In the Sept. 11 edition of the Register-Guard, interim President Scott Coltrane authored a guest commentary about the future of the university through "competitive excellence."

In the opinion editorial, Coltrane writes:

"On Friday I am sharing with the Board of Trustees of the University of Oregon the leadership team’s aspirations to advance the university, as well as our plan to reach our goals. Our initiatives are rooted in the idea that we must pursue competitive excellence. That means we plan, measure and compete to be the best in everything we do. We strive to lead the nation and world in advancing discovery and educating the next generation of leaders by:

• Attracting bright, high achieving, diverse students
• Hiring more outstanding and diverse faculty members and researchers
• Providing more opportunities to Oregon students with financial need
• Supporting all students’ success with increased support and enrichment
• Creating and maintaining the spaces, resources and technology needed for faculty and students to learn and thrive"

To accomplish these goals, Coltrane says there is a plan to hire 150 more tenure-related faculty members over the next five years, including as part of the clusters of excellence hiring initiative, expand the PathwayOregon program for Oregon resident students, and renovate and add residence halls, classrooms, labs and offices.

"These plans will require strategic efforts across the entire campus, in collaboration with the larger community, and will entail substantial financial investment," wrote Coltrane.  He called on the state legislature and university supporters to help make the aspirations a reality.

—By Julie Brown, Public Affairs Communications