A YEAR OF DELTA HERITAGE AND MUCH MORE Delta State University • State of the University Address • August 13, 2007 John M. Hilpert, President
Our Mississippi Delta is a place of contrasts. It can be dry as the dustbowl one day and flooded with rainwater the next. You can leave a classical music recital in a formal performance hall, drive less than two miles, and sit by a makeshift stage in a smoke-filled room for blues more soulful than you can hear anywhere else. The river is the source of all that is here, yet you can hardly find a place to sit on its banks and dream as it rolls even farther south. Cotton may have been at the heart of the Delta’s economy for generations, but you won’t find many bolls hiding among the corn stalks this year. A few communities are prospering; many are struggling. The history is rich, though it is replete with the troubles caused by poverty.
Rich and poor has been a contrast of this region since the first land was cleared. Human beings warring with the environment and enjoying its blessings has been another. Politics, social relationships, education, religion, ethnicity, and culture – pick any of those subjects, and there is enough here for several dozen doctoral dissertations. What a place this is. What a wonderful place it is for all who love it and call it home.
2 This is our year to examine, celebrate, and expand our awareness of Delta heritage. We’ve enjoyed and learned from the Year of Cleveland and the Year of Health and Wellness in the Delta. Now we will focus on and plan programs and other opportunities around the theme, the Year of Delta Heritage. What theme could be more appealing for the students, faculty, and staff of an educational institution located in the heart of the Mississippi Delta? What theme could be more appropriate for a university community that bears the name of this region? What theme could be better targeted for our outreach to the people and communities that we serve?
I’m pleased and grateful to announce that Luther Brown, who directs our Delta Center for Learning and Culture, will serve as coordinator of the Year of Delta Heritage. He is uniquely qualified to shepherd us all through a series of programs, events, and learning opportunities. He furnished the lapel pins that you received when you entered. He keeps a stock in his office.
Most of you know Luther quite well and recognize that his enthusiasm and energy directed at studying and promoting the Delta are boundless. His passion infects us all. Within a day of accepting the challenge to coordinate this year’s theme, he was in my office with several pages of proposed schedules and great ideas for month-by-month sub-themes: music, arts and literature, food, religious heritage, agriculture, and on and on. More information is on the way to you, and I hope you will use this yearlong opportunity to experience the Delta whether you are new or native to the area.
Before we rush headlong into the 2007/08 academic year, however, we’re going to pause and take a brief look back at Academic Year 2006/07 to see what we achieved and to answer the question, “How are we doing?”
3 I could go on for a long time, of course, mentioning the many accomplishments of members of this university community over the past 12 months. As William Blake wrote, “You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.” When I asked Institutional Research for the unit-by-unit “brag facts,” for instance, they sent down more than 40 singlespaced pages, and they were still awaiting several departmental submissions. Forgive me for overlooking most by narrowing the list considerably.
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We satisfied the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools with our assessment effort for learning outcomes and completed the final step for this reaffirmation of our regional accreditation.
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We completed a number of physical plant projects – the Crawford Center, the Baioni Center, the Sanders Sculpture Garden, Kethley Hall, to name a few – and we will have formal openings for a couple of them very shortly.
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The Athletic Training Education Program achieved its first discipline-specific accreditation recognition.
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Our Center for Interdisciplinary Geospatial Information Technologies won one of 130 Special Achievement Awards from the Environmental Systems Research Institute. Incredibly, there were more than 100,000 nominees. The Center also received grants totaling more than $1.4 million.
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4 Susan Allen Ford became editor of Persuasions, the prestigious journal of scholarship published by the Jane Austen Society of North America, and she produced both a hard copy edition and an on-line edition of the journal – each original – in this past year.
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Michelle Roberts accepted the challenge to do not only her job as Executive Assistant to the President, but also to serve as Vice President for University Relations. Thus, she becomes the first female vice president in Delta State’s history.
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Three of our journalism students were first place winners in the competition sponsored by the Mississippi Press Association.
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The American Association for Colleges of Teacher Education requested the use of the report on our Education Leadership program for their national website as an example of excellence. Also, the Stanford Study of School Leadership rated this program among the eight best in the country and published a case study of it.
