BGSU president outlines new initiatives in annual address
9/17/2013
Bowling Green State University President Mary Ellen Mazey gives her 2013 State of the University address in the Donnell Theatre at the Wolfe Center for the Arts in Bowling Green, Tuesday, September 17, 2013.
BOWLING GREEN -- Bowling Green State University President Mary Ellen Mazey gave the annual "State of the University Address" today, celebrating the university's 103 years, highlighting recent accomplishments on campus, and detailing several new planned initiatives.
Speaking to hundreds of attendees at the Donnell Theatre at the Wolfe Center for the Arts, Ms. Mazey also acknowledged challenges BGSU faces, including a rise in student debt.
"Simply put, the current operating model for higher education and Bowling Green State University is unsustainable," she said.
Ms. Mazey mentioned a planned dual enrollment partnership with Owens Community College, which would save students some in tuition. She also said the university needed to find new funding streams, since money from the state has shrunk in recent years.
The university is planning a major capital campaign that could be officially announced next summer. Key projects that could be funded would be a new business school, endowments for one or more colleges, and endowments for dozens of professorships and 1,000 student scholarships. University officials would not give estimates for the total campaign target, but the combined cost estimates of the individual projects could be more than $100 million.