Kent State President Lester Lefton presented his ''state-of-the-university'' address to students, faculty and the public on Tuesday afternoon at the KSU Student Center. Lefton shared the progress of his first 14 months at KSU and his goals for the future.

Thank you, Trustee Ferrara. The fact that you are here speaks to the strong interest in and deep commitment to Kent State shared by the Board of Trustees. The board's engaged and effective leadership is one of many reasons that today is a great day to be at Kent State. In fact, it's going to be a great year to be at Kent State.

Author Max DePree wrote, ''The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you.'' I certainly agree that my role as president compels me to monitor, analyze and communicate internal and external realities as I see them. In fact, the latter is my primary goal for this speech. But I find myself so filled with appreciation that my thank yous must come first.

I'll start with thanks that can never be expressed adequately in words: My gratitude for having such a wonderful wife. involvement in Kent State activities is extensive: She entertains, roots for teams, opens our home, and is a bigger supporter for Kent State than anyone can imagine. Her friendship and support not to mention her accepting that evening and weekend commitments are part of the presidential territory are precious constants in my life.

Next, I must thank the faculty and staff. Although the academic year is just a few weeks old, we have had significant, positive momentum in our favor. This is due in large part to the dedicated work of many faculty and staff members across our eight campuses. Your individual and collective efforts allow me to report that we have improved retention this year; we have a robust first-year class with the best qualifications ever; and we have set records in areas from applications to extramural funding.

I also want to extend my genuine thanks to the extended Kent State community for making my freshman year as president such a positive and productive experience. I've spent the last 14 months asking questions, listening, reading everything from Ohio history to economic forecasts, and becoming intimately acquainted with Ohio's unofficial symbol: the construction cone.

I've made multiple visits to each of our Regional Campuses; I've met with Northeast Ohio education, business, civic and political leaders; I've traveled to scores of alumni, fund-raising and recruiting events nationwide; and, of course, I've gotten to know many of Kent state's gifted and giving faculty, staff, and students. In the process, my belief that Kent State is ready, willing, and able to achieve new levels of excellence has been intensified and solidified.

it's been rewarding to find that so many members of our community share the vision of Kent State as a bastion of academic excellence, student success, and community engagement. In short, there are a great many of us who are confident that Kent State can go from believing to achieving. That confidence is rooted in:

Talented faculty members who are committed to keeping the liberal arts and sciences at the heart of a Kent State education;

A commitment on the part of our trustees, my administrative team, and the faculty to ensure academic freedom is at the core of this university;

and in dynamic and dedicated students undergraduate and graduate who are making positive marks on the world long before they graduate.

Our confidence also lies in loyal and generous alumni the world over who support their alma mater in word and deed;

In astute and forward-looking team of executive officers, faculty and administrative leaders, university trustees, and other volunteer leaders who want to ensure the future of our students, our university, and our state;

and in the many advantages of being an eight-campus system that spans a region rich in human, physical, cultural, and intellectual resources.

Last but certainly not least, our unshakable confidence in Kent State is rooted in our multi-talented staff members - the often-unsung heroes and heroines who keep our campuses operating at full tilt year-round. I appreciate their deeply personal attachments to the campuses at which they work - some for decades. Their dedication has been a critical constant that keeps Kent State moving forward.

Kent state's forward motion is the reason I stand here today. I want to speak directly to the university community about where weave been and where we're going, with an emphasis on the latter.

That emphasis requires that we answer at least three questions:

First, ''How do we meet the changing needs of our students, while at the same time meeting the needs of our region and all of our many concerned constituents?'' I contend that these are not mutually exclusive goals. In fact, they are mutually reinforcing goals.

Second: ''In an environment that promises significant change for public higher education in Ohio, what must we do to ensure our ability to compete, succeed, and excel as an institution?''

And a fundamental third: ''How do we make every student a success story at Kent State?''

I believe that the answers to these complex questions lie in six characteristics that are features of all great public universities. They are:

One: a commitment to pursuing academic excellence;

Two: a commitment to nurturing student success;

Three: a commitment to sharing the joy of learning;

Four: a commitment to upholding and improving access and affordability;

Five: a commitment to generating path-breaking ideas; and

Six: a commitment to fostering partnerships in the public good. Many of you heard me discuss these commitments in my inaugural speech last April. Today, I'll expound on what I believe we can accomplish together by putting them at the heart of everything we do at Kent State from formulating research projects to formulating cafeteria menus; from planting ideas in our classrooms to planting and preserving trees on our campuses; and from promoting the economic health of our region to promoting the physical health of our employees.

