 What I want to do today in terms of getting into a conversation about the state of the university is to talk about change just a little bit. I want to talk frankly about some of the challenges that the university faces. And I want to talk about what I see as a way forward through and beyond those challenges and where I think we're going in that regard. And then I want to I want to talk about what I think is going to be critical to our being able to to deal with whatever the issues are that face this institution and to be able to confidently chart a course for this institution where we know we can achieve the goals that we set. You know you think about one of the slides that didn't make it into this slide show it was one that that I asked the question it was an open one of those fill in the blank sentences said change is blank until blank. And my point for that slide and I want to mention it is that because I think it's important to some of the kinds of things that we have have had to face and will continue to face the sentence that I was focusing on is that change is slow. It we tend to see change as slow over time change as one of those things that happens fairly slowly. But change tends to be slow until it's not something happens that that causes rapid change within systems and then all of the systems affected by that change have to adapt to that change. Ask the people up in Princeville they'll tell you they weren't expecting that flood but now that it has happened they've got to look at what they do do next. When we look at at this institution as an example this institution has undergone rapid change in leadership four chancellors in three years. All of the literature on higher education says very clearly when you have that much change at the leadership helm you can expect ripples throughout the institution people get nervous people start to wonder what's going to happen next. Next there are concerns that start to arise. Rapid change causes concern but rapid change also brings opportunity. Rapid change also brings the the ability to sit to think to reason and to make new kinds of decisions. We lost an American hero just prior to the holiday John Glenn passed and one of the things that I remember about his as he became an astronaut and he's talked about relative to him I think he was the one that actually said this that they were interviewing people for the astronaut corps and they asked the question if something you're in orbit around the earth there's nobody that can get to you you've got to make a decision and there's an emergency in 30 seconds your spacecraft is going to explode 30 seconds you've got to do something in 30 seconds what would you do and there were a wide variety of of answers that came from from astronauts around that but the question that came through or the answer that came through is most important what I would do is think for 27 seconds and then initiate one of the things that I think we need to be reminded of as an academic academic institution that thinking is our game thinking is what we do thinking about difficult problems coming up with solutions to different problems is who we are that's what we provide for this community that would not be here in this community if it lives with city state university we're not here that's what we provide to this region that would not be here if elizabeth city state university we're not here now there are other institutions in the region obviously this town happens to be blessed with three academic institutions the oldest community college in the state of north carolina a very good bible college and elizabeth city state university but what we do the way we do it what we bring to the table were we not here the region would suffer significantly our mission we were established to do uh just exactly what it is the the the uh communities that we serve need right now that is to impact economic development through education that was our initial founding purpose that is our purpose now and we must think about that we must come up with solutions that help these communities that we serve grow in those ways so as we've gone through change as we look at our challenges let's not lose sight of what our focus should be like a lot of you i did a lot of reading over the holidays and one of the things that that struck me was a passage and you know they they say in higher education you you give credit for where you borrow things from but you borrow liberally from your colleagues uh as i was was reading uh through a book it it struck me that's this passage jumped out at me uh and it was how i was reading about how institutions have made transformations and how they've looked at themselves and made decisions to move in different directions and grow and and enhance the institutions and one of the the slogans that was adopted by one of the institutions Bucknell um was what we do and the way we will describe how we will proceed is that we will engage we will educate and through that we will empower to engage educate empower again that's who we are that's what we do that's what these communities that we are charged with serving need so a lot of what i'm going to talk about today is going to come back to that concept of engagement education and empowerment for our faculty for our staff for our students for the communities that we serve when i i look back at the year you know we came in with challenges one of the the the great challenges that we faced was the the fact that we were we had just received an update on an in or a advanced notice you all heard about it slightly later advanced notice of an um interim audit that had been done that had focused on our admissions offices and our financial aid enrollment management areas admissions financial aid the registrar's office in those areas and it was an important part of what happened and what set the tone for this past year well why am i talking about that because this is something i believe i have to communicate to you openly and honestly about i have to say to you that these are challenges that we face and i have to to let you know that we are perfectly capable of managing these challenges and i want you to know where we are i want the public to know where we are i want everybody to know that we are on top of these things and the way this chancellor sees uh challenges like that is if you find a problem the the issue is not the problem the issue is how you fix it what do you do to go after it and and make sure that that same problem doesn't excuse me doesn't continue to plague you so let me give you just a brief flower of an