President's Message From Pitt Tab 2004

Dear Friends:

The end of the 2003-2004 academic year brought to a close the celebration of our 40th anniversary as an institution of higher learning. The yearlong celebration featured memorable Alumni Weekend and Inauguration activities, three beautifully illustrated and well-documented issues of Portraits magazine that were dedicated to Pitt-Bradford’s first 40 years, a daylong Alumni Association-sponsored “Backpack to Briefcase” career orientation seminar for students, a Pitt-Bradford vs. Pitt-Greensburg basketball doubleheader in the Peterson Events Center in Pittsburgh, and the all-important year-ending commencement ceremony.

As we begin the fifth decade of our remarkably successful relationships with the City of Bradford and the citizens of northwestern and north central Pennsylvania, we are poised to implement the first year of our new strategic plan, “Plan for the Fifth Decade.”

The “Learning for Life” theme of this supplement embodies much of what we hope to accomplish through our strategic plan. The focal points of our plan revolve around initiatives that strengthen our academic programs, maximize educational opportunities for our students, promote economic development in the region, and achieve national and regional prominence for Pitt-Bradford.

To those ends, we have developed strategic initiatives, or action plans, that will enable us to make progress in those areas. Most important among those initiatives, as you will read in this supplement, will be the efforts to develop new academic programs in tourism and hospitality, entrepreneurship, interdisciplinary arts, information systems, dental hygiene, health and physical education, and liberal studies. Some of these new academic programs, such as tourism and hospitality, entrepreneurship, and information systems, will complement ongoing or planned economic development activities in the region. Others will serve to propel the university to new levels of regional and national prominence.

Optimism abounds on our campus. Strategic planning efforts portend a bright future for the university and the region that surrounds it. To secure that bright future, the university and its surrounding communities will have to recognize and take advantage of the vast array of opportunities that often appear spontaneously and unexpectedly. For its part, Pitt-Bradford will continue to forge partnership agreements with constituents in neighboring communities in order to improve the stature of our university and the quality of life for citizens in the region. We invite governmental agencies, business and industry, community organizations, school systems, foundations, and philanthropists to join us in these endeavors.

Much of the success we are enjoying in striving to transform our campus and better serve the geographic region is a result of the generosity of friends, supporters, and alumni of Pitt-Bradford. On behalf of the entire Pitt-Bradford campus community, I extend a heartfelt thanks to each and every one who has contributed to and/or served in leadership roles in the ongoing capital campaign. As we approach the end of the campaign, we will, of course, continue to rely on additional friends and supporters in the region for assistance. A strong Pitt-Bradford means a stronger and more vibrant economy in northwest and north central Pennsylvania.

Sincerely,

Livingston Alexander
President