{"id":13950,"date":"2015-08-27T08:45:56","date_gmt":"2015-08-27T12:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/?p=13950"},"modified":"2015-08-27T08:45:56","modified_gmt":"2015-08-27T12:45:56","slug":"the-view-from-sikes-preparing-for-what-comes-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/the-view-from-sikes-preparing-for-what-comes-next\/","title":{"rendered":"The View from Sikes: Preparing for What Comes Next"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PrezClementsVFSikes\"<\/a>A new academic year always brings a sense of renewed optimism and anticipation for what comes next. Preparing for what comes next is \u2014 after all \u2014 the essence of what universities do. Asking questions, experimenting, creating, debating and thinking deeply and critically \u2014 these are essential tools for equipping students to succeed during and after college. They also are tools for finding solutions to the great challenges of our time and for discovering innovations that drive economic growth.
\nIt\u2019s easy to be optimistic when we consider the accomplishments of the year just completed:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Achieving a Top 20 national ranking from U.S.News & World Report<\/em> and a seventh consecutive Top 25 ranking.
\n\u2022 Setting new records in demand for enrollment and quality of the student body.
\n\u2022 Reaching record levels in private fundraising.
\n<\/span>\u2022 Earning national rankings for quality, value, return on tuition investment, town-gown relations and the No. 1 ranked alumni network.
\n\u2022 Securing additional state support for critical educational, economic development and public service programs and facilities.
\n\u2022 Opening our first off-campus visitors center \u2014 Experience Clemson \u2014 in downtown Greenville.
\n\u2022 Tackling the largest construction program in University history to address facilities needs and take advantage of a competitive external market, low interest rates and the University\u2019s strong debt capacity.<\/p>\n

Our strategic plan \u2014 2020Forward \u2014 is a key part of preparing Clemson University for what comes next. In July, the board of trustees gave preliminary approval to the key concepts in the strategic plan and charged the administration to return this fall with a final plan for review.
\nIncluded among those key concepts are the following priorities:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Providing high-impact engagement opportunities to students as a cornerstone of undergraduate education.
\n\u2022 Growing research and doctoral enrollment, with emphasis on programs and research focus areas where we can achieve national prominence, and an organizational structure that supports excellence.
\n\u2022 Making Clemson an exceptional place to work.
\n\u2022 Increasing our commitment to diversity and inclusiveness.<\/p>\n

The plan also retains many of the strategic priorities of the 2020 Road Map \u2014 including a sustained Top 20 national ranking, an aggressive capital improvement plan and commitment to outreach and economic progress for South Carolina.
\nIn order to achieve these goals, we must create a climate where every person feels valued and has the ability to succeed. The need for a more diverse and inclusive campus emerged as a consistent message from the strategic planning team. Based on that work and the dozens of meetings we held with faculty, staff, students and alumni in the spring, we have framed a plan for diversity and excellence that has the following four pillars:<\/p>\n

\u2022 First, develop and implement a strategic plan to increase the diversity of the student body, staff, faculty and administration, with measurable goals.
\n\u2022 Second, promote greater cultural awareness and a sense of community, which is the focus of several initiatives launched last spring, such as the monthly student dialogue lunches and a planned lecture series.
\n\u2022 Third, assess and enhance the effectiveness of existing diversity initiatives and support services. As part of this effort, we will move the Gantt Multicultural Center from Student Affairs to the Office of Diversity \u2014 to enhance coordination and better leverage the expertise and resources of each unit.
\n\u2022 Fourth, document and communicate the history of Clemson, including the role of under-represented groups. We have initiated a process with state authorities to add a series of markers to campus to help document additional parts of our history.<\/p>\n

These efforts will be enhanced by the board\u2019s recent action to adopt a resolution and appoint a task force to explore ways to accurately preserve and tell the complete history of Clemson, which includes opening a discussion on Benjamin Tillman. I applaud the board for their action, and I look forward to assisting the task force with their work.\u00a0 Evaluating, discussing, critiquing and debating important issues are what great universities do to arrive at the best solutions. Understanding and communicating the full story of Clemson\u2019s history is an important part of creating a more inclusive and welcoming campus environment.
\nSo what\u2019s next for Clemson in 2015-16?<\/p>\n

\u2022 Enrolling another outstanding class of students.
\n\u2022 Launching a new strategic plan by January 1, 2016.
\n\u2022 Successfully completing the Will to Lead for Clemson capital campaign, which will make Clemson the first public university with an alumni base our size to surpass a $1 billion campaign goal.
\n\u2022 Opening new academic and athletic facilities on campus, as well as additions to the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research campus in Greenville and the Zucker Family Graduation Education Center in North Charleston \u2014 with more groundbreakings to come.<\/p>\n

What comes next \u2014 is another great year to be a Clemson Tiger!
\nGo Tigers!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new academic year always brings a sense of renewed optimism and anticipation for what comes next. Preparing for what comes next is \u2014 after all \u2014 the essence of what universities do. Asking questions, experimenting, creating, debating and thinking deeply and critically \u2014 these are essential tools for equipping students to succeed during and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":13895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[13],"tags":[817,994,1632,2284,2850,3123],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-13950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-view-from-sikes","tag-construction","tag-diversity","tag-james-clements","tag-preparing-for-what-comes-next","tag-summer-fall-2015","tag-u-s-news-world-report"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/08\/PrezClementsVFSikes.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13950"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=13950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}