update what happened uh there was an internal audit uh that was an audit done by the general administration's internal audit group that group came in they found some challenges they registered those challenges we immediately went to work fixing those issues those recommended are addressing those recommendations that were identified but as life would have it in higher education things are complicated the news stories that were associated with that uh were were nationwide uh our accrediting agency sacks uh council of colleges looked at that and said well what's going on up there at elizabeth city maybe we need to be a little bit careful and they have to do their job they do because if they don't look at us critically and know that we're looking at ourselves critically there are other entities that would come in and tell you and them how to do business in ways that would be a lot more detrimental than than what sacks could do so sacks says okay we're going to put you on warning we need for you to investigate this we need for you to let us let us know you're on top of this so we've been working on addressing the questions that that sacks has asked us relative to that and um in the in the interim here what we we wind up with because we're part of the state of north carolina and because our internal audits are become public documents this this became a national news story uh sacks got concerned about it they registered they're concerned about it it would it wouldn't it is not surprising then that the state auditor's office says okay while we're doing our compliance audits this year we want to make sure that uh we're looking at this too so essentially they looked at the same point in time the same period and essentially validated the findings that had been found in the internal audit now that's the the lay of the land that that's what happened what you may or may not know as as as much about is the amount of work that has been done to address those issues what we've been after for the last uh year is to look at the issues associated in the internal audit one by one making sure that policies are changed making sure that procedures are updated making sure that training is done all of those kinds of things are being and have been addressed with the uh questions from sacks we have been preparing we prepared an initial list of questions they will be sending in a visitation team in april uh they will come and we're confident based on what we are we're putting together and what the follow-up from the initial internal audit uh will be reporting we're pretty confident that we're going to be able to uh calm the concerns about those particular issues then uh with the it with the internal audit that are the um compliance audit that was part of and incidentally let me make clear there are multiple audits that we go through each year there is the financial audit of the university that that looks at how the university is handling the public trust with the funds that it gets and i want to be clear for four years in a row elizabeth city state university has had no financial audit findings so we're not talking about the institution's finances uh as a matter of fact i would argue that the institution probably needs to be given a given commendations for being able to balance budgets within a constantly shrinking uh economy for the institution and continuing to do the business of the institution i'm real proud of that i don't want to i don't want to get that mixed up with this compliance audit with the compliance audit what happened was they came in and looked at policies policies and procedures in those same areas that the internal audit looked at and one of the things that we're we're in conversation with uh with our with the internal audit auditors at general administration state audits office is at can we at least look at the fact that these are not new issues these are issues that had been found earlier they have been addressed let's look at what's been done to address it make make sure we're focusing on what the delta is what's left undone and make it make clear that our faculty our students and our publics know that these are issues we're just continuing to to work through and work on and we're doing it successfully so i wanted to update you on that because i think communications is going to be the key to to our success in uh in the future here at elizabeth city state university as a matter of fact i would argue that communications is going to be one of the more critical issues for all institutions so when an institution starts to look at where it wants to go what it wants to do i i believe that where you start is with who you are i believe that where you start is with your institutional core values one of the things that i've i've started to do whenever i'm on the road whenever i'm talking to whether it's alumni whether it's recruits whether it it is um public agencies and and governmental uh agencies uh i always go back to our core values because i think elizabeth city state university established a set of core values years and years ago that has has served it well in terms of being able to direct the university forward and come through previous challenges and i think they'll serve us well in the future number one accountability we will accept the responsibility for the decisions we make and the actions we take uh that is something that as administrators as faculty as staff and it is it is a value that imparting to our students will prepare them well for whatever futures they face so i think that is one that we ought to incorporate into everything we do we ought to think about it daily accountability is an important part of who we are and what we do diversity you know i was i had mentioned on other occasions that i looked at both of the histories of the uh the university here at elizabeth city and you're blessed to have two written histories of the institutions one by evelin johnson and the other more recent one by dr glenn bolman both of these historical accounts if you don't have a copy of them uh you should get one and after getting them you should read them because this is an amazing institution in a lot of ways many amazing personalities have have have worked here have gone have invested in making this institution a standout institution uh but in 1935 the institution had a conversation about diversity i would argue that in 1935 having a conversation about diversity wasn't the easiest thing to do but in 35 this institution made a commitment that the people who would teach and who would guide the learning process here would have to