Thank you, Bev. Good morning and thank you all for being here. The welcome you have given me this morning is reflective of the warm, receptive mood I have found on campus since I arrived. Faculty, staff, administrators, students, parents, trustees, and others have dropped by Bracken House or my office or stopped me out on the sidewalk to say "hello" and to welcome me into the Ball State community. I am very grateful for this warm reception.

Before I go any further, I want to take a moment to talk about the extraordinary commitment and loyalty to Ball State University Bev has demonstrated over the past 19 years as a teacher-scholar, academic leader, and administrator. You have played an integral role in the development of Ball State—a driving force in the momentum this university has been able to generate, especially in the last seven or eight years. The university is fortunate to have you in its midst and owes you a great deal of gratitude for your leadership over the past six months, some of which were particularly trying. I know you believe Ball State is poised to reach new heights as a leader in higher education, and I look forward to working with you to take us there. Again, thank you.

I am delighted and honored to have been named the 14th president of Ball State University. The thirteen who preceded me built a strong, dynamic institution that has begun to achieve remarkable things but holds promise to reach even greater heights in research, teaching, learning, community and economic development, and, ultimately, recognition. As I consider Ball State's accomplishments over the past several years, I am awed by the desire, commitment, and effort evidenced by so many of you to dream big, pursue those dreams, and in many ways to achieve them. This says a great deal about you and your feelings for Ball State, but I also know that there are dreams yet unrealized, and together, building on the many strengths that exist here, we can and should make more of those dreams a reality.

How do we go about doing that? I think it begins by us getting to know each other and, for me, meeting people beyond the campus who have the ability to influence our future. Getting to know you and your accomplishments is my first priority. This process began in earnest several weeks ago. In the past nine working days since arriving on campus, I have met with every vice president and college dean, except one, and that appointment is on my calendar for next week. I have met several student leaders and student-athletes; Congressman Mike Pence, Mayor Dan Canan, and the Indiana Commission for Higher Education on campus; and the governor, corporate CEOs, and 30 state legislators in Indianapolis. Last month, I met with Ball State alumni in Boston and the Ball State University Foundation directors in Chicago. I have also been reading a wide range of reports and studies, including the annual reports submitted by the vice presidents and deans. In addition, I have been immersing myself in Ball State history by reading Tony Edmonds' and Bruce Geelhoed's excellent account of our first century. I told them that in the sequel I hoped the chapter on my presidency would be a good long one. And, I've read Fast Food Nation, so I can look our freshmen in the eye on Sunday.

In the days and weeks ahead, my calendar is filled with appointments to meet more faculty and student leaders. I plan to meet with each academic department to get to know you individually and collectively. I will also try to meet with many of the administrative departments. I go into these meetings intent on listening, ready to learn about your accomplishments and your dreams. I have been impressed that in my discussions so far people are much more interested in talking about what they hope this university will accomplish in the future and how they can play a role in that, rather than placing primary emphasis on the successes or problems of the past. As one department chair said, "we're not whiners, we're doers!" This bodes well for us as we work together to develop strategies to move the university forward.

I was drawn to Ball State because I truly believe it has the potential for greatness. In part, what also makes Ball State an attractive institution to lead is that the priorities I have developed during 24 years in higher education leadership closely mirror the direction this university has chosen in areas such as information and instructional technology, community engagement, economic development, and most importantly, providing students with the best possible education, enriched with excellent curricular and co-curricular programs and unique applied experiences. How we deliver those programs and experiences in the future is up to all of us.

I am growing increasingly enthusiastic about our ability to plan that future. A major reason for my enthusiasm is the opportunity to work with you. This university features world-class faculty and staff. I am excited by the prospect of partnering with you to make more of our academic and support programs national models, of encouraging you in your teaching and research, and of working hard to secure the resources you need to further your work. And though there are needs in our facilities, this is truly an outstanding physical environment in which to work, teach, and learn. It is also a technology-rich environment. I am, and you should be, very proud of the record of accomplishment you have built to date and upon which we can continue to build. I'd like to spend some time talking about some of these successes before I outline my priorities.

