University of Missouri System

University Communications

Spectrum

Volume 33, Number 3, May 2006

University achievements in line with strategic plan, Floyd reports

The University of Missouri is on a path of moving from good to great, President Elson S. Floyd said in his report to the Board of Curators on May 4 in St. Louis. Floyd focused his comments on the University’s achievements in the context of the strategic plan.

“One of the priorities associated with great universities is to make sure that we have a student body that is robust, an enrollment that is growing, and that we never compromise the quality of what occurs within our classrooms,” Floyd said.

Over the last five years, the University has seen a net increase of approximately 13 percent in its student body. That growth is anticipated to continue in fall 2006, Floyd said.

While enrollment has increased, state appropriations to the University have been reduced, all without “compromising the quality of what we do as an institution,” according to Floyd. “It is a wonderful statement of our leadership and the focus associated with each of our campuses.”

The University also should be the institution of first choice for Missouri’s top students and should lead public universities in the state in student retention and graduation rates, and is on the path of doing so, Floyd reported.

Access and affordability continue to be a focus, he said. The University’s tuition formula also allows students and members of the public to have a clear sense of what fees will be.

“We also will be in a situation in which we can celebrate and applaud the work of the governor and members of the House and Senate, because it will be very clear, based on the appropriated amounts they are considering for our University, what our tuition and fees will be,” Floyd said.

Another strategic plan goal is to become a national leader in the life sciences. “Not only are we in the business of recruiting and hiring the best and brightest faculty to lead us in this regard, we also are making sure that we have the program and research emphasis to support it,” he said.

Floyd also discussed the importance of the successful capital campaigns underway at each campus. “If we are to move from good to great, we have to make sure that we leverage the resources associated with private gifting and philanthropy from our supporters,” he said.

The University’s priority is to be one of the leading public research universities in the nation, Floyd said.

“We have a responsibility to make sure that we are doing all that we possibly can to enhance the investment that Missourians have made in their public research university,” he said. “We are doing that day in and day out.”

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