Envision ULM 2004 Speech - September 10, 2004
As I look around this room tonight, I see the leaders of our region. I see our top professionals, public servants, and our communities' most active volunteers. I also see faculty and staff, and most importantly students from ULM. I see people who call northeast Louisiana home, and take that word seriously. For your home, you give your time, your talents, and your treasure. It's a small slice of eternity - a place where good deeds reverberate through decades and centuries. Right here in this community, we change lives and shape generations. You give your best years pursuing a better future for Louisiana, for us, for your family, and for those we do not know because they have not yet been born.
With my job, some people might say I'm biased, but I think education is a very important part of the effort to build a better Louisiana. As a matter of fact, I think it's essential. We are blessed here in northeast Louisiana that three generations ago, T. O. Brown and local civic leaders had the foresight, the perseverance and the wisdom to unite the region around an educational institution.
Our challenge is to live up to their legacy, even as we celebrate it. And that's why tonight, as we look to the past, we must keep one eye on the future. We have to keep in mind what our predecessors knew in 1931: that success at ULM today means better hospitals, schools, and businesses tomorrow. Even more basic than that, excellence attracts excellence. If we hope to bring in thousands of excellent new jobs and keep our best and brightest from moving off to Texas (no offense, J.P.), we need more than good people and warm communities. We need a university that is constantly moving forward and creating new opportunities. We have that university right here in Monroe. And that university has many loyal friends; people who help propel the university forward through their relentless pursuit of excellence.
We just honored a lady who is an example of the commitment to education and to our home university. And now we will honor another.
For two years, our faculty and staff have worked to improve ULM's retention; our ability to keep students in school once we have recruited them. In our planning we designated the Wigwam, our ala carte cafeteria, as the facility to house a centrally located student success center - a place where every student can go to get help ranging from tutoring to career advice. We are happy to say we are no longer planning the facility; it is becoming a reality. We are pleased to announce tonight that CenturyTel has taken the lead in being the first donor toward the Clarke M. Williams Student Success Center. I ask Mr. Glen Post to join me at the podium.
[Glen Post, CenturyTel CEO, made a presentation and remarks]
On behalf of all the students you will help with this gift, thank you, Glen. The Clarke M. Williams Student Success Center will live up to Mr. Williams' philosophy of helping others and advancing our communities through education.
The creation of the Clarke M. Williams Student Success Center is not an isolated event, but part of a larger effort to "reclaim our campus." Many of you have already heard something about the 67 million dollars in construction we have going on at ULM. We have already demolished some of the old dorms, and begun construction on the new student apartments. In addition, we are looking forward to seeing the implosion of Olin Hall on September 25th. In their places will rise new apartment and suite-style complexes that will function as much more than just a nice place for students to sleep. With the help of experts in the field, we will create a new model for living learning communities at ULM. We are also busy creating new smart classrooms, remodeling the Student Union, and giving the campus a new entrance on DeSiard Street. These physical changes will improve the living and the learning environment for our students. They will also give us a campus that reflects the pride we have for the university. We couldn't continue to recruit first-rate students and renowned scholars with deteriorating buildings; the disconnection would have been as obvious to them as it was to all of you.
ULM is our home, and it needs to reflect the pride and quality associated with the university. ULM has grown into a major state university that has been bringing in over 22 million dollars each year to fund research and service for this region. In just the last two months alone, ULM was awarded over $8 million of external funding through federal and state grants and contracts. ULM has a 302 million annual impact on northeast Louisiana's economy, and that doesn't include the 67 million dollars in construction. ULM produces most of the regions teachers, businessmen, and health care professionals. Most importantly, though, ULM attracts high-achieving students and gives them a great education. Our freshman class exemplifies our efforts. The first-time, full-time freshmen are up 14% over last year, and this year's TOPS eligible freshmen increased by 30% over last year and our full-time beginning freshmen have an average composite ACT of 20.8, the highest ever for ULM.
We have said many times in the last two years that our university puts its students first. What does that mean? It means that in every decision we prioritize student welfare; their future, and the development of their minds. To put a fine point on it, indulging in anything less than excellence would most decidedly not be putting students first.