The increased admissions standards instituted in 1997 have led to the arrival of better prepared students, with last year's freshman class averaging 1041 on the SAT. As we all know, standardized tests are not the total measure of a student's abilities or a complete predictor of how they will perform in a university environment. Building relationships with peers, faculty, and staff; engaging in extracurricular activities; and maintaining physical and psychological health in those early days away from home significantly affect a student's persistence. You have developed and implemented an award-winning array of freshman programs—recognized again just today in the 2005 America's Best Colleges Rankings from U.S. News and World Report. With new ways of creating living and learning communities and support services and your commitment to engaging students at the entry level—we have helped raise the university's retention rate, with the goal of 80 percent retention reached last fall, ahead of schedule. Although there will certainly be years when that level will dip, I hope you all agree that striving to achieve at least the 80 percent level on a consistent basis is an important goal. Regularly reaching that goal will help us achieve our goal of a 60 percent graduation rate, which is equally important.

New majors, centers, and colleges created within the last decade have allowed us to better serve our students, to promote economic development in the state, and to increase the vitality of the university. The College of Communication, Information, and Media is about to get a major boost with construction on the Communication Media Building likely to begin shortly after the first of the year. The state legislature funded this building in part because our leadership in digital media use and content creation shows great promise for spinning-off technologies and businesses that are just the types of endeavors necessary to help Indiana's economy become less reliant on traditional manufacturing and agriculture. The new building will provide much needed space for the entire college and for the Center for Media Design, which got its start through the Lilly Endowment iCommunication grant and is at the heart of an ongoing multi-disciplinary effort to use digital technology to improve the way we teach, do business, live, and entertain ourselves.

iCommunication is just one of many examples of how Ball State has progressed. The founders of this university would likely not recognize the institution today. It has evolved into a place where a College of Sciences and Humanities has researchers seeking a cure for cancer and exploring the molecular world of nanoscience and nanotechnology, and where a College of Fine Arts has a music building that houses state-of-the-art recording studios and a tunable performance hall.

The wireless laptop requirement in Teachers College goes into effect this fall and should enhance the already outstanding programs in the college. Supported by an expanded and faster wireless network, students will have easier access to information than ever before. It will be interesting to watch how the laptops change their learning experiences and make it easier for them to create the digital teaching portfolios that help prepare them to take technology into the classrooms in which they will teach.

While this university was founded to have an impact on the community, you have stretched the boundaries of the Ball State community far beyond Muncie. I have found examples in every college of ways in which Ball State is enriching the lives of people in the local and state communities, as well as in cities, towns, and villages across the country and around the world. From the "Operation Wellness" project in the College of Applied Sciences and Technology, which is helping administer grants to support a community-wide fitness program in Wells County, and the CAP Indy Center's award-winning role in the development of the Indianapolis Regional 2020 plan to the Entrepreneurship Dynamics Laboratory in the Miller College of Business, funded with a $1 million federal grant, this university's focus on applied research has had an impact, both subtle and dramatic, in places too numerous to count. And every time someone from Ball State coordinates, facilitates, or leads a project or program in a local community, they raise the profile of this university in so many positive ways. This commitment to outreach has been given new focus and energy through the Building Better Communities initiative supported by the state legislature during the last funding cycle, which is something I want to speak about in greater detail in a moment.

The growth in research funding over the past few years has been dramatic and seems to indicate a growing confidence in the value of Ball State research. For the last two years we've reached the $25 million mark, and we already have a great deal of grant money on the books and in the pipeline for this year. I know you are aware of challenges Indiana faces in providing sufficient resources to its state institutions, and we must be diligent in seeking external funding if we are to remain competitive with our peers and truly advance the university. We have shown Ball State's strength over the years in acquiring research grants, and I am convinced it is a strength upon which we can and will build.

In the area of fund-raising through private gifts, this university has a wonderful story to tell. First of all, let me applaud you for your efforts in helping the university exceed the goals outlined in the Lilly Endowment's Special Initiative to Strengthen Philanthropy. Nearly half of the university's faculty and staff made a gift, and you nearly quadrupled your goal of $250,000 by giving $919,460 to the university between June 1st, 2002, and December 31st, 2003. Congratulations. What an incredible commitment to our university you have demonstrated.

