President's Annual Address to the Faculty and Staff
Dr. Linwood H. Rose
August 15 and 22, 2003

Good morning!

"Begin with the end in mind." That is what Steven Covey tells us. Know where you are going; know what you want to be. A valuable lesson, because as someone else once said, "If you don't know where you are going you are sure to end up there."

Shortly after becoming president five years ago, I asked the question: "How do we want the world to describe us at our Centennial birthday in 2008?" Where did we want to end up?

Many of you weren't with us then. In fact, we believe that 50 percent of the classified staff, and 44 percent of the faculty has been hired since 1998. So let me quickly review how we went about setting our course for the future.

Approximately 70 people comprised the Centennial Commission that undertook the task of defining what we desired to be in 2008. Members consisted of students, staff, faculty, parents, employers of our graduates, government officials, members of the community, and alumni. They were divided into four committees. I urged them to be creative in answering my question. I told them that, "perfecting what and how we do things often serves us well. But I urge you to look beyond what we now know, how we now behave."

The only constraints to the Commission's creativity were a few guidelines that I identified before they began their work. The guidelines, in my view, represented the soul of the University. I suppose you would refer to them as values or beliefs. They offer comfort as we seek to find our way in a rapidly-changing environment. I proposed them as a foundation for their visioning.

But even then, I told them that if, as a result of their discussions, they really believed that a modification of values and beliefs or purpose needed to be made, they should feel free to make such recommendations.

First, I pointed out that students are at the heart of our University. Their total development guides our decisions. They are valued as individuals. They are partners in the learning experience in which we challenge and support them. We devote ourselves to their potential and to their promise.

Second, I noted that the strength of the University is derived from the contributions of its members. E Pluribus Unum - from many, one. A concept that has been popularly transformed at JMU into the term "All Together One."

Finally, I suggested that in the pursuit of excellence we reach beyond our grasp, we push the limits, we exceed beyond expectations.

The product of their efforts was a report that became the focus of a Board of Visitors retreat. Out of the retreat, 29 defining characteristics for the University in 2008 were identified. Some of the characteristics could only be attained if the institution changed in some manner. Other characteristics accurately described the University at the time, and therefore, required only confirming or validating actions.

We also articulated why each characteristic was important to us. For those relatively new to the faculty, the characteristics can be found on the University's web site.

Subsequent to articulating the defining characteristics, members of the university community provided input into the development of a new mission statement for the University. The final statement was drafted by the Faculty Senate and it was adopted by the Board of Visitors. I remain extremely proud of that effort and the statement: We are committed to preparing students to be educated and enlightened citizens, who will lead productive and meaningful lives. I can assure you that it is rare for an institution of higher learning to define its purpose in such a concise fashion.

Some people have observed that it is impractical, if not impossible, to focus on 29 of anything. They have commented that we need to consolidate the list to four or five priority items to which we would all work.

The problem in doing so is that you either end up with very generic statements that tend to lose specific meaning, or you select a few that effectively exclude units and people within the organization from contributing. If you go to the market with instructions to buy bread you might buy wheat or rye, rolls or sliced, hamburger buns, or bagels. Some degree of specificity is important!

To address this dilemma we have assigned primary responsibility for each characteristic to specific divisions of the University. Vice Presidents working with leaders in each division then assign priorities on an annual basis for the development of individual goals and objectives. It all sounds confusing, but it really isn't. Let me share an example.

One of our 29 characteristics is:

• university will strategically select innovative and new academic programs for development and implementation.

Another is:

• The university's campus will be attractive, safe and friendly.

Obviously, both of these characteristics are important to us, but the facilities management staff - while free to offer ideas - is not expected to contribute much, if anything, to our progress on innovative academic programs; and the faculty in the College of Arts and Letters are not expected to contribute to maintaining an attractive, safe and friendly campus - although those student art projects displayed outdoors at the end of the semester should probably count as a contribution to an attractive campus!

A handful of the 29 characteristics have application to all of our University divisions, and consequently each vice president is expected to develop goals and objectives to address them. An example would be:

• The university will be a diverse community whose members share a common JMU experience.

By compiling our unit and divisional accomplishments one can then see that we are able to make real progress toward becoming the University we want to be on the occasion of our 100th birthday.

