Middle Georgia State has a new statement of its core values and its vision as a future state university for the people and region of Middle Georgia, as well as online everywhere.
I am delighted to share with the college community that after several months of work by the Vision Taskforce, and an executive level review process, Middle Georgia State is committing to four core values in what it does and represents. Those Core Values are:
- Stewardship
- Engagement
- Adaptability
- Learning.
Stewardship reminds us of our moral and public commitment to the people we serve on and off campus, and tasking each of us with the responsibility to marshal our time, talents and resources for the Common Good.
Engagement recognizes that learning is a social activity and that we cannot fulfill our mission of public higher education without collaborating with those on our campuses and outside our doors in our communities.
Adaptability is a cornerstone of human growth, individual and collective, and in our digital century is a necessary hallmark of progress and success, requiring us to lead and manage change, not be simply affected by it passively.
And these values all underpin that of learning, the reason we exist as an institution and why students entrust us, and also what we each must do continuously as faculty and staff to stay abreast of expanding and changing fields of knowledge and grow professionally. We are known in our athletics program as the Knights – and now we can proudly say that this set of core values is our SEAL as the Knights!
Our sense of value also needs aligning with a sense of direction. This is where vision is so important. Vision gives us a compelling horizon view of where we need to move, and it inspires us to think of stronger and larger possibilities for our work and our institution.
So I am especially gratified that we now have a new statement of our vision that captures that hope and growth as we look toward to becoming a university.
The vision of Middle Georgia State is this: We transform individuals and their communities through extraordinary higher learning.
How we will realize this bold and succinct vision and decide which priorities will lead us there still remain to be determined, and that is the role of the strategic planning process that I am now tasking our Provost, Dr. Marti Venn, to undertake in the coming months. Our vision needs a plan or road map for its realization and one that charts clear institutional milestones that measure distance traveled and progress made in a journey of change and growth.
In so doing, it will become essential for us to re-state shortly how we understand and articulate our mission as a state university. This is not only a necessary internal campus conversation, but one that is required by both our regional accreditors, SACS, and by the Board of Regents. This work is already being anticipated as we begin our SACS reaffirmation process this summer, and will also be part of the work of the strategic plan that Marti and the planning group will develop in the fall.
For now, as we anticipate what might be our final full academic year as a state college, and invigorated at the prospect of emerging as the newest state university in Georgia, I am excited that we can courageously look to the future with a stronger understanding of our values and our vision. The Vision Taskforce has truly helped us reach this milestone, and we can express a collective gratitude to its members for that accomplishment.
To learn more about the visioning process, I invite you to review some of my previous blog posts, as well as to go here for other links, including one to the taskforce’s final report and a news release.
Finally, I wish you some summer recreation and re-creation during July and a happy celebration of the nation’s 238th birthday next week.
Chris