Story by Kayla Harrell, Staff writer
The State of the University Address will be held at 2:30 p.m. Nov. 9 in Wrather Auditorium by President Bob Davies.
This will be Davies’ first State of the University Address at Murray State.
Adrienne King, vice president of Marketing and Outreach, said the address is a vision for the university.
“It is an opportunity to reflect on recent accomplishments and for the president to provide a vision for where we are going,” she said.
Davies said he will speak on the “hurdles we have overcome, and the challenge with that is being selective and at the same time, give a broad view” to the audience.
“I talk about some of the macro-issues for higher education,” he said. “Things that influence us and will continue to influence us.”
Davies said one of the challenges the university faces is the current financial model.
“Given our history and our tradition of excellence and quality, I think these are things we need to take a look at,” he said.
The State of the University Address forms the foundation for years to come at Murray State. This foundation creates both challenges and opportunities for the university to express their future goals for students, faculty and staff.
“I think that is part of the challenge and part of the opportunity in crafting this presentation,” Davies said. “Trying to focus in specifically on initiatives that we are taking this next year and realizing that we have so many of them.”
The State of the University Address will include discussion of the strategic plan to provide understanding and the process of it.
“That is part of how we are dealing with the macroissues and that leads into some key initiatives that I will outline,” Davies said.
Davies has written more than 15 drafts for the address. He said the final draft will not be done completely until right before the event, because he will be making small changes.
Davies said the State of the University Address is a way to put university issues into a structure that ties things together in a neat bow. He said it will help frame and put the foundation for our discussions moving forward.
The State of the University Address will be live streamed so people all over the country or those who cannot make it to the event will still be able to view it. Davies said attending the State of the University Address is part of the process of being a member of a community.
“It provides me the opportunity to talk about some large issues and have individuals think about them in a different way,” he said. “That will hopefully spur on conversations as we move forward.”
Alyssa Leet, junior from Marion, Kentucky, said students should see how relevant the address is to their lives at Murray State.
“It is important to be an active participant in the university community,” she said. “By attending the address, students are able to better understand the current status of Murray State and the plans for its future.”