When we say students first we mean it, and our students recognize our efforts. For the second year in a row the University of Louisiana Monroe had the highest increase in student satisfaction of any school in Louisiana. This year we did not do as well as we did last year; our increase was only five times greater than the State average. Last year the increase was seven times greater than the state average. But that statistic is only one of many measures in the Student Opinion Survey. Being very specific, our students rate ULM higher than the state average on 78% on the 65 different questions on the survey. While I wish that were 100%, two years ago we were higher than the state average on only 13 measures on the survey. Quite a difference.
In pressing to be the premier student-centered institution in the state we must continue to look for solutions to the problems of our student body. Earlier, I spoke of the increases in quality of our student body, improvements for which all of us can be justly proud. But what is our vision for the future?
Personally, I do not want to see ULM grow into a mega-university, where we have too many students whose names we do not know; so many that we cannot create a small-group learning environment, and personally address the individual needs of every student. This university was built with this region's culture in mind, and we want to continue that tradition. We want the best students in this area to come to ULM, to prosper, grow, and graduate.
That vision must include a stable student population. Everyone here is critical to continued success in the recruitment arena. The university has 6 recruiters out there on the road, but we have almost a thousand in here tonight. Those six cannot possibly touch individually the students we need, but you can. In the vain of "every man a leader" we ask every friend, alumnus, employee, and student of ULM to be a recruiter. We ask those who are affected economically by ULM to be recruiters. Members of our recruitment staff are here tonight to distribute materials you might need for the high school students in your life. Stop by the recruitment table on your way out.
Our job is much, much more than just providing instruction to our students. If you want 50 minutes of instruction three times a week, ULM is not the place for you or your child. We educate the whole person. We do that by providing a rich, rigorous academic experience; vibrant, active, and frequent student activities; a clean, attractive, and safe living and learning environment; significant leadership opportunities; a full range of intercollegiate athletic experiences; and frequent and meaningful contact with faculty both in and out of the classroom. We continue to provide these opportunities to our students so that when they become your employees you are satisfied, and the region is a better place to live because we developed well educated, good citizens.
ULM has moved into a new era; one where, instead of being led around by events, we are actively guiding the future. We took a big step toward synergy between the campus and the region with the recently completed strategic plan. The strategic plan was an effort that included many, if not most, faculty members, as well as students and community leaders. It is creative, dynamic, and forward-looking. The work that many of you did on the strategic plan is an example of the ideal relationship between the university and the community.
The community/university interaction is important to all involved, because it allows us to accomplish more together than we could separately. In this instance, to make good things happen and to provide quality educational opportunities to the families of northeast Louisiana. I am reminded of something that Margaret Mead once said. "Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world: Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
The objectives in the strategic plan are embodied in the words I used here tonight. Building a better physical infrastructure for everyone, creating a stronger academic environment, creating partnerships with the community, developing technologically advanced classrooms, creating not just new dorms but a whole new model for living and learning in the residential setting. We will be creating our identity as the premier student centered learning institution in the region. And we will be honest and straightforward in our relationships with our internal and external community, and we will hold ourselves accountable for the implementation in all of our activities.
That Strategic Plan is included in the folders in front of each of you. Please take the time to read the plan and see where you can contribute. We need your help and support. I ask you to be proactive over the next few years. Do not wait for us to call you. Call us; we will all be better for our combined efforts to build a better ULM. Because as ULM goes, so goes the region.
The march of progress is long and sometimes very tough. We could not have made it as far as we have without you, and our future would be dim indeed if we could not count on your support. But Monroe, West Monroe, the entire Northeast region, and ULM have been through too much together and are too intertwined for that to happen. Almost 75 years ago this community gave the university life, and you should be proud of what it has become. This university embodies the best of what we want for our children, and it's our duty to make sure we hand that down to succeeding generations better than it was handed down to us. Over the next two years, we will celebrate the heritage of ULM in ways both large and small: 75 years of educating professionals for our region, state, nation and world; 75 years of advancing the frontiers of human knowledge; 75 years of serving northeast Louisiana.
Come join us as we change lives, shape generations, and yes, even shape the very future of Northeast Louisiana.