Stakeholder Survey Preliminary Report p. 3

Our reputation is just that, reputation. What supports it? People were quite specific here, about equally frequently mentioning:

• The caliber of our students. Our students are seen to be bright, well prepared, and motivated. Also often stressed, though, were our students' passion, commitment to causes, and engagement in their communities.
• High quality faculty and staff. Accomplished in their fields and professions, recognized researchers, scholars, and performers, yes. But other important adjectives were as frequently mentioned: "caring," "involved with undergraduates," and, most frequently, "dedicated."
• Closely related, the high expectations we set for ourselves. Frequent responses such as: "high standards of scholarship and service," and "emphasis on improving academic standards over the past 15 years."
• High quality undergraduate learning. That's what all the preceding unavoidably adds up to. People spoke in many different ways and from varied vantage points. A faculty member spoke of outstanding undergraduate education "based on top faculty teaching smaller groups of motivated students." A member of the professional staff spoke in terms of "our focus on students and learning as the primary mission of the university." A person in the community wrote of our primary strength as: "the reputation Western has for high quality undergraduate education and the resultant contributions made by the i nstitution and its alumni to the Pacific Northwest."

Other strengths certainly related to those supporting our reputation were also frequently mentioned. They include:

• Our commitment to sustainability, green buildings, and environmental quality.
• The natural beauty of the campus and its location.
• The caliber of our facilities.

I wish to report another strength evident through my discussions around the state. First, we have elected officials — and newspaper editorial boards — who genuinely care about public higher education, see its link to continually brighter futures for Washington, who want to understand the nuances of policy, who will, most appropriately, hold us accountable for results while giving us latitude to figure means, and who will translate their commitment to public higher education into tangible support. Frankly, with a national politics too often conducted at the level of the cliché and where "the common good" is too often defined as no more than protecting the pursuit of private interests, I found these discussions with elected officials and leaders in the press to be most refreshing. I will add one other clear conclusion: our legislative relations are so good because our legislative relations professionals are so highly regarded by elected officials and their staffs.

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