July Newsletter

July 20, 2006

To the DSU Community:

I know that most of us feel that summer is flying by much too quickly and, as we head into the home stretch preparing for the new academic year to start, it certainly feels that way here at Dakota State. We are about 3 weeks away from the first arrival of students for the fall (football and volleyball teams). We continue to host groups on the campus and this past week saw the Chautauqua event (tent in the middle of campus) attract a few hundred individuals to a week long schedule of presentations. Many members of our community and particularly John Nelson, a DSU professor, put in many hours of time to bring this event to Madison. It was a very nice addition to the many events associated with our 125th anniversary.

For approximately two days this week our DSU Planning Committee was away from the campus working on developing a plan to create a new Strategic Plan for the university. (I am attaching a picture of the planning session just so everyone can see how hard we were working) Our current strategic plan is due to end in 2007 and thus we are beginning the process to outline the activities and initiatives that will project us into the next five years. This coming fall semester will see the naming of a strategic planning group and several activities that will allow the entire DSU community the opportunity to impact the next strategic plan. One of the most interesting conversations during our retreat centered on the issue of “What is the ‘NEXT STEP” for DSU?”. I would encourage everyone to think about this provocative question.

As a part of the planning activity we had Dr. Tad Perry, Executive Director for the South Dakota Board of Regents join us for dinner and provide some insight regarding directions of the board that might impact our planning. We also held a small reception for some alumni in the Chamberlain area of South Dakota. As a part of the trip three of us had a wonderful opportunity to visit with a woman (alum from DSU) who continues to support our scholarship program and has committed future resources to provide this support. She is a wonderful example of someone who continues to use her resources to support the students at DSU and recognizes the stewardship role of helping others gain an education that was so precious to her.

In addition to attending the Chautauqua event on Tuesday night and helping to take the tent down, here are a few other activities and events that have been a part of my life over the past few weeks.

There is a group of citizens in Madison that are advocating the development of Hwy 34 (road into Madison from the interstate) into a 4 lane highway and I attended a Department of Transportation hearing here in Madison. I provided some verbal and written support for this project.
We have had some new board of regents staff on campus and last week we hosted the system Vice President for Academic Affairs. We continue discussions about new degree programs that can incorporate our information systems mission in creative ways and the BOR support is crucial.
Our consultant from Noel-Levitz was on campus helping us organize and energize our work in the areas of retention and recruitment. We continue to examine the activities we are using for attracting new students. He indicated that 50-60% of new students locate and apply to DSU by visiting our web site. This electronic side of our recruitment activity continues to demand more and more attention. He was also very complimentary of the many activities that have been put in place to help our DSU students be successful while they are here.
Last week eight of our planning council members spent a couple of hours on two evenings making “Thank you” calls to individuals who had donated to our annual campaign over the past year. These calls are a real treat to make and I thoroughly enjoy the surprise in the voice of so many donors when they realize I am just calling to say thank you and not asking for more money. We continue to look to staff and faculty for help in making these kinds of calls of appreciation.
I am serving as the system president representative to the search committee for a new president at our sister institution, South Dakota State University. It is an interesting process and I am looking forward to meeting and working with a new president at the SDSU campus. While making some reference calls during this process I had one reference indicate that the candidate I was calling about understood that “When there is a rising tide – all boats go up” . I thought this was a wonderful way to look at what is happening with the SD Public University system. I will need to provide several days of attention to this activity in the next couple of months.
Last week I attended a Legislative roundtable in Sioux Falls. Legislators from the area come together for these roundtables to discuss with the Board of Regents and others the issues facing higher education in the state. Discussions centered on competing with other states for the best and brightest students, scholarship programs, teacher education and the increased attention to research and development.
DSU is an institution that is striving to become a more “data driven” institution. This means that we will look at information and data as we make decisions regarding planning, budget, and setting priorities. One of the new systems for incorporating this data into our operations is the use of a “dashboard” system that allows for administrators and others to have data readily available through a web based system. This week I had the first opportunity to get the President’s dashboard set up and I am looking forward to learning more about how I can incorporate this tool in my work.

I continue to hope that this newsletter (I am also posting it to my blog) is a good vehicle for communicating with so many of you that are dedicated to DSU.

Later this morning I am going to meet with our local economic development director and I have the opportunity to meet and greet an alum that is a very significant contributor to our scholarship fund. After those activities I am off for a three day weekend at our lake cabin. Sharon has been spending the month of July at the cabin and so will get to see her and my two sons for a few days. Next weekend is our big DSU Dakota Jam and I hope to see many of you at that fun event.