Annual ReviewFlorida Polytechnic University

Randy K. AventJune 2015

Report to the Board of Trustees

Goal 1: Deliver innovative core STEM education in fast-growing high technology areas

Objective 1.1: Attract high-quality students to ensure a competitive and accomplished student body

We welcomed an inaugural class of students and opened the University for business in August. We ended the year with 553 students (522 undergraduates, 31 graduates). Of those students, 93% were from Florida, 72% were First Time in College (FTIC), 86% were male, 81% were white, and 42% from Polk and surrounding counties. The average SAT score was 1741 (math 616) and the average GPA was 3.9. We awarded scholarships to the inaugural class that covered full tuition and related fees for three years ($5,000) and partial tuition for the fourth ($3,200). We created additional scholarships for high-achieving students and worked with financial aid to allow distribution of state matching funds to low socioeconomic status students with disabilities. We held a Reveal event to reduce summer melt and created a new process where the Governor sends our students letters. We also launched a Facebook page for admitted students to meet and form relationships before attending. We worked through the Board of Governors to get our courses entered into the Common Course Numbering system. We worked with several universities in the State University System (SUS) to accept our transfer credits even though we are not yet accredited. We initiated several articulation agreements with State Colleges and are working on ways to improve transition for high performing students.

Given our 2014 results, we revamped our 2015 marketing strategy and shifted to a national web and social media-based approach. We launched a new digital ad campaign, produced Google hangouts, conducted A/B testing of landing pages and revamped our print material. Our admissions staff visited 224 high schools, held 18 open houses, hosted 3,463 visitors, and recruited at 258 college fairs in 10 different states and four different countries. At the time of this report, we have generated 51,224 inquiries. We have more out-of-state inquiries than in-state, and the leading in-state county is now Hillsborough. We have admitted 1,025 students and have 469 deposits for the 2015-16 academic year. We project 494 freshmen and 110 transfers for 2015. We currently have over 95 graduate applications. Analytics are used at Florida Poly in almost all stages of student recruitment from helping to build a more robust and highly targeted student email outreach campaign to calculating the scholarship amounts needed to recruit a specific student. We developed a need-based and merit-based scholarship for the second class that varies from $1,000 to $16,000. We also created a Provost and Presidential Level Scholarship to attract the highest achieving students. We streamlined our admissions process to make it easy for students to apply and developed a novel idea for a USB-based admissions packet. We applied for and became eligible to enroll international students through the Student & Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). Planning continues for hosting an ESL program to attract mathematically gifted international students whose English needs improving.

Objective 1.2: Build programs and facilities that focus on retention and prepare students for todays complex workforce by teaching critical thinking skills and problem solving

