October 4, 2023 – SOU President Rick Bailey says in this month’s video message that the new academic year is full of possibility. Enrollment figures suggest we’ll have the largest first year student class in at least six or seven years, and that enthusiasm for higher ed is good for the region and state. Also, the positive results from fiscal adjustments made over the past year have changed assumptions. SOU has gone from a “culture of scarcity” where possibilities are limited, to a “culture of opportunity” in which the best way to predict the future is to invent it.

March 29, 2023 – SOU President Rick Bailey circles back to something he mentioned over a year ago in his first video message to campus and community members: that with kindness and unity as a foundation, the university can do anything. He acknowledges that there is turbulence and anxiety, but also opportunity as SOU proceeds with its fiscal realignment. And he thanks campus and the community for their support through all of their connections with SOU.

February 3, 2023 – SOU President Rick Bailey updates the fiscal stability plan and thanks the campus community for thoughtful feedback ahead of the Feb. 16 town hall meeting, where details will be shared. Cost management is one of our for planks, and the other three – reimagining grants, leveraging philanthropy and diversifying revenue – are also keys to SOU’s future. He closes with an African proverb: “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”

December 6, 2022 – SOU President Rick Bailey talks with students and employees about the university’s pending fiscal and programmatic realignment in his December video message to campus. President Bailey says he is “pleading with” all members of the campus community to play a role in what he acknowledges will be a painful process of determining the things SOU should stop doing. He promises an open, inclusive and compassionate process that ultimately will strengthen the university’s fiscal foundation and will make SOU a model for universities nationwide to reposition for the future.