News > April 10, 2008

By Liza Greenspun | Senior writer

At the pinnacle of a series of addresses by university administrators, University President Nathan O. Hatch gave his state of the university address at 4 p.m. April 8 in Wait Chapel.

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President Hatch gave his state of the university address to the University Senate April 9 in Wait Chapel. (Allison Cox/Old Gold & Black)

According to David Coates, president of the University Senate and professor of political science, faculty and staff from all of the university’s campuses came together for perhaps the first time in the history of the university.

However, Coates said, they hope to make this address an annual event.

In Hatch’s 20 minute speech he discussed nine priorities he currently has for the university, mostly based on the outcome of the finalized strategic plan.

Though these are the points that Hatch felt were most important to address, he recognized the risks he took in that he was unable to mention everything occurring at the university and that in discussing so many priorities he could only scratch the surface of each.

He listed several challenges the university currently faces including faculty salaries, student financial aid, working to reduce student debt and creating new buildings on campus to correspond to the hopes and dreams of the university.

Hatch discussed the importance of attracting superior teacher-scholar mentors and becoming nationally recognized for the university’s mentoring programs.

He called for new support for more travel, the library and various conferences, among other opportunities.

Regarding the proposed size of the university, Hatch said, “We propose to continue the university’s practice of moderate growth.”

This will include increasing enrollment by 80 students in the fall and increasing the total size of the university by a maximum of 500 students over the next five years.

Hatch said that university has tremendous opportunity to form connections between the College of Arts and Sciences and other programs, such as the Divinity and Law Schools.

There will be more collaboration between the undergraduate and graduate business programs, and he hopes to instate more interdisciplinary programs throughout the next decade.

Similar to the undergraduate college, Hatch said that the university’s graduate programs must continue to pride themselves on small class sizes, the teacher-scholar model and individual attention for students.

He said it is important for the graduate programs to capitalize on their strengths while also providing opportunities for the professors to continue their own research, which could contribute to their respective fields.

“Opportunity and mobility are deep in our genetic code,” Hatch said.

He added that the university goes to great lengths to welcome students of a lower economic status in order to maintain the university’s commitment to diversity.

“We must be bold and innovative increasing financial aid,” he said.

Hatch also hopes to redefine the admissions standards to reflect the individual attention that is characteristic of the university.

Hatch said that in order to educate students in all ways, not just academically, it is important to sustain a variety of programs and leadership experiences outside of the classroom.

He said he hopes to build stronger relationships with local communities while simultaneously enriching the university’s international programs.

Under this priority, Hatch emphasized the quality coaching and facilities offered at the university and the integrated value system set up for athletes in this competitive world.

First, Hatch outlined the three pillars of the university’s mission statement.

These pillars include administration and support for staff members, campus infrastructure and computing infrastructure.

“We must recognize and reward excellent work,” he said, emphasizing the need to bring appropriate salary ranges for professors.

In discussing the campus infrastructure, Hatch mentioned the Campus Master Plan.

The plan was created hand-in-hand with the Strategic Plan and set to be completed and presented to the Board of Trustees at their summer meeting.

“We also need to create more physical spaces on campus to bring people together,” Hatch said.

These physical spaces will include new buildings on and around campus as well as renovated current buildings.

Traffic, parking, green spaces and building infrastructure are among other issues that will be discussed in the Campus Master Plan.

In regard to technology, Hatch said, “We must bring renewed energy to how we approach technology.”

Hatch said that with this viewpoint, technology would be able to sustain all uses by professors and students.

In the final theme of his speech, Hatch said that the university’s health science program has made significant progress in recent years, including the Biotech Research Center.

He said they are currently looking for a new chief executive officer to lead these efforts.

They also hope to have closer ties between the Reynolda and Bowman Gray campuses.

At the conclusion of his address, Hatch said, “Our overarching goal is to sustain and enhance the Wake Forest community,” to ensure that students are living an examined and purposeful life.

As Coates said, “What we do here, we do well.”