We developed an extensive Library consistent with our mission to be innovative and do things differently. The first day of classes, our students had access to over 140,000 books and over 60 databases. In August, the Library Journal and the L.A. Times wrote about our Digital Library. From there, Fox Business News and Reuters picked up the story, and it continued to spread receiving press coverage in more than 24 countries including India, Brazil, the UAE, Spain, Singapore, Japan, Australia, Russia and the Netherlands. We had 444 students sign up for a FLOW library account, which allows students to manage their digital library holdings. We entered into an agreement that allows for students and faculty to request interlibrary loans from other universities in the SUS. We built an effective Academic Success Center for providing assistance to students with academic concerns. We held over 965 tutoring sessions this past year, provided a help desk for students and worked with any student that had special needs. We identified students of concern and worked with them to develop an academic success plan. We developed a curriculum that provides the necessary courses to ensure on-time graduation. We took a more active role in academic advising by hiring a full-time academic advisor to work closely with faculty and students to ensure they remain on schedule and maintain their scholarships. We conducted an analysis of first-semester Calculus performance. Not surprisingly, we found it difficult to predict student performance based on their transcripts, but we did identify several root causes for student underperformance. Based on the results of this analysis, we created several new approaches aimed to improve student performance. During the spring semester, we tested an approach to Calculus I which provided self-paced instruction in discrete modules. Based on the lessons learned, we also created a blended model for pre-calculus with trigonometry that will be offered to students over the summer. This program provides pre-testing to identify weaknesses and then targets instruction in those specific areas. In developing this course, we also developed the framework that will allow us to later offer this course in on-line classes. We also created a summer math boot camp for students who need more assistance than offered in an on-line venue. A summer teaching study has been authorized to investigate how we can institutionalize advanced teaching methods like active learning, flipped classrooms and blended models. This study will develop a plan for integrating and measuring performance of these approaches, and will also address how to better measure teacher performance. MOOCs, on-line learning and tighter integration of the humanities with STEM will also be studied. Our faculty and staff have worked hard this year to grow relationships with students. We created and delivered new student orientation programs, held student welcome week events and implemented processes that allow students to easily communicate with our administration. We have a full functioning Student Government Association in place. The students elected two consecutive student body presidents (one for AY14 and one for AY15). We worked with the students to create an executive branch with a senate and also ratified the student constitution and budget. With a fully functioning SGA, we developed and established numerous clubs and organizations. We created a student-driven campus activities board and delivered over 40 student activities and events. We partnered with Y Lakeland to also deliver information and details about local events. We created and delivered an intramural program with initial focus on basketball and soccer. We also developed and implemented group and individual fitness classes. We developed and published a FERPA policy. We created and published a student handbook that includes the student code of conduct and students rights and responsibilities. We also created key policies related to student affairs. We formed partnerships with local providers to deliver comprehensive health care services to our students. We designed and built a space with the necessary equipment and partnered with a local pharmacy for prescriptions. We staffed counseling, disability and health services offices and organized a local referral network of health care providers. We also designed and offered four stress management and wellness programs. We designed and offered two programs to educate faculty on identifying and managing at-risk students. We proposed and formulated a behavioral intervention team for these same students. We negotiated a contract with the Citrus Connection to offer bus services for our off-campus students and held a press conference announcing the partnership and unveiled a Florida Poly bus. We monitored ridership and conducted a survey that helped optimize and reconfigure our initial routes. We provided a state-of-the art housing solution for 44% of our students in AY2014. We worked with the BOG staff to develop a plan for building an additional AY2015 dorm but were not able to get approval because of state mandates. We developed a Public-Private Partnership (P3) Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) process for an AY2016 543 bed student residence hall. We evaluated five proposals and negotiated with three vendors to choose an overall winner, which was approved by the BOT. We presented this to the BOG Facilities Committee, who recommended the full BOG approve the request. The full BOG subsequently approved the 2nd dorm and construction will start soon. We developed an ITN for an AY 2015 off-campus housing solution and evaluated four proposals leading to a negotiation with two vendors. We chose the apartment solution and have been working to provide the necessary furniture, transportation, utilities and security needed for our students. We developed a unique project and design-based curriculum that teaches students critical thinking skills and improves retention. We made substantial project-based investments this year and held 10 internal competitions leading to projects like an energy harvesting boot for charging wireless devices (provisional patent filed), magnetically-powered levitating lamps, a miniature lyophilizer, a Raspberry Pi-based supercomputer, an integrated robotics-3D printing desktop manufacturing system and an app for connecting travelers and others. This same freshman class entered three external competitions and placed against upperclassman at other SUS schools. We also entered a national Human Powered Vehicle competition at UF and had a strong showing. We authorized a summer Research Study to outline formal procedures for how we conduct student projects through an RFP process. Faculty, industry or the students themselves will generate these RFPs. This study also examines funding and space requirements for the top five concentrations. The Cyber Security Lab systems context architecture has been created and we have enhanced the Cyber and Information Security Program with a partnership with Quadrant in Jacksonville, FL. To help further define our project-based curriculum we visited Olin College and Beaver Works at MIT to better understand their approaches.