be committed to this value of diversity that they would have to be committed to the idea that they would respect all peoples and their values and and incorporate them or at least try to understand them in the teaching and the learning that took place at this institution this is an important value for elizabeth city state university and one we that is is relevant for today and one that we should hold sacred excellence uh excellence is going to be the key value i think that that makes us different from a lot of other institutions that have faced some of the same kinds of challenges that we face our commitment to excellence your commitment to excellence your commitment to to getting the job done for the people that you serve not just getting it done though but getting it done at a high level continuing to demand high performance out of your students continuing to demand high performance out of your colleagues continuing to demand high performance out of your administrators is going to be one of the values that are is one of our core values and it's going to be one of the things that will serve us well as we move forward and then finally teaching students holistically helping students understand the charges that we we bring we we have at our um that we have responsibility for helping our students helping our colleagues develop curricula that that tie things together to understand that in the world that we live in an ever shrinking world because of the technology and access to information we must understand that things are connected and understanding how they are connected and understanding how to connect them and make useful uh decisions around things that happen in your life are all part of what happens when you understand the holistic approach to teaching and learning and living so these are four core values that the institution endorsed many years ago these are four core values I think that will guide us well into the future one of the things that that uh is important also is that we know where we are in context uh the the slide that's up there now has to do with the University of North Carolina strategic plan the system strategic plan that is being developed they have actually identified five core principles that they are working on and developing a five a a strategic plan that will be uh they expect to finish it up within the next couple of months and it'll be rolled out across the system uh what I found important about now I sat in the room for many of the conversations as they were developing the five core goals and and also uh going into depth about each of the five when you look at the access goal we've talked a lot about Elizabeth City State University being an access institution we are committed to that as as our goal but we are also responsible for helping to to define and help people understand what that means how do you connect access and excellence that's something this institution has a a history of doing very well and that's an area in which this institution can lead the the fifth one down there the uh excellent and diverse institutions is one that I think is critically important um and it's it's important that we understand how that fits from our perspective the conversation about excellent and diverse institutions it was deliberately placed in the the strategic goals for the UNC system because there were people who recognize that institutions like Elizabeth City State University had a special mission a special place and a special way of doing things it is the opportunity for us to distinguish ourselves as the type of institution we are rather than than evaluating ourselves against metrics that should be used for institutions that are not at all like us this is a a uh goal that we need to to examine we need to understand and we need to gear this institution once the strategic plan is uh it is released uh finalized and released to help people understand how we already know we are that kind of institution we are an institution uh that adds diversity to the university system not only in who we are but how we go about doing things from there I wanted to to just briefly talk about Elizabeth City State University's strategic goals because I don't think we talk about these enough as a university uh one of the things that that did not happen uh that I had thought would had already happened was that our strategic uh plan is out on the web uh but in order to find our strategic plan right now what you you can do is search for it on our homepage and you'll find it on the homepage or are attached to the page of business and finance we need to give it its own page because we need to start talking about where we are relative to the strategic plan and how we're doing with operational goals each year that follow on from that strategic plan we've got six strategic goals that that drive the university and it's important that you understand that these strategic goals will drive the big picture of where we're going that out of those strategic goals will come the operational plans that direct what we do year to year out of those strategic goals and operational plans will come the way we go about doing budgeting each year how we will set priorities and the things we will invest in going forward so this strategic plan is more than just an idle document uh in terms of the university life it's something that we need to pay attention to the first strategic plan recruit retain uh and uh graduate students students that have been exposed to an excellent faculty and go out with core values that prepare them well for the the world that they are going to face number two strengthen the academic quality uh by promoting a climate of intellectual excellence uh that you heard the provost saying one of the things with all of the moving and so forth what the provost told you is that this year for the first time and and what as far as we can tell so far maybe a decade the university has been approved for its first new program now that's a first that that's okay for now but over the course of the next few years we want to move to the position of being one of the institutions that develops the reputation for being the most innovative we're going to look at all of our curricula we want to commend the faculty for for making the decision to endorse the fact that all of our curricula will will move from the 124 to 128 category to the 120 hour category for for graduation that alone will require that all curricula are examined that will then put us in a position to talk about where our curricula are relative to 21st century needs and it will set the