University that uses technology to teach technology – and to run all of its daily operations, with strong and dependable campus-wide support from the Information Technology division.
I see a University that maintains strong relationships with partners in business and industry, so that the curriculum provides students with the knowledge they need for the workplace.
I see a University that has a steady pattern of enrollment growth every year, with a steady increase in the SAT scores for entering freshmen as well.
I see a University that has retention and graduation goals for every department; every one of these goals is higher than the average for the University System of Georgia, and these goals are met every year.
I see a University that celebrates its diverse student, faculty, and staff populations, who all contribute to the intellectual, cultural, and social life on campus.
I see a University that has a steady increase in the number of women students – and an annual increase in the representation of women on the full-time faculty as well.
I see a University that has a vibrant campus life, with a broad range of activities morning, noon, and night, evenings and weekends, including community involvement, making the campus so attractive that we have a waiting list for SPSU students to live in on-campus housing.
I see a University that has a strong intramural program and multiple sporting opportunities for intercollegiate competition for both men and women – all of whom are students before they are athletes.
I see a University that is known for its high level of customer service, where every employee is empowered to solve problems…where bureaucracy levels are low and trust is high.
I see a University that has budget-tracking information so that every budget manager can know instantly exactly how much money they have remaining in their budget – and where all the money that has been spent has gone.
I see a University that is supported by a strong Foundation, with an engaged board and a substantial endowment that will buffer the institution against the annual ups and downs of state appropriations.
I see a University that has a strong supply of scholarship funds to support students who cannot otherwise afford to attend, increasing access to our brand of higher education.
I see an annual fund that has 100% participation from faculty and staff, 100% participation from the Foundation Board, and 100% participation in giving from the Alumni Association Board.
I see a database that can account for every one of our 18,453 graduates from this institution – along with an information campaign that ensures every one of them who is still living knows our vision for the future and that 70% of them are inspired to support us as a result, putting us among the top schools in the country for alumni support.
I see a University that has an alumni center where graduates of this school can meet, visit with each other, and continue to be engaged in the life of this campus, no matter what the name of the school was on the day they celebrated their commencement.
I see a University that is working with local schools – elementary through high school -- to improve student preparation in math and science and to increase interest in these fields. Active robotics competitions are one of many ways to do this.
I see a University that collaborates with two-year schools in the University System to enhance transfer opportunities and to serve the students in this region.
I see a University characterized by collaboration through creative interdisciplinary programs, efficient, shared use of space, and effective use of resources, so that we meet the needs of all our academic programs, our two-year college partners, and other academic partners.
I see a campus that is an oasis of natural beauty in the midst of a suburban region, where people come to the campus just to spend time enjoying the trees, flowers, fountains, rocks, paths, courtyards, and quadrangles.
I see a University with a professional police department that knows the names of students, faculty, and staff and which is a model for campus police services throughout the state.
I see new buildings, funded by both the state and private resources so that our projects jump to the top of the Regents’ Capital Outlay Priority List, that provide appropriate space for all our academic and support programs.
I see a University campus on which the only one of the eight original campus buildings, built in the early 1960’s, still standing is the administration building, because that is the lowest priority for replacement in educating students and the other seven are all academic buildings that desperately need to be replaced. First.
I see a University that has expanded its borders from the current campus boundaries, to the east and west and south, and that the additional acreage is fully integrated into a unified campus.
I see a University where all faculty are engaged in scholarship appropriate to their discipline, whether that is the scholarship of discovery, application, synthesis, or pedagogy.
I see a University that is a leader in the State in continuing education and professional development programs.
I see a University that is pre-eminent in on-line education, providing leadership in the transformation of classes that depends on hands-on, experiential, laboratory settings into effective on-line instruction – that reaches literally around the world.
I see a University with a few selected, high-quality, well-planned overseas study programs that offer our students a chance to gain valuable international experiences while keeping them on track toward graduation.
I see a University that offers laboratory experiences that reflect the real-world application of knowledge, including laboratories, factories, studios, construction sites, and the new Galleria Performing Arts Center.
I see a University that sends a consistent message – from all faculty, staff, students, alumni, and supporters – about who we are and what we do…and that is so successful at doing this that “Southern Polytechnic” becomes a household name.
And to return to the results we are known for…I see a University that is known for the quality of its graduates: engineers with a social conscience and non-engineers with an understanding of technology.
Let me start by sharing your responses to my question of what the single most important change that is needed to move the University forward and to fulfill our mission. Again, these divided clearly into a distinct top five:
1. Increase resources
2. Market the University (with a focused message)
3. Increase enrollment
4. Expand the curriculum (60% = engineering)
5. Make the administration more effective
In our nebular model of the University, we are clearly accreting our efforts around these key areas. I see the curriculum as contributing to enrollment, since it is the reason that students come here…and I see #5 as an issue of how we are investing our resources. This list of your top five steps emphasizes the need to increase visibility, enrollment, and resources.
I would argue that visibility is the most important of these…with visibility come enrollment and resources. At a time when we are trying to communicate who we are and what we are doing here at SPSU, we need to take a minute and ask whether we all understand this…before we try to tell the rest of the world. We are the ones responsible for sending a consistent message about who we are.
In the last several years, we’ve spent time focusing on the goals of increasing visibility, enrollment, and resources. We’ve talked about the “hedgehog”: that our central, driving concept is the intersection of students, developing mature minds, and applying technology. We’ve focused on the “five big rocks”: academic programs, enrollment, customer service, sense of place, and private resources.