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The Library and Archives faculty generated more than $50,000 in grants for purchases and exhibits. They created the new museum at the Robert L. Crawford Center entitled, Inning by Inning: A Life in Baseball.
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Jeff Slagell became President-elect of the Mississippi Library Association. As an aside, I was chosen President-elect of the Mississippi Association of Colleges and that gives us the privilege of hosting the annual meeting of the state’s postsecondary community on our campus in October 2008.
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5 Our athletic teams had a remarkably successful year. Football ended the season ranked third in the nation. Eleven of our thirteen intercollegiate sports teams qualified for postseason play. Scott Eyster, our all-everything quarterback, was named the Gulf South Conference Male Athlete of the Year.
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The Second Annual International Business Symposium brought senior business officials from Fortune 500 companies to the campus for the benefit of students and faculty. It is generously funded by alumnus, David Abney, Chief Operating Officer of UPS.
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Larry Bradford and the DSU Steel Band performed in the Toyota Gator Bowl Parade in Jacksonville, Florida.
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Since 2004, the number of courses offering a web component has grown from 150 to 530, a 250 percent increase. The number of faculty using the campus course management system has tripled from 50 to 160. The number of smart carts, smart classrooms, distance education facilities on campus, and computing labs has gone from 27 to 72, an increase of 167 percent.
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Speech and Hearing Sciences has doubled its number of majors (18 to 36) in three years. Nursing has gone from 50 students to over 200 students in that same period.
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The Department of Recreational Facilities and Aquatics hosted not only many local and regional swimming meets, but also the Mississippi Swimming Long Course Championships, the Mississippi State North Half Championships, the Southern Masters 25 Meter Championship, and two conference championships.
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The Small Business Development Center created or assisted investments into the Delta area of more than $1.1 million in new or expanded businesses.
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The Division of Social Sciences continued its exemplary scholarship record with publications and presentations in such venues as the International Symposium of Society and Resource Management, the Rural Sociological Society, the Journal of Ethnobiology, the Annals of the Association of American Geographers, the Community Development Society, and the Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management. They also secured foundation funding of $300,000.
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Alinda Sledge was named a Chair for the National Baccalaureate Program Directors, and 29 seniors in field placement from the Department of Social Work volunteered time that equates to more than $240,000 in professional resources given to community service.
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Myrtis Tabb won the second annual “Leadership Award” from the Women in Higher Education Mississippi Network, and she became the Executive Director of the Mississippi Delta Technology Council. Her work as chair of the Mississippi Delta Women’s Leadership Conference brought Gail Sheehy to the campus.
As you can recognize from these items, there were highlights among the highlights. Of course, the lion’s share of institutional work is represented by the other, unmentioned items that spell out attendance at faculty development opportunities, student performance, the sharpening of majors and programs, and new efficiencies and other accomplishments in the various administrative offices. Virtually all faculty and staff at this institution obviously understand the
7 sentiment expressed by John Kennedy, “Once you say you’re going to settle for second, that’s what happens to you in life.” You are clearly determined that we won’t be second best as an institution.
All of us spent a good bit of time in this past year on planning. The Information Technology Strategic Plan is now in place, as are the research and planning for a new marketing effort. We’re ready for new technology purchases under a specially designed state program, and you will see updated, more sophisticated equipment in many areas of the campus.
We’ve worked hard to assure success for the Delta Health Alliance, our federal partnership that has grown from $3 million four years ago to $25 million in this current year. We at Delta State work closely with the University of Mississippi Medical School, Mississippi State’s Agriculture Division, Mississippi Valley State University, Delta Council, and more than a dozen other associated agencies and organizations. As president of the board, this has been a challenging and rewarding engagement for me, and the good that has come from the 28 different programs is significant in a region beset by health problems. Both our School of Nursing and our College of Education benefit from this partnership and contribute significantly to its success.
In this past year, we’ve also reassessed several administrative areas. More than 20 management positions have either redefined responsibilities or new occupants since last year’s state of the university message. This is a significant series of changes in an organization of our size, but it has happened smoothly with several people who have been here for a number of years taking on new and expanded challenges. The quality of leadership across the university has shown itself time and again.
