State of the University

[roadwarrior]

Full text of Bresciani's speech:

https://www.ndsu.edu/president/speec...tyaddress2015/

[TNbison]

http://www.bisonville.com/forum/show...o-join-the-AAU

The Bisonator a clairvoyant?

[El_Chapo]

Aau = fbs!! Hell yeah!!!!!!!!

[bisonmike2]

http://www.bisonville.com/forum/show...o-join-the-AAU

The Bisonator a clairvoyant?

Or is Brescani the TheBisonator?

And for the record, I've never even heard of AAU. Actually, maybe I have but I'm pretty sure I thought it was a summer basketball league for high school kids. Or maybe I'm thinking of something else.

[Bison bison]

Totally insane goal, but what the hell.

[NDSU_grad]

Totally insane goal, but what the hell.

LOL. Exactly my thoughts. Screw naming a building after him if he pulls it off. We'll have to change the name of the university.

[NDSU_grad]

Looks like we be the smallest public institution in the group.

Nebraska apparently left because they didn't have a medical school and their USDA grants didn't count toward some internal group metrics. Not sure how that's going to go for us.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Associ...n_Universities

This is sort of correct. They basically got kicked out because their research dollars awarded to their medical school were counted separately from the research dollars awarded to the University of Nebraska. Apparently the state of Nebraska uncoupled the two. Generally, the AAU doesn't count research grants that they consider non-competitive. USDA research grants often fall under this category. Basically, your goal should be to get a lot of money from the NIH, NSF, DoD, and DoE, among others.

[Hammersmith]

Here's the whole speech: https://www.ndsu.edu/president/speec...tyaddress2015/

This is what it would take to join the AAU:
I believe we are on the path to legitimately being able to pursue membership in the AAU. This is an association of top research universities that are leaders in innovation, scholarship and solutions that contribute to the nation's economy, security and well-being. I believe our scholarly performance already more than meets their standard, and with increased endowment of academic activities, AAU membership will become possible at some foreseeable point in the future. Just a few years ago I would have laughed at that assertion; today it has become quite real.

To that end, I have identified three targets we need to accomplish if we’re to reach AAU status. First, we need to pursue an enrollment of 18,000 students. That number gives us the size needed to be able to broaden our options, but is not so large that we lose our student focus. Second, we need to grow our student scholarship endowment by at least $100 million. And third, we will need to aggressively pursue a substantial increase in endowed chair and faculty positions.

I think this is doable with a great 5-10 year plan in place.

Was thinking that a new major fundraising drive was overdue. It's been a long time since the end of Momentum. Pres B's SotU pretty much confirms it. Anyone know and willing to share if the quiet phase of a major campaign is already underway?

And even if AAU acceptance is unlikely, this is practically a no-lose situation. If we add more endowed faculty, grow the student endowment, and grow the university(especially full-time, degree-seeking grad students) and we don't get accepted into the AAU, we're still much better off for the effort.

[No_Skill]

“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.”

― Norman Vincent Peale

[AKBison]

Perhaps said funding drive will include 15 million for state of the art IPF with connecting coaches offices and football specific weight room.