stage for the innovation that we as an institution need and are good at relative to the populations that we're working with so we're going to be looking at that and how we will perform relative to that goal um number three serve the people of north carolina and particularly the 21 counties that are our target northeastern north carolina targeted area uh we are an important variable in this area we are a critical variable in this area uh when i started off one of the first things i did was to talk about the economic impact of elizabeth city state university on the the uh counties that we we touched directly and on the state in general for every one dollar in tax dollars that north carolina invests in elizabeth city state university the university returns to those counties three dollars in benefit the economic advantage now for those of you that looked at your portfolios your investment portfolios over the christmas holidays if you were getting a three to one return on your investments you'd be grinning really really big right now okay when when i say elizabeth city state university is critical to the region this is this is a true statement is it it is a documented statement for every one dollar in tax dollars invested in in elizabeth city we return three dollars in economic impact what is even more impressive though and what is important for us to understand and this is is something that it's very difficult to get get people to understand because or to focus on because we tend to focus just like the the in communications and in news cycles we focus on what's important to us we tend to focus on bad news more than we focus on good news we it is very difficult to get people to invest in things that will avoid expenditures when we started to look at what happens when the unit when when money is invested in the university and the fact that it it enhances people's life chances and then those people go out into the world and become productive income earning citizens and then do not use the kinds of social services and public services that would would cause an increase in spending in those areas what we find is that for every one dollar one tax dollar invested in elizabeth city state university there is a return of more than nine dollars in cost avoidance you know i i talk a lot about that washington monthly uh ranking that has ranked us number one for the last four years in terms of best value uh because of that economic uh uh impact that are because of the the social uh impact that we have our students come to us at a level level that uh in many cases is need very very needy when they graduate they have capabilities and they go out and contribute in very big ways that delta that is caused by who we take in and who we turn out allows us to avoid the social services costs that would go along with public uh public health public welfare and public incarceration those are the kinds of things that we don't talk about enough but the reality is were it not for institutions like this one more more dollars would be required to manage the human loss that would take place number four strengthen the university's internal controls now i want to be clear on this because we these next two may sound very very similar but they're two different things when we start talking about uh strengthening the university's internal control here's a a challenge that we face as a university when our students come in they see the university what we inside the university tend to see is a group of units and uh one of my my goals as chancellor is to help this institution understand that we are not a collection of loosely associated entities at sheer parking lots what we are is a university and as a university there there has to be that kind of a kind of siloing is good because there's expertise that comes along with disciplinary uh depth there is an there is expertise that comes along with uh working the with the business office understanding how the business operations of the institution with student affairs understanding student activities student housing and all of and all of those areas with enrollment management understanding that flow but that's not what our public see what our public see is the university and what we have to do as a university is figure out how to make those blends how to do those crosswalks so that our publics never see the scenes if a student or a parent or a a customer event at any level walks in a a a vendor walks into one of our offices and asks a question we have to commit to knowing enough about this institution that we can get that person to the person that can answer their question without giving them the impression that they're being run around to a group of of areas and nobody's really trying to figure out what the what the question is and what the appropriate answer should be we are a university we have when we talk about looking at our operations we're talking about blending our operations we're talking about knowing what happens over in other offices so when a an issue arises a person walks in says you don't have a question about x the answer is not well you need to go over to that office to do that the answer is listen let me make a phone call to my friend so and so and and I think we can get your answer there and if you have to go over there they'll be expecting you that's the kind of service really that's the kind of service that will make the difference in how people perceive us we've got to know enough about what happens and in each of our offices that we can make that work number five is about the the fiscal aspect of the the university you know we have a very very good fiscal staff I and I can't say this enough with all that has gone on with all the challenges that it is with city state university has faced with all of the changes that have taken place the group that handles the finances of the university now now I got to warn you you might not want to see how they make sausage but but they are good at what they do and and with someone who has has seen this work at other institutions it's no different at any other institution the reality is you've got to have people that know how to manage those accounts and know how to make things work for you and know how to explain what they did with every dollar to the the auditors and others that come in when they're asking how are you handling your money so it really is important that we take take a look at constantly getting better in those areas pillar six or goal six expand the educational opportunities through commitment to student centered culture and I'm going to stress