From the President

Dear Alumni,

As I announced earlier this fall, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and chose to undergo surgery for treatment. To my amazement, the status of my health has been covered in the media across the state. I am happy to report that my surgery went better than I anticipated. I am thankful that the cancer was contained and I am on the road to recovery. In less than a day following the surgery, I was e-mailing and calling. In less than two weeks following the surgery, I was walking two miles. I am, therefore, confident that I will return to work at the start of the spring semester ready to resume all of my presidential duties. I might point out that there are some University personnel who are already convinced that I am back at work because of my frequent e-mails and calls.

My illness has made me again realize how caring the Western Illinois University community is. I want to thank you personally for all of the good wishes Elaine and I have received. Please know that I cannot express fully my gratitude for everyone's kind words, thoughts, and prayers.

While this fall has been personally significant for me, this coming year will also be meaningful for the entire University community. On June 25, 2007 - just six months away - we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Western Illinois State College becoming Western Illinois University by an act of the state legislature. The accomplishments of the past year and the goals for the coming year build on the great foresight of the faculty, staff, administrators and students who were on this campus half a century ago. They believed that Western would flourish as a university and provide even greater educational opportunities to its students. We have the responsibility to assure that we continue to build upon their dreams. And I believe we do.

This has been an outstanding year for Western. We have accomplished many of the action items found in "Higher Values in Higher Education," and the key has been in our strength: strength in our commitment to accomplishing the goals within our strategic plan and strength in our passion for our university. We will continue to work on the actions within our plan in the new year.

Demand for a Western Illinois University education is strong. On both campuses this fall, we saw increases in student enrollment. We also saw increases in the number of minority students and international students. At Macomb, we set a target of 1,900 freshmen and exceeded it by about 20 students. At the Quad Cities we targeted growth, and there too we were successful. In the coming year, we will continue to work on our planned growth, hoping eventually to have 12,500 students enrolled in Macomb and 3,000 students on our new campus in the Quad Cities.

We continue to move forward on new facilities initiatives to better serve our students and the region. The architectural firm Pfeiffer & Partners was approved by the Capital Development Board for the new Performing Arts Center, and we are working with the firm PSA-Dewberry for the first building on our new Riverfront Campus in the Quad Cities.

In addition, renovation of the student side of Hanson Field began in November. Plans are underway for the construction of a new Multicultural Center across the street from the University Union on the site of the current Casa Latina. The funds for these projects, and the addition of sprinkler systems in Olson and Corbin halls and elevator replacements in Bayliss and Henninger halls, are from a facilities enhancement and life safety fee of $7 per credit hour established at the request of student leaders.

In keeping with "Higher Values in Higher Education," we have undertaken a number of initiatives in order to improve sustainability on both of our campuses. We continue to utilize more energy-efficient buses for Go West. We expanded recycling on campus and established a Student Litter Patrol. In the coming year, we have agreed to seek Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for our first building on the new Quad Cities Riverfront Campus, and we will apply LEED standards to new facilities in Macomb. We will also work on a plan for a centralized cooling system for the Macomb campus, and seek funding for its implementation and for other permanent improvements.

There have also been significant academic transformations during the last year, reflecting our commitment to our core value of academic excellence and the strengthening of our curricula. Because of our commitment to access in Macomb and the Quad Cities, we were one of only 13 institutions nationally to be selected as a "best practice" institution for the retention of first generation and low-income students by the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Education.

We are participating in the nationally renowned Foundations of Excellence as part of the assessment of our First Year Experience program, and we are implementing new undergraduate degree programs in emergency management and telecommunications management. We also plan to propose a new nursing program to our Board of Trustees by the spring. In addition, we hope to complete planning for a new bachelor's degree in liberal arts and sciences, an Executive MBA degree and a master's of engineering management/technology for students at Western Illinois University-Quad Cities. We will also continue to serve students outside our region through our commitment to a strong BOT/BA degree program, which we hope to make available as a complete on-line degree program in the coming year.

We remain strong in our commitment to find new funds to support departmental and campus initiatives, as well as to enhance Western's reputation. We had a banner year in fundraising - reaching almost $6 million - and have begun work on our new comprehensive campaign. This coming year we will actively enter into the quiet phase and hope to have many fundraising successes to announce. A recent $20 million planned trust was established by 1967 alumnus Norman Teeter and his wife Dr. Carmelita Teeter. Proceeds from the trust will be directed to The Norman and Carmelita Teeter Endowment and will support Western's psychology department and international programs. We are so appreciative of the Teeters' commitment to Western and for this recent gift that will make a difference in the lives of WIU students.

At the core of any great university are a strong faculty and staff dedicated to academic excellence and helping students achieve personal and professional goals. As we hire new personnel, we will continue to focus on instructional and student service needs to support our planned and controlled growth. Also, to meet these needs, we have improved a number of the distance learning classrooms in the Quad Cities and Macomb. We are developing plans to provide wireless access to all academic buildings in Macomb, while planning for innovative technology at our new Quad Cities Riverfront Campus. And we will also focus on ways of bringing our two campuses together through enhanced technology and fiber connections.

While I have listed many of our successes, the heart of my message is really about the strength of our communities. All of our accomplishments could not have been realized without the support of all of the campus constituencies. Together, we have witnessed and accomplished strong achievements in both Macomb and Moline in economic, educational, and community development.

We have remained strong - even in the most difficult of budgetary times - by always keeping in mind Western's core values of academic excellence, educational opportunity, personal growth, and social responsibility.

I look forward to rejoining you in January to celebrate Western's 50th anniversary as a university as well as to celebrate all of our past year's accomplishments and to work vigorously on this year's goals, as we continue to advance the vision, mission, goals, and priorities of "Higher Values in Higher Education."