Early in the fall I told you about the Nine Major Goals for 2015-16 that the Board of Governors and our senior administrative team developed. Those goals were publicized on the university’s website, and they guided our efforts over the past year.

Accomplishments noted in all goal areas

At the Board of Governors meeting earlier this month, I presented the board with the report on this year’s goals. I would encourage you to take a moment and look through the report.

Review Report on the Nine Major Goals for 2015-16

Highlights include:

• We developed a report on the university’s progress under the 2011-16 long-range plan, completed the strategic visioning project and developed a 2016-2021 long-range plan
• We successfully completed the Higher Learning Commission accreditation process
• We set overall, freshmen class and underrepresented student enrollment records
• We implemented the new Bachelor of General Studies program, resulting in over 40 graduates
• We increased the first time freshman retention rate from 75.22 percent to 78.24 percent
• We submitted over 300 applications resulting in more than $22 million in grants and sponsored research
• We partnered with Mercy to develop the MSU Care Clinic, a low income primary care facility, on campus
• We secured a $1.3 million grant to address poverty in northwest Springfield through Missouri State’s Center for Community Engagement
• We executed a five-year agreement for $1.4 million each year to provide educational services through the International Leadership and Training Center for the Ningxia Province
• We provided a 2 percent cost-of-living pay raise to all fulltime employees and targeted other high-performing and underpaid employee groups for additional compensation through a staff pool and the Full Professor Salary Incentive Program
• We met our 20 percent diversity hiring target
• We obtained a historic level of state appropriations for Missouri State University

We have much to be proud of, but we’re not done. At our administrative planning retreat in early July, the administrative team will begin to develop action plans and priorities for 2016-17, using the 2016-21 long-range plan as the foundation for implementation.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!