Upcoming Events

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to hear New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman speak at Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon's Conference on Economic Development. He spoke about entrepreneurship and some challenges facing those of us in higher education.

Friedman shared a recent Gallup study that found workers were 2.4 times more likely to be engaged at work if they felt their alma mater was passionate about their long-term success. They were 2.6 times more likely to be engaged at work if college prepared them for life outside of college.

At Missouri S&T, I'm proud to say we are already focused on fostering the kind of experiences that will position our students for success. Through our comprehensive strategic plan, we are ensuring that we will continue to enhance the close-knit interactions and experiential opportunities our university is known for. In today's newsletter, I'll share some steps we're taking in the right direction.

Career fair likely to set university record

From career counseling to etiquette training, at Missouri S&T we're focused on helping students hit the ground running and make immediate and meaningful contributions at their companies. You can see the results of our efforts in our outcomes: Missouri S&T students are in high demand; undergraduates have starting salaries of more than $61,000 on average; and we host some of the largest career fairs in the Midwest. In fact, next week's career fair is shaping up to be our largest on record.

This year, 306 employers have registered for the career fair on Sept. 23 — a 15 percent increase from last year. To date, the largest career fair we've hosted was in 2008, when 301 employers participated. In addition, last week we hosted ConocoPhillips and Garmin on campus, and this week we have Union Pacific, Honeywell and Boeing for employer days or events.

Investing in a fitter tomorrow

If you haven't yet signed up for the governor's 100 Missouri Miles Campus Challenge going on through the end of the month, I encourage you to do so. Missouri S&T is in a commanding lead this afternoon in the Tier 2 category, besting Southeast Missouri State University and University of Central Missouri in the number of miles our faculty, staff and students have logged. But there are still two weeks left — let's make sure we keep our first-place position. Sign up today.

If you continue to be active and log your activity after the challenge wraps up, you'll be one step closer to earning a significant health incentive through human resources. Employees can earn up to $450 this year by learning more about your health and taking steps to get healthier. Learn more about this year's incentive.

Raising Missouri S&T's visibility

Missouri S&T continues to make strides in visibility, another key aspect of our strategic plan. Just last month, USA Today reported that College Factual named us the third best engineering school in the nation — just behind Georgia Tech and one above MIT. This is certainly good company to be in! That news was posted to the university's Facebook page and was shared more than 1,000 times and reached more than 218,000 people.

In addition, earlier this month the university was in the spotlight when the St. Louis Post-Dispatch featured my opinion piece about finding solutions to meet our nation's workforce needs in the area of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. You can read the piece in full here.

Upcoming State of the University Address

For the full picture on where the university is and where we're headed, I invite you to attend my annual State of the University Address at noon on Oct. 8 in Leach Theatre. There, we will discuss in person the great strides we have made and the important plans set for the coming year.

For those unable to attend, a video and full transcript will be posted online. I'll share a link in next month's newsletter.