Your generosity helped make the past giving year the most successful ever in the history of Ball State. More than $41.3 million dollars flowed into the university from students, parents, faculty, staff, alumni, foundations, friends, and others. This total included the largest single private gift in university history, the more than $17 million dollars from the estate of Wally Miller that led to the naming of the Miller College of Business.

I think the Miller gift is significant for another reason. It marked the second year in a row that the university benefited from a major planned gift, coming on the heels of $7.7 million from the estate of Geraldine Whitinger to expand scholarship opportunities for students. These two gifts, and others that have been pledged, are the result of cultivation work over several years by our development, alumni, and foundation staffs and others in the university. The gifts also show the university's reputation for excellence has grown to the point where our alumni and friends are willing to make significant planned gifts. These investments in us are greatly appreciated, and the stories about what they allow us to achieve may prompt other potential benefactors to consider investing in Ball State, as well.  

It is clear that your peers in higher education are also impressed by your work over the past decade, as evidenced by the outstanding reaccreditation report from the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. I'd like to touch on some of the important points raised in this report.

In particular, the review team found we do a fantastic job of accomplishing our educational purpose, reflected in high student satisfaction with the academic programs, alumni who value their experiences here, large numbers of accredited and nationally recognized programs, and faculty and staff who are satisfied with their experience at Ball State. They also believe we can continue to be successful in accomplishing our purposes and strengthening our educational effectiveness.

Reviewers highlighted nationally ranked academic programs, pointed to model programs in the Teaching and Learning Academy, our advancement organizations and functions, the student affairs division's program for assessment and planning, and praised the overall assessment activities as well as the attractive and well-maintained facilities. The Higher Learning Commission approved offering a degree program at the CAP Indy Center and, in addition to praising the overall quality of our Extended Education offerings, gave us permission to offer new online undergraduate and graduate programs, courses, and certificates without seeking prior approval from the commission. The commission identified other strengths as well and said that the progress made in the last decade " . . . clearly demonstrates the institution's capacity to address identified challenges."

The site team did point out some organizational and administrative issues on which we have and must continue to focus our attention. Those that deal with resources, such as salaries and graduate stipends, are especially important, and we will look for creative solutions to address them. Significantly, the areas in which we need to continue to advance did not come as a surprise because of the thoroughness of the self-study, and this record of our successes, strengths, and continuing challenges will continue to serve us well as we build our collective vision for the future of this university.

By this point, you have probably developed a number of questions, but I can imagine two in particular. "How does what she is saying affect the university's current strategic plan?" and "What is her vision for the university?" Because the current strategic plan concludes with the 2005-2006 academic year, we are at the point where it makes sense for us to begin a new campus-wide planning process that will take us beyond that time. As we move forward, you should not feel bound to take a linear path from the old plan to a new one. Just because a goal has been achieved does not mean we should leave it behind without looking instead to see if we should set our sights higher in that particular area. Conversely, just because something has not been achieved does not mean we must incorporate it in our new plan. Perhaps we will. Or maybe we will determine that our priorities or the means by which we hoped to achieve a goal have changed. What we must do is work together to build the vision for this university because collective action requires a collective vision.

Fortunately, to help us recognize what we have accomplished we have the three-year progress report of the Strategic Plan Assessment and Implementation Team chaired by Deb Balogh. These reports will be available as you leave the auditorium today. This document demonstrates through a wealth of examples how we are already "making the grade" in achieving each of the six goals outlined in the strategic plan. It will be shared with colleagues at other universities to help them become more familiar with Ball State, our achievements, and our aspirations. The team's work also provides the starting point for what I expect to be an iterative and inclusive process led by Provost Bev Pitts. It is my hope that by next September we will have identified the major themes and initiatives that will drive this university forward for the next five years.

Now let me try to address that other question you likely have, and that's about my vision for the university. Well, I don't come to you with a pre-established vision for Ball State. I think that would be presumptuous. A vision is what I hope we will build together in the weeks and months ahead as we assess the accomplishments of the last strategic plan and talk about the future of the university. However, I have developed a list of priorities that I think are important in any institution of higher learning. Some may and some may not wind up as part of our vision for Ball State, but I think it is important that you know what they are because they will help explain some of what I say and do in the coming months.

