FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 7, 2008
Contact: Anika Mitchell Perkins
(662) 329-7124

MUW President Limbert responds to 20/20 Task Force White Paper

COLUMBUS, Miss. -- MUW President Claudia Limbert charged her campus leadership Monday with implementing strategies to further strengthen the school, ranging from building unity on and off campus, to increasing communication to ensuring the university’s brand and identity match its mission and future.

Dr. Limbert announced her plan as the next step in a process begun in
October of 2007 known as MUW 20/20. Specifically, the plans unveiled
Monday are in response to a detailed report submitted by a task force that considered information from more than a dozen focus and discussion groups of faculty, staff, students, alumni and members of the MUW family
and community.

“Where is MUW going and what do we wish to be?” Dr. Limbert said in an open letter to the MUW family posted on the school’s website at
(http://muw.edu/beta/2020focusreports/docs/white-paper-response.pdf).
“MUW has been sailing for 125 years but, during that long journey, our
destination/focus has changed with the times and with the needs of
Mississippi and the changing needs of each generation of students.”

“Since the end of October, MUW has been in the process of thinking about its future,’’ Dr. Limbert wrote. “Such thought seems particularly important when one considers that, in 2009, we will be celebrating our 125th anniversary.”

Since 2003, MUW has seen its enrollment rise, fundraising doubled, its
campus rebuilt from the devastating tornados of 2002 and its infrastructure updated with modern technology. National publications continue to note MUW’s excellence not only in Mississippi but in the Southeast.

To ensure the continued success of the university, the 20/20 Task Force
recommended (http://muw.edu/pie/2020focusreports/docs/2020-task-force/white-paper.pdf) a number of steps. Dr. Limbert’s letter on Monday outlined the university’s responses to those steps, including but not limited to:

● Communications: The creation of a Communications Committee to review existing communication vehicles, examine community perceptions
and consider new means and mediums for reaching faculty, staff, students
and the university family.

● Alumni Relations: The Director of Alumni Relations will steer an effort to highlight achievements of alumni, orient board leadership of alumni groups to the mission and opportunities to support the university, and to involve alumni in recruitment and lobbying efforts.

● Community Relations: The Vice President for Institutional Advancement will lead an effort focused on strengthening relationships and opportunities with the community, including local governments, businesses, the Columbus Air Force Base, and civic organizations. Other university leaders will focus on enhancing student community service opportunities within the community.