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| An early-morning crowd fills the King Center at the Welcome Back Ceremony. |
One
year into his tenure as President of Metro State, Stephen Jordan this
morning roused the early-morning crowd at the College’s Welcome Back
Breakfast with this exhortation: “With hard work and focused energy,
Metro State’s success will begin with you!”Addressing the assemblage of faculty, staff and trustees, Dr. Jordan
reflected on the accomplishments of the previous year and spoke of the
challenges for the year ahead.
Referring to his charge from the trustees to lead the College toward
becoming the preeminent public urban baccalaureate college in the
nation, Jordan revisited the original three-phase plan of
stabilization, growth and investment, and assessment he had laid out at
the 2005 welcoming ceremony. Jordan cited a remarkable list of
accomplishments for one year: his newly diversified cabinet, the hiring
of 62 new full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty, faculty salary
increases, facility upgrades, improved partnerships with community
colleges, new student-retention programs, work on the strategic plan
and accreditation process, and success with getting Metro State “a seat
at the table” and attaining funding with the legislature.
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| President Jordan delivers his message of success. |
“While
we should be proud of our significant accomplishments,” Jordan said,
“we must remember that work remains.” He promised to continue working
with the legislature and cited potential challenges arising from
proposed federal higher-education reforms: “It’s clear that if we don’t
take charge and build on Metro State’s known assets, we’ll have to
adhere to a one-size-fits-all approach developed at the federal level.”
Jordan described his goal “to achieve a 2010 status as an Hispanic
Serving Institution (HSI), a federal designation that requires 25
percent of the student population to be Hispanic and brings additional
federal resources.” This would entail doubling the current Latino
student population, to 25 percent. “We intend to be the four-year
institution of choice for the fastest growing population in the
seven-county metro area,” he added.
Speaking on the need “to assess what we’re doing and build on our
greatness,” Jordan cited the audit phase of the integrated marketing
and communications initiative he launched last year. Stating that the
audit had concluded that despite its many assets the College has
self-esteem issues, Jordan entreated the audience: “It’s time for a
culture shift.”
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| Provost Rocha discusses his plans for the academic year. |
Jordan
received the biggest applause of the morning after describing the ways
that Metro State is a leader: “The last year, and the 40 years prior,
proves that we are an academic leader. As one of the nation’s largest
baccalaureate colleges, we are a leader... Metro State has arrived and
will continue to rise among the ranks of Colorado higher education
institutions.”
Jordan outlined the new campaign based on the communications audit:
“Where Success Begins with You,” and described his plan to enforce
consistency in logo use, key messages and colors and distribute a
graphic and editorial style guide from the Office of College
Communications.
“I’d like to see ‘Where Success Begins with You’ become the
College’s internal mantra… It begins with every one of us who demands
excellence while giving unremitting support to student success.”
Jordan concluded with an invitation to “be the driver of your own
success. If you have a good idea on how we can further succeed, share
it.”
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| Faculty and staff winners of the Distinguished Service, Teaching Excellence and Golden Key awards. |
Prior
to Jordan’s remarks, Provost Rodolfo Rocha spoke to the crowd. Rocha
outlined his four areas of focus for the coming year: the strategic
plan, student retention, faculty development and faculty recruitment.
Rocha encouraged all faculty and staff to provide input on the
strategic planning process and spoke of the opportunities presented by
civic engagement in the community by both faculty and students. “With
our faculty taking key roles and developing the commitment to sending
students out into the community,” said Rocha, “we can help our students
develop a commitment to social justice and to fulfill the
‘metropolitan’ part of our name and vision.”
The Welcome Back Breakfast also featured the presentation of
Distinguished Service, Faculty Senate Excellence in Teaching, and
Golden Key International Honour Society Awards, as well as
years-of-service awards. For a complete listing of the award winners,
go to
http://www.mscd.edu/%7Ecollcom/artman/publish/breakfast_twv4083806.shtml
In lieu of presenting the year-of-service awardees with a taxable
monetary award, Dr. Jordan pledged to appoint a committee to determine
appropriate recognition for each category of service.
To download Jordan’s complete remarks, go to:
http://www.mscd.edu/~collcom/@metro/tw@metro_vol4/docs/welcome_dr_jordan090606.doc
To download Rocha’s complete remarks go to: http://www.mscd.edu/~collcom/@metro/tw@metro_vol4/docs/welcome_dr_rocha090606.doc
A video broadcast of the Welcome Back Breakfast and Ceremony is available online at: http://www.mscd.edu/news/welcomeback/