I begin with putting students first, and it is obvious that this is also a priority at Ball State. We should create the best possible experiences for students—give them a world-class education, inside and outside the classroom. Ground them in the classics, but also prepare them for the dynamic world they must enter. For this reason, I am anxiously awaiting the results of the work being done on the Core Curriculum. I understand the difficulties inherent in formulating a curriculum that provides a foundation for all students while also recognizing that knowledge itself, as well as the tools to acquire and transmit it, changes with every new discovery and technological advancement. I anticipate that what emerges from this process will be reflective of where society has been and relevant to where it is going.

Second, I would like to guarantee that all students take part in a special, intense educational experience at some point during their time here. This might be an internship, a service learning experience, a semester at the Virginia Ball Center, or an international experience. We also have two new opportunities to offer students, thanks to two Lilly-funded grants. The Business Fellows programs will make it possible for students to work on a team project in a business under the guidance of a faculty member. The Building Intellectual Capital grant, announced earlier this week, includes an option in which a year-long laboratory experience with a faculty mentor during a student's sophomore year could result in the recipients continuing their research for two consecutive summers after their sophomore and junior years. We will explore new ways to fund immersion experiences because of the impact they have on students, crystallizing what they have learned in the classroom and building value into their Ball State degree. That should be our goal for every student. Ideally, these experiences will help students find meaningful employment after graduation, hopefully in Indiana.

From the students with whom I've spoken, it is clear that many of them and many of you share my enthusiasm for an intense experiential learning requirement. Students recently have spoken highly about the Urban Semester Program, the Storm Chasers Team, the Connections television program, the supercomputer project, designing a dream house for a handicapped woman from Indianapolis, performing at the Montreux Jazz Festival as part of a European tour, and doing historic preservation work on the Whitewater Canal, among others.

Third, providing students with a rewarding educational experience begins with you, our faculty. You are the fundamental strength of this university. When Money magazine recently named Muncie one of the top five "Up and Coming" cities with populations under 250,000, there is no doubt that you are members of the "creative class" listed as a factor in that ranking. Continuing to build a world-class and diverse faculty and staff and retaining and recruiting the best and brightest teacher-scholars to campus should be among our highest priorities. The $4.9 million Lilly Grant to Build Intellectual Capital strikes at the very core of our efforts in this regard, providing us with substantial resources to invest in talented faculty, graduate assistants, and students. We want to provide support to faculty to win national awards such as Fulbright and Woodrow Wilson Fellowships or to achieve the kind of national recognition Don Kuratko has for the second straight year in Entrepreneurship magazine's rankings of the best entrepreneurship program directors in the country.

Fourth, I want to encourage interdisciplinary activities. The university already has a strong record in this area that I support and endorse. We may think of our teaching or work taking place within a single discipline, but the world our students enter is not divided in that way, nor are the solutions to society's problems found within neat disciplinary boxes. Showing our students the connections and helping them bridge the intellectual gaps is our obligation.

Fifth, I intend to work internally and externally to further enhance the visibility of the university and to expand its resources. One way to do this is to increase the number of nationally ranked programs. There are six that have received national attention in recent years: the master's in student affairs and higher education administration, the doctorate in school psychology, the master's in physics, the architecture program, and undergraduate and graduate entrepreneurship. Making the resources available to build nationally ranked programs will be a priority for me.

Having said that, we also must recognize that no institution can be known for everything, so we should strive for distinctiveness as a university. We need to consider what we want to be known for. For example, is it building on Goal Five of the Strategic Plan, which says we will continue to be a best-practice institution in the innovative use of instructional and information technology? We have many strengths in this area. In the use of instructional technology, what other campus could boast the Electronic Field Trip Program, the upcoming Digital Middletown Project with Cowan and Mitchell Elementary Schools, and our highly-regarded extended education offerings to name just a few? And many of you have been able to adapt to students who have grown up in the digital age by recognizing the very real challenges posed and opportunities afforded by technology and have begun to rethink, reformat, and re-energize your teaching, infusing it with technology.

Some of our efforts in the area of technology have been fueled by the iCommunication grant and have begun to receive attention. The Middletown Media Studies received significant media coverage from NPR's On the Media to the Canberra Times of Australia. The digital video cameras and new video editing equipment purchased with money from the grant have allowed faculty and students to stretch their imaginations and creative talents to the point that this year they've earned 16 regional Emmy award nominations–as Bev mentioned earlier–after winning six Emmys last year. CCIM has responded with the creation of a new minor and a graduate emphasis in digital storytelling.

