Provost Welcome

Greetings Ferris State University Community: 

As we start this new academic year, I hope and trust that being a part of the Bulldog Nation brings you tremendous energy, excitement and professional fulfillment.  I also hope you continue to find Ferris State a great place to continue the excellent work you do.

As we move through the semester, I encourage everyone to take advantage of any resources available that will help us remain understanding, flexible, and connected to the new, incoming, and returning students, and support those who may need an extra level of compassion and attention to realize the level of student success we and our great University represent in Michigan.

Additionally, while we can never assume that students will enroll and persist as they have in the past, we also need to keep our fingers on the pulse of how to sustain and grow our programs.  We also need to remain “relevant” and “responsive” to the needs of our stakeholders, which is a mantra that you have heard from our President, Dr. Bill Pink.

I look forward to continuing our excellent work together to get where we need to be to sustain in the future.  This requires that we continue to explore new opportunities that have arrived with the statewide student success hubs, not only across West Michigan, but in Flint, Detroit, and the east side of the State.  With the President’s background in workforce development, we can expect to continue to build upon our partnerships and our responsiveness to workforce needs.

I’d like to update everyone on a few exciting things in our division.  We have some new initiatives, along with existing ones for Academic Affairs: 

We’re in the process of organizing a representative team around drafting Ferris’s first-ever Academic Master Plan;

We are continuing our work in partnership with EAB on the Ferris Equity Initiative-Navigate, (FEI-Navigate), representing the university’s single largest investment in diversity and designed to close the achievement gap;

We are currently in the early stages of creating committees to assist with the HLC Year 4 Assurance Review; 

We are strongly focused on our five (5) planning objectives for Academic Affairs.  These include:

• Innovation
• Diversity, Equity and Belongingness
• Partnership Building
• Sustainability
• Student Success

In summary, I continue to welcome the journey ahead of us in partnership with Dr. Pink, and many dedicated and impressive members of our campus community, partners and friends, to fulfill the vision, mission, and values of Ferris State University.   I look “Ferris Forward” with all of you while we advance the legacy of our founders, Woodbridge and Helen Ferris, in the next chapter in our distinguished history.  

Sincerely,

Bobby

Robert P. Fleischman, J.D., EdD.

Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs

Ferris State University