If you've heard me speak during the last year, or read my weekly e-mails to the community, you know my view that even this is not enough to realize the vision of a world-class university. As we bring these six commitments to life, we must adhere to the highest academic and professional standards. We must keep the needs of those we serve foremost in mind. We must put excellence into action every day.

let's consider our most important duty: teaching. We can all be proud that Kent state's faculty comprises many master teachers - academic artists who inspire as they instruct; who exhibit creativity, caring and a passion for their disciplines every time they teach. I propose changing that ''many'' to ''all.'' Doing so would be the most fundamental and far-reaching improvement we could make one that will improve lives as it boosts our enrollment, retention, and graduation rates.

What does it mean to bring excellence to every classroom, laboratory, studio, stage, and library? It may mean offering one more example to a student whose face indicates the ''I've got it'' light bulb hasn't switched on. It may mean reaching out to that student after class and offering an additional reference or continued conversation over coffee. It may mean injecting humor into a discussion that's veering into the land of the tedious. It may mean fanning creative sparks into flames when all you really want is an actual fan to cool an auditorium. Just ask Professor Teri Kent, who works with students at Porthouse Theatre in oppressive heat. It may mean using technology tools when a picture is worth a thousand words. Just ask Professor Jim Blank, who helps his students understand cell functioning with a special projection system that shows cell structures in exquisite, 3-D detail.

I would also note that there is direct link between superb teaching and superb scholarship and creative activity. Just ask the students of Dr. Owen Lovejoy, who flock to Kent State from across the country. They want to study human origins through the lens of his world-renowned expertise in biological anthropology.

I have said it before as has columnist Tom Friedman but it bears repeating: Our students must be able to succeed in a global society, one in which their co-workers and competitors will be graduates not only of local universities, but also of the Sorbonne, Oxford, and Tokyo University. We would therefore be negligent if we did not put academic excellence and a myriad of ideas and people at their fingertips. That starts with teaching.

Of course, teaching excellence and excellence in all forms of scholarship is the result of much more than professional passion. On rare and mystical occasions, it results from a brilliant flash of insight. But those donut come down the professorial pike every day. Most great scholars are also great examples of the Protestant work ethic. Translation: Excellence is almost always derived through good, old-fashioned hard work.

The fruits of hard work on Kent state's campuses fill the pages of this yearns president's Report, which is hot off the press today and available online (www.kent.edu/Administration/President/upload/presreport0607.pdf). Many points of pride in the report reflect another universal trait of great public universities: an abiding commitment to the success of all students.

At the most basic level, we can define student success as the timely completion of degrees an area where we have much room for enhancement. Fostering student success also requires working with and mentoring students one-on-one. A great university is not solely a source of disciplinary knowledge. Many of our students come to us as part of their personal journeys of self-discovery, self-understanding, and self-acceptance.

This brings me to a critical component of the student success challenge one that I believe our community must acknowledge and address with a sense of urgency.

During my initial year of observations and conversations, it became apparent that some of our students especially those from underrepresented groups do not feel the welcoming embrace they deserve as members of our community. In today's society one in which our students must be able to compete and collaborate with people of all backgrounds we cannot tolerate cultural insensitivity by commission or by omission.

Our work to build and celebrate diversity affects employees as well as students. We should all be proud that Kent State has become a successful incubator for outstanding women faculty and staff as well as faculty and staff of color. But, in too many cases and one is too many, as far as IBM concerned these members of our community take significant academic and administrative jobs elsewhere. Over the years, accomplished colleagues have seized opportunities with greater financial rewards and/or greater prestige than we can offer at present. that's to be expected. But IBM concerned that some may have left because they never quite felt at home.

This is frustrating because ours is a warm and considerate community. But we have to ensure that everyone experiences that. This is not something we can accomplish through administrative channels. Each of us has a personal role to play in creating a welcoming and inclusive environment on our campuses. In my role as president, IBM pleased to announce that a substantial, special fund is being created to facilitate the recruitment and retention of students and faculty from underrepresented groups I ask each of you to do your part however you may see it to make our community as inclusive and friendly as possible. In the words of cleric and civil rights leader Desmond Tutu: ''Do your little bit of good where you are. it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.''