And all of these efforts are backed up by a strong information technology infrastructure. We have a 54-megabit-per-second wireless network that is secure and can serve 10,000 users. When students and faculty stretched the capabilities of our technological infrastructure with the need to create large digital files and share them across the university's computer network, the solution made InfoWorld magazine's list of the 100 best innovative technology solutions of 2003. Ball State was one of seven universities to be honored in the education category, along with MIT and Dartmouth. Several of our industry partners—including Apple, Bluesocket, Vignette, and Network Appliance—promote Ball State as either a best-practices or leading institution in the use of their technologies.

So we could promote and build upon our strengths in technology, or we could look at one of our other areas of strength—take, for example, our emphasis on providing a global perspective to education. We have a high number of students studying abroad, the Global Media Network to facilitate on-campus collaborations with faculty and students around the world, and a large number of international partnerships. I have highlighted two of the many possibilities that exist here. How do we want to focus our energies? Where do we want to put our resources? These are the questions before us.

Sixth, I will work with industry and government partners on economic development across Indiana. On Tuesday I will attend my first meeting as Ball State's representative on the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership. This group of Indiana business and research university leaders is not engaged directly in economic development. Instead we work together to advocate policy, engage in collaborative efforts, and seek ways to plan and invest strategically in an effort to build a better economy for Central Indiana.

Enhancing Indiana's economy begins with making a difference in communities, one community at a time. This is where I want to again address our successful outreach efforts and the Building Better Communities Initiative. As you look at the economy in Indiana, despite recent positive news regarding job growth, the long-term sustainability of the economy is still in question. With the exception of the nine-county Indianapolis region, the state lags far behind the rest of the country in average earnings per job and the number of adults over the age of 25 who have college degrees. It isn't the quality of educational institutions in Indiana that causes this; it's the fact that too many college graduates go out of state to find jobs that fit their skills, pay higher wages, and allow them to live in areas that offer an outstanding quality of life.

This trend has shown some signs of reversing in the past two years, but there is still much to be done, and the state's higher education institutions must be leaders in transforming the economy. Building Better Communities relies on taking expertise that exists or can be developed at the university and applying it in the community. The concept of working with communities on economic, technological, educational, and quality-of-life issues struck a chord with state lawmakers, who funded the Building Better Communities initiative during the last legislative session. As we approach a new funding cycle in 2005, we will continue to look for ways to expand academic and outreach opportunities through state support for Building Better Communities.

With our first night football game under permanent lights just 13 days away, I also want to talk about Ball State's commitment to Division 1-A athletics. I am committed to raising the funds for expansion and renovations to the football stadium that are needed to bring it more in line with the other athletics facilities at Ball State. The plans would not only give the stadium a better atmosphere in which to enjoy games, but they also call for changes to the exterior that would make the stadium a more welcoming gateway to the campus. Ball State has done an outstanding job of remaining committed to the scholar-athlete philosophy of college athletics, and being competitive in the classroom and on the field are not mutually exclusive. Our 75 percent, six-year graduation rate and 71 percent four-year average graduation rates for student-athletes are among the highest in Division 1-A athletics. There is no question that success in athletics provides positive exposure for the university, and Division 1-A athletics provide the best venue for potential exposure. I hope you will join me in supporting all of our teams this year by attending Cardinals games.

With so much accomplished and so many opportunities yet to explore, I think you can see why I am excited about leading this institution in the years ahead. Together we can realize the promise inherent in so much of the great work that already goes on here. I read a quote from Virginia Ball about the center that bears her name, and it articulates how I feel about this university and its future. She said "…the Ball Corporation began as a little company that made fruit jars and grew into a large corporation that makes satellites. The lesson in that story for students taking interdisciplinary seminars at the Center is to 'shoot for the moon.'" The lesson in those words for this university is that we, too, must respond to the changing times, grow, experiment, innovate, be a leader. You have already shown you can do it, now let's see how far we can take it. I look forward to working with you and to being this university's most ardent supporter and advocate.