Why do I bring all of this up now? Because I believe one of my principal duties as president is to ensure that we deliver on our commitments. Five years have passed and we have five to go. Much has been achieved. Actually, it is a remarkable list when one considers the fiscal situation in the Commonwealth during the last five years.

It would be a bit tedious to recite an entire list of accomplishments. The summary list from which I drew the items I will mention was a summary of summaries. But let me share a few of these achievements with you. In doing so, I know I run the risk of disappointing some of you who may not be cited, and for that I beg your indulgence.

Normally, I discuss the academic issues with you and the administrative/service issues with the staff. However, because this is a five-year review of progress, I want to share the full list with you this morning to give you a balanced perspective on your university

First, total employment has increased to 2,044 since 1998. Full-time instructional faculty have increased from 558 to 682 during the same time period. We have actually reduced our student-to-faculty ratio from 18.8:1 to 17.4:1, and credit hour production per faculty member has dropped from 279 hours per FTE faculty member to 254. Not huge swings to be sure, but definitely movement in the right direction.

Our budget has increased from $168 million to $227 million. That is a $59 million increase or 35 percent. The appropriation per student has increased from $6,069 to $7,504. While these appropriations are substantially below where we need to be, and while a higher portion of the budget is being contributed by students or parents than was previously the case, we have made real progress.

We have acquired 66 acres of land including buildings such as the medical arts complex, Hughes pharmacy and the Funkhouser house that provide valuable office space. We have constructed the College Center Conference Facility, the Leeolou Alumni Center, Potomac Hall, CISAT A-2 for Health Sciences, a lighted track and artificial surface playing field, a 520-space parking deck and more than 600 surface parking spaces.

We have renovated Converse, Gifford, Gibbons, Ashby, Wilson and Warren halls. We rebuilt Bluestone Drive and added the Madison Plaza spaces on the historic campus. We have construction underway on CISAT A-3 for Chemistry and Physics, and the Robert and Frances Plecker Athletic Performance Center and we have appropriations for Harrison and Miller Hall renovations and for the construction of a theatre/dance facility, a recital hall, and a library. Clearly, substantial progress has been made in the improvement of our physical assets.

The University's accreditation has been reaffirmed by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges, and all of the disciplines seeking accreditation or reaffirmation have received it.

To the credit of some excellent faculty and resourceful administrative leadership we have added two Ph.D. programs in Auditory and Speech Language Pathology and in Assessment and Measurement. Masters programs in Physician Assistant, Occupational Therapy, Counselor Education, Computer Science-Information Security, Accounting, Integrated Science and Technology and a revised MBA with an information security concentration have enhanced our graduate offerings.

The creation of the College of Graduate and Professional Studies led by Dr. William Walker has positioned us organizationally to better address our desire to establish graduate programs of distinction.

In our undergraduate programs the business faculty have led the nation in the development and implementation of a cross-disciplinary common core curriculum for business majors. The revised General Education program experienced some fits and starts, which is to be expected when one third of a student's curriculum is modified, but again thanks to talented and dedicated faculty and strong leadership the institution has received acclaim for the program and for its assessment process.

The Interdisciplinary Liberal Studies Program for teacher preparation maintains our leadership in preparing some of the best teachers in the country. A B.S. in statistics has also been added to our array of programs. Many revisions to existing programs have been implemented and new concentrations within majors have been developed.

The growth in service-learning attributable to Lee Ward and Rich Harris along with a cadre of faculty convinced of the power of the concept, and the Honors Program led by Joanne Gabbin, as well as the qualitative upgrading of our speaker and performance series are examples of our desire to enhance the intellectual atmosphere of our campus.

"Conversations with Faculty," the Freshman Reading Program, and extra time for freshman advising during Orientation have also assisted in communicating our commitment to fostering an active and engaged learning environment. Special thanks to all of you who assist in helping to make the student transition from high school to college a smoother one by participating in these programs.

Undergraduates at JMU were certainly involved in research activities prior to 1998, but thanks to innovative faculty particularly in the Colleges of Science and Mathematics and Integrated Science and Technology student participation has blossomed. Our undergraduates leave our institution better prepared for graduate school or employment than many of their counterparts from other institutions. Gerald Taylor and Donna Amenta, among others, have been particularly helpful in advancing our efforts and in obtaining funding to support our summer research activities.

