Envision ULM 2008 Speech - November 13, 2008
Ladies and gentlemen, faculty, staff, students and friends, thank you all for joining Deborah and me here tonight as we celebrate all things ULM.
I offer again my sincere gratitude to Century Tel as they join such distinguished individuals as Kitty Degree, the families and foundations of Emy-Lou Bidenharn, Tom and Mayme Scott, and Nelson and Bennie Abell, all recipients of ULM’s Hall of Distinction Award. These men and women define the support for this great institution over its entire eight-decade history - all sustaining its hopes and dreams and mission.
That mission: Truth, knowledge, the life of the mind – whatever one chooses to call it - I see in this crowd those of you who quietly, but diligently, drive our educational mission every day. I see members of our ULM faculty and staff, our alumni, and the array of ULM supporters who have been with us on this long journey; I am humbled and in awe.
Of course, a person - or in this case, a university - walks a fine line when it touts its own success too loudly. Dwight D. Eisenhower once said, “An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows,” so I will make every attempt to keep my remarks brief tonight.
This much I do know: Because of your leadership and loyalty, ULM isn’t just a good university - it is an excellent one. This tradition of excellence weaves its way into the very fabric of our community and binds us together in a profound way.
Our newly opened Clarke M. Williams Student Success Center is just one example of the type of public-private partnership that illustrates what ULM is all about – Excellence in Education.
Mr. Williams valued the tools that made education more accessible, and the new success center does just that. It’s an addition to the campus that renews our pride, not only for its physical enhancement to the ULM environment, but for the intellectual development it promises.
Students know this. They come from all over to enroll in our outstanding programs. Two young women who could’ve enrolled anywhere in the nation chose to enroll at the University of Louisiana Monroe this fall. National Merit Scholars Jenny Ballard and Ashlee Sisson pursue their studies at ULM because they receive the personal attention they deserve in an enriching academic environment, without ever leaving Louisiana.
The programs that attract National Merit scholars to ULM are the same that gain the university national notoriety on a regular basis.
For example:
• The Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index, which measures the scholarly work of more than 7,300 doctoral programs in the country, ranked ULM among the nation’s Top 20 Specialized Research Universities for Business, Education, and Social Sciences earlier this year.
• The National Council on Teacher Quality reviewed 77 elementary education programs in every state except Alaska. The council ranked ULM’s Elementary Education Math Program in the top 10 in the nation.
• Along those same lines, Gov. Bobby Jindal visited ULM in August to announce the College of Education and Human Development as the state's number one provider for the Louisiana Leader Fellows Program – a pilot program that is training well-qualified teachers to become well-qualified administrators in high-poverty and high-need areas of Louisiana.
• In addition, the College acquired a five-year grant totaling more than $5.3 million that will fund the TEACH Delta Region, a project that attracts talented individuals into Louisiana-Mississippi Delta region classrooms.
• Over in the College of Business Administration, Dean Ronald Berry led his faculty in ensuring accreditation of degree programs in business administration and accounting. Only about 10 percent of the universities in the country have both. Additionally, the Aviation Management program received initial accreditation, making it one of only three accredited aviation programs in Louisiana.
• The College of Pharmacy received a full six-year accreditation extension through June 30, 2014, from the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education
• ULM is one of only 13 universities in the U.S. to offer both an accredited Master of Arts and an accredited Ph.D. program in Marriage and Family Therapy.
• The long-term care concentration in the gerontology graduate program within the Department of Gerontology, Sociology and Political Science is the first in the U.S. to be nationally accredited.
• The Howard Hughes Medical Institute selected ULM as one of only 12 colleges and universities to participate in a nationwide genomics research project.
• Greg Smith, Assistant Professor of Construction Management, received the National Teaching Award from the Associated Schools of Construction.
• Assistant Professor Robert Hanser received the Fredric Milton Thrasher Award for outstanding contributions in research, scholarship and service.
• The new Career Connections and Experiential Learning Center is an initiative aimed at helping our graduates fulfill their dreams after graduation
• Finally, ULM ranked in the top 100 schools in the South that offer a range of master’s degree programs, according to a recent U.S. News and World Report.
These faculty and program achievements complement the contributions of a growing and diverse student body that enriches ULM in exciting new ways every year.
Young people such as Matthew Clay, recognized earlier this year as the nation’s best overall weather forecaster.
And graduate student Chris Rice, ULM’s Bat Man, who is featured in the most recent edition of the ULM magazine, which you will receive when you leave tonight. Take time to read about the groundbreaking research that he and his advisor, Dr. Kim Tolson, in Biology are doing.
