I am so pleased to be with you….The President’s Advisory council is among our strongest and most reliable ambassadors for Oakland University.
You are our messengers in the community… in your professions…in your travels.
Your success is our success.
And we are so proud that we remain connected to each other.
We think of you as our staunchest advocates…
…telling the OU story…
…in many ways, embodying that story of how education leads to opportunity…
and how engagement leads to making a difference in the lives of the people and communities you touch.
From my perspective, the President’s Advisory Council is vital for us to continue to make connections and create partnerships that pave the path to the future.
On behalf of Oakland University… thank you for your commitment, time and energy.
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So you know… The President’s Advisory Council is one of 17 advisory and boards of visitors at the university.
You might wonder if the president needs advice from so many boards.
Well, on most days, the answer is an unequivocal, ‘Yes.’
The truth of the matter is that the landscape of public higher education is changing throughout the nation.
There are many reasons for these fundamental changes, including financial pressures, technological transformations and the push toward more online learning, and in some states, like Michigan, a declining pool of high school graduates projected for the next several years.
While change might be overwhelming for some…. we are optimistic and enthusiastic about what we see as a promising future.
Our success depends on our ability to be responsive, nimble, innovative and building key partnership within and outside the OU community.
There is no question that our partnership with the President’s Advisory Council is among the keys to our future.
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Let me share with you some of our strategies as we navigate the ongoing transformation of Oakland University.
First, during and in the latter stages of the epidemic, most universities and colleges had declines in enrollment, which translated into lost revenue.
A good portion of that “lost revenue” was made up with federal relief funds.
But we also made some necessary expenditure reductions to make sure we remain fiscally sound and responsible.
Right now, our budget is solid and we are optimistic about enrollment projections.
This fall, Oakland recorded the highest number of transfer students (along with Wayne State) among the state’s 15 public universities.
In addition, over the past few years, we have made strategic investments into our physical campus…In the near future renovations will be made to Varner Hall, South Foundation and in a few months a new engineering research building will open, and this fall we opened East Wilson Hall, an impressive gateway to campus where admission office is located, and prospective students and their families are greeted.
In the works are construction plans for a state-of-the-art visitors center at Meadow Brook Hall, one of the nation’s cultural jewels.
In addition to providing an engaging “college experience,” we remain vigilant and prepare to understand what students and families are looking for in college education.
We are constantly refining our Strategic Enrollment Management plan, a multi-layered, highly collaborative approach to retain and recruit students in and outside of our region…a plan that also considers the demands of today’s students for varied learning modalities.
As many of you know, our revenue comes from enrollment and state funding.
I am so proud to report that our successful “Strive for 45” campaign, which we began in February 2020, has led to Oakland receiving the highest percentage increase in state funding of any of the Michigan’s 15 public universities
We received a 12.59% increase in state funding compared to 3.39% average increase for the state’s 14 other public universities.
Earlier, I mentioned that our future is predicated upon our ability to be responsive, nimble, and innovative…in a word – entrepreneurial.
I want share a few examples on how Oakland’s entrepreneurial approach will lead to a transformative impact, not only for the university but the region.
Our ambition is to be recognized as “the university of choice,” that simply means Oakland is the university where students get real world experience, and a degree from Oakland University is a real investment for students and families.
A key for our success is to make available internships and service-learning opportunities to all OU students.
In the years ahead, Oakland University will be synonymous with “workforce development” in Michigan.
We will be the preeminent university where students get a world-class education, real-world experience and a university widely known as a place where your investment in education pays off in a quality, high-paying job and upward mobility.
Another way we are creating timely initiatives that integrate educational programs and degrees with “talent needs” is an exciting, innovative initiative that we call THE BEST.
THE BEST stands for Transforming Health Care Education By Elevating State-of-the-art Teaching, Learning and Practice
With $85.4M in state funding, we would create a healthcare professional talent pipeline, and establish an Inter-Professional (IPE) Education Center located at 1500 University Drive, OU West Campus.
In addition to the state funding, OU is working with our partners from Beaumont Health/Spectrum Health, a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration, Corewell Health, along with the cities of Pontiac and Auburn Hills and Oakland County.
This unique, interdisciplinary, integrated healthcare teaching, training and workforce development initiative includes a clinic for underserved populations that will provide our students, their employers and the communities and populations they serve with better outcomes.
Expected outcomes include:
Alleviating the healthcare workforce shortage by educating and better training 4,500 new health care professionals in the next five years.
Providing care to 10,000 annual patient visits to the clinic
Among the most pivotal corporate partnerships of the last year is with Corewell Health, formerly known Beaumont Health Spectrum Health (BHSH). That partnership has translated into an educational-economic-and-health alliance with nearly a $21M gift.
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Our future is inextricably linked to the communities and businesses in our region. We must and will continue to build these strategic and essential partnerships.
And the President’s Advisory Council is at the core of our effort to building these partnerships.
Thank you for your invaluable contributions to Oakland University, and to being a partner in shaping the future