We added new special events to the University calendar including James Madison Day, and Martin Luther King Day, and we have certainly strengthened our affinity with our namesake through our formal partnership with Montpelier facilitated by Glenda Rooney and with the creation of the Madison Center, led so ably by Phil Bigler.

Our popularity with students has only grown. Freshman applications increased from 13,150 in 1998 to 16,200 last year. Michael Walsh and his staff do a great job in recruiting applicants, and then they are punished for their success when they must turn around and read and score all of those applications. Coordinating the admissions process with those of you in the disciplines has resulted in a much improved enrollment management process.

If you didn't think that having an attractive campus was important to students, 65 percent of our entering freshman indicated that the appearance and setting of the University was a very important reason to attend JMU. And I guess, based on the information reported by the Princeton Review they like the food, too. Our facilities management and dining staff do a great job.

A University Welcome Center has been created in Sonner Hall to provide a front door to our campus, and new call management telephone system in admissions and financial aid have made us much more responsive to student and parent inquiries.

Thanks to the initiative of Teresa Gonzalez and Michael Walsh, during the past five years we have executed articulation agreements with five community colleges, ensuring acceptance to students who complete our prescribed course of study and perform at an adequate level.

Survey results of our current students demonstrate that we have made real progress in course availability. In 1998, only 33 percent of respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with the availability of courses wanted at the time you can take them. That number increased to 48 percent this year. I know that you department heads made this issue a priority and the survey results tell us that students appreciate your work! Other improvements in satisfaction were reported with 82 percent of students satisfied or very satisfied with out-of-class availability of faculty and 91 percent with the attitude of the faculty towards students. Over 90 percent expressed satisfaction with their overall JMU experience - a phenomenal statistic!

The student success programs in Wilson and Warren halls have been successes themselves in promoting access and ease of use for students. Randy Mitchell and his associates along with people like Linda Combs and Becky Hinkle have worked diligently to enhance student development and personal responsibility for their lives in college.

As one might expect, technology advancements have made it possible to improve access and responsiveness to student and faculty/staff needs. We are fortunate to have staff such as Dale Hulvey and Robin Bryan along with many others in IT who work long hours to provide the best possible services to us all.

Prospective students now complete their applications on-line. Because Christopher Gatesman and other Residence Life staff wanted to improve service to their residents, accepted students access their residence life contract and receive their room and roommate assignment on the Web. Payments for meal plans, parking permits and tuition can all be processed through the Web. Enrolled students register on-line and E-Campus gives our students the ability to check their financial status and academic progress.

To the benefit of faculty and staff as well as our students, we have installed wireless networks in Alumnae, Showker, Wellington, Hoffman, Frye, the ISAT-HHS Spine, the Carrier Library and the College Center. This past year we installed a new Web-based e-mail system for the campus.

Though not without challenges from time-to-time, conversions to new financial, procurement, student accounting, financial aid, library, human relations, alumni and gift processing systems have all been put in place during the past five years. Unlike the old days when one lived with a generation of software for 5-10 years before a major change, systems are now updated continually to provide enhance functionality.

We have established ourselves as a leader among state institutions in accountability for sound management practices and for our work in academic assessment. John Knight and dedicated members of his staff have achieved the Commonwealth's Financial Management Standards since their inception - one of only two colleges in the state to do so!

In General Education, with the lead of superb faculty and guidance from Linda Halpern and Violet Allain as well as Dary Erwin's shop we have developed learning objectives for our program components, we have identified assessment tools, or created our own, to measure student learning relative to those objectives, and we have used the information we have gained to improve both our assessment instruments as well as our course curricula. We have established competency expectations in technology, composition, communication, computational skills, and critical thinking.

Substantial progress is being made, too, in the majors. Demonstrating the knowledge gained, the skills developed, and the value added as a result of a JMU educational experience strengthens our position with prospective students and parents who select us, with employers who hire our graduates and provide private support, and to government officials at the state and federal level who are continually seeking ways to link funding with institutional performance. We share our results with the world. In our Institutional Portfolio available on our Web site, Dr. Doherty and his staff analyze and then post our performance indicators and our assessment results for all to see.

In the past five years we have added program review to our evaluative language. In addition to annual reviews of unit performance we also, on a rotating schedule, now examine both academic and administrative programs from mission and purpose to achievement of objectives and include an external review component to strengthen the quality of the evaluation.