8 One position that we will work to fill during this first semester is that of Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. It is a key position for the future of Delta State University. We exist, after all, as an academic enterprise, and we must have a leader in this area who can balance effectively issues of quality, development, responsiveness to external realities, and advocacy for faculty concerns. Our search will be broad-based and thorough. Dr. Phyllis Bunn, President of the Faculty Senate, has agreed to chair the search committee, and we will announce this week the names of others who will serve as members of the committee. Our intended schedule calls for the appointment of a new Provost by Thanksgiving. The timing could change, of course, as the realities of the search unfold. The determination to find the right person will not change.
Before we leave the review of last year, I want to say thank you to several groups: the committee that worked on merit pay issues, the task forces that created recommendations on diversity and faculty retention, the groups that undertook various planning exercises and personnel searches, and the committee that helped with the Year of Health and Wellness in the Delta. Thank you also to those who spent untold hours on issues and projects related to accreditation – student engagement, in particular, comes to mind.
All of which brings us to the proclamation I make each year in this address: the state of Delta State University is sound. Our graduation rate is near the top of our national peer group of institutions. Our budgetary bottom line is in balance. Enrollment is strong. State and federal policy makers – including our governing board – have a positive opinion of the institution. We continue to maintain good relationships with the community and the region that we serve. And our peers in the broader higher education community affirm us as worthy of accreditation both discipline-by-discipline and as a university.
9 Thank you for making all of those good things happen. Recently, I signed a second four-year agreement with the state governing board to serve as President. Pat and I feel truly blessed to be here, serving Delta State University with so many committed and capable people.
Now let’s talk more about the days ahead, Academic Year 2007/08. Even though Bertrand Russell said, “There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge,” I hope you will find the information that follows both useful and pleasurable. We’ve got a busy and challenging year with lots of hard work ahead of us, and what could bring more pleasure than that?
All of you who have heard my previous state of the university messages know that each summer I work with the President’s Cabinet and the Academic Council to create what we term the “Strategic Directions” for the coming academic year. It is a list that maps much of our effort in managing the institution for the next twelve months. As such, it usually affects each of you, even though unit-by-unit you create your own emphases and agendas for the year.
For this new academic year there are ten strategic directions on our list. I’ll mention each of them today so that you will know what to expect.
At the top of the list is our continuing work to refine the system for assessing educational outcomes and linking results to program changes. When we had our most recent accreditation review by the Southern Association (SACS), this was the one area among all of those examined that brought recommendations for improvement. As I reported earlier, we’ve developed sufficiently to satisfy SACS now, but we’ve also learned that there is tremendous potential for good in further developing our assessment system. We’re going to keep the pressure on ourselves.
10 Our second strategic direction gives priority to implementing recommendations from the Faculty Retention Task Force, the group led by Dr. Phyllis Bunn that made its report last year. Technology, teaching spaces, faculty recruitment and orientation, communications, travel opportunities, housing, and shared governance – all of these will be on the university’s agenda this year because of the helpful work of the task force members.
Next on the list is a review of each unit’s use of the features of our Banner software with the expectation that we will offer training opportunities and insist that departments realize whatever gains are available in effectiveness and efficiency. The DSU Alumni-Foundation provided a model for all of us in this regard. They have welcomed special training and adopted new techniques that have significantly cut the time they spend on manual operations.
Promoting and celebrating our new theme – the Year of Delta Heritage – is next followed by an item centered on the goals set for Delta State University by Mississippi’s Commissioner of Higher Education, Dr. Tom Meredith. His are quantifiable targets that relate to governing board priorities: 95 percent of our nursing graduates passing the licensure exam on the first try, 21 percent racial/ethnic diversity within our faculty to match the regional average, expansion to 550 in our annual enrollment of community college transfer students, retention of at least 70 percent of freshmen to the sophomore year, and a gain in our graduation rate to 55 percent of those who enter as freshmen. Most of these come due this year or next. As you can tell, some will be more challenging than others. None will be achieved without broad-based efforts across the campus.
