The President’s Blog

Mark Milliron was on campus Tuesday, June 30, to help us take stock of where we are and to help us plan a path forward from this point.  The timing of his visit was perfect in that our state funding was cut about $4 million the following day.  What better time to look for new methods in serving our community.

First, Dr. Milliorn helped plan the day in order that we could identify how our FOE dimensions fit into the 6 principles outlined by CCSSE in their research.  Secondly, he listened to us as we described where we are in our planning to achieve a campus community that is healthy for all our incoming students.  Thirdly, he talked with us about trends that are developing in education through the use of technology.  Finally, he helped us plan a way to move forward in our on-going discussions about how to “do more with less” and about how we might do it even more efficiently and effectively.

We plan to bring Dr. Milliron back to help catalyze the college community which includes all faculty and staff.  We also want his help in identifying the key issues we must address and the innovations that may help us address them.  We would also ask Dr. Milliorn to review our capacity to analyze the data and to measure our progress which would help us in preparing for a reaffirmation visit from SACS. Finally, we would count on him to help us develop our leadership teams to prepare us to cope with the changes that lie ahead.

This is a tall order for anyone, but our confidence in Dr. Milliron has grown to the point that we believe that he can provide the expertise to move us forward as a college.  I look forward to further conversations with him and with the college community at large.