MU Vision

[MUWhistler]

A very small, but important, article about the new Vision that MU has adopted under Father P and the Board. There are several important aspects in this announcement:

1) Raising the academic profile of MU - We are currently ranked 83 and the goal is to get in the top quarter? That's an amazing jump that will take several years of committed investment to do. I've actually been hearing about this for awhile from a friend who works in the Administration. Fr. Wild focused on the physical aspects of MU, but Father P is focusing on the academic. To be honest, that might be a source of friction between him and some alumni. Academics isn't the sexy thing that people see and can appreciate when driving down Wisconsin Avenue. I also believe this focus on academics has a direct correlation to the increased standards put on the athletes, including why it will be harder to accept JUCOs in the future.

2) Service - this is always something that I think MU does really well and welcome an even greater focus on it in the future.

3) Leveraging brand of athletics - The administration gets it. They know that athletics provides a huge advertising platform to get the Marquette name out there. They will continue to invest in the things that make MU so successful, like top notch facilities and large recruiting budgets. Now, I'm sure there will be some comments like, "then show Buzz some love and pay the man" type things. I think we all would like to see MU do everything they can, but we have to be honest and say nobody or institution can do everything all the time. The positive I take from the statement is that we will never go back to the "Dukiet" years where the brand suffered and MU did not invest in athletics.

It is a long way to go for MU to achieve this Vision. But I love the boldness and confidence to put it out there and say we will achieve it. I look forward to seeing the actions that make it happen over the next several years. Makes me proud to be an MU alum.

[Phantom Warrior]

MU has already raised its "academic profile" over the last decade. It is already situated in the "top quarter" of national universities.

That profile can still improve, of course, and I have no problem with that goal.

That being said, if the present administration believes MU will eventually reach the same level of public perception/stature that Goergetown or Notre Dame have achieved, that just ain't gonna happen.

[Goose85]

That being said, if the present administration believes MU will eventually reach the same level of public perception/stature that Goergetown or Notre Dame have achieved, that just ain't gonna happen.

One great way to raise the academics is to have a very successful basketball team. That raises the awareness of your university and in the past has increased the number of applications. Normally with increased applications comes a higher cutoff when accepting students.

Quick story - while enroute with my family to our spring break destination I was in a hotel in Birmingham AL. I was wearing a MU t-shirt, and there was a couple with kids on the elevator with me (they were not from midwest). First thing the woman says is your school really messed up my brackets. We joked about our brackets and the tourney and then talked about MU hoops and MU. This happened a few other times on the trip as well (I was not wearing the same shirt). Such things stand out to me as how the success of MU hoops not only raises awareness of the university, but also interest in the university as well.

[dubs98]

why so definitive with that statement. if you want to make a bball analogy, that sounds a lot like what kevin oneal said about MU hoops making more of a national splash I believe.

"That being said, if the present administration believes MU will eventually reach the same level of public perception/stature that Goergetown or Notre Dame have achieved, that just ain't gonna happen."

[MU88]

Top quarter meant top 50. The goal really hasn't changed. Under Wild, the goal was to become a top 3 Jesuit university. Georgetown is 21, BC is 31 and Fordham is 58 (it slipped a little). So, the academic goal is really unchanged.

BTW, new buildings and facilities are a major factor in academic rankings. I have been told that MU's suffers in these types of rankings because of the peer reviews it receives from many of the east coast schools. Look at the top 100 list. With some very notable exceptions, the list is made up of large public universities and east coast public/private universities. (Look at the regional list, it is even more slanted to the east coast)

As a side note, is Clark University (a liberal arts college with 2300 kids which no one outside of the northeast ever heard of) really a national university? It might be a great school, but it is really more national than the Naval Academy or Colgate? In short, I think these rankings are a sham. The title of the list should be something like the list of the most selective schools which are approved of by academics.

Leveraging sports? Not sure what that means. Basketball is a given. But to really leverage athletics to advertise the university, you need to add more sports, and in particular, more sports which have fans. Lacrosse was a nice add, don't get me wrong. However, adding hockey, baseball and even non-scholarship football would greatly expand the name recognition of the university.

[MU88]

why so definitive with that statement. if you want to make a bball analogy, that sounds a lot like what kevin oneal said about MU hoops making more of a national splash I believe.

"That being said, if the present administration believes MU will eventually reach the same level of public perception/stature that Goergetown or Notre Dame have achieved, that just ain't gonna happen."

Notre Dame was not always considered the academic powerhouse it is today. ND really surged in these types of rankings over the past 30 years or so. You can thank football, NBC, and their fantastic development program.

[ValiantSailor]

Notre Dame was not always considered the academic powerhouse it is today. ND really surged in these types of rankings over the past 30 years or so. You can thank football, NBC, and their fantastic development program.

Perhaps true, but their attitude has been just as arrogant for a lot longer than 30 years!

VS

[TheSultan]

One of the things that bugs me about this is that if you ask 10 college presidents about what vision they have for their school, probably 8 or 9 of them would say "increase academic profile." Now of course that isn't necessarily bad...but it isn't automatically a good thing. Every school should excel within their mission and use their resources accordingly. But not every school's mission can be to be a top academic institution. I just worry that the more MU goes down this path, and considering it doesn't have the resources that the schools ahead of them do, that it might not be possible....and in the process becomes unrecognizable to those associated with the school.

[TedBaxter]

One of the things that bugs me about this is that if you ask 10 college presidents about what vision they have for their school, probably 8 or 9 of them would say "increase academic profile." Now of course that isn't necessarily bad...but it isn't automatically a good thing. Every school should excel within their mission and use their resources accordingly. But not every school's mission can be to be a top academic institution. I just worry that the more MU goes down this path, and considering it doesn't have the resources that the schools ahead of them do, that it might not be possible....and in the process becomes unrecognizable to those associated with the school in the process.

Very good point.