Lefton Delivers 'State of Kent State' Address

President Lester Lefton delivered his annual "State of Kent State" speech Thursday afternoon to an audience mostly of faculty and staff on campus.

The speech, an annual review and goal-setting session for the university, became a bit of a five-year review for Lefton, who started his sixth year as president this summer.

Lefton reviewed many of the university's highlights that have attracted media attention in the past few years, but he also used the speech to identify his four top priorities for the university in the coming years.

His four priorities included improving timely graduation of students and expanding the university's "globalization goals" such as increased international student enrollment and academic partnerships abroad.

The other two priorities were aimed directly at university faculty.

The first had to do with the faculty's research enterprises, which have had their ups and downs in recent years, Lefton said.

"Because research excellence is a defining characteristic of the world's best universities, we must maximize this kind of work," Lefton said. "I'm optimistic that some small improvements in our approach to research will yield an optimimum balance of path-breaking work and record-breaking funding. Having said that, I know that even small changes will probably mean significant work for all involved in our research enterprise."

The second priority of facilitating faculty growth is something Lefton proposed doing by extending the tenure-track path by several years.

Typically, tenure-track faculty have a six-year period to complete their commitment, but Lefton proposed extending that to 10 years or more to give faculty "more time" to write books, secure grants and do research.

In closing, he thanked and credited the faculty and staff in attendance for their work to improve Kent State's standing nationally and globally.

"I would have not thought it possible that I could be more excited about the future than I was five years ago," Lefton said. "But standing here today I know that the most interesting and inspirational chapters in Kent State's history are ahead of us."