DR. SIDNEY A. RIBEAU
FEBRUARY 24, 2005

Good morning, and thank you for joining me this morning. Let me begin by thanking the students in the jazz trio from the College of Musical Arts who performed for us this morning. We are fortunate to have a musical arts college at Bowling Green State University that has earned a reputation as one of the nation’s outstanding collegiate music programs. Congratulations to the faculty, staff and students who have worked so hard to develop this reputation, and my compliments to you as you continue to deliver high quality music performances that delight audiences everywhere – both on- and off-campus; in our community, region, and beyond.

Let me also extend a special welcome to the members of the College of Business Administration’s Alumni Advisory Council who are with us this morning. Would you please stand? Members of the College’s Alumni Advisory Council are here on campus today for a full day of meetings to identify ways they might work together to advance the College’s mission. We are delighted that you are with us today, and we appreciate your efforts on behalf of the College and our university. I understand that members of the Advisory Council have joined us as executives from throughout Ohio and from many other states in the Midwest, as well as from the great state of Texas. Welcome, and thank you for joining us this morning.

I would also like to express a special greeting to our colleagues and students at our BGSU Firelands campus who are joining us this morning by video. This is an exciting time at BGSU Firelands, as you continue to grow and establish yourself as a leading institution and presence in the Huron, Ohio, region. Congratulations to Dean Jim Smith and the faculty, staff, and students at BGSU Firelands for your ongoing efforts to provide quality academic programs for the citizens of our state. Our BGSU Firelands’ colleagues are a spirited team, with a dedication to excellence in all that they do.

I would also like to take a few minutes to congratulate our Admissions Office for the excellent job they did in organizing this year’s Presidents’ Day Open House. This was the university’s tenth annual Presidents’ Day open house – and it continues to be a highly successful event. I also want to thank faculty and staff who worked in academic departments, residence halls, classrooms, and other campus offices for their outreach to the approximately 6,075 campus visitors, which included high school students and their families who attended Presidents’ Day. Let me take a moment to share with you several excerpts from an email that was sent across campus from a faculty member who wanted to share his experience of the day’s events.

The subject line of the email is entitled: “Three Cheers.” And he writes:
“Dear Colleagues: From the moment I set foot on campus this Presidents’ Day, I was impressed with the large crowd of prospective students and their parents trudging around campus in pretty blah weather conditions. Representatives of the Admissions Office were stationed strategically directing traffic to the Union, classrooms, and office buildings like Williams. I suspect most faculty take these efforts for granted but, truth be known, our classes would not be filled without the creative efforts of the Admissions Office.”

The email also acknowledges the efforts undertaken by faculty and staff in his department, commenting that during the “never-ending parade” of high school students passing through the department’s open house, faculty and staff provided their full and devoted attention to each group, offering friendly welcomes and highly knowledgeable advice.

I share with you this email this morning, as I believe it is an excellent example of putting one of the university’s core values into action – and that is our core value of taking “pride in a job well done.” And, so, I am sure all of you will join me in expressing “Three Cheers” to the Admissions Office staff, as well as faculty and staff in academic departments and other offices across our campus for their outreach efforts on Presidents’ Day. This face-to-face interaction with prospective students and their families is a highlight of our admissions and recruitment process at BGSU.

This morning I want to provide you with an update on the progress we have made over the last six months as we have moved ahead with lightning speed on the implementation of the “Organizing for Engagement” initiative that we launched last fall, following my Opening Day convocation address in August.

During my Opening Day convocation address, and over the last six months, I have tried to communicate that the goal of the engagement initiative is to connect the resources of the university with the needs of the external community – both locally, here in Bowling Green and Wood County, and regionally, in Northwest Ohio. In addition, we need to support and promote university-community partnerships at the statewide and national levels, as well as internationally.

On August 28, 2004, last fall, when I formally launched this initiative, I stated that the public’s expectations for higher education have never been greater, and I cited the recommendations of the Governor’s “CHEE” Report (Commission on Higher Education and the Economy) that call upon higher education to work together with government, business, and community leaders to address the economic, work force, and social issues that are confronting our state.

While many other states in our nation are now experiencing economic recovery, after several years of economic recession, this is not the case for Ohio. In Ohio, we have not turned the corner. Job recovery is still low, and tax revenues are still down. The situation in Ohio is different from many other states, as we transform ourselves from a manufacturing to a knowledge-based economy. The economic downturn is still a reality in the state of Ohio, and it is critical that we, at BGSU, as a public institution, do our part to address these public concerns. It is critical that we marshal our resources to serve the public good.