Speaking of overwhelming, I want to touch on another aspect of student success that demands immediate attention: the fact that, too often, the pathway to degree completion is often laden with bumps, detours, and delays. Our Liberal Education Requirements the LERs are complicated; transfers between departments and colleges can be cumbersome; and scheduling classes can be exasperating for students with job and family responsibilities.

The good news is that our curricula and class schedules are not set in stone. We created them, and we can change them. Specifically, we need to make them more student-friendly. Toward that end, I've called on Dr. Robert Frank, our new senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. I've asked him to lead a major initiative to ensure that Kent State offers straightforward and seamless pathways to graduation. This includes providing all students with the highest-quality advising. Provost Frank will soon share his plans for this important initiative.

Ironing out bureaucratic wrinkles and helping students navigate the first legs of their life journeys directly or indirectly are among the many reasons that working in an academic community is rewarding. Across my career, I've visited universities in a number of countries. I've seen firsthand that American higher education is unique for the level of engagement that is possible between faculty and staff members and their students. None of us should take for granted the opportunities this creates for sharing the joy of learning.

Let each of us administrators, faculty and staff alike encourage our students to explore Kent state's remarkable range of academic and cultural resources. let's communicate the fact that discovery and creative expression are not just pursuits that can strengthen a knowledge base, expand a world view, and nourish a soul. let's share the well-kept secret that they can be fun that producing a research paper can be as exciting as producing a game-winning touchdown; that breathtaking elegance can be found in our fashion school and in our department of mathematical sciences. As we infuse our community with excitement about learning, we will not only help our students, we will help ourselves.

The same is true of our efforts to keep a Kent State education as affordable and accessible as possible.

As you know, Governor Strickland and the Ohio Legislature have addressed the state's record of anemic support for higher education with an injection of new funds. Their support allowed indeed required Kent State to freeze tuition this year. that's likely to have played a part in the record number of applications we received for this semester. But it's far from the whole story.

Word is getting out about the excellence that already exists across our campuses. Prospective students and their families may have seen news coverage about our many faculty innovations and awards. They may have seen Kent State recognized as one of the best universities in the Midwest by the Princeton Review. They may have seen us named one of the nation's best universities public or private by Washington Monthly. And they may have noticed that we were the only public university in the region moved to a higher tier in U.S. News and World report's rankings.

Yet we need to be more proactive in blowing our higher-ed horn. Compared to other universities, our marketing and advertising efforts are modest. Within the bounds of fiscal reality, that will change this year. In particular, we'll work to build on our recent success in enrolling students from outside our region and outside our state. Our new special target markets include Ohio communities outside of northeastern Ohio, as well as Chicago, New Jersey, Virginia, and northern Maryland.

There is much more we can do to attract qualified students and let me emphasize the word ''qualified.'' Too many students come to us ill-equipped for university-level studies. Not surprisingly, these students often donut make it to their sophomore year, let alone to graduation. IBM proud to note that Kent State is doing a great deal to change this. A shining example is Web-Based Mathematics Education, a promising project to improve math education. The project which brings together faculty from our Institute for Computational Mathematics; department of Teaching, Leadership and Curriculum Studies; and department of Visual Communication Design delivers hands-on math education via the Web to K-12 classrooms in a number of local schools.

We must do more to ensure that today's elementary and high-school students are college ready. Most notably, we must expand our efforts to train teachers prospective teachers as well as current classroom teachers in the best ways to provide their students with a head start on higher education. By equipping teachers with this vital information, we improve the odds that a broader range of students will find their way to our campuses. Accordingly, we shall form a special task force to explore ways to reach out to the P-16 community to help them better prepare students for college level work. This is not just a smart thing to do, it's the right thing. Last, but not least, by streamlining our admissions process and creating more convenient class schedules, we'll also improve affordability students wont have to stick around for an extra semester or two to find spots in those last required classes.

You wont be surprised to hear me say that, at Kent State, improvements in access and affordability will never be made by sacrificing excellence. In my conversations on all our campuses and across our region, it's clear that the people of Ohio don't want that trade off, either. Along with our governor and a growing group of legislators, they understand that Ohio needs more excellence:

We need more outstanding teachers like Kent State Molly Merryman and Ken Bindas. As co-teachers of a class on the civil rights movement, they challenged students to film area residents of color who lived through the turbulent 1950s and '60s. With help from Dr. Joe Murray, of our School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and narration from student Paula Johnson, the result was a powerful documentary that aired on our regional PBS station.

