State of the University address
Yesterday was the State of the University address by President Hatch. It began with Dr. David Coates, who I believe is the president of the University Senate and an esteemed professor of political science, giving some opening remarks about why he is so proud to be ‘toiling in the vineyards of Wake Forest’ (what great imagery! I wish *I* had written that!) with such exceptional colleagues, etc. He captured what I feel about Wake Forest, which is that it’s an honor and a privilege to work here every day with such great people and toward a common goal and mission of learning and educating the whole person that is inherently noble. I don’t know Dr. Coates but I wish I did. Will have to find a way to make an introduction.
Then Dr. Hatch gave his State of the University address. He focused on some broad themes that we as an institution will need to consider and address as we move forward. These are things that have been incorporated into the strategic plan. I tried to take good notes but apologize in advance if I miss any or misstate them. Roughly, they were:
- our role as a ‘collegiate’ university and how we blend the best of the intimacy of a liberal arts college with the vitality of the big research universities in terms of academics
- how to work together more closely with the liberal arts and professional schools
- the very real challenge of needing significantly more resources to allow students to come to WFU without incurring tremendous debt. (NOTE: for all who are reading and have not given to the Annual Funds this year - this is how you can help us!! Make a gift of any size today! http://www.wfu.edu/alumni/giving)
- educating the whole person - and how at Wake Forest we believe you have to nurture both the intellect and the spirit or conscience
- intercollegiate athletics and how we excel at making sure our student athletes compete on the field and in the classroom as well, and that they do so with great integrity. (My own editorial here - bless you, Ron Wellman, for doing things right!!)
- engaging with the larger community - locally and globally. How can we use our students’ and faculty experience to assist with local and global problems and issues? How can we become more diverse and more international?
- he touched on the issue of needing to increase faculty and staff salaries
- new and renovated facilities - he talked about the campus master plan and the work that is being done to identify where we need additional facilities and where to renovate. They are trying to envision where the campus will be in the next 2-10-30 years, which I think would be very exciting to see.
That’s the recap to the best of my recollection. In my humble opinion, it was wonderful to have the opportunity for the campus community to gather and come together and hear what is on the mind of the president.
And since I know how much work goes into making an event like that happen, special kudos to the president’s office and the office of University events for all the legwork. Whenever a special event happens and everything goes well, you can be sure that tons of work went into it in advance to make it all look seamless. So thanks to that group too.