this one just a little bit more in the sense that I asked my cabinet a month or so ago we took a cabinet meeting and I said tell me what the most important thing is what is the most important thing we do and we talked it around but at the end of the day the product that the world is looking to elizabeth city state university for is students the product that we turn out that people will judge us by more than anything else we do is students we've got some exciting things going on in some other areas and we will continue to expand areas in which we will have exciting things going on but the student experience is the thing that will make or break us we have to we have to absorb that into our thinking we have to think about how everything we do affects the student experience when we design curricula when we design student activities when we look at what students are doing outside of class but you know that the measure is they spend 20% of the time in class with the faculty and 80% somewhere else we've got to learn how to take advantage of that 80% and elevate the thinking and the work and the learning that takes place in that process so that student centered environment is going to be really important now I'm going to speed up a little bit because I'm going to talk about some things the the the reason I focus on communication so much in in my conversations is and it's a background story on this and I'll tell it tell it at some of the time it had to do with life or death situations that I was placed in but the reality is this we communicate a lot this campus communicates a lot you all talk a lot about what's going on at Elizabeth City State University we all do but what happens is the volume is turned up on the challenges and it tends to be turned down on the good news that's going on so what I want to do for just a few minutes is go through just quickly some of the kinds of things that happening in our environment that are really exciting and let me tell you at the end of this what I'm looking for is to encourage you because what's going to happen is I'm going to go through these these these next slides and you're going to say well why didn't you say something about my program here or why didn't you say something about the things we're doing over there what I want to ask you to do and we're going to to ask our media and and public relations area to gear up we're asking them to gear up and be ready for this we want you to start bringing those stories to us we want you to start calling us and letting us know when these good news stories are happening so that we can gather them so that Elizabeth City State University has a constant repository has a deep repository of good news stories and a constant outflow of the good news stories things that are happening in our environment when we start looking at this campus we look at the the research that's going on we're not known for our research as a campus but the work that Dr. Banerjee is doing over in cancer research is and has been doing for the last 16 years ago or so has established in in that particular area an area of excellence and what has happened out of that is that he's preparing cancer researchers that are going out and getting masters and doctoral degrees and working on significant cancer research around the country this is the Elizabeth City State University faculty doing this when we look at the work that we're doing with internationally the Kenya project has taken taken off literally and we're working with the Kenyan Wildlife Commission there trying to impact the the deadly impact or trying to affect the deadly impact of poaching in in the Kenya nature reserves worldwide people you set up late night and you watch the commercials and they want you to save the elephants and and and others but essentially what is happening is somebody has to monitor there has to be an effective way of looking at what the bad guys are doing in that environment and how the good guys can help mitigate that our faculty in aviation science applied for a department of justice grant and are working with the Kenyan wildlife's mission to to affect just that we are working to get lightweight planes into their use with the idea that they will know how both to fly them to service them and they will be used to monitor the game reserves at a at a whole higher level this is work internationally that Elizabeth City State University is doing we start looking at our students our product who are we turning out Alana Simmons now and this is a story about how tragedy can breed innovation Alana Simmons grandfather was in was one of the nine people killed at the Emmanuel African African American African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston South Carolina last year a family tragedy Alana made a decision that rather than being angry about it rather than being that than being victimized by that she would do something about it and she started putting together a series of workshops and going out seeing to people let's substitute understanding for hate let's find a way to work together through these things and and work with work through and with people to get things done in a more positive fashion uh Angelo Sharpless now I know people say okay you got somebody who is playing for the Harlem Globetrotters the historians in the audience know a little bit about the history of the Harlem Globetrotters and where they fit in the context of American basketball and where they fit as as ambassadors for the United States of America the Harlem Globetrotters is not just a basketball team they are an organization that travel globally and travel nationally to spread a word of of uh working together and playing together and they do it through laughter but the message behind the organization is coming together uh for a young man from Plymouth North Carolina to find his way onto the Harlem Globetrotters team is no small feat but his path was through Elizabeth City State University most of you had had had a chance to meet Warren Judge Warren Judge is the executive officer out at the Coast Guard base at this point now Warren Judge's story if you haven't heard it uh you need to find a way into his presence when he's talking about his growing up uh the the challenges that he faced uh the how he got to Elizabeth City State University in the first place and how Elizabeth City State University changed his life these are amazing stories these are great stories these are the examples these are the proof of concept of why an access institution is important in the University of North Carolina system uh Warren is a great