We need more stellar students like Honors College graduate and current doctoral student David Taylor. His research on residential housing for honors students was just published in a national journal.

We need more superb artists like Professor Janice Lessman-Moss. The international art community knows her as a brilliant fiber artist. Students know her as a generous teacher. And our academic community knows her as a colleague worthy of the university's highest award for scholarship.

We need more selfless staff like the volunteer members of Kent State United for the Gulf Coast. Under the leadership of faculty members like Dr. George Garrison and Dean Gary Padak, they've devoted countless hours to rebuilding communities ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.

And we need more innovators like chemistry Professor Chun-che Tsai. His name is on patent applications for two revolutionary anti-tumor drugs. One seems to work particularly well for skin cancers, and one holds promise in the treatment of prostate cancer.

This leads me directly to the remaining goals that I articulated in my inaugural speech: cultivating path-breaking ideas; and expanding our multi-faceted efforts to serve the public good. These aspirations are linked inextricably to each other, and to Kent state's future. When the virtuoso ideas of researchers like Dr. Tsai spawn new products, services, technologies, and companies, they serve society in a myriad ways from the creation of jobs and tax revenues to improvements that can enhance lives and, as you heard, even save them.

And so I say to Kent State faculty members in every discipline: Seek truth and pursue it. If your current work or work you dream of attempting has patent potential, I ask you to pursue it with vigor through the Office of Technology Transfer and Economic Development. it's imperative that you pursue every available avenue of grant funding. Federal grant funding is not an end in itself; however, it is a vehicle that allows for scholarship for our faculty and our students. When a researcher obtains a federal grant project, it supports graduate and undergraduate education and scholarship ultimately, it helps us all. I therefore have asked Vice President for Research John West to work with the faculty toward a significant increase in grant applications. We think an increase of 200 is an ambitious, but realistic goal for this year.

As I see it, Northeast Ohio deserves a public research university of the first tier1/3the public equivalent of private Case Western Reserve University. Kent State has the capacity to assume that mantle. We can be a public research university with which students and faculty nationwide will seek to affiliate. Working toward and achieving that goal will yield enormous benefits1/3benefits that justify a greater investment in our research mission. Accordingly, I've asked the Provost to work with the Deans to develop an action plan for hiring faculty with proven track records in scholarship, creative activity and especially generating federal funding.

Kent State can and will become a magnet for world-class faculty and high-achieving students in Northeast Ohio and beyond. This, in turn, will cause a well-deserved domino effect, including enhanced retention and graduation rates, and a much stronger case to make when we seek grant funding and private donations in the arts, humanities, and sciences.

Achieving this goal and each of the goals I've discussed today requires a willingness to see and move beyond the status quo. I believe it's imperative that we do more to create flexible disciplinary boundaries boundaries that allow faculty to join intellectual forces in exciting, new ways. The history of the academy is replete with stories of faculty who have had a tougher row to hoe because their work was interdisciplinary. And yet, interdisciplinary scholarship is at the forefront of the best minds. Although we can boast a number of inter-disciplinary success stories including the math-education and team-teaching projects I noted earlier it's a frustrating fact that faculty in some disciplines don"t talk to and, indeed, barely know colleagues in other disciplines. We have too much talent and ingenuity to allow that potential to go unexplored. Today, I ask for the formation of an ad hoc faculty task force to explore creative approaches to interdisciplinarity at the graduate and undergraduate levels. I will be asking leaders of the Faculty Senate to spearhead this task force.

For the record, I believe that faculty who understand that ''no discipline is an island'' should be recognized and rewarded for collaborating across departments, colleges, and campuses. Great universities should operate as true meritocracies. As we build a culture of accomplishment and excellence, we must reward individuals and units that perform at the highest standards. it's the American way, and it should be our way much more consistently.

Faculty are not the only members of our community whose potential may be impeded by disciplinary isolation. Too often, we label and limit students on the basis of their majors and minors. We need to allow our students greater flexibility ''not only to finish their degrees in a timely manner, but also to create customized degree programs. I trust my faculty colleagues to work with students to design unique courses of study programs that have intellectual integrity but may not fit into a traditional major-minor framework.

Again, we can join together and reject policies and practices that no longer serve the best interests of the university and our many stakeholders especially our students. And we can replace them with new approaches that will propel us to the great day when our extraordinary potential is realized fully.

