Welcome back to campus! I spent my holiday break relaxing by watching some football, seeing the new “Star Wars” movie, traveling, and reading “Go Set a Watchman” by Harper Lee. I hope you had the opportunity to catch your breath as well.

I am excited for a new year and a new semester and, despite challenges ahead, I am confident that 2016 will be one of our best years yet at Missouri State University.

Four things I’m looking forward to

• Finishing my fifth year as President and starting my sixth year. I am proud of what we have accomplished, but I am even more excited about what the future holds. I am committed to seeing through what we have started and continuing to work together, striving for excellence on many fronts.

• Awarding between 4,000 and 5,000 degrees during the coming year. When I think about the impact these degrees have on the lives of our graduates, I am reminded of the importance of the work of our University.

• Starting a new academic year this fall with, most likely, more than 25,000 students enrolled on our campuses. Many of these students will be first-generation students, international students, non-traditional students, students whose first language is not English, veterans, disabled students and students from historically underrepresented groups. We must do better to serve all of our students, and strive to make all of them feel equally like Bears.

• Completing work on a new long-range plan and a new campus visioning guide. These documents will give us direction for the future and will focus our priorities in six critical areas:  academic profile, student experience, diversity, globalization, infrastructure, and funding. Let your voices be heard in the preparation of these documents.

Upcoming events

Students will return to class on Jan. 11. Before they return, I want to encourage you to attend our annual staff recognition luncheon on Thursday, Jan. 7 at 11:30 a.m. in Hammons Student Center. We will recognize staff service anniversaries and special awards.  Lunch is free of charge.

On the morning of Jan. 6, Planning, Design and Construction and Staff Senate will host guided tours of the Davis-Harrington Welcome Center, O’Reilly Clinical Health Sciences Center and Pummill Hall for members of the Missouri State staff.

If you have not seen these new and renovated facilities, I encourage you to participate in these tours. A shuttle will be available to take you to each building. You can find more information about the tours on the Staff Senate webpage.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Please join us this weekend as we celebrate all things maroon and white at homecoming. This year’s theme is Bears Breaking Barriers. Use the hashtag #BearsHomecoming for social media posts.

Join the fun during ‘Bears Breaking Barriers’ homecoming

We’ve changed our lineup of homecoming activities for this year. The website contains a complete listing of alumni activities and student activities. Highlights include:

• Yell Like Hell pep rally will be at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 15 in Hammons Student Center.

• Our first annual homecoming concert will be at 8 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 16 in JQH Arena. The headliner for this year’s concert is Earth, Wind & Fire, the seventh top-selling musical group of all time. Don’t miss this amazing show. Tickets are available online.

• Breakfast with Boomer starts at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17 in Juanita K. Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts. Bear Cubs of all ages and their families are invited to eat breakfast, get their photo taken with Boomer, and hear a reading of the new book “Where’s Boomer?” by men’s basketball players Camyn Boone and Tyler McCullough.

• The Homecoming Parade will start at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17 on John Q. Hammons Parkway.

We will wind down our homecoming activities with a tailgate at Bearfest Village at 11 a.m. and by cheering on the Bears to victory when they defend the Missouri State gridiron against the Illinois State Redbirds at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17. Immediately following the football game, the men’s and women’s basketball teams will scrimmage in JQH Arena. There is no cost to attend these scrimmages.

Show respect for all during homecoming, year round

“Bears Breaking Barriers” is this year’s homecoming theme. From the president’s office, my thoughts surrounding Bears Breaking Barriers lead me to the University’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. Having difficult conversations and breaking the barriers of silence and exclusion have been challenges keenly felt across the nation, and on our own campus, over the last year.

We have learned how important it is to respond quickly to harassing and intimidating behaviors, to offer transparency and open dialogues, and to take action to avoid re-occurrence. I can’t say we do this perfectly, but we are striving for continuous improvement by focusing on breaking the barriers via the campus climate study, offering diversity and inclusion training for faculty and staff, presenting events such as the All Black Lives Matter panel, and bringing diverse speakers such as actress Laverne Cox and author Wes Moore to campus to discuss their experiences.

At Missouri State, we value diversity and inclusion and we want everyone on campus to feel welcomed and included as we head into homecoming. The entire campus community is expected to demonstrate cultural competence and ethical leadership throughout our homecoming activities and each day our campus is open. Creating an environment that welcomes all is in the best interest of all. Thank you for joining me in breaking barriers.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

As you know, we are in the process of developing Missouri State’s 2016-21 Long-Range Plan based on the foundation set by last year’s visioning project.

Long-range plan begins with new mission, vision and value statements

The long-range plan is being developed by a 12-person representative Steering Committee chaired by Dr. Gloria Galanes. It will include approximately 25 or 30 strategic priorities grouped into the six areas of the visioning document:

• Academic Profile
• Student Experience
• Diversity
• Globalization
• Infrastructure
• Funding

Once completed, units across campus will develop particular initiatives to put the University on a path toward achieving the strategic priorities. See more details on the process and a timeline for the long-range plan.

Input is invited and encouraged

I want to update you on the status of the long-range planning process and give you an opportunity to provide input.

The first step in our long-range plan process is to develop mission, vision and value statements for the University. We have developed drafts of these statements.

The Steering Committee streamlined the mission statement, focusing on the most important parts of our mission at Missouri State. The draft mission statement reads:

Missouri State University is a comprehensive institution offering undergraduate and graduate programs, including the professional doctorate.  The University educates global citizen scholars committed to public affairs.

The Steering Committee built on the work of last year’s visioning process to develop a vision statement that accurately affirms Missouri State’s vision. The draft vision statement reads:

Missouri State University will be the university of choice for developing successful citizen scholars who excel at ethical leadership, cultural competence and community engagement.

You can also review the draft of the seven value statements.

These draft mission, vision and value statements are not finished, and we want to hear your ideas to make them better. Please take some time to review these drafts and provide feedback.  Please watch for additional opportunities to contribute to the long-range plan development process between now and July 1, 2016, when our new plan will be implemented.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!