President Penelope W. Kyle pledged to continue listening to and learning from a broad spectrum of university constituents before a standing room only crowd at the annual fall convocation.

She presented an overview of her efforts to gather input and win support for RU since her appointment to the presidency in March and said “What I have learned has only strengthened both my commitment to leading Radford University and my steadfast belief that there is a solid foundation in teaching and learning here that should validate the role of this institution in Virginia’s system of higher education.”

Responses to a survey she sent to more than 200 university stakeholders has identified some of RU’s strengths as:

• Dedicated, talented and caring faculty and staff,
• Strong student and faculty interactions,
• Strong sense of community,
• Focus on teaching and learning,
• Relatively small size and personal touch to students
• Beauty, safety and serenity of campus.

“We all must work together and identify our core values and then begin a visioning process together,” Kyle said. “ What we determine that Radford is and should be will be a collective effort by not only those of us in this room, but also by representatives of all of our constituencies.

President Kyle, who took office June 1, announced that, pending Board of Visitors approval, she would create a new Provost position and launch a national search to find the most qualified candidate. She also announced a major goal of “moving the University to an enhanced group of peer institutions by developing additional masters, applied doctoral, and first professional graduate programs and through strategic enrollment planning and management.”

Describing the faculty as the “heartbeat” of the university, Kyle said “I will not try to run Radford totally like a business -- there are areas of our institution that can be improved with the application of principles from the corporate world, but there is no corporate model, of which I am aware, that accounts for faculty and teaching. I know that what you do is the very essence of what we are all about -- teaching, educating our students. I want to work with you collaboratively. I need your advice and expertise and I will continue to ask for it.”

For the full text of President Kyle’s speech see:
http://www.radford.edu/president/convocation05.html