Perhaps the most time-honored homework writing assignment that young students have ever toiled over is the classic essay topic, “What I Did on My Summer Vacation.” On behalf of the University I’d like to tackle that topic – although with lots of activity both on and off campus, Ferris was far from being on vacation after winter semester ended.
    Recent construction – including the renovated Timme Center, the Granger Center for Construction Technology and HVACR, enhancements to State Street and the expanded Quad – make the campus a great place to live and study in any season. This past summer, Ferris offered full-time students a free room when they also signed up for the University’s meal plan. We wanted to increase usage of campus facilities during the summer months to give students the opportunity to stretch their education dollars and perhaps advance the date of their graduation.
    The result of the offer exceeded our expectations. Five hundred and sixty six more students took classes on campus over the summer, resulting in a 14 percent increase over 2003 and a record summer enrollment for the university.
    While students from across the state and beyond stayed in Big Rapids during the summer, the Ferris Hometown Bus Tour gave myself and others the opportunity to meet alumni, current and prospective students, and other friends of the University from across Michigan this past June. The feature article in this issue, “Hometown Bus Tour” on page 10, presents some tour highlights. Being able to meet personally with so many who hold the University in the highest regards affirmed my belief that Ferris’ reputation for delivering personalized education through small class sizes and individual attention is both well founded and deeply appreciated.
    Over the coming weeks and months I look forward to communicating to the entire Ferris community a vision for the University and its future. Among American universities, there are few like Ferris. More than any university I know, we focus upon preparing students for careers. As technology continues to change the workplace, I believe it is important that we focus on four broad areas to drive future changes at Ferris: educating students for life, giving students the skills to be lifelong learners, strengthening the Ferris experience of learning by doing, and guiding students toward success through their understanding of career possibilities.
    Ferris’ new Vice President of Academic Affairs, Michael Harris (see page seven), will play an important role in developing processes and mechanisms to review programs and direct resources to areas of growth and promise.
    Ferris State University has been a forward-looking institution ever since it began as the Big Rapids Industrial School 120 years ago, when in 1884 Woodbridge N. Ferris enrolled the first 15 students. Back then students came to the school looking to be trained in jobs that would be new to them. Today we have students coming to Ferris to learn skills for jobs that are new, period. In fact, some of the most exciting jobs our students will land would have been unforeseeable more than a century ago. Some are perhaps even unforeseeable today, which is why learning how to learn will continue to be so fundamental to the University and the graduates it produces.
    What I did last summer was meet many extraordinary alumni and students both on campus and off. Doing so confirmed my feeling that this is a truly exciting time to be a part of Ferris. And as the new academic year begins, I’m so proud to be a part of this tradition of preparing those who come here for a better future for themselves, their communities and their country.

Sincerely,

David L. Eisler
President