President Mason plans for Jackson State’s future
2007 was a good year for JSU. It was the final year of the Beyond Survival: the Millennium Agenda for Jackson State University. Much of the work of the five year strategic plan came to fruition. Enrollment and graduation rates reached all time highs; top 40 rankings in National Magazines; #1 in the Southeast in scholarly chemistry publications; almost $70m in federally funded research; continued success with the Mississippi Learning Institute; basketball, golf and football championships; conference trophies for women’s and all around sports performance. It was truly the “Year of the Tiger”. As good as 2007 was it was not good enough. We accomplished a great deal but there is much more work remaining to be done. Less than 30% of the students who begin first grade in Mississippi make it to college; of that number, we graduate less that 40%. Our science and research programs continue to grow but require additional facilities, equipment and faculty. Our faculty is among the most dedicated but is also the lowest paid. You get the idea. We have grown in many ways, but we have now come to a fork in the road. Our resources are not able to reach and sustain the bar we have set. Our choices are clear. One road leads to a smaller, less effective version of whom and what we are. The other road leads to a new JSU, sustainable, creative, innovative and great. Our path to greatness is the road less traveled. It is a road other institutions have not found the will to explore. It is a difficult road with an uncertain terminus. However if we are to serve more and save more, learn with children here and around the globe, build better communities now and for generations to come, then it is the only road for us. Gearing Up for Greatness will be a process of “becoming” for Jackson State University. Who, what and how we will become are up to you. Time will tell if we reach the end of the road. In any event, however, we owe it to the children to take the journey.