Docking delivers speech
Adrian College President Jeffrey Docking delivered his annual State of the College Address Friday in the Adrian Tobias Room. Several topics were discussed, with the main topic being college improvement. (Photos by Briana Doolan)
“Shared Vision, Shared Success,” was the title of Adrian College’s Annual State of the College Address given last Friday at noon in the Adrian Tobias room by AC’s seventeenth President, Jeffrey Docking.
“The preponderance of this message… will be devoted to looking ahead, planning, visioning and, most importantly, working together as one community to create a College so extraordinary that the achievements of the past five years, and perhaps the last 150 years, pale in comparison to the amazing things that lie ahead,” Docking said.
In his speech, Docking described the many accomplishments that AC has completed in the past five years. For instance, the student population has almost doubled, $25 million has been added to AC’s annual budget in revenues, 16 academic and athletic facilities have been built or remodeled, Internet bandwidth has increased and AC is receiving noticeably more press and news coverage, such as being the number one “Up and Coming Baccalaureate College in the Midwest.”
“Our future has never been brighter,” Docking said.
He also said that this year’s State of the College Address was the start of another five-year plan that will focus on excellence and a shared vision.
“Our strategic plan must have broad participation,” Docking said. “If we are seeking creativity, we cannot limit the voices of any in our midst.”
Docking asked his senior staff for new creative ideas for the college and received answers, such as selling a children’s book entitled “Bruiser Goes to College,” having a pet-friendly dorm, building a bonfire pit in front of Caine for students to enjoy and having students give their favorite recipes to Ritchie Market Place.
He said ideas that centered more on academics included a four-year promise to help students graduate college in four years or offer their fifth year free, creating experimental learning for each class, having J-term courses where students can take one college course in January, having a location to honor distinguished faculty and alumni, creating an institute for the Visual and Performing Arts, hiring an on-campus videographer to film aspects of AC to send to potential students or alumni and alternative spring break educational trips.
“The ideas are endless because the creativity on this campus is endless,” Docking said.
He said that planning for changes in the next five years should be finished in one year or less.
“We will not halt progress for even a day,” Docking said. “We can enlarge and define our vision for the next piece of the Renaissance II plan in one year without a problem.”
Students who took part in the State of the College Address included junior Sam Kuzyk, who is a finalist for the BNY/Mellon Hockey Humanitarian Award and talked about his community involvement, junior Jamie Besier, who talked about her experiences as a first generation student and member of the ACES program and sophomore Emily Engel who went with a team to Manaqua, Nicaragua last December to provide healthcare to the locals.
Other speakers at the Address were alumnus Steven Piorkowski and his wife Fran. The couple talked about their son Steve, who had quadriplegia, and the troubles he faced when he went to Adrian College and how the college accommodated to his needs.
“Our strategic plan should seek to create a campus culture that respects all students and employees equally… [And] sees the infinite worth of all human beings,” Docking said.
Freshman Chelsea Howe was one of many students who attended the Campus Address.
“It’s good to give an overview of what’s going on at our college,” she said. “I was interested to see what changes are coming to AC in the upcoming years while I’m here.”
Howe said she that what stuck out to her the most about Docking’s speech was how excited he seemed to be to receive ideas from his teaching staff.
“I think some of his new programs would be really neat,” she said.
Charles Vanderwell, professor of Social Work, Sociology and Criminal Justice said he is interested to see what the institution is going to do exactly in the next five years.
“One of the things that was clear was that [Docking] was trying to impress upon us a vision, not specific concrete things,” Vanderwell said.
He said that Docking didn’t lay out the exact plan that AC was going to follow, but invited everyone to join in collaboration to improve the college.
Vanderwell said that one thing he noted about Docking’s speech was that it emphasized the social justice aspect of AC’s mission statement.
“If this college isn’t going to live its 150th year its mission, then we’re in trouble,” he said. “I was happy to see it there.”
However, Vanderwell said he would have liked Docking to note that the Social Work program recently became the first program on campus to receive accreditation.
“I wish [Docking] would’ve been open more to what the Social Work Program is doing,” he said.
Freshman Jacqueline Belman said that most everyone should attend the State of the College Address.
“It affects all of us,” she said. “We’re all paying for this, why not actually care?”
Belman said that having different students speak about their experiences at the college was a great aspect to the address.
“It was really cool how [Docking] did that,” she said.
Belman also said that Docking should have discussed whether or not the changes planned for the college would affect students’ tuition and that he should have elaborated on Renaissance II better.
“He should have brought up the Michigan Promise Scholarship,” she said.
Belman said that it’s important to have an annual State of the College Address to encourage people to become involved with Adrian.
“If [Docking] didn’t address the college, then there would be no way for people to tell what direction the college will go,” she said.