Earlier this month, the Governor released his proposed budget for the next biennium, for fiscal year 2006 and fiscal year 2007. Faced with a $5 billion budget deficit, the Governor’s budget proposal includes a combination of tax reforms, spending reductions, and revenue enhancements. Some of the spending reductions are in the area of Medicaid funding, which now represents approximately 40 percent of the state’s annual budget.

The Governor’s overall budget proposal for higher education for the next two years includes a slight increase of 0.9 percent for the Ohio Board of Regents in fiscal year 2006, and an increase of 2 percent for the Regents in fiscal year 2007. The majority of this funding will be allocated to need-based student financial aid. The Governor’s budget proposal also includes “flat funding” for the state share of instruction (SSI), to be allocated according to various formulae to each of the state’s colleges and universities. What this means is that, on the statewide level, the Governor’s budget proposes flat funding for the state share of instruction (SSI). However, when the individual allocations are made to each college or university, based on enrollment growth and other formula-driven criteria, many of the state’s universities will experience significant budget cuts. Here at Bowling Green State University, for example, the formula that will drive our allocation for the state share of instruction for our main campus will result in our receiving a 5 percent reduction in our budget during the 2005-06 academic year. Our BGSU Firelands campus, on the other hand, will receive a 9.9 percent increase in its state share of instruction allocation, for the 2005-06 academic year.

Our goals in response to the state budget are two-fold. First, we must work with our higher education colleagues and others in the community to influence state policy on funding for higher education in the state of Ohio. The university presidents throughout Ohio have developed a proposal to the Governor and to the Legislature that calls for a compact with the state to provide supplemental funding for new enrollment growth.

This proposed compact would provide higher education with the funds to increase enrollment and access, and would establish a stable budget environment for higher education. It would also allow us to plan for our future with a known and predictable base funding level over the next four-to-ten years, which would in turn also allow us to develop a long-term fee policy for our students. The Higher Education Compact proposal is a critical policy initiative that we are presenting to the Governor, legislators, alumni, and business and community leaders.

If we are going to increase access to higher education in our state, and do our part in addressing the state’s economic, work force, and social needs, then we urgently need to enter into a compact with the state to develop a plan that we work on together as we begin the slow, but deliberate climb to begin the reinvestment process in higher education – even as we work together to undertake tax reform, Medicaid reform, and other initiatives to get the state back on the road to economic recovery. Over the weeks and months ahead, as the Governor’s proposed budget makes its way through the state Legislature, and as his budget is discussed and debated in the House and Senate, we will also make our voices heard, and urge all our elected officials to support the Higher Education Compact, so that we can truly become partners with our elected officials in the economic and social recovery of our state.

As higher education leaders and concerned citizens, we have developed the Higher Education Compact as a proactive and reciprocal agreement that provides our colleges and universities with stable funding, provides students and their families with the ability to plan ahead with regard to tuition and fees, and also includes performance measures on which the state can hold us accountable in a number of areas. These areas include access and enrollment, retention and persistence through to graduation, time to graduate, transfer agreements with community college colleagues, K-12 partnerships in the area of academic preparation, and a number of other performance areas that are critical to the economic recovery, work force preparation and other needs of our state.

All of us in this room are painfully aware that funding for higher education has decreased significantly over the last five years. And during this same period we have seen inflation levels rise at about 15 percent, while enrollments have increased by about 17 percent across the state. In spite of internal cuts, reallocations, productivity and efficiency efforts, and other efforts to control spending and raise revenue, it has become increasingly difficult to provide quality academic programs and services to our students.

As I noted above, over the last five years Ohio’s colleges and universities have increased their student enrollment by 17 percent, and during this period state funding has decreased significantly. What this means is that approximately 50,000 students have been admitted to Ohio’s colleges and universities over the last five years, with no corresponding state support. Think about this: 50,000 unfunded students would be approximately the size of the student body at the Ohio State University. During the last five years, across the state of Ohio, we have been providing academic programs and services – without funding - to the equivalent of the number of students enrolled at OSU!

It is critical that the state enter into the Higher Education Compact with us and provide supplemental funding for enrollment growth in the state of Ohio, beginning with the upcoming biennium, and that we work together – both legislators and higher education leaders – to address the economic and work force preparation needs of our state. The Higher Education Compact would be a significant policy change that would begin to move us in a more positive direction in our state.

