Rising to the Challenge |
President Counsels Good Stewardship of
State’s Preeminent Mission
When Dr. Daniel W. Rahn assumed MCG’s presidency six years ago, tremendous changes were altering the landscape of every aspect of the university’s operation.
Today, even bigger change is afoot—and the university must be nimble and innovative to not just adapt, but to excel, according to President Rahn.
“If we keep doing the same things we have always done, we will get what we already have,” President Rahn said during his 2007 State of the University Address Sept. 6. “To address new challenges, we will have to approach our work, our professional lives and our mission with new strategies.”
Those challenges include costly faculty turnover in a highly competitive market; National Institutes of Health funding that is not keeping pace with inflation; workforce shortages in many health professions but growing costs in expanding the ranks; and inadequate resources to treat the uninsured and fund trauma services.
“The change that confronts us is acute and escalating,” President Rahn said. “Our challenge, our opportunity, our responsibility is to not simply adapt, but to lead in a challenging environment.”
MCG has a proud history of rising to formidable challenge, President Rahn noted. For instance, the past six years have seen a 38 percent rise in student applications, a 24 percent increase in enrollment, an 85 percent jump in NIH funding, a strategic vision for the MCG Cancer Center, a leadership role in patient- and family-centered care and tremendous research strides, to cite just a few accomplishments.
“Over the past six years, we looked change and challenge—and sometimes even chaos—right in the eye, and we not only survived, we thrived,” President Rahn said.
MCG’s strategic plan to address new challenges includes expanding educational programs, diversifying funding streams, creating efficient business models for academic and research enterprises and improving access to academic programs.
Immediate goals include completing a funding plan for a new School of Dentistry, creating a statewide consortium for nursing education, growing the physical plant, educating more physicians, expanding the clinical system and optimizing research initiatives to achieve national preeminence in MCG’s areas of strength.
“Clearly, we’ve got some work to do,” President Rahn said. “But our strategic planning arms us with a renewed sense of the most important institutional priorities as we enter a new budget cycle and a new environment rife with new challenges.
“MCG needs the committed, focused, creative energy and talent of every member of this academic community to advance our shared mission,” he said. “We are stewards of one of the most important missions—perhaps the most important mission—in this state.”
Collectively, he said, MCG can overcome obstacles and forge greater success than ever. “Thank you for standing shoulder to shoulder with me and the members of MCG’s senior leadership team as we chart a course to better health—today and into the future.”
--Christine Hurley Deriso
Editor’s note: To read the full text of President Rahn’s 2007 State of the University Address, visit www.mcg.edu/admin/sou/2007.
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