President Mary Ellen Mazey wanted to make sure this one point got across Tuesday in her State of the
University speech: Bowling Green State University is "a premier learning community."
She circled back to that judgment as she reiterated the many successes, institutional, academic and
athletic, the university experienced in the past academic year, and again as she set the direction for
the new year and those beyond promising BGSU "will be even better."
She outlined "four major priorities that the entire BG family must embrace to ensure a bright future
for this great university."
That includes, Mazey said, aligning how it spends its money with the institution’s priorities.
This will entail the creation of "a dashboard of variables that track the success of this academic
strategy."
She promised everyone will understand how that data will be used. "It is all about transparency as
we build this great university."
After her address, she said, that data related to recruitment, retention and graduation and other factors
will be used to make decisions related to "supporting programs," both academic and support
units.
This data would be compared, she said, to data from peer institutions. "Good data, good
decisions."
In her address, Mazey also reiterated that the university will continue to implement the recommendations
from the outside consultant Accenture, which were presented late in 2013.
She also announced a new Trustees Fund to seek proposals that will increase enrollment of nontraditional,
international and online students. The university has been seeking to recruit students from those
populations as the number of high school graduates declines.
Mazey also promised to implement the internship guarantee that states every student will have the
opportunity to have some experiential learning.
She also set a goal for raising private funds. "The creation of the culture of philanthropy is
important because our funding is declined."
These funds would go to create 1,000 new scholarships, renovate and build facilities that would then be
named for the benefactor and endow colleges and professorships.
A new task force will look at how the university can better commercialize and transfer technology.
That fits in with the university’s role in the state’s economy, the president said.
In 2020, 60 percent of jobs in the state will require some post-secondary education, but only 37 percent
of the state’s working-age adults have an associate’s degree or higher. "BGSU must play a major
role in preparing skilled thinkers for the 21st century," Mazey said.
Those 21st century thinkers, though, are really no different than the students who were in school with
him, said Fran Voll, BGSU graduate, former coach and now chairman of the board of trustees, in his
closing remarks. Voll spent time on campus while students moved in at the beginning of the semester.
His contact with students reinforced his belief that they need the same support and help previous
generations of students did. He urged the faculty, administrators and staff to continue to make Bowling
Green "a university that cares."