Featured photo by MTSU
Story by Aiden O’Neill
To start the new school year, President Sidney A. McPhee presented his annual State of the University Address Thursday morning, and university administration presented faculty awards and recognition.
At the event, Provost Mark Byrnes boasted about the success of MTSU students. Over the past eight years, the university’s graduation rate increased by 10%. Additionally, he welcomed approximately 90 new faculty members to the university. Despite the school’s growth, he emphasized the effort to reaffirm the university’s accreditation and improve MTSU web pages for more efficient recruitment.
He reminded the audience of the core mission of MTSU.
“This is a strange era for higher education in the U.S., and like many other colleges and universities, we’re running against the wind in some respects,” Byrnes said. “But the mission of academic affairs is still the same: which is to serve our students and community the very best we can through teaching, researching creative activity and service.”
McPhee welcomed three new cabinet members: Khalilah Doss as Dean of Students and Vice President of Student Affairs, Laurie Witherow as the Vice Provost of Enrollment Services and Leah Ladley as Chief Audit Executive. McPhee went on to introduce the new Dean of Applied Sciences, Peter Grandjean, who worked in the same position at the University of Mississippi for a total of five years. McPhee also recognized a record high of 40 faculty members for exemplary service.
McPhee pivoted momentarily from recognizing new faculty to recognizing the achievements that the university accomplished as a whole. For the sixth year, MTSU ranked in the Princeton Review’s top 300 universities in the U.S., and he coyly hinted at another prestigious recognition that will be announced soon.
Regardless of any barriers, perseverance and inspiration have pushed both McPhee and other MTSU leaders forward. In reference to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s statement, “To reach a port, we must sail. Sail, not tie the anchor. Sail, not drift,” McPhee urged faculty members to avoid getting stuck in complacency or drifting away from the goal.
“We must sail forward with purpose, harnessing the winds of change and opportunity to propel us toward a brighter future,” McPhee said.
With a clear dedication to Murfreesboro’s future, McPhee announced a tourism and hospitality program accompanied by an MTSU hotel. Creating a chance for hands-on experience in the hospitality industry is just one example of the growth McPhee planned for the student body.
McPhee celebrated the 65 percent of student athletes that earned a three-point-zero GPA or higher within the past year. He then recognized women’s basketball coach Rick Insell for winning the Conference USA championship, track coach Dean Hayes for being selected for the Conference USA Hall of Fame, men’s tennis coach Jim Borendame for five consecutive conference championships and the new head football coach Derek Mason.
“We must continue to set bold goals, develop and implement strategic plans and take decisive actions to achieve them,” McPhee said. “To truly take advantage of these attributes, such as location, student body and resources, we must focus on enhancing our academic programs to ensure that they are relevant, rigorous and responsive to our students’ needs and the workforce demands. This means continuing to invest in faculty development, enhancing faculty and staff salaries, expanding experiential learning opportunities and assessing and improving curriculum.”
MTSU’s True Blue Core Curriculum was built as a foundation for academic, professional and personal success, according to McPhee. This curriculum emphasized critical thinking, problem solving, information literacy, effective communication and interdisciplinary studies.
“Developing and executing a well-thought-out plan can create lasting, positive impacts to Rutherford County and the Middle Tennessee region…” McPhee said. “This ambitious effort will merge our existing plans: the quest for student success, the academic master plan and the 2015-2025 strategic plan into one detailed and single institutional plan to extend through the year of 2035.”
Aiden O’Neill is the Magazine Editor for MTSU Sidelines.
To contact the News Editor and Assistant News Editor, email newseditor@mtsusidelines.com.
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