friend he's a great friend to the University he's going to be a great asset to us as we try to to move forward as we continue to move forward in enhancing relationships with the Coast Guard base um Tyler Pryor Tyler Pryor came to Elizabeth City State University with the goal of becoming a Coast Guard pilot we were able to facilitate that goal through our ceasefire program through our connection with through our aviation science program through our connection with the Coast Guard Tyler found his way into the Coast Guard aviation program and I think the last sentence of on this particular slide is really important according to the office of Coast Guard recruitment command Pryor was the only one selected this year for the Wilkes Flight Initiative program that he went into we're turning out exceptional products we're turning out students that are going to continue to do exceptional things we need to let people know that and you need to know it uh do we do things that people in this city should and in this region should be coming to campus to enjoy uh one of the things and you all know that I I enjoy coming to the arts programs I think that's one of the the things the university can add that add to a a living environment a um a a a a a level of living that enhances the community and encourages others to want to be part of that community um we had put together on on this campus the um in this auditorium a concert and and I think the uh espinoza described it as an experiment uh you brought together different groups combined different musical ensembles combined them in different ways and did very different kinds of music uh you had works by Ravnell Schubert and um Vita Lova performed and then switched over to a jazz concert and and performed works by Horace Silver and Herbie Hancock and Duke Ellington uh this is a community that is growing in its appreciation and its understanding of the arts. Elizabeth City State University has a place in that growth and we need to look at how we invest in that growth. When I got here a year ago within oh probably the first 60 days I was here uh Maurice came to see me um those of you that have had the opportunity to uh those of you that have had the opportunity to teach Maurice uh know that he's a go getter he doesn't take no for an answer he's going to keep pushing he can't he he made an appointment with me and came to my office to pitch an idea he had I sent him back to the department because this is an innovative idea that uh that he's still pushing on that could develop an opportunity for the department to make money based upon or to bring in revenue based on the skill sets that they are teaching students to develop uh Maurice has started a a music company he has identified with students here at Elizabeth City State University who have significant talent in the arts and blended them with students who have significant talent in business and and uh communications he has put together a small entertainment company and is pushing that talent and building a business as an entrepreneur as he's completing his degree at Elizabeth City State University these are the kinds of things when when I say coming in we need to be teaching students not just how to get a job but how to create jobs this is an example of how that works we're looking to get this mobile science lab in the parking lot of every school in 21 counties that we are are serving currently or that we target but I would like to get it I have a goal to get it and into onto campuses in a much broader context a few weeks ago I did a little snippet that uh was put out online just introducing the fact that we had this mobile STEM lab available and I said to students uh I said if you're if you're a student or a parent who's interested in STEM and you'd like to to know more about this give a call and ask that this come talk to your school administrator and give a ask them to call and ask if it can come to visit all over Virginia Southern Virginia and and Eastern North Carolina we're starting to get calls now people I want to know when they can book this mobile STEM lab to come to their campus this excuse me this is a it's a rolling billboard if you will but it's packed with science our STEM uh in STEM opportunities and STEM blocking on the word it's experiences that takes those experiences and has the goal of creating a love of STEM among the students that are that we need to to uh both seed with that that love and recruit as students going forward for Elizabeth City State University one of the things that we have been able to do since we've been here is start to talk broadly in communities about uh what would be the role of Elizabeth City State University in the economic development conversation and what I found in listening to to in various communities and and to the the people who are responsible for the economic development in the area is that they need partners and what we can do that others can't do as well is we can convene we can pull together thinkers that can focus on challenges and proffer ideas about how to how to meet those challenges we can host meetings here where conversations can take place as relatively neutral ground for the counties that we would be trying to impact as a university if we act like a university if we do what we do to engage to educate to empower then what we we're we will find is that there is a very important place at the table in these community conversations for Elizabeth City State University uh one of the other things that that we've had as a a goal is to get more involved in the community uh the idea of getting uh getting to the community on to campus getting the campus into the community has found its way into a couple of of initiatives uh the the faith community came to us and a couple of members of the faith community came to us and asked us if we would allow them to do this stop hunger now initiative over in bond center a month or so ago we quickly agreed to allow that to happen and on one Sunday afternoon over 400 people came together in the bond center and packaged over 91 thousand meals that were sent to Haiti and other countries that where there are our nourishment needs around the world elizabeth city and elizabeth city state university was able again to have global impact because we came together as a community these are the kinds of projects we want to look at and continue to look at uh the Viking volunteer corporation when i walked in the door one of the first uh projects are one of the first proposals that that came to me was this idea of how do we organize that our campus community to