Message from UA's president: A bright path ahead
Today, I had the privilege of representing The University of Akron before a national audience at the City Club of Cleveland. During that speech, I described my deeply held belief that public universities are essential to helping give more people the opportunity to achieve the American Dream. I also detailed a distinctive position for The University of Akron that will enable us to thrive as we move forward.
During the last 10 months, I’ve led extensive and thoughtful discussions with many constituencies – faculty, students, alumni, staff, donors, community and business leaders, and elected officials – to consider how we can grow in stature, attract more students, win more research dollars, generate more philanthropic support and better support the regional economy.
We realized we can best achieve those goals by leveraging the strengths already found throughout our university – career-focused academic programs in the sciences, arts and humanities; our deep connections to industry and community; applied and experiential learning; and our emphasis on critical thinking and complex problem solving.
When you add those elements together, it becomes clear that The University of Akron’s greatest strengths mirror those of some of the country’s great “polytechnic” universities – delivering excellent liberal and fine arts educations as well as preparing students for careers in sciences and technology, emphasizing the practical application of this knowledge across all programs.