September 13, 2016

President Wilson stresses importance of WSU's mission during annual address

During the annual University Address on Sept. 12, Wayne State President M. Roy Wilson told a capacity crowd in the Student Center ballroom that Wayne

During the annual University Address on Sept. 12, Wayne State President M. Roy Wilson told a capacity crowd in the Student Center ballroom that Wayne State's mission "drives everything we do."

He then asked, "Can you clearly recite it?"

Wayne State's mission: We will create and advance knowledge, prepare a diverse student body to thrive, and positively impact local and global communities.

Currently, the university is in the midst of its accreditation process with the Higher Learning Commission (HLC). "The HLC expects everyone who is a part of this university to know our mission," Wilson said. "That's everyone: faculty, staff, students, administration; even our Board of Governors. And they're going to ask, randomly, on our campus and in our community."

Wilson added that the HLC visit is critical, however, there is a more important reason for knowing and understanding the mission. "Because it is what we do. Because it's more than words. It's why we exist as an institution. And, it's relevant to every person on campus. It's the glue that bonds us together."

The president also highlighted examples within the three areas of the mission statement that reflect the university's progress, including:

Create and advance knowledge

Renewed focus on biomedical training - As one of only two institutions in the country with both the BEST (or Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training) grant and the BUILD (Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity) grant, Wayne State is well positioned to expand in this area and become a center of excellence for biomedical research training.
WSU has created a new Office of Scientific and Biomedical Training, Workforce Development and Diversity that will lead efforts to establish and administer programs to enhance research training and career development activities for undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral students through early-stage faculty.

Prepare a diverse student body to thrive

Key goal in the strategic plan is to increase overall enrollment to 30,000 students by 2021. For the first time in seven years, overall enrollment is expected to increase about 0.8 percent.
This year 7,417 new students joined our campus - the highest it has been in recent years and a 3.5 percent increase over last year's large incoming class.
New master's students have also increased - by 43 percent over the past three years.
Enrollment has improved, not just in quantity, but in quality as well. For this year's incoming class, the average GPA was 3.42 and the average ACT 23.9.
Six-year graduation rate will exceed 38 percent this year, up at least 12 percentage points over the past five years. This rate of improvement puts Wayne State in the top 20 public institutions nationally for its rate of improvement over the past 4 years.
WSU's five-year graduation rate will exceed 36 percentage points, up 11 percentage points over the past four years, and up at least 7 percentage points in just one year, from 29 percent last year.
Students are earning more credits in their first semester - 11.7 compared to 9.5 two years ago - and achieving higher grades than ever during their first year of college - 57 percent above 3.0, compared to 47 percent five years ago.

Positively impact local and global communities

Sale of Wayne State spinoff RetroSense Therapeutics to the global pharmaceutical company Allergan for $60 million. Their remarkable technology uses gene therapy to restore vision to the blind.
Wayne State and Fudan University in Shanghai recently partnered to create a new joint laboratory: The Fudan-WSU Alliance for Stem Cell Translational Research Laboratory at Fudan.
Wayne State students are proving to be leaders on a global scale as well. Timmy Global Health WSU just returned from a week in the Dominican Republic, where about 14 group members saw 439 patients. Timmy Global sends medical service teams to support the work of international partner organizations and channels financial, medical, and human resources to community based health and development projects.

In closing, Wilson challenged each member of the audience to consider their role in the university's mission, write it down and share it with him at president@wayne.edu.