September 14, 2007
Bowling Green, Ky. - Western Kentucky University’s continued transformation into a leading American university
with international reach will be guided by a new five-year strategic plan.“Achievement throughout this plan is entirely up to us,” President Gary Ransdell told WKU faculty and staff. “Any bold vision or organizational intent starts with talented people who have the heart, the intellect, the energy and the passion to achieve.”
Dr. Ransdell unveiled the new “Challenging the Spirit” strategic plan and $200 million “A New Century of Spirit” comprehensive campaign Friday morning. In his annual address to faculty and staff, Dr. Ransdell discussed achievements of the past year as well as goals and challenges for the next five years as WKU progresses toward its bold new vision. (The text of Dr. Ransdell’s address is available online at http://www.wku.edu/news/releases07/september/speech.html; the strategic plan is online at www.wku.edu/strategicplan.pdf.)
“Achieving that vision means focusing our WKU intellectual and human capacity on identifying and solving problems,” he said. “It means that we help people grow and succeed. It means that everyone in the WKU family creates and exudes confidence. That is the WKU Spirit. That is how we win together. That is what a leading American university with international reach does, and you are the means to which that gets done.”
Dr. Ransdell also announced that, pending approval by the Board of Regents in November, he intends to remain at WKU until 2022 to see the transformation completed. “I will be 70 then, and I intend to look back on 25 years of transformational outcomes characteristic of those outlined by the Board of Regents prior to its announcement of my appointment on Sept. 12, 1997,” he said.
Dr. Ransdell outlined nine key priorities in the new strategic plan: compensation for faculty and staff; academic quality; the Honors College; study abroad and internationalization; graduate studies; library; physical plant improvement and growth; enrollment growth; and regional campus development.
“The underlining principle in this plan is the inherent philosophy to control our own destiny and nurture entrepreneurialism uncommon in public higher education,” he said.
During the next five years, WKU will continue to strengthen its academic reputation and “we will achieve balance between being open and accessible for the majority of students and becoming the intellectual destination point for the best students,” Dr. Ransdell said.
WKU is making progress toward that goal by opening the Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science in Kentucky and by creating an Honors College.
“In order to achieve our vision, we, in this strategic plan, will dedicate ourselves to becoming the intellectual heartbeat of Kentucky,” Dr. Ransdell said.
“Our Center for Gifted Studies, the Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science in Kentucky and our new Honors College represent three intellectual initiatives which exist on no other campus in Kentucky and which put us in the enviable position of defining the intellectual heartbeat of Kentucky. Through these three programs, we will identify human talent, recruit it, nurture it, stimulate it and send it into the world and, perhaps, to stay home in Kentucky to do good work.”
WKU also will expand its study abroad and internationalization initiatives, Dr. Ransdell said. “Let’s inspire our students to see beyond the bounds of the perspectives with which they have grown up simply by virtue of where they have lived,” he said. “Let’s produce a new generation of college graduates capable of addressing the global challenges it faces now and will continue to face for the rest of their lives.”
In the strategic plan, WKU is committed to improving faculty and staff salaries, to bolstering the graduate studies program and the library budget, to continuing campus improvements and to sustaining enrollment growth.
WKU also is committed to further development of regional campuses in Elizabethtown/Fort Knox, Owensboro and Glasgow. “Our challenge in Owensboro is to reverse a trend of declining baccalaureate and graduate degree holders. In Elizabethtown, it is to respond to a dramatic influx of new white-collar jobs which demand baccalaureate and graduate credentials as part of the base realignment and closing (BRAC) actions at Fort Knox. In Glasgow, it is to relieve pressure from high demand and limited space as that campus grows,” Dr. Ransdell said.
Again this year, Dr. Ransdell asked faculty and staff to answer a 10-question survey to measure campus optimism. The 477 responses to last year’s survey “assured me that we do, indeed, have hard optimism on this campus, that our energy level is high, that we are a place which breathes creativity and innovation, that our ‘can-do’ attitude is strong, that you embrace ambition and hope, and that we are a place of happiness with a deep competitive spirit and a strong sense that we can get the job done,” he said. “That is what we can sell in the private sector to gift prospects, in Frankfort, in Washington, and in the community of higher education. That is what we can use to extend our international reach and to bring the globe to us.
“There will be no room for complacency. There can be nothing slow or apprehensive about us. We will not tolerate mission creep or even mission gallop. We are in full mission sprint to achieve a complete and lasting transformation. We will build on recent success. We will remain a very hot campus with a very high cool factor. We will merge our own abilities and commitment with the support of the private sector, our friends in Frankfort and in Washington to become a leading American university with international reach.”
-More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.For information, contact University Relations at (270) 745-5428.
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"A leading American university with international reach"
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