Bowling Green State University (BGSU) President Rodney Rogers spoke on goals of the university during the State of the University Address on Wednesday, Sept. 10.

The address, given in the Bowen-Thompson Student Union Lenhart Grand Ballroom, focused on BGSU’s momentum and achievements made in the past year.

Rogers said the university is proud to see enrollment increases, as it welcomed its largest and highest achieving freshman class in its history this fall.

Total official headcount, including undergraduate, graduate and BGSU Firelands students is up 3.5% over the last year, the largest headcount in the last two decades, Rodgers said.

“We have achieved a record number of students earning their degrees in four and six year graduation rates,” Rogers said.

The university continues to create programs that address student’s needs, Rogers said, and drive “meaningful and relevant research but also steadfast in our commitment to our student’s educational experience.”

Following the decline in public trust of higher education within the country, revisions have been put into place for the university, Rogers explained.

“We have to do a good job of articulating that we absolutely need highly qualified graduates in all professions,” Rogers said. “A bill, now state law, introduces even more regulations that attempt to ensure free speech at Ohio’s public universities, legislating how learning communities welcome and support students, faculty and staff.”

These regulations require statements of commitment and policies on intellectual diversity, he said, even though Bowling Green has long embraced intellectual diversity since the university’s founding.

Rogers urges the university to continue to turn the university’s momentum into impact.

“We must and we will continue to innovate. We will continue to change and adapt, and continue to build on this learning community that has long been proud to be public.”