Our student speech and debate team captured its first individual national championship and its first team national championship; our cheerleaders won another national championship, and our water ski team won their 21st.
And, before they even graduate, many students are participating in some of the most impressive internship opportunities available across the nation and the world. Many pave exciting career paths because of the invaluable professional connections and unique experiences that are established during their internships, as is the case with senior Insurance major Ashley Hester.
Ashley interned with ISG in London over the summer and participated in a consulting project involving the country of Georgia. Ashley joins a flood of ULM students that are gaining valuable work experience all over the world through our new Office of Internships.
As notable as all of the aforementioned achievements are, many non-traditional students are choosing ULM for a much simpler, but nonetheless, valid reason – availability.
This year, we’ve seen explosive growth in ULM’s Gateway to Online Degrees program – which offers bachelor and master’s degrees in a variety of disciplines. And the new eTeach program offers online flexibility and convenience for educators who want to bring additional certification or an advanced degree to the classroom.
ULM students are not the only benefactors of online offerings. Our community prospers from the skilled and educated workforce that these programs are capable of producing – these graduates provide the building blocks of a thriving community.
Speaking of a thriving communities - you might be pleased to know that your university is in excellent financial shape, as determined by a recent state review of university operations. The review conducted by the Legislative Auditor's Office found ULM to be in strict accordance with current accounting standards with no adverse findings, an unparalleled accomplishment.
The diligence of Vice President for Business Affairs Dave Nicklas and his team made this clean audit possible. They put forth a lot of effort, ensuring a successful audit review, and I want to thank them publicly.
So yes, we cleaned up the campus as promised almost seven years ago now; physically, fiscally, intellectually, and psychologically. The accomplishments of a dedicated faculty and staff do transcend even the most far-fetched dreams we had for this institution back then.
Our job has but started, however, for our search for excellence is never ending.
ULM is prospering through your unfailing support, and its impact is felt far beyond the confines of the campus itself. The university helps keep Northeast Louisiana’s financial engine fueled. We are one of the largest employers in the region and over 50 percent of those who have college degrees in the area earned them at ULM. More often than not, our lives are impacted by ULM graduates on a routine basis – from the clinics we visit to the banks we use.
ULM must never lose its ability to attract and retain excellent faculty through improving academic resources and offering competitive compensation. It must meet the professional and intellectual needs of our students and stakeholders. It must maintain a fiscally cautious budget, even as it sustains campus infrastructure and retains its learning-centered focus.
I ask you to ponder one question tonight: What would the face of northeast Louisiana look like without ULM? Search your heart for the answer. In the process, you will no doubt find it fitting to do whatever you can to build upon the tradition of excellence that began over three-quarters of a century ago in our humble corner of the world.
President Lyndon B. Johnson said, “The noblest search is the search for excellence.”
You can make that search possible.
We just finished an update of ULM’s Strategic Plan and as you leave tonight we will be handing out a summary of that plan. But to reach those goals within the next five years we need your support.
ULM’s Excellence in Action initiative invites you to invest in the achievements to come and ensures that the greatest opportunities for higher education continues to exist right here, in northeastern Louisiana.
• Join with Bruce and Liz Boulware and help us provide opportunities for our students in Business through the Internship Support fund
• Join with many others like George Luffey and Jonathan Davies have done this year in establishing a professorship, maybe in a preferred discipline like Biology or Physics
• Join Kitty Degree and help us equip the Student Resource Center at the new College of Pharmacy Building
• Or help us to support Rural Health Initiatives in the College of Health Sciences and continue the College of Education’s supremacy in preparing the teachers of your children and grandchildren.
We know that there are many interests out there among this crowd. And, as you leave here tonight, we are going to give you some information that will show not only the accomplishments of the past year, but also show the many ways such as those I just mentioned where you can support ULM.
I ask you tonight to help us achieve this vision for the future - write that check, fill out that donation form, talk to us about including ULM in your estate plan. Make ULM part of your plans just like you did tonight.
We need your help to sustain our culture of excellence, to differentiate ULM among its peers and shine our “Jewel on the Bayou” ever more brightly. Excellence – like all things worthwhile – has a cost, but our faculty and students and our state are worth it. Goals are lofty and noble, but they are fruitless without your financial backing and moral support. Every one of us provides a crucial link to ensuring success.
In closing, I want to thank you for joining me tonight to celebrate all that is happening and to applaud all that has already happened at the University of Louisiana at Monroe.
But more than anything, thank you for all that can happen as we put excellence into action with your continued support.