The Student Association held the State of the SA address last week, highlighting the outlook for the future of both the SA and the student body at Mississippi State.
SA President JR Love said the future will be about involving everyone and working together as a team.
“I’m honored to serve as SA president,” he said. “We’ve got the best student body in the state.”
Programs like Bulldog Bash, which began seven years ago with only a few hundred attendees and has blossomed into a 40,000-person event, will set the stage for the future, he said.
“Students want to come here,” he said.
An SA cabinet member started the movement that would lead to the university building The Junction, he said.
“Progress is being made for the finest student Union around, and we have students to thank for that,” Love said.
Now, the SA wants to focus on students serving Starkville. The city allows the university to put on such events as Bulldog Bash, he said.
“It’s our duty to show them service back,” he said.
During the evening, Love emphasized the words our, us, and we, because he said he believes the student body must work as a team.
“This is not my Student Association. This is our Student Association,” he added.
Since taking the helm as the new president of MSU, Robert “Doc” Foglesong has begun a strategic review of the university in order to identify its goals.
“When you go into an organization, you ought to decide where you want to go and then ask everyone else,” he said.
The strategic review, which incorporated all the departments and sections of the university, became known as FutureSTATE 2015, and this plan should set the general course for MSU for the next 10 years, he said.
“This should come as no surprise to you that our No. 1 goal is student growth,” Foglesong said.
The university is a land grant institution and research is a huge part of the school, but the key to all of this is students. The university wants to provide a quality education and a great academic degree to all students, he said.
“I haven’t met anyone who did not say our students are employable immediately,”he added.
One part of student growth will be providing not only education but also life skills, Foglesong said.
“We’re going to emphasize, at least during my tenure, leadership and character development,” he said.
These goals will set the stage for the types of programs the university will provide, such programs as the Appalachian Leadership program. The university is also working on providing a minor in leadership, he said.
“We want you sitting at the head of the table,” Foglesong said.
The year has gotten off to a great start, SA VicePresident Lee Weiskopf said. The SA has put on huge events like Bulldog Bash, but now it is time for a change of pace, SA vice president Lee Weiskopf said.
“Now, it’s going to be about branching out and getting more specific,” he said.
The SA will focus on several issues such as academic forgiveness and teacher evaluations in the next few months, Weiskopf said.
“Time will tell that this [SA]administration will be one of the more active one,” he said.