With some members trudging in late because of bad traffic and snow, the Board of Trustees held its last meeting of 2017 on Dec. 11 at 2:00 p.m. in the Oakland Center. After the showing of a holiday video, the BOT voted on a revised mission statement and accepted a donation of $1 million from the Oakland University Credit Union among a few other agenda items.

The mission, vision and goals

After garnering the attention of the audience and the BOT, Oakland University President Ora Hirsch Pescovitz began her president’s report. The first thing on her agenda was proposing a revised mission statement. The mission statement was last updated during the 2013-14 academic year, but the BOT requested to review and update both the mission and vision statements.

The mission statement was put through a rigorous approval process that included groups such as the president’s cabinet and Oakland University Student Congress before being approved by Pescovitz. The Oakland University Senate read the full statement twice before approving it on Nov. 9. The BOT unanimously approved the mission statement at the Dec. 11 meeting.

“Oakland University cultivates the full potential of a diverse and inclusive community,” the statement reads. “As a public doctoral institution, we impact Michigan and the world through education, research, scholarship and creative activity.”

Following the approval, Pescovitz proposed a revised vision statement as well. A vision statement is not required by the Higher Education Committee’s guidelines, but Pescovitz feels it is important that Oakland has one. The vision statement went through a similar approval process as the mission statement, but was approved by Pescovitz and the BOT before the Dec. 11 meeting.

A revision of Oakland’s goals also took place. The goals were implemented with the 2013-14 strategic plan, but 2017 added a new goal to the lineup. Oakland’s goals are now academic excellence, exemplary research, community engagement and the newly implemented desire to embrace diversity.

OUCU donates to study abroad 

After a presentation from Natalia Boykol, an Oakland student studying international relations, on how her study abroad trip to Spain impacted her, OUCU gave a holiday surprise to the BOT.

April Clobes, president and CEO of OUCU, presented Boykol and Pescovitz with a $1 million dollar check that will go toward students who hope to study abroad. Though it was not specified how the money will be distributed, Clobes and Pescovitz said that the money will go straight to benefiting student experiences.

“We know that students like Natalia will be able to travel abroad in perpetuity,” Pescovitz said. “The experiences just like Natalia was able to tell us about will be able to be had by other students.”

The BOT approved the acceptance of the donation and happily thanked OUCU for its contribution to students.

“April, I think you should come to more meetings,” BOT Vice Chair W. David Tull joked.

The BOT will hold its next public meeting on Feb. 5 at 2:00 p.m. in the Oakland Center’s Banquet Rooms.