Increasing enrollment, enhancing national rankings, expanding diversity and inclusion leadership, introducing new varsity athletics, increasing scholarship funding and exploring the creation of new …
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Increasing enrollment, enhancing national rankings, expanding diversity and inclusion leadership, introducing new varsity athletics, increasing scholarship funding and exploring the creation of new academic pathways are some of the key initiatives Salisbury University President Carolyn Ringer Lepre announced for the institution during her inaugural State of the University address.
The overall goal, she said: “Move forward with excellence.”
“We will move forward with the purpose of transforming lives through academic excellence; life-changing, high-impact practices; inclusion and belonging,” she told the hundreds of students, faculty, staff and supporters, as well as state and local elected officials, who packed Holloway Hall Auditorium for SU’s first State of the University address since 2017.
The Salisbury Seven
All objectives announced support a pledge Lepre made to the SU community, which she called the “Salisbury Seven”:
Increased enrollment
To uphold these promises, Lepre will pursue a series of specific goals and initiatives, including returning SU’s graduate and undergraduate enrollment to 8,500 (an optimal number for a campus of SU’s size and resources, she noted) from its current 7,200.
One area of focus will be graduate enrollment, with a target of graduate students making up 12 percent of the university’s student population by 2028.
“I challenge us to expand our repertoire of five-year programs designed to create pathways for our undergraduate students to stay and complete their graduate work. We know this is a value-add to our students by reducing time to degree and know our students would stay with us if they could,” said Lepre, adding that she encouraged revisiting a proposal to create a new School of Graduate Studies and Research at SU.
New programs, partnerships
With an eye toward attracting more student-athletes, she announced that SU will introduce men’s and women’s golf as new varsity athletics, bringing the institution’s total number of varsity teams to 23. For the past four years, more than 50 percent of SU’s student-athletes qualified for conference Academic Honor Rolls. Last year, 12 were named to Academic All-District teams, and in fall 2022, 118 earned a perfect 4.0 grade point average.
In addition, the university will work to improve its already high retention rates over the next five years and continue its commitment to attracting transfer students. It also will encourage non-SU students to take advantage of state initiatives such as the Maryland Transfer Advantage Program (for community college students) and Blueprint for Maryland’s Future (for high school dual enrollment) to earn SU credits and degrees.
At the same time, SU will seek out new strategic partnerships with local industries, such as health care and aerospace, to ensure the institution is producing graduates that meet workforce needs while also helping students leave the university with high-quality jobs. In 2021-22, 81 percent of soon-to-be graduates accepted a job offer prior to graduation, and 98 percent of job-seeking graduates were employed within one year.
Supporting access to education, Lepre announced a goal of 100 new endowed scholarships as part of fundraising efforts for SU’s 100th anniversary in 2025.
Rising in national rankings
The President also set her sights on increasing the university’s national rankings, with a goal of being recognized as a top 25 university in U.S. News & World Report’s Regional Universities — North category in the next five years. During that same timeframe, she also has set a goal of returning SU to its position among the top 10 public universities in that category, a feat last reached more than a decade ago, in 2012.
SU has a long history of being ranked among the nation’s best universities by U.S. News and others, while also being heralded as a best-value institution, “a nod to the return on investment we provide to students and families,” she noted.
Equity and inclusion
In the area of equity and inclusion, Lepre vowed to continue moving forward with diversifying SU’s student body to better reflect Maryland’s demographic makeup, and to seek out more diverse faculty and staff. To support those ambitions, she announced the creation of a new executive position: Vice President for Belonging, Diversity and Inclusion, as well as plans to hire a Diversity Recruitment and Retention coordinator.
Additionally, SU is creating a campus-wide diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) plan; working to diversify faculty through new hires; and seeking to advance research related to DEI and social justice.
“Our university is strengthened by cultivating an inclusive environment and celebrating what each of us brings to our collective experience,” Lepre said.
SU community input
Much of the President’s vision for SU stemmed from meetings with hundreds of faculty, staff, students and area residents during her first six months at Salisbury to learn about their views of the university and its strengths, challenges and opportunities. From a shared focus on student and academic success to a desire for deeper community engagement and inclusive excellence, Lepre discovered what was most important to stakeholders.
“I learned our people are everything,” she said. “Time and again, I heard what makes our University special is how deeply we care about one another and about our students.”
So valuable was this input that Lepre announced the creation of a new Strategic Innovation Fund of $500,000 annually for three years to fund proposals from the SU community for projects and programs that help achieve her vision for the university. This will give SU’s students, faculty, staff and others the opportunity to have a direct impact on the institution’s future.
Additional Initiatives
Other new initiatives unveiled during the State of the University included:
Celebration of success
During her address, Lepre celebrated successes from the previous year, including student, faculty and program awards; national rankings; new financial aid programs; major gifts to enhance academic programs and facilities; and approval of a new general education curriculum. She also highlighted some of the national corporations currently employing SU students, from Amazon and AT&T, to Warner Bros. and Wells Fargo.
Such positive outcomes support the values she noted she shared with the greater SU community:
A future of excellence
Lepre identified these values as the cornerstone of what makes SU a great place to learn, to work and to visit — and the best, she believes, is yet to come.
“As we move ahead with excellence, our future is bright,” she told the audience. “Salisbury University is creating opportunities to contribute to the overall wellbeing of our students, our employees, the state of Maryland and the world.
“The state of our university is strong! And I hope you will work with me to disrupt the status quo, build pride in place, embody what it means to care for one another, and facilitate innovation so we can leave SU a better place — a stronger place — than ever before.”