Serving WMU Has Been My Honor

Dear campus community, 

Seven years ago, we charted a course for Western Michigan University focused on student success. Their success would be our success, and we have accomplished many things together in the intervening years. That’s why it gives me great joy to share with you that we have achieved a new University record for our retention rate—81.1%.

This is the second consecutive year we have significantly increased this key measure of student success. This year’s 1.3 percentage point gain builds on last year's 3.3 percentage point gain. Not only did we make significant gains for first-time students from last fall, but every undergraduate class increased their retention rate by 1.5 percentage points or more. We also closed the equity gap for Hispanic students another 0.5%. Progress each year since 2020 has cut in half a gap that had been 7.5%.  

Student success takes a community effort. While our students must demonstrate hard work and commitment, preparing for a meaningful career and a life well lived also requires the rigor, care, and dedication of our faculty and staff—both inside and outside of the classroom. Congratulations to all of you and thank you for delivering on our promise: “So that all may learn.”  

We knew that student success would also be key to success with enrollment. I’m also pleased to share that overall enrollment will increase by 46 students—the first overall enrollment increase for WMU in a decade. For the second year in a row, graduate enrollment also has increased, with a gain of 1.6%.

New beginnings

The start of the fall semester is always an exciting time of new beginnings. I believe now is also the time to begin searching for my successor. Next year, I will turn 70, and I will have served for eight years when my contract expires June 30, 2025. I have notified the Board of Trustees that I will retire at that time to start the next chapter with Kari, my bride of 30 years. This news will be publicly announced later this morning. 

It has been an honor to serve as your ninth president. Looking back, I’ve found that some of my favorite WMU moments have been presiding each year over multiple commencement ceremonies. I have shaken tens of thousands of hands and said to each graduate, “Well done.” I consider them “my kids,” and I root for their success today and well into tomorrow.  

Today, Western is better positioned than ever to serve our Broncos, thanks to the collective efforts of our entire faculty and staff. The historic $550 million Empowering Futures Gift has enabled us to establish the Navigator Network, improve access through scholarships, expand mental health resources, broaden our well-being opportunities, and resource inclusion and belonging. It has also supported 22 grants so that our faculty can innovate experience-driven learning that leads to a prosperous future. The gift has enhanced medical education in our region, strengthening WMed’s capacity to produce high-quality doctors, advance health care research and work to reduce health disparities in our community. 

The gift's impact can also be seen in the increased competitiveness and academic success of our student-athletes. Just this past year, athletics achieved a record 13 championships in our conference. Our students’ record-setting athletic success has been matched by record-setting academic success. They collectively achieved an all-time high GPA for the spring term—averaging 3.43—and a record 3.40 cumulative GPA for the 2023-24 school year. To top it off, our student-athletes volunteered more than 6,200 hours of community service, making us the nation's 16th ranked program and tops in the Mid-American Conference.
  
In addition to serving students, we have made the world better by significantly growing the size and impact of our research mission. Each of the last two years has seen substantial increases in both externally funded research awards and expenditures, with awards jumping 42% this year alone to $59.6 million and expenditures climbing 19% to $42 million, an all-time high. 

There are many reasons that demonstrate why Western is a special place and the school of choice for Broncos. Among them is our beautiful campus. Each morning, as I arrive on campus, I turn the corner and see our hub of belonging, the WMU Student Center, and Arcadia Flats—both dedicated to creating connections between students and to our campus. The new Aviation Education Center, our new fleet of Cirrus 7 airplanes and Dunbar Hall have all provided reinvigorated, state-of-the art teaching and learning facilities. These facilities, along with a new residence hall anticipated on the site of Valley 3, will serve students’ educational, social and emotional needs well into the future.  

With all this, what I know for sure is that “our special sauce” at Western Michigan University is our people. We are an access institution that reflects the diversity of the communities we serve. We are home to students from across the spectrum. Some come to us with dozens of college options, while for others, Western is the only university to give them a chance. We attract students from 94 countries and nearly every state in the nation—plus Guam and Puerto Rico. We have sought to enhance belonging through efforts like the Racial Justice Advisory Committee, the Mountain Top Initiative and Bronco Connect Living Learning Community. Western is a place that honors who our students are, where they have been and empowers them to get to anywhere they want to go.  

None of our successes have occurred by chance. None of it was inevitable. It’s been the result of conscious effort by many people as well as tough choices. In my first State of the University address in 2017, I charged us with improving retention and graduation rates, diversifying our revenue streams and becoming a college of choice. It is undeniable that we have momentum on all three counts. But this is not the time to spike the ball in victory or to stop pushing and striving. Our students and our community need us and depend on Western to continue to meet their evolving needs. 

Thank you for the opportunity to serve you for the last seven years. I look forward to this coming academic year and working with all of you for the benefit of our students and to make the world a little better.  

Sincerely,

Edward Montgomery
President