Strategic Plan for a Stronger SOU Community

On August 27th, 2025 the SOU Board of Trustees met to discuss their strategic plan. Their goal was to answer three questions. Through these three questions their hope was to help Southern Oregon University become more resilient and economically sound. The three questions were: 1 What does it look like when SOU students are thriving? 2. What does it look like when the SOU faculty and staff are thriving? 3. What does it look like when the institution is thriving?

Rick Bailey, the president of Southern Oregon University, broke down the first question, “what does it look like when SOU students are thriving?” One component that southern Oregon University is trying to improve is their retention rate. According to President Bailey, it has remained constant for the past 20 years and fluctuates only about one percent each year. The university board is working to improve this rate with their enrollment recovery plan. They believe that by having students continue after their first year they are more likely to graduate from SOU, and not leave the university. Three benefits they believe are essential to allow their current students to thrive include academic engagement, taking care of student’s basic needs and allowing for personal and professional development. Bailey questioned, “If students are more engaged in their first year, are they more likely to show up for a second year? I think the answer is yes.”

What does it look like when the SOU faculty and staff are thriving, the second component of the strategic plan. Again the Board of Trustees broke this question down into three components: workload, morale, and compensation. When discussing this question many opinions and thoughts were shared to determine which components would be most helpful and important to staff and faculty. Board member Barry Thalden expressed his opinions on the matter stating that “the morale issue is the critical issue and that people will work their ass off if they feel that they are making a difference and they are happy in their work”.

Finally they discussed the final question, what it looks like when the institution is thriving? In a likeness to the other questions this one was divided into three deeper developments such as financial stability, financial management, and collaboration and community. Basically this element of the strategic plan can be summed up by Trustee Daniel Santos who stated, “for SOU to make money it needs more enrollment”. However the bottom line of the entire plan is enrollment and detainment of students. This goes hand in hand with economic stability of the university and when the first is achieved it is easier for the second to be achieved as well. Most importantly all layers of the strategic plan must be met as they are intertwined.