Our success has enabled us to understand more fully the strengths and distinctive features that will define our future. Our heritage of being a high-touch, high-tech, high-quality campus that is both affordable and accessible must remain an important part of our value system. In order to sustain our uniqueness and differentiate NMU from other universities, we must be clear about our priorities and direction. Three unique themes will frame our Road Map to 2015 and beyond.

Information technologies are the critical signature of an NMU degree. The laptop culture, enhanced by new wireless technologies and portable devices, places NMU far ahead of and distinct from our competitors. Our capability to blend this expertise with digital television and public broadcasting increases both the capacity and the quality of NMU. Our instructional and technical reach becomes planetary rather than regional.

International opportunities also will become a critical feature for NMU. Students demand it, employers seek it and a relevant education cannot exclude it. Beyond study abroad, our curriculum, our faculty, our student body and our thinking must reflect the realities of an interconnected, world community. We are in a unique position to distinguish all NMU majors with significant and meaningful international experiences.

NMU's location in the Upper Peninsula is a unique asset and, as one, must become a prominent feature of our portfolio of academic programs and our research agenda. Lake Superior and the neighboring landscapes offer resources that attract students, faculty and staff and enhance a high-quality university experience. How we choose to brand and distinguish our degrees will depend in large part upon our creative use of this most prominent resource.

Against these three distinctive brushstrokes lie specific strategies that are the foundation of the Road Map to 2015 and Beyond. The Road Map is comprised of four broad elements that each have specific goals and priorities. Each is relevant to faculty, staff and students' sense of engagement with the campus; with who we are and where we're going. More importantly, the Road Map will capture how we're going to get there. We don't want to be reckless, but we also can't afford to be late.