I am now using these same values on the council. I want members to focus on issues of leadership and advocacy, being responsive to the needs of the citizens of Pennsylvania and beyond, doing things well to increase visibility for Penn State's research and scholarship, building linkages with each other inside the University and with external organizations, reducing redundancy and duplication and increasing collaboration. The council is the first organization at the University to unite all the units involved in outreach. We have representatives from every academic college, the new campus colleges, Pennsylvania College of Technology, Computer and Information Systems, Continuing Education, Cooperative Extension, Distance Education, Governmental Affairs, Graduate School, Public Broadcasting, Research and Technology Transfer, Undergraduate Education, University Faculty Senate and University Libraries. The council is charged with advising the President and Provost on outreach strategy, policy and programming.
Members also serve as advocates and supporters of outreach within their colleges and units.
I am a firm believer in the idea that people ought to be involved in decisions having an impact on them. As co-chair of the council, I want to find out from members what they think are the most important issues so that Jim Ryan and I can build these issues into the meeting agendas. What I am most interested in doing is having substantive discussions of critical issues, with the intent of bringing about meaningful organizational changes to enhance Penn State's capacity to better meet the needs of its clients. The biggest issue we face is how to successfully implement the integration of teaching, research and service. We want outreach to become part of the fabric of the University.