The second response we need to make with regard to the state’s economic crisis and budget deficit is that we need to work together with government, business and community leaders, nonprofit organizations, and our K-12 and community college colleagues, to address the economic and social needs of our state. We need to continue to organize for engagement, with the goal of connecting the resources of the university with the needs of our state.

If we are going to enter into a compact with the Governor and Legislature, then we need to do our part, and that means that we need to form partnerships and collaborative relationships with all sectors of society. And the “Organizing for Engagement” initiative that we launched last fall on our campus is designed to address this need. I will provide you with an update on the “Organizing for Engagement” initiative before I conclude my remarks this morning.

But first I would like to comment on additional steps we are taking to enhance and secure our future at Bowling Green State University, and that is through our comprehensive campaign that we will formally launch later this spring.

Many of you are aware that we are in the quiet phase of a multi-year comprehensive campaign to enhance our academic programs, recruit and retain exceptional faculty, and provide scholarship support to future generations of BGSU students. The comprehensive campaign at Bowling Green State University is not only about bricks and mortar, it is also about people and aspirations; it’s about excellence, and achieving our academic goals.

Over the last ten years, the university has been highly successful in securing private support to the university. This is a great tribute to the alumni and friends of Bowling Green State University who believe in our mission and are committed to providing financial support to our people, programs and services. To put our fundraising success in context for you, let me share with you the private giving results at BGSU since 1997. For the three-year window of 1997-1999, for example, we received an average of $5.2 million in private gifts per year. For the years 2000-2002, we received an average of $10.6 million per year, and we project an average of $12.5 million in private giving per year for the 2003-2005 three-year period.

In the area of student scholarships, during the quiet phase of the campaign, we have already raised more than 250 new student scholarships. Scholarship support is a key factor in our students’ success, and private support will enhance both the quality and diversity of our student body here at BGSU.

In order to recruit and retain outstanding faculty, we will also be seeking private funds to support endowed professorships. During the quiet phase of the campaign, we have already raised funds to endow five faculty chairs, in biology, music, mathematics, education, and business.

During the course of the campaign, we will also be seeking additional funds to provide long term funding for new academic initiatives, such as the BG eXperience values initiative and the Dallas-Hamilton Center for Entrepreneurship, two programs that have the potential to make a significant difference in our state and nation.

We will also be adding to our physical plant with two new buildings. This afternoon we will be holding a special ceremony to announce the lead gift for our new Wolfe Center for the Arts that will be named in honor of donors and friends of the university, Fritz and Mary Wolfe. Through the generosity and commitment to the arts of Fritz and Mary Wolfe, we will be able to move forward with our plans to build a new facility that will be a collaborative effort between the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Musical Arts. The images you are looking at on the screen are preliminary conceptual drawings that were prepared to illustrate the use of the space. The new facility will provide a home for our department of Theatre and Film, with three new theatres, a wing for digital art, and an additional wing for choral and opera performances for the College of Musical Arts. The university received $8.7 million in capital funding from the state in 2002, and now with this significant gift from Fritz and Mary Wolfe, we will be able to move forward with the next phase of the design and planning for the new building. We are very grateful to the Wolfes for their generosity, and also to all of the other alumni, friends, and community members who have already stepped forward to participate in our campaign.

We will also be adding to our physical plant with the building of our new Sebo Athletic Center, which we announced last fall. The new Sebo Athletic Center will be built entirely with private funds, and will be named in honor of donors and friends of the university, Bob and Karen Sebo, who donated $4.4 million to fund several initiatives at the university, including funds to expand the Sebo Entrepreneurship Lecture Series, funds to expand a jazz studies scholarship in the College of Musical Arts, and funds to support a jazz performance by the renowned group, the Four Freshman, that will take place on our campus this spring. Approximately $3.5 million of the Sebo’s gift will fund the construction of the new Sebo Student Athletic Center, which will serve as a facility for all sports, and serve both male and female student athletes. The image on the screen is an architectural rendering of the proposed Athletic Center design. We are grateful to Bob and Karen Sebo for their generous gifts to the university, and for their ongoing support and commitment to “all things orange and brown,” including both athletics, and academics.