I think that we now do a much better job of planning our future to improve effectiveness and efficiency. I am convinced, for example, that the work done by Steve Knickrehm, Win Hunt and others in assembling our six year capital outlay plan resulted in JMU receiving $100 million dollars in the General Obligation Bond Bill - more money than any other four-year school in the state. The academic space reallocation and migration plan has assisted us in better utilizing our space as new square footage has been added to the inventory.

The technology infrastructure plan has already become the basis of our funding request for the upcoming biennial budget process, and the information technology plan has helped us in developing a life-cycle replacement schedule for our computing equipment and in providing strategic focus for equipment allocations.

We have known that we needed to diversify our revenue sources to the University. We are simply too dependent upon state general funds and tuition and fees. I am pleased to report that substantial progress has been made on this front.

Thanks to talented faculty who have crafted proposals that have resulted in a 73 percent success rate over the last five years, we have moved annual external funding from $5.3 million in 1998 to $21.3 million in 2003. That is a 352 percent increase!

We have established positive track records with the National Science Foundation, the Department of Education, the National Institute of Health, the Department of Defense, and of course the Commonwealth of Virginia. John Noftsinger and Pat Buenemeyer deserve our thanks for their assistance in facilitating the grant submission process.

Even in one of the worst financial environments in recent times for fund-raising. Our private support from gifts has improved in each of the last five years. We received our first million dollar donation from the Leeolous in 1999, and that has been followed by six other million dollar plus gifts since then, including our largest gift ever, $2.5 million from Ed Estes in support of the Center for Theatre and Dance. We set a record for private support last year raising $9.8 million in new gifts and pledges and received $5.8 million in cash for the period. My thanks to Tom Piazze and other members of the development staff for a great year.

We offer involvement in intercollegiate sport to 600 of our students, and they have enjoyed considerable success. In fact, we have won our conference championship or competed in post-season play 40 times in the past five years.

The quality enhancements and individual and unit accomplishments I have mentioned have led to numerous recognitions. We have been identified in U.S. News and World Reports as the number one public comprehensive university in the South for each of the last nine years - in fact, the magazine's publishers will announce today that we are number one again this year - that is ten years in a row!

We have many faculty, staff and coaches who have been recognized regionally and nationally within their disciplines or professions for their accomplishments and contributions to their fields. We are all the beneficiaries of their achievements. Through their efforts the name of the institution has been elevated.

I hope you share my pride in what has been done in the last five years. Of course, remember, for each item I mentioned there are at least ten I did not. But, work remains to be done if we are to deliver on our promise by 2008. I have asked Dr. Warner to chair a task force to examine the degree to which we have achieved progress on each of the defining characteristics - a report card if you will - that will publicly recognize our progress, but also alert us to those areas in which need to focus our efforts in the next five years.

As would be expected, we have progressed further in the attainment of some of the characteristics than in others. Lack of progress should not be construed to mean lack of commitment.

In many instances lack of progress is a result of inadequate funding. An excellent example is staff training and faculty development. Brian Charette, Rick Larson, Karen Santos and Karyn Sproles have championed the enhancement of our training and development efforts. However, they started behind the curve and we need to increase our funding of and participation in these programs by at least ten percent per year for each of the next five years.

Similarly, Ralph Alberico and his staff working collaboratively with other universities and with you have increased the number of electronically accessed journals available to faculty and staff from 257 in 1998 to 3,421 today. The total of all journals has increased from 2,450 to 4,087. To make progress on the journals, our annual book acquisitions frankly suffered, although we have still added 27,000 volumes since 1998. We have augmented the acquisitions budget by $1 million from just a year ago, and we will need to do more.

Enhancing diversity on our campus has been a struggle. In spite of the best of intentions we have only been marginally successful in our efforts to further diversify our faculty, staff and student populations. Women comprised 36 percent of the faculty in 1998. Today they represent 38 percent of the full-time faculty. Faculty of color were 9.1 percent of the total in 1998 and 9.8 percent in 2003. Of 1,033 classified staff, 1,007 are Caucasian. This year we have approximately 100 fewer African-American students than were enrolled in 1998. We must identify improved strategies for modifying our racial and ethnic composition. I visited with many of you last spring and asked that you make this a priority in your planning at the unit level. This must be a grass roots effort. Mandates from the top will not get it done. I ask for your help.