participate with the the broader community in elizabeth city and pasco tank county uh so we the idea of this Viking volunteer uh group was was proffered and it turned out to be a an idea waiting for a a someone to initiate it we we found that our faculty our staff our students were willing volunteers all we needed was a system to connect the people who wanted to volunteer with the needs out there in the community this has become a very popular project in the community we've been in the process of working working to get additional partners to the table this particular transparency it when we signed the agreement with the coast guard we are are now and and it's important that you understand what this agreement this is a memorandum of understanding with the coast guard this is not the coast guard base this is the us coast guard we have a memorandum of understanding with them and we talk about the things we intend to provide for the coast guard we intend to provide coast guard families with the opportunity to continue their education here we want to be their educational institution of choice we are going after military affiliated students military affiliated families because we want them to see us as a viable option but what this MOU does is for those of you that are looking for opportunities to bring speakers in looking for examples of leadership looking for ways to to incorporate what's happening in in lifesaving and in all of the various areas that the coast guard gets involved in they are willing to provide us with with source our professionals SMEs to come in and speak in your classes to work with your students to be part of the Elizabeth City State University environment but for the faculty you've got to look at what it is they have that you think you can incorporate into your your system and then ask for those kinds of things because the MOU says they will go on the line and help us do that and we'll do this through Warren Judge he is very much committed to making sure that agreement works the Veterans Center we we brought that up we put some additional resources into to trying to make it work again we want to send a strong message our ranking went up this year among military friendly institutions we intend to continue to raise our rankings in that in those areas serving those who have served our country is an important part of what we do it is also an important part if you think historically the investment that the US has made in supporting its veterans has almost always elevated higher education institutions because as they seek those those educational benefits looking for the institutions that can provide them you're talking about a ready student with a ready source of income and what we have to do is provide them with the kinds of services that they need so this is a market that we are going after significantly we've also reestablished some relationships with some old friends at Halifax Community College at one point we had a very active remote teacher education program there we've gone in and now we've talked to them about reestablishing that teacher education program we're going to be delivering it at a distance and recruiting some of those students to main campus here we also will be working on establishing our criminal justice and social work programs they're teaching them both online and on-site instruction they're reaching out to the community college we're doing that with Halifax Community College we're doing something very similar with the Roanoke Chuman Community College and we're doing something very similar with the the Beaufort Community College reaching out to the community colleges delivering programs on their site recruiting their students to our campus does two or three things that's very important in this environment the North Carolina legislature is very much committed to lowering the cost of education for university students and their families much of what is done through the community college is what they're looking at as the as a way to do that one of the things that we need a second thing that we need is as we're looking to recruit students every every semester students are graduating from these community colleges and they're looking for a place to continue their education having these seamless connections to them having on-site relationships there having visibility having having the relationships if you will will allow us an edge on recruiting these students bringing those students here having been taught by faculty that are are part of our faculty make will make a huge difference in terms of their success rates at Elizabeth City State University it's been a busy year a lot of very good things have happened at Elizabeth City State University a lot of hard work has gone in you've done a lot of that hard work and we want you to know that that we appreciate it where do we go from here what we are asking you to do and first i'm going to go back to that original request i shared some some stories i think of good new stories these stories these stories are in repository on our webpage and we'll be looking for more and more opportunities to push them out but we need more stories we want you as you go go through the the process of your daily business as you see great things happening in your areas we want you to alert us to those happenings we want you to bring that good news to us so that we can have that constant stream of good news going out to the communities that we serve this is what we do and this and the way we will do it is continue to engage the communities both close in and at a distance we will continue to elevate the way we look at educating the charges that come to us we will look at innovation in education programs we will look at innovation in delivery we will look at ways of bringing in more diverse populations to be educated by the institution and then at what we know is if we're successful in doing that that we will be empowering the region that we're charged with as a regional university uh supporting we will have the opportunity to empower this region to grow economically in the ways we were originally charged to do so our mantra is going to be educate i'm sorry engage educate and empower and i think what i would add to that and i and again i i've boldly stole that from from buck bucknail uh but what i would add to that is that whatever challenges elizabeth city state university faces going forward both the current ones and the ones we will face going forward we will emerge through them as a result of our commitment to excellence that's who we are that's what we do thank you