Kent State President Beverly Warren delivers State of the University Address

In a State of the University Address on Oct. 13, President Beverly Warren discussed to a full audience in the Kent State Student Center Kiva the importance of diversity, a re-imagined public research university and the successes of students and faculty at the school.

“A university excels when its people excel,” Warren said in her address.

Warren expressed her thoughts on what exactly it means to be a public research university. She said that although there isn’t anything wrong with focusing on “boundary-breaking research,” that approach may not be the best propeller in “providing a high-quality higher education to the greatest number of individuals possible.”

State of the University Address 2016 from KentWired.com on Vimeo.

Measuring the university on criteria such as retention, graduation rates, quality of the student body, faculty compensation and student-faculty ratios, is important, Warren said. However, she also posed the question of focusing on additional criteria.

“What if we measure ourselves by other criteria—criteria that would focus on our vision of sparking epic thinking, meaningful voice and invaluable outcomes to better our society?” Warren said during her address.

From that inspiration, Warren said the administration is exploring with students in the First-Year Experience course on the idea of “defining a life mission and outlining purposeful life of meaning, along with the declaration of a major or intended area of academic focus.”

Ryan Gavalier, a freshman journalism major, said he liked hearing Warren’s optimism about the university, and getting to see students succeed.

Warren said that Kent State is capable of being that research university that has their arms open to students who want that chance to succeed, “regardless of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic background or ACT score.”

Warren also addressed the idea of “The Kent State Promise” in regards to the issues students face, with an emphasis on the cost of college.

“The tragedy is not so much that college costs lead to some level of personal debt but that many students incur this debt and never graduate, creating a cycle of debt from which many simply cannot recover,” Warren said.

She also stressed the importance of preparing Kent State students to meet the future challenges in the work field and make a difference in the world.

“We aspire to bring the totality of the resources and reach of one of the nation’s largest research universities to higher education’s most important outcome: more college graduates who have the skills, talent and desire to change the world,” Warren said.

Near the conclusion of her address, Warren discussed a university initiative introduced this semester called Dynamic Engagement and Education of Diverse Students, or DEEDS.

DEEDS calls for special attention to the campus climate to ensure every student is committed to success.

“More importantly, if we are to be true to our institutional “why” of illumination above all, we must commit to the success of all students,” Warren said.

@PresBWarren just gave her State of the University Address in the KIVA. Here's a brief overview of her speech. #JMCRPP @TV2KSU @kentwired pic.twitter.com/aDuWEItPCe

— Paige Katrinchak (@pkatrinchak) October 13, 2016

Warren touched on the awareness and importance of the university’s climate and culture, stating that Kent State is not immune to the troubling climate and the struggles occurring across the country and beyond.

“We must maintain a high standard of working through discord and adhering to an expectation of mutual respect and acknowledgement,” she said in her address.

In an interview after Warren’s address, she mentioned that in light of recent incidents that occurred on campus—such as the one involving the Spanish and Latino Student Association at the Oct. 1 Homecoming parade, who faced discriminatory chants that President-elect Donald Trump used in his campaign platform—it can make the community on edge about their safety, regardless of who they are.

“That started me thinking about how we can become a better world as Kent State,” she said. “We’ve had the SALSA incident, (and) our Black United Students have fulfilled that there’s not enough attention to the loss of young, black lives.”

Gavalier said that he felt diversity is important for students to understand in order to be able to appreciate everyone.

“If we don’t have the diversity like that, we could be ignorant to the people around us,” Gavalier said.

Warren said that it hits the campus directly.

“I just wanted to make sure that we’re all attending to this,” Warren said. “We can all be a part of a better world and it takes all of us.. working arm and arm with our brethren of color to make a better world.”