May 8, 2025 – President Bailey discusses SOU’s new strategic planning process – SOU Thrive – in this month’s video message to campus and the community. He describes a strategic plan as “really just a fancy way of saying this is the vision of how we are going to get from where we are now as a university to where we want the university to be a few years from now.” The process starts with understanding the context and environment surrounding the university, determining what the future should look like, and then answering the question, “how do we get from Point A to Point B?” He said the SOU Thrive plan needs to be approachable and useable, rather than “some convoluted plan that sits on a shelf and nobody uses.” The planning process is underway, with a campus survey, meetings with stakeholder groups, an open house and more. He hopes that the end product will help SOU move from what he calls “a defensive posture” to being able to “build the university that everyone deserves.”

March 12, 2025 – This month’s video message from President Rick Bailey is all about resources – funding opportunities for SOU students, and for the university. He addresses potential students for the 2025-26 academic year, saying “there is money right now, potentially available to you – and money you don’t need to pay back.’ Those resources are offered through various scholarships and grants, to those who complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Current or potential students can set up appointments with an SOU financial aid advisor by emailing finaid@sou.edu . President Bailey also updated the revenue-related elements of the SOU Forward plan that was adopted two years ago. Efforts to reimagine grants and sponsored gifts by incentivizing faculty and staff members to pursue outside funding for research, equipment and other purposes has led to a big increase in both applications and in awards. A greater emphasis on philanthropy has brought unprecedented fund-raising success – 10 years ago, the SOU Foundation generated an annual average of about $2.5 million in gifts; the average for each of the past three years has been about $10 million. The president also touched on revenue-generating projects: private developers have been invited to submit proposals for the senior living center that will replace the demolished Cascade Complex; and the rapid expansion of solar projects now enable the university to generate about 16% of its daytime electrical needs, compared to about 3% when President Bailey began at SOU three years ago.

January 14, 2025 – Why is President Rick Bailey sitting in an electric Volkswagen van on a video set at SOU’s Digital Media Center? It’s what his January video message is all about: partnerships. In this case, SOU’s partnership with Lithia Motors and its GreenCars division – the VW ID. Buzz electric bus is on loan to the university, part of an historic gift that created the Lithia & Driveway Scholarship program, the SOU Institute for Applied Sustainability and much more. President Bailey says that partnership has had “direct impact in the community and university and statewide. He also shares during this month’s video that he was a first-generation college student, and receiving college informational packets while he was in high schoo helped reinforced the idea that he was college material. Fast-forward to present day and SOU has forged data-sharing partnerships with 10 school districts around the state and region, giving SOU the opportunity to share information and encourage students to pursue their college aspirations. “That’s an example of a partnership where the more we get students into colleges in the state, the more everyone wins,” he says.

November 14, 2024 – Two timely topics are addressed in this month’s video update from President Rick Bailey: SOU’s attitude toward both and external politics and internal shared governance. The president said that “we just had a huge, huge election, and I would say we’re still in the middle of that election season.” The thing that has made him most proud is that SOU has students, faculty and staff who fall on both sides of the political spectrum – very progressive and very conservative – and that we are at our best “when we strive to listen to each other.” President Bailey said that even in his personal life, “as we have healthy and civil debates, there are points that I hadn’t even thought of before.” He also said that SOU’s shared governance model – which involves student, faculty and staff leaders – is particularly important as the university serves as a marketplace of ideas. The input and involvement of those groups help us get to better strategic decisions. He said the collective approach will continue to be strengthened and to serve SOU, because “authority is most effective when it is shared.”

September 9, 2024 – President Rick Bailey invites all members of SOU’s campus community to enjoy the promise and excitement of a new academic year that will begin later this month. He says it’s the “magical relationship between students, faculty and staff” that make SOU such a special place in higher education, and that those relationships will begin growing from the start of classes on Sept. 25. President Bailey discusses a recent trip to Taiwan with the presidents of some other public universities in Oregon, and the potential for new relationships with Taiwanese universities. He also points out that a nationwide delay in updating this year’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form – a key document for most forms of financial aid – will likely affect fall term enrollment numbers at SOU, and at other universities throughout the state and across the country. But he said SOU’s Financial Aid Office was the first in Oregon to roll this year’s financial aid packages out to students, and is continuing to work with new and returning students. “When we do face challenges, and when we come together as a campus community, there is no obstacle that we cannot overcome,” the president said.