We will also be moving forward this semester with plans for the new Science Building that will be built on our campus. This year we received $11.3 million in state capital construction funds, and faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences have been engaged in discussions regarding a vision for the new building and its facilities. Now that the first phase of the state’s capital funding for this facility have been released, we will be moving forward with the design phase of the new Science Building.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our faculty, staff and retirees who have been extremely generous with their giving to the university as part of the Family Campaign for BGSU. In 2001, the BGSU Family Campaign received a major award from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), the Circle of Excellence Award, which recognized the BGSU Faculty Campaign as the top employee campaign among universities across the nation. This is a great tribute to the faculty, staff and retirees of Bowling Green State University whose generous gifts provide scholarship support to our students, and additional funding for so many of the universities programs and initiatives. Since winning this national award, the Development Office at BGSU receives numerous calls from other universities across the nation, inquiring about our Family Campaign. Our employees campaign at BGSU now serves as a best practice and exemplary model at the national level. In addition, corporations and foundations that we contact as part of our development efforts, also ask us, regularly, what percentage of our employees give to the institutional campaign, and they are always favorably impressed with our response.

Please note on your calendars that the kick off for the formal launching of the public phase of our campaign will be held on April 30th, at 6 p.m., here in the Ballroom of the Bowen-Thompson Student Union, and there will be additional information in the Monitor over the next few weeks on how members of the campus community can purchase tickets for this special event. I hope that many of you will plan to join us as we launch BGSU’s campaign, entitled: “Building Dreams: Centennial Comprehensive Campaign.” Everyone who participates in any way during this ongoing campaign is creating an important legacy for the future of Bowling Green State University and for generations of faculty, staff, and students to come.

Another area where we need to focus our efforts is in the area of external grants and contracts. During my fall Opening Day Address, I noted that we need to increase the external funding that the university brings in through grants and contracts. In difficult budget times, such as these, it is often the external funding that a university brings in that enables us to develop and maintain our margin of excellence.

Our faculty are to be commended for the research initiatives for which they have secured funding over the last few years, but we need to do much more in this area. External grants and contracts are another significant source of external funding that will allow us to engage in innovative research that serves our state and region – research that is both basic and applied. Basic and applied research are critical to the economic and social well being of Ohio.

This year I have charged the Provost and Vice Provost for Research with the task of developing a proposal that is designed to meet the goal of doubling the amount of external grants and research funding we receive over the next two-to-three years, in the areas of both applied and basic research.

I will be meeting with the Deans and the Provost next during a half-day Deans’ Retreat, and at that time I will learn more about progress that we are making in this area.

And now, let me turn to the Organizing for Engagement initiative on our campus and provide you with an update on what we have accomplished during the last six months, along with action steps that we still plan to implement during the final stretch of the spring 2005 semester.

I will keep my comments brief, and provide only an overview of the highlights of what we have accomplished, since many of you are familiar with our efforts through reading the electronic updates that I have been sending out to faculty and staff through our email list serves. If you haven’t been receiving these regular updates, please log on to the Office of the President web site, and click on “Newsletters” and you will find the email communications that I have sent out to the university community over the last six months. I should also note that we have been working on a separate web site for the engagement initiative, and it should be on line by the end of next month. I have seen the initial design of this new web site, and it looks like it will soon be ready to go.

During the early fall semester, the engagement initiative was launched on our campus with our sending of a team of faculty and administrators to represent BGSU and to participate in a national conference on the “Scholarship of Engagement” at Penn State. Our campus team of nine faculty and administrators joined approximately 400 faculty and administrators from over 60 colleges and universities across the country, from 29 states, who convened at Penn State to discuss how the scholarship of engagement is being implemented on their campuses. Penn State, Michigan State University, the University of Georgia, the Ohio State University, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison are several of the universities across our nation that have adopted the engagement agenda as central to their university missions, and they have been hosting annual conferences since 1995 and providing leadership for in this area. Several other universities in Ohio were also represented at the Penn State conference on the scholarship of engagement, including participants from the University of Toledo, Kent State, and OSU.

Following participation in this national conference, I appointed a Task Force on the Scholarship of Engagement with the charge to develop recommendations on how best to move forward with the integration of the scholarship of engagement across the three faculty roles of teaching, research and service, and how to integrate the scholarship of engagement into the faculty recognition and reward system at BGSU. I want to thank Dr. Deanne Snavely for chairing this committee, and the 15 faculty members and administrators who gave so generously of their time and talents to serve on this committee. The Task Force was given approximately three months to carry out its work, and on January 21st, 2005, I received the Task Force’s final report. A copy of the Task Force’s report is available on line at the Office of the President’s web site. Hard copies of the report are also available in my office.

