Priorities to take final shape after January 1

Almost 200 faculty and staff members participated in open meetings on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, talking with President Malcolm Portera about proposed university priorities for the next five years.

Portera called the priorities now being developed "a tool for setting directions" for the university. He said the eight broad priority areas suggested for review and comment in October were based on several months of "listening and brainstorming" during his first year in office.

The priorities and goals will take final form shortly after Jan. 1, Portera said, and the document will incorporate several of the suggestions received over the past few weeks and offered during the two "town meetings" on campus.

"We're going to reach and move ourselves out of the comfort zone," Portera said. "We're going to reach and try to accomplish these things. We're going to raise the bar."

Vice presidents and others will be assigned responsibility for developing strategies to achieve specific goals in the broad priority areas, he said.

Portera said he already has determined that international programs and graduate programs need to be addressed more directly in the statement of priorities. He noted that suggestions have been received advocating more attention to topics including research in the humanities, the core curriculum, increased partnerships with business and industry, scholarship funding, physical infrastructure needs, and staff salaries, among others.

The number of priorities must be kept small to allow the university to focus its efforts, Portera said, although he noted that any number of specific goals that support one or more priorities may be adopted during the next five years.

The proposed priorities are:

Strengthen leadership in undergraduate instruction. Goals include becoming the premier undergraduate program in a five-state area and increasing ACT scores and raising the graduation rate. "We will not lower standards" to achieve a higher graduation rate, Portera said, but will do a better job of advising and retaining students.

Enhance national prominence in research and service. Goals include a ranking among the nation's top 50 public research institutions, membership in the Association of Research Libraries, and Carnegie Research I status.

Promote economic development and service linkages. Goals include helping public education and expanding the Research and Technology Park.

Expand fiscal and human resources to ensure quality. Goals include adding new faculty positions, making faculty and staff salaries more competitive, and making the university more inclusive.

Achieve high quality residential life. Goals include new apartment-style housing and renovation of existing residence halls.

Increase efficiency and effectiveness of management systems. Goals include reward systems that emphasize merit and accountability, linking unit priorities to the central university mission, and developing a new personnel system for staff.

Improve physical infrastructure. Goals include completing the networking of the campus, improved streets and parking lots, and new construction and major maintenance.

Attain athletic competitiveness in all sports. Goals include enhanced facilities and expanded opportunities for women and minorities. Portera stressed that the university will pursue its goals in athletics while "playing by the rules."

The complete listing of priorities as originally proposed may be viewed at <msuinfo.ur.msstate.edu/priorities/>. The listing also was published in the Oct. 19 edition of MSU Memo.