5 minute read
5 Minutes with the President
Changes for the Better
A brief conversation on recent events with MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee
Artificial intelligence (AI) has vastly enhanced student access to data and information. While there is some wariness and skepticism, AI will hopefully— ultimately—be used ethically to change how fast we as a society can learn and grow as scholars. What is your perspective on AI in a university setting and its potential to achieve good when carefully administrated?
I recently announced a new professional development initiative on artificial intelligence. An interdisciplinary team of faculty and staff has been assembled to lead workshops and discussions exploring the impact of new AI-based tools on teaching, research, and campus operations.
Technology is reshaping the way we learn, communicate, and interact. MTSU must embrace this transformation by integrating cutting-edge tools and methodologies into its teaching practices. We must not just adopt technology for the sake of it, but leverage it to enhance the learning experience, cultivate critical thinking, and equip students with digital literacy skills essential for their future careers.
By engaging with these issues now, we position our institution to harness the power of AI responsibly and effectively.
Such forward thinking is part of your overall educational vision for the future at MTSU. What steps are you taking now to enable the University to reach its highest academic potential?
Last year, I approved an integrated strategic planning process that will encompass efforts that were previously spread across three existing plans— the Academic Master Plan, the Quest for Student Success, and the Strategic Plan.
The 2025–2035 Strategic Plan will be organized around four pillars: academic quality, student success, engagement, and innovation. Strategies for each of these pillars will be developed by subcommittees that include broad representation from faculty, staff, students, and alumni and community leaders. The process began in earnest last fall in the University Planning Committee. Its Mission Review subcommittee will articulate statements of purpose, values, and vision. A revised mission statement is targeted for approval by the Board of Trustees at its April meeting.
Concurrently, the Strategic Planning Committee will begin gathering information and ideas through a series of listening sessions with internal and external stakeholders this spring. A draft of the Strategic Plan will be developed this summer, and the campus community will have additional opportunities to provide feedback throughout the fall of 2024.
The goal is to finalize the Strategic Plan by early 2025. I hope all faculty, staff, and students will be engaged in the process of mission review and Strategic Plan development. These articulated goals and strategies will build on MTSU’s strengths and achievements and advance MTSU’s stature as a major R2 comprehensive public university.
MTSU’s new general education curriculum, the True Blue Core (TBC), is on schedule to launch in fall 2024. During the 2022–23 fiscal year, the University General Education Committee approved more than 80 courses for the new Core. Talk about that process and what outcomes you hope to see.
Throughout the past year, faculty from across the University have participated in preparing course proposals—revising current or legacy courses and developing new courses for the Core. For instance, last summer, the TBC team hosted a multiday professional development workshop on “Writing Across the Core,” facilitated by MTSU English faculty, focused on how to use the TBC written communication outcome in Core teaching.
Last fall, a new academic year offered the promise of excitement as faculty created additional new courses, designed blueprints—which are collections of thematically related courses students take to navigate their requirements—and developed opportunities for study abroad. Our colleagues in Student Affairs, Enrollment Services, and Academic Advising have prepared for this spring, when the first Core students register, with changes to the catalog, Banner, and DegreeWorks.
Finally, TBC Director Susan Myers-Shirk and TBC Implementation Coordinator Christina Cobb have been developing plans for the Center for the True Blue Core. This center will take the lead in marketing the program and recruiting new students, implementing assessment as reflective practice to ensure the quality of both the program and the Core classroom experience, communicating to incoming and current students the value of a Core education at MTSU, and helping them to see the ways in which the Core connects to and supports them in their majors, their careers, and their personal growth and well-being.
MTSU can look back at 2023 with pride as evidenced by top rankings from several national organizations for institutional excellence. Tell us about those.
The Princeton Review—one of the nation’s leading education services companies—included MTSU in its 32nd annual Best Colleges rankings for 2024, the fifth consecutive year that the institution has been recognized.
The rankings come from student reports of their experiences at the schools. In other words, our customers elevated us to this high rank—not institutional data collectors and college administrator peer reviews.
Meanwhile, U.S. News and World Report ranked MTSU at No. 84 in the nation for Social Mobility for 2024. I’m especially proud of this ranking because it measures how successful colleges are at advancing social mobility by enrolling and graduating large proportions of disadvantaged students awarded with Pell Grants.
The University also was included on U.S. News and World Report lists for Top Public Schools, National Universities, Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs, Computer Science, Nursing, and Psychology.
Additionally, Newsweek ranked MTSU No. 134 among 200 institutions singled out among America’s Top Online Colleges.
I’m pleased with what others are saying about us. It proves our unrelenting commitment to the individual success of each and every student in our True Blue family.
