DOCKERY ANNOUNCES "VISION AND VALUES 2001" PLAN TO UNION UNIVERSITY TRUSTEES

JACKSON, November 27-- Union University President David S. Dockery announced a five year plan to bolster Union's academic and financial resources at the November meeting of the University's board of trustees.

Dockery's proposal, titled "Vision and Values 2001," was unanimously accepted by trustees. The five-year plan includes ambitious academic goals, a $10 million church endowment campaign, and a campus master plan to ensure continued growth at the University.

"Less than five years remain before Union University graduates must be equipped to live and work in the 21st century," Dockery said. "This new century will bring about an expanding world of technology, a changing social context, a global economy, as well as great spiritual and ethical challenges."

"As Union University prepares to celebrate the 175th anniversary of its original charter, it is an institution that stands on the brink of a future that holds enormous promise. It is an institution with a large and loyal constituency that must fully embrace the possibilities for Union. It is a University with a quality faculty and curriculum that must take the next step into the highest tier of the nation's private Christian universities."

Highlighting the meeting was the affirmation of a $10 million endowment campaign targeting Tennessee Baptist churches, to begin Jan. 1, 1997. While strengthening the University's relationship with Tennessee Baptist churches, the campaign will yield significant endowed scholarship dollars for area students who attend Union. Other campaign objectives include securing endowment for Union's campus minister position and building additional funding for the R.G. Lee Center for Christian Ministry, an extension center slated to open in fall 1997.

Another key aspect of the "Vision and Values 2001" plan is a three-pronged academic plan designed to specify Union's future academic directions, priorities and divisions. The plan includes complete evaluation and/or revision of the University curriculum, plus the establishment of additional programs of study in both undergraduate and graduate disciplines as needed. The plan also specifies improvement in Union's academic resources, including library/computing facilities, classroom and office space, and technological upgrades.

Trustees also approved the initiation of a new campus master plan intended to upgrade all physical aspects of Union's campus within the coming decade. Trustees will determine the nature and magnitude of on-campus projects in future meetings.

In other business, trustees adopted a revised 1996-97 operating budget of $19,223,911 and approved long-term administrative plans for Union's offices of student services, business services, and church services.