I will appoint a task force shortly that will be charged with the responsibility for developing new strategies that we might employ to help us address our shortcomings relative to our defining characteristic on diversity.

On the resource front, as I mentioned, we have enjoyed great success in meeting our immediate capital outlay building needs, and we are making headway in diversifying our revenue sources, but we must have more operating funds. Fortunately, state revenues held up at year-end and salary increases will be awarded this December as promised. However, we have considerable lost ground to make up in getting our classified and administrative salaries where they should be relative to the market, and in getting faculty salaries back to the 60th percentile of our peer group.

Public higher education certainly benefits the individual participant, but public subsidy is provided because a public good is realized. Our founding fathers understood the necessity of an educated populace to preserve our free society. Jefferson said, "He who hopes to be ignorant and free, hopes for that which never was and never will be." And our own Mr. Madison, writing to L. D. Teackle stated, "The best service that can be rendered to a Country, next to that of giving it liberty, is in diffusing the mental improvement equally essential to the preservation, and the enjoyment of the blessing." To George Thomson, he referred to education as the "only Guardian of true liberty."

These great men, possessors of such great minds, viewed what we do in colleges and universities as a fundamental ingredient of our way of life. Our modern day legislators seem to have misguided priorities. As prudent public servants, one would think that retreat to the core responsibilities of government, as proclaimed by Jefferson and Madison, would be the expected course of action.

I don't argue for a minute that transportation, corrections, health care, environmental protection and other more contemporary roles of government are important in a civilized society, but their degradation does not threaten our democratic way of life. Willful deterioration of the intellectual infrastructure does!

Our community colleges, built on the concept of open admissions, fear turning away prospective enrollees this fall. They are short space and teaching faculty. Almost 70,000 more students are projected to want higher education services in the Commonwealth by the end of the decade. Where will they go? Who will teach them?

Failing a reversal of direction by our legislative leaders, if we are to improve our lot it will be at the expense of students and parents. It is not a path I wish us to take, but we will be left with little choice if we are to be the institution we are destined to be by 2008. I will work more deliberately than ever to obtain more general fund support for our programs, but should we not experience success, I will advocate for market pricing of our product with enhanced financial aid to address access issues.

Because JMU's general fund reductions were not as substantial as those for many other institutions, new revenue generated from student tuition and fees will fund real improvements in our budget this year. While other colleges have reduced workforce and cut operations, we have provided $1 million for 15 new faculty positions, $500,000 for library acquisitions, $300,000 for student financial aid, and $200,000 to supplement the salary increases in December to address compression and retention problems.

I have spoken repeatedly about the significance of 2008. It is important too, because we want to conclude a successful fund raising campaign at that time. The president and the development staff aren't in a campaign - the university is. Everyone must assist in identifying prospects for giving, for helping us to make the case by explaining the need, for cultivating those who may have interest. This will need to be part of everyone's job and that represents a cultural change for us. I know we can do it and I hope you will assist when asked. The result will be faculty chairs and professorships, scholarships for our students, funds for programmatic support, and enhancement of our facilities.

We need to begin planning for our Centennial Celebration this year. We will be forming several committees to develop ideas and carry out plans. Again, if called upon I hope you will be willing to serve the university in this manner.

In conclusion, we should be elated with what has been achieved. There is no question that the national reputation of the institution has been advanced, and much of it is attributable to the collaboration and cooperation that exists amongst academic programs and across divisions.

But we should now set high expectations for ourselves in service to our students, to our public, and to each other. Let's not be bashful about what we might do. As Longfellow said, "If you would hit the mark, you must aim a little above it; every arrow that flies feels the attraction of earth."

I hope those of you who are just joining us see that we get things done at JMU. That is attributable to those sitting around you who truly care about this institution and its students. There are very few people here who regard their work as just a job, that is why it remains an honor for me to serve as your president. I look forward to learning to know those of you who are new to this wonderful University, and we look forward to your contributions.

To those of you who are returning this year - thank you for your past efforts. I know you come back with your energy renewed and I will do my best to keep up! Best wishes to you all as we near the close of one Madison Century and embrace the challenges of the next.