Now it's time to soar

Another school year has commenced, and I want to take this opportunity to say to all of our returning Falcon family – not just those who study or work at Fairmont State University, but also our area friends and supporters – welcome back to another exciting academic year.  And to new faculty, staff, students, and to folks who are new to the Fairmont region, welcome home! You’re now part of a great, large family – the Falcon family. 

The most important message that I can share with you today is simply to say: Thank you.  I want to thank each and every one of you - our faculty, our staff, our Board of Governors, our students, the Fairmont community and region, and our partners in industry. We have accomplished so much as a community over the past several months. Some of those victories are highly visible, such as receiving the largest gift from a living donor in school history or winning the MEC Championship in Acrobatics and Tumbling. Other accomplishments are quieter, or happen behind the scenes, but are definitely no less important -- things like greatly strengthening our financial stability, doubling the size of our marching band, or tripling bandwidth on campus.  

We have achieved some great things, and when I meet people, they sometimes ask me, “How did Fairmont State do it?” We did it by identifying our most basic and critical needs, and by working together to get those needs redressed as quickly as possible. 

For over a year, we’ve largely been focused on what I think of as foundational strengthening – shoring up, or establishing for the first time, fundamental processes and initiatives that are foundational to the long-term stability of this institution.  We’ve tirelessly addressed foundational needs in areas such as assessment, finance, and recruiting and retention. 

But now that we’ve created a more stable foundation upon which to build, it’s time to for us to start imagining a better, sustainable future for Fairmont State University. This process will necessitate a more deliberate pace; one that continues to encourage collaborative input and allows us to map out and assess our progress. 

This is the approach we’re taking with three campus-wide initiatives such as ensuring our assessment goals related to the Higher Learning Commission (our accrediting body) are properly identified and measured, improving our retention, and increasing our enrollment through expanded recruiting strategies. We’ll pursue these goals with a more deliberate pace that will assure that we create efficient, effective strategies and get things right the first time, so we can really take off. 

We’re positioning ourselves to thrive.  We have stabilized our foundation and now it’s time to not just ‘get by,’ but to thrive as an institution.  We have the opportunity to build this university in the image of our dreams – one that serves and provides the necessary skills to this new generation of learners.  

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Falcons soar. That’s what we were born to do. So, as we start this academic year, I’ve asked the entire Falcon Family to ask themselves: Are they soaring? What does ‘soaring’ mean to them? What does it mean for their programs? For our students?  My goal is to create plans and support strategies that enable everyone to take flight. 

I really believe that’s why we’re all here at Fairmont State – to help each other soar.  We’ve accomplished much in the past year because faculty, staff, students, alumni, legislators, the community, donors, industry leaders – they all believed that dreams will become reality right here, at Fairmont State.  We’re just getting started and I sincerely believe the best is yet to be.  

Thank you!

More about Fairmont State University’s accomplishments can be found by watching this video: www.fairmontstate.edu/midyearvideo

Dr. President Mirta MartinOpinionOpEd