In response to the Task Force’s report, let me first say how pleased I am that members of the Task Force recommended that BGSU move forward with the implementation of policies and structures that support the scholarship of engagement at our university. In addition, I am pleased that members of the Task Force have identified concrete steps we might take to implement a faculty recognition and reward system that takes seriously the scholarship of engagement as a legitimate form of scholarly activity for faculty to undertake at our university.

In response to the report and its recommendations, I recently announced that I would be taking the following eight action steps immediately in order to implement a number of the Task Force’s recommendations.

1. Appointment of Standards Committee. The first action step I announced was the establishment of a “Standards Committee” whose charge it will be to develop standards for the scholarship of engagement on our campus. As we move forward with the implementation of a faculty recognition and reward system that includes the scholarship of engagement, it is critical that we develop standards for evaluating, documenting and disseminating quality engagement scholarship at our university. Standards for the scholarship of engagement need to be as rigorous as the standards we currently have in place for the scholarship of teaching and for our scholarly activities in the area of basic research. I have asked Dean Don Nieman to chair the Standard Committee, which will convene its first meeting in March. I am now in the process of identifying approximately eight faculty who I would like to serve on this committee. Developing standards for evaluating, measuring, documenting and disseminating engagement scholarship are critical steps we need to take as we move forward with the implementation of a reward system for the scholarship of engagement on our campus.

I have also invited a national expert to visit our campus this semester to meet with the Standards Committee, and to consult with the Deans, Provost, and University Council of Chairs and Directors. Our guest consultant is Dr. Lorilee Sandmann, Associate Vice President for Public Service and Outreach at the University of Georgia. Dr. Sandmann will visit our campus on Thursday, March 24, 2005, and she will hold an academic colloquium with members of the Standards Committee, the Provost, Deans, Chairs and Directors, and members of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee. Dr. Sandmann will also hold an Open Forum for all faculty from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. on the afternoon of March 24 in the Student Union (room to be announced). I encourage all members of the campus community to note this event on their calendars. Dr. Sandmann will lead us in our discussion of the next steps we need to take as we develop standards for the scholarship of engagement on our campus.

2. Charge to the Deans. A second action step I have taken is my charge to the Deans to begin to develop plans on how they will implement the scholarship of engagement in their colleges. I have asked each of the Deans to meet with me and the Provost at a half day Deans’ Retreat on March 2, at which time each of the deans will present their preliminary plans for our review. I have also invited several members of our Board of Trustees to join us at this retreat, so that our Board members are kept current on the progress we are making toward our efforts to recognize and reward the scholarship of engagement at BGSU.

I would also like to announce that during the December 2004 Board of Trustees meeting on our campus, just before the winter break, the Board passed a resolution in support of the “Organizing for Engagement” initiative at our university. A copy of the resolution will be posted on the new Engagement Initiative web site when it goes on line some time over the next few weeks.

Many of you will recall that on August 28, 2004, during my Opening Day remarks, I announced that I will be taking a policy recommendation to the Board of Trustees during their April 2005 meeting, in relation to how we might move ahead with our plans to recognize and reward the scholarship of engagement at BGSU.

3. Appointment of Interim Coordinator of Faculty Professional Development on the Scholarship of Engagement. I am also taking action to appoint an interim coordinator for faculty professional development related to the scholarship of engagement. I have announced that this position will be funded through released time for a faculty member to serve in this capacity, or by adding additional administrative responsibilities to an academic administrator. The Task Force on the Scholarship of Engagement noted strongly in its report that faculty professional development in the area of the scholarship of engagement is critical for faculty across the university, both for faculty who may want to participate in the scholarship of engagement, and for faculty who will be involved in merit, tenure and promotion decisions. The interim coordinator of faculty professional development for the scholarship of engagement will serve as a critical resource for deans, chairs, and faculty as we move forward with our plan to integrate the scholarship of engagement into the faculty recognition and reward system at BGSU.

4. Establishment of Faculty Fellows. I will also be working with the Vice President for University Advancement, Mr. Doug Smith, to identify external funding sources to establish two-to-three Faculty Fellow positions on our campus, in order to provide our faculty with the opportunity to devote focused time and efforts on their scholarly work of engagement.

