President seeks to make WSU a national leader.
In his first State of the University address, President Elson S. Floyd on Monday mapped out a strategy designed to make Washington State University one of the nation’s leading public land-grant research institutions.
Dr. Floyd, who became WSU’s tenth president in May 2007, said the University must focus on areas of strength and leverage its investments to maximize its positive impact.
Focus on excellence
“We simply cannot be all things to all people. We need to focus on excellence and quality in all that we do,” President Floyd told a gathering of students, faculty, staff, and community members in Bryan Hall on the Pullman campus.
He discussed a wide range of initiatives the University has undertaken during his tenure to build on its strengths in undergraduate and graduate education, in research, and in extension.
“We must be strategic in all that we do to maximize our competencies in the support of our centers of excellence,” he said. “Our mantra must always be excellence and quality.”
Build on research strengths
In Pullman, the president pointed to the efforts to build on research strengths in agriculture and, through the establishment of the School of Global Animal Health, in veterinary medicine.
“The reason is very simple,” he said. “We have the obligation to advance the science and discoveries in these vital areas. For, if we fail to do so, there is no other educational institution charged with this mandate.”
Aggressive agenda to fulfill WSU’s potential
President Floyd acknowledged that his agenda for WSU is an aggressive one.
“But we will not fulfill our potential as an institution, we will not keep faith with the vision of those who came before us, by taking half-steps or half-measures,” he said.
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