My friends, the fact is that new approaches are coming our way whether we initiate them or not. By now you've heard about Governor creation of the University System of Ohio. It is an effort to create a more unified higher education system one that leverages the individual and collective strengths of Ohio's public universities, community and technical colleges, medical school consortium, adult career centers, and adult basic literacy programs. Chancellor Eric Fingerhut will submit a range of related recommendations early next year. His initial conversations and thoughts are still embryonic. It's too soon to predict what they will be and how they will affect Kent State. Yet, the writing is on the wall of every Ohio campus: there'll be some changes.

At this point I can tell you that I've met with the chancellor several times, privately and with fellow public university presidents. IBM working carefully and conscientiously to shine a spotlight on Kent state's unique strengths and to ensure that the changes on the horizon allow us to maximize our role as one of Ohio's ''four-corner'' universities. Let me stress to you, as I have to Ohio's political and education leaders:

Kent State University shall be a magnet for high-achieving students in Northeast Ohio and beyond.

Our mission is that of a traditional, selective, residential, public research university.

Yet there is more to Kent state's mission because of our major presence across Northeast Ohio. Thus, our mission also includes providing open access on our seven Regional Campuses - especially to serve local communities.

As the chancellor formulates a 10-year plan for public higher education, the reconvened University Strategic Planning Committee is also looking to the future. Chaired by Dr. Cheryl Casper, the committee is updating and fine-tuning Kent state's mission, vision, and core values statements. This semester, a subcommittee will produce draft recommendations and submit them to the full committee, Faculty Senate, me, and, ultimately, the Board of Trustees. Once these results are approved, I will ask the provost to lead a faculty-driven process to develop a fully aligned strategic plan for academics.

My hope is that the plan will be bold and forward thinking; that, ultimately, it will lead to the day when Kent State is known for its cathedrals of academic and artistic excellence; when our graduates are distinctive in the state, national and global marketplace for their intellectual and professional prowess; and to the day when Kent State shines luminously in Northeast Ohio and beyond. As we put such a plan into action, we will develop into a nimble, forward-looking, student-centered university1/3a model for public higher education in the ways we incorporate research, international programs and projects, and interdisciplinary scholarship and creative activity into our daily academic lives.

At the end of the day, the cornerstone of any great university is a great undergraduate program. Continuing to invest in cutting-edge research, scholarship, and creative activity and doing so as we build the kind of learning environment that distinguishes our nation's outstanding liberal arts colleges can achieve this. How do we build this optimum learning environment? First, we must recruit and retain the best faculty and students we can. Second, we must institute a flexible curriculum. Third, we must maximize internships and mentoring programs. Fourth, we must fully exploit information technology to advance learning. And last, we must support professional-development opportunities for faculty and staff to ensure that they are fully equipped for success in a first-tier learning environment. We should settle for nothing less.

Our institutional introspection can only help us as we face changes mandated by the state; changes required to keep competitive; and changes compelled by the needs of our students and others who feel so passionately about Kent State. Kent State already is a nationally recognized university in many disciplines and domains because of our gifted faculty, innovative approaches to teaching and learning, and our leadership in applying research to real-world problems. But no strategic plan, mission statement, or list of goals can ensure the future we visualize. You - faculty, staff, students past and present, and academic and administrative leaders are the living, breathing keys to Kent state's success.

With that in mind, I ask you to join me in three related commitments:

First, I ask that you do your part to make every student a Kent State success story.

Second, I ask you to keep an open mind as we seek ways to become more flexible from pursuing discovery across disciplines, to offering students greater curricular options, to ensuring professional-development options for our staff.

And, once again, I ask every member of our community to strive for excellence in everything you do, every day. Let this be our mantra: ''Pursue excellence in all things.''

John Gardner, founder of the citizens' rights group Common Cause, observed: ''History never looks like history when you are living through it. It always looks confusing and messy, and it always feels uncomfortable.'' I believe that the most exciting chapters in Kent state's history are ours to write together chapters that will be so far-reaching and rewarding that they will be worth the discomfort that almost always accompanies change.

As we look to our centennial and beyond, it strikes me as proper that one of the best-known symbols of Kent State is the golden eagle. These majestic creatures represent freedom, strength, and courage. They live in the highest trees and cliff walls. They can see for miles. And they are masters at soaring.

The time is right for Kent State to soar. With eagle-like courage and a clear vision of our future, we can reach new heights of excellence, student success, innovation and service. I look forward to the ride.

Colleagues and friends, thank you and good afternoon.