President Marc Johnson will present his seventh State of the University address at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 8 in the Glick Ballrooms of the Joe Crowley Student Union.

Johnson’s address, “Big Goals Achieved – Realizing Our Vision,” is expected to touch on many of the institutional milestones that have been reached in the past year, while also outlining the University’s path forward now that several major goals have been achieved.

“We have matured and deepened our impact as a University over the past several years,” Johnson said recently during an interview in his office in Clark Administration. “We set several what I termed ‘big goals’ for the institution, and we moved to align our mission more acutely with the needs of Nevada.

“It’s been a remarkable time for our University. Many of the ‘big goals’ have been met. The achievements have been many by our students, faculty and staff. We’ve become an institution that once had several institutions that we considered to be aspirant institutions; now they are peer institutions. The focus needs to become what are our new targets for our future success? And perhaps even more importantly than that, how can we work together to draft our future?”

As Johnson mentioned, there have been numerous milestones in the past year that have indicated that achievement at the University is at a very high level. For example, the University is now classified as an “R1” – “Very High Research” – institution by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Earlier this month U.S. News & World Report, for the 10th straight year, ranked the University in its top tier of “Best National Universities.” Graduation rates, both for four years and six years, continue to rise. Graduate student enrollment is surging.

On Sept. 18, results of a campus climate study conducted by the nationally respected consulting firm, Rankin and Associates, were released to campus.

Johnson said his address will touch on these and many other key points.

“This is a key moment in our history,” he said. “It’s a time for shared vision as we define what our future will look like.”

Since his inaugural address on Sept. 28, 2012, “The People’s University,” Johnson’s State of the University addresses have included “Building a Culture of Competitive Excellence” (Oct. 9, 2013); “Maximizing Momentum” (Sept. 17, 2014); “A Time of Transformation” (Sept. 29, 2015); “Deepened Commitment” (Sept. 20, 2016); “Purpose, Planning & Performance” (Sept. 26, 2017) and “People, Partnerships and the Power of Big Ideas” (Sept. 26, 2018).