Strategic direction number six is to complete a student and faculty housing master plan during this coming year. Though our student residence halls are structurally sound and
11 serviceable, they are dated and lacking in the amenities that today’s students prefer. If we intend to remain competitive in the student marketplace, we must find ways to address this issue. Also, we learned from the Faculty Retention Task Force that housing is perhaps the major issue faced by those new to the community. We have begun to redirect the apartment and housing units that we already own for transition purposes, and we will study as a part of this master plan whether the development of university-owned faculty housing would be useful and desirable.
Strategic direction seven calls for a first phase in the development of an institutional marketing effort. Generous funding from the DSU Alumni-Foundation makes this possible. We have worked for a year with an agency to complete a study of constituent perspectives. Now with the research in hand it is time to develop the brand identity and to create the promotional pieces that will expand the public’s awareness of Delta State University. Student recruitment, an expanded donor base, and better information in the minds of state policy makers are among the goals of this effort.
Three more strategic directions are on this new year’s list.
We will work to implement recommendations of the Diversity Task Force, a group that spent a lot of time on this important issue last year. Soon I will appoint a coordinator and a Diversity Advisory Council. The first task will be a diversity mission statement so that we all understand where this effort will take us. A campus climate assessment will establish a baseline. Our Human Resources Department will arrange opportunities for development and assist with strategies that broaden personnel searches and services.
12 Our ninth strategic direction is to redesign the model that we use for institutional budgeting and to implement the revised process to the extent possible this coming year. Part of our reason for taking this step is to review all corners of the budget recognizing that new dollars are not likely to come quickly or in significant amounts. If we are to meet challenges and use our opportunities, we must identify adequate resources. The other part of opening the process is to provide greater transparency so that faculty and staff across the institution understand where we are and participate in decisions regarding where we go. I want to be very clear: our budget is in balance and well-managed. We’re living within our means. This strategic direction is about strengthening our financial position as we work toward an even more positive future.
Strategic direction number ten is also about finances. The DSU Alumni-Foundation is collaborating with us to plan the university’s next multi-year, multi-million dollar capital campaign. This year you can expect the completion of a feasibility study, a first effort with major donors usually called the “silent phase” of a campaign, and the public announcement of the campaign, including a total of the gifts and pledges to date. The quality of the feasibility study will determine, in large measure, the success or failure of the campaign. The key is offering our giving constituency fundable ideas with demonstrable worth for the further development of the university.
You can help. Your creative thoughts are important. Are there programs or projects that you think might appeal to our donors? Are there foundations, corporations, or individuals with whom you have a connection and who might consider a proposal? Speak up. Make your suggestions known. Now is the time. In the words of the Nike ad: “Just do it.” Or if you prefer Thomas Edison, he said, “Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.” An email or phone call to Keith Fulcher in the foundation office could be the start of something valuable.
13 That concludes the list of strategic directions. Each item relates to one or more of the goals that the university community developed as part of the institutional strategic plan. I want to thank you now for all you will do this year to accomplish these strategic directions and to move us toward the goals of our strategic plan.
I have a treat for you to end this address. We have an event coming in October. “Special” is a word that fits in this case. Our Department of Languages and Literature has arranged a visit by Natasha Trethewey, a Mississippian and poet who teaches at Emory University. She just won the Pulitzer Prize for her new collection entitled, Native Guard. I decided I would whet your appetite by reading the first poem in this collection, Theories of Time and Space. It kicks off our Year of Delta Heritage pretty well.
You can get there from here, though there’s no going home. Everywhere you go will be somewhere you’ve never been. Try this: head south on Mississippi 49, oneby-one mile markers ticking off another minute of your life. Follow this to its natural conclusion – dead end at the coast, the pier at Gulfport where riggings of shrimp boats are loose stitches in a sky threatening rain. Cross over the man-made beach, 26 miles of sand dumped on the mangrove swamp – buried terrain of the past. Bring only what you must carry – tome of memory, its random blank pages. On the dock
14 where you board the boat for Ship Island, someone will take your picture; the photograph – who you were – will be waiting when you return.