year
Chemistry professor Iriarte-Gross presented Career Achievement Award
for faculty
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee kicked
off the new academic year Thursday, Aug. 23, by applauding the university’s
faculty and staff for continued progress in student retention and graduation
while emphasizing the need to develop new strategies in an ever-evolving higher
education landscape.
Now in his 18th year leading
the Blue Raider campus, McPhee addressed a capacity crowd of faculty and staff inside
Tucker Theatre during his annual State of the University remarks as part of the
traditional Fall Faculty Meeting in advance of classes beginning Monday for
fall semester.
“The calling to make a
difference in the lives of others — the passion that drew each member of our
academic community to fulfill careers in teaching, research, service, and
providing mentorship — is the ultimate goal of our institution,” he said.
Another highlight of
Thursday’s gathering was the presentation of the MTSU Foundation’s Career
Achievement Award, this year going to Judith Iriarte-Gross, a professor of
chemistry at MTSU since 1996 who is nationally known for her advocacy for girls
and women in the sciences.
Iriarte-Gross is director of
the Women In STEM (WISTEM) Center at MTSU and the founder and director of
Tennessee’s first Expanding Your Horizons girls’ STEM education workshop. STEM
stands for science, technology, engineering and math.
Quest for Student Success
In assessing the
university’s overall progress during his hourlong remarks, McPhee noted that MTSU
continues making progress through its Quest for Student Success initiative to improve
retention and graduation rates, accountability and affordability while
“striving to become the public university that more students and parents look
to for a top-rate education.”
He cited the increase in full-time freshman retention rate from 69
percent in Fall 2013, when the university first began its student success
initiatives, to 76.8 percent in Fall 2017. MTSU’s efforts have become a
national model, he said, with media outlets such as The New York Times, the
Washington Post and the Chronicle of Higher Education taking note.
He commended University Provost Mark Byrnes and Vice Provost Rick
Sluder for leading the retention efforts and touted a list of other achievements
from across the university — from funded research to accelerated graduate
programs and from athletic successes to ongoing support for student veterans.
“Our proven ability to educate graduates with the least amount of
taxpayer dollars per-student is something in which we can, and should, take
great pride,” he said.
McPhee also announced
Thursday that the MTSU Board of Trustees earlier this summer approved his recommendation
for a 1.5 percent across-the-board salary increase for employees while also
approving the use of $3.7 million in state and university funds for partially
implementing a compensation plan to make MTSU salaries more competitive over
time.
Campus Improvements
Other address highlights:
- MTSU’s new 91,000-square-foot
Academic Classroom Building will provide a state-of-the-art facility for
the College of Behavioral and Health Sciences, including much-needed
classroom, office and lab spaces for the Criminal Justice, Psychology, and
Social Work departments. The $36 million project is expected to be
completed in Summer 2020.
- Renovations at Peck Hall
are nearing completion and include new ceiling and lighting for the
breezeways, new lighting for the corridors, refinishing of the flooring on
the second and third levels, and new furnishings for the courtyard areas.
- The long-running Middle
Tennessee Boulevard widening project is expected to be finished in
December.
- Parking Services will have
new facility located on City View Drive on the southeastern edge of campus,
with completion expected by the end of 2019.
- Alumni and supporters
donated more than $12.7 million in gifts in the last fiscal year, which
exceeded the previous year.
- Discussions continue
regarding the potential transfer of the Valparaiso University’s law school
to MTSU. Such a transfer would result in an estimated gift value of $35
million to $40 million.
McPhee concluded his remarks by noting that he would be
meeting with senior administrators and deans in the coming months to develop
strategies for the next five years “that will differentiate MTSU from our peers
and competitors.” (Read the full text of his remarks at http://ow.ly/XbcX30lwRHc)
Career Achievement Award winner
In accepting the Career Achievement Award, Iriarte-Gross
noted the importance that federal programs such as TRiO and Upward Bound played
in helping a young, first-generation college student from a single-parent home
enter higher education and pursue the sciences with the encouragement of
teachers and mentors.
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