PULLMAN, Wash. — Washington State University President V. Lane Rawlins will review change and progress for WSU over the past five years and discuss important next steps during his annual President’s State of the University Address Sept. 20.
Open to the public, it is set to begin at 4:10 p.m. in Bryan Hall Auditorium. The address can also be viewed live online at www.wsu.edu/dialogues-forums/.
Rawlins, who took office in June 2000, said WSU is progressing toward its strategic plan goal of being one of the nation’s premiere research universities with emphasis on top-quality undergraduate education.
In response to the strategic plan, student applications for admission and research funding have reached historically high levels, he said. Indications of WSU success, Rawlins said, include a substantial increase in high-ability students enrolling, growth in research grants and contracts, and construction of major facilities for research in shock physics and biotechnology.
WSU’s next five years are crucial for the university itself and the state and nation it serves, he said. “We will continue enhancing undergraduate education. This includes improving WSU student quality and increasing diversity of our student body, faculty and staff,” Rawlins said. “Increasing private funding, improving compensation and strengthening our graduate program are other strategic goals we are benchmarking. I will lay out these and other goals, and how we will achieve them, in my address.”
