MARQUETTE, MI-- Doctor Fritz Erickson delivered his first convocation address as president of Northern Michigan University Wednesday.
He talked about his positive impressions of the university, its faculty and staff. But he said the qualities that are most apparent to him are the school’s enduring commitment to students, deep commitment to the community, and a “shy” sense of excellence.
Erickson also addressed challenges in the coming years—most notably enrollment. He says the current enrollment decline is not because of the lack of outstanding academic programs, faculty or students, but due to a change in the demographics of the state and region.
“To meet this change we must reach out to new populations of students, better embrace diversity in its fullest sense, and explore new partnerships that will allow us to take our collection of extraordinary programs out to more communities, both face-to-face and online,” he says.
Erickson says NMU must begin to build a new strategic plan beyond the Roadmap to 2015.
Erickson gave his remarks in the auditorium of the new John X Jamrich Hall.
