FutureSTATE 2015

Achievements of the past year:

• Growth in enrollment: faculty and staff worked hard to recruit new and retain returning students through personal visits with students and their families, phone conversations, and personal letters and information sent to home and business addresses. The Starkville campus hired a recruiter for the south Mississippi region who is housed on the Meridian campus. She and the MSU Meridian recruiter are working together to attract students to both campuses.
• New program possibilities:
  • BBA in Healthcare Administration has been recently approved by UCCC and the Provost.
  • BBA in Technology Management has been recently approved by UCCC and the Provost.
  • Community College Leadership Program is presently in discussion with the College of Education in Starkville and interested community college leaders.
  • With the recruiting of additional Ph.D. faculty and with the need for secondary and community college administrators, a doctoral program in Higher Education Leadership, through the Counselor Education Department, would be an excellent partnership with our community. At present, a needs assessment of current Counselor Education students is underway. Information from this will be used as a foundation in requesting the program.
  • A meeting with Miko Beasley Denson, representatives of the Choctaw Community and Dale Hipsh, the new COO at Pearl River Resort, brought about discussion of expanding educational programming on the reservation.
  • New interest is growing in our Psychology internships.
  • Joe Adair, Regional Director of the Department of Veteran Affairs, and the Dean have begun conversations about expanding resources and support for area veterans through the Sonny Montgomery Center for America's Veterans.
  • Expanding distance learning and online opportunities are growing. This would include Meridian's Armed Forces and National Guard personnel with whom we have a strong relationship. The Meridian Campus is working with faculty and administrators in Starkville to enhance distanvr and online course offerings, while hopefully expanding and/or building facilities that would accommodate larger "wired" classrooms.
• The Dean is working on two additional programs to bring to the campus:
  • A weekend Master's in Arts Education degree for teachers. This is currently being discussed by both the MSU Riley Center Education Director and our education faculty. Individual courses in this area are already being taught on the weekend.
  • A "women in leadership program" connecting women leaders in our community with our MSU student leaders.
• The Office of Student Services and the campus Dean hosted the first annual advisors/counselors luncheon and workshop for two year institutions. This "putting a face with a name-getting to know you time" strengthened our commitment toward streamlining the transfer process. The luncheon speaker was Dr. Reginald Sykes, Assistant Commissioner for Community and Junior College Relations. Butch Stokes and Sharon Nobles of the Starkville campus participated in the event.
• The Dean has reactivated the Dean's Advisory Council, which represents members from a cross section of the region's business, government, industry and educational leaders. Through their council, a scholarship to attend MSU-Meridian will be presented to a student from each of our four regional two year institutions.

Goals for the next year:

• Continue to increase enrollment through recruiting effects.
• Continue to create academic programming at the MSU-Meridian Campus and MSU Riley Center.
• Recruit and retain qualified and diverse faculty.
• Expand the physical plant to include greater distance education possibilities and a growing student population.
• Increase fundraising efforts and scholarship opportunities for the campus and MSU Riley Center.
• Strengthen ties with the Starkville campus, government, business, industry, and community/junior college institutions through economic development and educational activities.

Constraints to full implementation of this initiative:

• Time and personnel.
• Financial support to begin new programming and hire new faculty.
• The distance between campuses.

Proposed modification of the initiative:
It is a "two way street"; the members of the Starkville campus should be approaching the Meridian campus for "closer interaction" as well. For example, recognize the importance of the Meridian campus by the Starkville campus through promoting, working together on research and/or staff projects, taking into account meeting and event times and providing technical means when "in person" appearances are not possible.

Overall assessment of the status of the initiative or other comments:
The Dean feels that everyone on the Meridian campus is on the road to obtain the next level of achievement through campus-community-commitment to FutureSTATE 2015.