Oakland University issued the following announcement on Oct. 22.
Oakland University President Ora Hirsch Pescovitz, M.D., delivered the 2021 State of the University Address on Thursday, Oct. 21 from the Founders Ballroom of the Oakland Center on the OU campus.
It was a message filled with pride as she spoke about the university’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, determination as she spoke about overcoming the challenges facing higher education, and hope as she spoke about a better future for all OU faculty, staff and students.
“I am so hopeful about our future,” Pescovitz said. “And I am committed deeply to doing all we can do move ahead together — faculty, staff and students — as one unified community; as one united Oakland University.”
In addition to looking back on key moments and accomplishments over the past 12 months, Pescovitz also discussed the university’s plans for the upcoming year, including the creation of a new initiative, “OU Focus: The Priority Agenda,” that will help the university to more clearly communicate its priorities and strengthen its partnerships.
A key component of “Reimagining OU,” the new initiative will include a group of faculty, staff and students who will serve as “partners at the table” in continuing to evaluate and shape the university’s priorities.
“The Oakland University of the future must be a dynamic learning organization that is responsive, engaged and committed to continual improvement and innovation as the University of Choice,” Pescovitz said. “It will take all of us — faculty, staff and students — working together to accomplish our goals at the highest levels.”
In addition, Pescovitz invited the OU Senate Budget Review Committee to play a more active role in understanding the university’s finances, working side-by side with the university’s chief financial officer and the cabinet.
“It is important that we have more university-wide engagement in understanding our finances,” she said.
Other topics included: distribution of CARES/HEERF funding, the emotional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the financial realities and challenges facing the university, revenue and expenditures, addressing the budget shortfall, the state’s disinvestment in higher education, new building and renovation projects, the Strategic Enrollment Management Plan, and the university’s role as a “model of civility.”
“We stand together at a critical time in our history; a time when we all must think and act as leaders,” Pescovitz said. “Your leadership, our leadership, will shape the future of Oakland University. Only the limits of our imagination can keep us from accomplishing all that we aspire to become. Let the healing begin. Let’s move forward together, as one community.”
Original source can be found here.
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