5. Establish Committee on Service Learning. Another action step that I have recently taken is to establish a university-wide Committee on Service Learning, in response to the Task Force’s recommendation that we identify ways to involve students in the engagement initiative. I am pleased to announce that Dr. Bob Midden has agreed to chair the Service Learning Committee, and he will be working with other faculty and administrators to assess the role that service learning might play in promoting the scholarship of engagement among our students. Research on service learning indicates that students who participate in service learning show significant positive effects on academic performance (including GPA, writing skills and critical thinking), along with growth in areas of personal development such as values identification, self-efficacy, and leadership. I am referring to a national longitudinal study that was undertaken by Dr. Alexander Astin at UCLA who studied the impact of service learning on 22,000 college students across the country. (“How Service Learning Affects Students,” Alexander Astin et al., January 2000). Astin stresses that performing service as part of an academic course adds significantly to the benefits outlined above, particularly when students are encouraged to make connections between the service experience and the academic material.

At the present time, an initial survey on our campus that was conducted last spring (spring 2004) indicates that approximately 59 faculty on our campus are teaching 89 courses with a service learning component.

I will be asking the Service Learning Committee to review our achievements in this area, and to make recommendations on how we might continue to promote and support service learning as an effective pedagogy to enhance academic performance and civic engagement among undergraduate students on our campus.

6. Integrate the Scholarship of Engagement into Academic Program Review. This semester I will also be calling upon the Provost’s Office and Dr. Mark Gromko, the Vie Provost of Academic Programs, to begin to integrate the scholarship of engagement into the university’s academic review process. This is another recommendation of the Task Force on the Scholarship of Engagement and one that we need to implement immediately. I will ask Dr. Gromko to begin to work with department chairs to identify the key issues involved.

7. Organize Opportunities for Consultation with Chairs and Directors. I will also be meeting with the Steering Committee of the University Council of Chairs and Directors next week, to discuss their concerns regarding the integration of the scholarship of engagement into the faculty recognition and reward structure within their departments and units. Although the Chairs and Directors were invited to attend a presentation on the scholarship of engagement last semester with our guest consultant, Dr. Hiram Fitzgerald from Michigan State University, to date there has not been an organized opportunity for the Provost and me to receive feedback from this important academic leadership group. When I meet with the Steering Committee of Chairs and Directors next week, it is my goal to identify steps that we might take to increase opportunities for discussion of the engagement initiative with this core academic group.

8. Document Current Engagement Activities Underway by Faculty and Staff. Finally, an additional action step that I have taken this semester is to ask each Dean, the Provost, and the divisional Vice Presidents to undertake a survey of the engagement activities currently underway by individual faculty and staff in their colleges, schools, centers, institutes, departments and units. I have also asked the Engaged University Council to undertake a survey of administrative and classified staff so that we might begin to document their engagement activities. These surveys are being undertaken so that we might have a more comprehensive overview of the university’s current efforts to connect our resources to the needs of the external community. The results of this initial survey, that were submitted to my office last week, are impressive, and the documents received from each of the colleges and other units and individuals will be summarized and posted on the new Engagement Initiative web site later this semester. I will also be commenting on the results of this survey in my on-line newsletters to faculty and staff over the next few weeks. It is important that we share this information broadly, both on-and off-campus, as we begin to assess the level and breadth of engagement activities on our campus.

Finally, I want to also express my appreciation to the members of the Engaged University Council, who are now meeting on a weekly basis with the charge of working together across constituent groups to continue to implement the “Organizing for Engagement” initiative on our campus. Members of the Engaged University Council include representatives from each of the university’s constituent groups, including representatives from Faculty Senate, Administrative Staff Council, Classified Staff Council, Undergraduate Student Government, Graduate Student Senate, as well as faculty, staff and administrators from several colleges and divisions of the campus.

In closing, let me say that we have made enormous progress in our implementation of the “Organizing for Engagement” initiative during the last six months on our campus. Over the last six months, we have also attracted the attention of other universities in the Midwest and throughout the country who are working on the scholarship of engagement – or campuses that are beginning to develop engagement agendas for their own universities. We are being contacted by colleagues across the nation who would like us to share with us our experience and our engagement initiative design. We have also been invited to participate in a “by invitation only” conference on the scholarship of engagement at Michigan State University that will be held in May of this year. Our university has also been invited to join with a national consortium of universities that are committed to engagement on their university campuses, led by the University of Michigan. We are both learning from many of our colleagues across the nation, and leading others, with regard to the engagement initiative.

So as we approach the final stretch of the spring 2005 semester, I urge everyone to stay the course, and let us keep our eyes on the big picture, which ultimately is our mission and vision for BGSU.

Thank you.