the rocket
Friday February 26, 2016 • Volume 99, Issue Number 16 • An Independent, Student-Run Newspaper
www.theonlinerocket.com
New strategic plan aims to further SRU
SRU faculty highlight the importance of implementing eight new university wide goals By Haley Barnes News Editor
REBECCA DIETRICH/THE ROCKET
President Cheryl J. Norton opens the strategic planning meeting on Tuesday during common hour by discussing the purpose of the strategic plan.
Slippery Rock cited for three water quality violations By Chris Gordon Assistant News Editor
Slipper y Rock's municipal authority failed to comply with sampling procedures for two water contaminants, resulting in a string of violations reported to Slippery Rock residents by mailer on Feb. 16. Paul Dickey, the supervisor of Slippery Rock township, said the municipal authority received its first violation when it took two samples rather than the four that were required. The Safe Drinking Wate r Ac t re qu i re d m ore sampling due to an increase in the population the municipality serves, he indicated. "The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) called me and told me we needed to get two more sampling sites," Dickey said. "They never told us we needed to sample from those sites, though." SEE TOWN PAGE A-3
President Cheryl J. Norton and several SRU faculty members presented on Tuesday during common hour a compilation of two years' work called the "strategic plan," which is a plan highlighting SRU's main goals to further and establish the university. Norton said that in late 2014, the strategic planning committee met to discuss the nature of this continual plan. "[The strategic planning committee] looked at the vision statement of the institution and reaffirmed that this is a vision that we still uphold near and dear and that is that Slippery Rock University will indeed excel as a caring community of life-long learners, connecting with the world," Norton said. "While the mission statement also had a lot of relevance, they thought it was best if it might be shortened and more refined to clarify our mission without necessarily changing the original intent of it." The strategic plan is comprised of eight different goals: to increase enrollment while enhancing student quality and diversity, offer a quality, flexible, agile and integrated curriculum and co-curriculum to develop the intellectual, social, physical and leadership capacities of students, to fuel learning with powerful pedagogies and transformational experiences in and out of the classroom, to maintain an unwavering focus on success for all students, to provide a supportive campus experience through quality housing,
dining, recreation, health, safety and administrative services and a caring community, to attract, retain and develop highly qualified and diverse faculty, staff and administrators, increase financial resources, enhance physical facilities, to employ cost-effective technology and use sustainable processes and procedures and to engage alumni and friends in the life of the university. Norton said that the eight goals are appropriate for Slippery Rock University and will help the institution work in a global society. "In the summer of 2015, we started taking a more dramatic approach, if you will, to identify how we were going to revise the plan and implement it," Norton explained. "As a result, team leaders were selected as well as a goal team [steering] committee and together they began to look at the eight goals and define smart goal outcomes." Amanda Yale, associate provost of for enrollment management, spoke on behalf of the first goal to and she said that the overall goal is to increase enrollment while enhancing student quality and diversity. She said working to increase enrollment among all of the different types of students, including undergraduate students, graduate students, online students, nontraditional students and international students is key. "We have increased our high school visits and our college fair visits and secondary markets so we can make even a bigger impact," Yale said.
SEE AVI PAGE A-3
Provost discusses academic, institutional changes with SGA By Chris Gordon Assistant News Editor
New academic programs and renovations were among many institutional changes Slippery Rock University Provost Philip Way discussed with those in attendance at Monday's student government meeting. Three new bachelor degrees, including homeland security, corporate security and engineering, with tracks in natural gas, industry and systems, will soon be coming to SRU, Way said. "As a public institution, part of our responsibility is to listen to the job market and see what skills are needed," he said. "These new programs are a reflection of that process." Additionally, several new graduate programs, including health informatics, music therapy, public health and teaching English to speakers of other languages will soon be offered, Way said. Athletic training will also become a graduate program. These new programs will not have an impact on tuition, he indicated, as the university anticipates an influx of students to these programs that will offset the costs of running them, including hiring new faculty and creating new facilities.
"We see a setback in the first year of these programs, but profits after that," Way said. "The state system won't allow for new programs if they won't be profitable." The University Union is to be transformed into a Student Success Center by Fall of 2018, Way continued, and several organizations within the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership (CSIL) office, including the Office of Multicultural Development, the Women's Center and the Pride Center, will be relocated there. "The idea is to create a one-stop shop for any institutional need a student might have," he said, indicating that the university reserves the right to move department locations to better fulfill its goals. The old union will provide more space for these organizations to function, Way said, creating a more social atmosphere. The university plans for the honors to move into the spaces they currently occupy. Renovations to Miller Auditorium and the East and West Gyms can be expected by 2018, he said, depending on funding SRU receives from the state system.
Programs Unjustly Relocated
Senior Goes From Gridiron to Track
Plan to move multicultural groups from the Student Center is scrutinized. Page B-2
Senior Marcus Carter played football at SRU for two years, now he's dominating in track. Page C-3
SEE SRU PAGE A-2
SRU Alumnus Helps Trans People An SRU graduate helps out trans clients at a LGBT non-profit organization. Page D-1