President Bailey heads back to the Digital Media Center for his August video message, which focuses mostly on the Vitality Plan for SOU鈥檚 transformation to a 鈥淟iving Laboratory鈥 operating system that unifies academic offerings, streamlines pathways and prioritizes essential human capacities. The president acknowledges all those who offered their thoughts and suggestions to the planning process and gives a quick progress report on how the plan will be implemented over the next several months. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all about how do we serve students, how do we serve them better and how do we preserve this university,鈥 he says. President Bailey also discusses a recent economic impact study that shows SOU generates a total of $730 million annually for Oregon鈥檚 economy 鈥 24 times more than the $30 million provided by the state for the university鈥檚 operation. 鈥淭hat alone should tell you the importance of our university,鈥 he says. 鈥淭he more students we serve and more students who make it to graduation stage, that鈥檚 not just good for those students, it鈥檚 good for the community.鈥