Objective 1.3: Continue to grow IT infrastructure that supports the academic and research missions of the institution

We built a robust Technology Services infrastructure that includes both wired and wireless services. We designed and developed an advanced high-speed computing and network infrastructure with campus Internet services, an open Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) ecosystem, open-use computer labs, a genius bar-style helpdesk and VPN access to the Poly Cloud from anywhere. We designed and built a Network Operations Center and created a network and system monitoring and management capability. We provided software distribution services to our faculty, students and staff. We negotiated agreements with key vendors that provide important software packages for the engineering and mathematical sciences. When students complained about the wireless infrastructure in the dorm, we designed and acquired a Distributed Antenna System that provided higher bandwidth and improved cellular signal strength. We planned, designed and developed a University data center, digital signage, campus surveillance cams, a mass communications capability, unified communications and VoIP telecommunications and campus technology standards. We also built a robust Administrative Computing capability by implementing a CAMS-based Student Information System (SIS), the MyPoly University enterprise portal, a student ID card and campus parking system. We also created a disaster recovery plan, integrated career services software and provided web domain services. We began work on a data warehouse capability to support our continuous improvement policy. We built a robust academic and research computing environment by implementing a Learning Management System (LMS), lecture capture for all classrooms and labs and an on-line capability for virtual classrooms. We designed and developed instructional computer labs, created educational technology services for the classrooms, developed and procured a High Performance Computing (HPC) environment. We also evaluated and implemented approximately 100 academic technology software packages. We built a robust Information Security program by implementing firewall app protection architecture and IDS/IPS, evaluating VPN capabilities and developing a vulnerability management plan. We also implemented a penetration-testing plan, enterprise anti-virus and email SPAM filtering.

Goal 2: Build environment that encourages problem-driven applied research for near-term impact

Objective 2.1: Strategically recruit qualified faculty to meet our growing student population and fill curriculum gaps

We conducted a faculty gap analysis based on the progression of our students and course offerings for next year that led to a faculty hiring plan. We launched a faculty recruitment ad campaign, which included targeted print and digital ads in industry publications, re-marketing ads, email blasts and targeted mobile ads. The campaign has delivered 9.4 million impressions (brand awareness), 35,564 clicks to our website and more than 650 applications. We developed a process for faculty hiring that includes representation from both senior administrators and faculty. We conducted over 60 initial screenings with 13 in-person interviews, and we have hired sixteen new faculty members. We developed a standard offer package that includes a 12-month appointment for the first year of the initial two-year contract. For most faculty members, we provide a small start-up package to help procure laboratory equipment, and we provide support for professional development. We launched a Technical Symposium Speaker series and had six outside speakers this year. We developed reappointment and promotion policies and renegotiated all initial 12-month faculty contracts. We developed a faculty workload policy consistent with state law but flexible enough to allow our faculty to excel in their chosen expertise areas. This policy is loosely based on a differentiated faculty model. We developed faculty performance evaluation policies that include three important elements. The Statement of Mutual Expectations (SME) outlines faculty duties in Education, Research and Service and is negotiated between each faculty member and the Provost. The brief resume provides an overview of performance in each of those areas the previous year while a detailed dossier provides historical performance. The faculty created a Faculty Assembly and adopted a faculty assembly constitution. We implemented weekly town hall meetings for faculty and Academic Affairs to ensure we maintain open lines of communications and allow open discussions on important and timely decisions. With no Department Heads or College Deans, we established and funded academic program coordinators with 3-credit release time.

Objective 2.2: Build necessary research infrastructure and programs for undergraduate students, graduate students and faculty

We made numerous decisions related to research activities including cost sharing support on key proposals and the use of Graduate Assistants to support faculty research. Our Intellectual Property (IP) Policy has been drafted and circulated internally for comments. To catalyze economic development and facilitate industry engagement, the policy is both industry and faculty friendly. We met with a local consultant from UCF who helps universities adopt a research infrastructure process (contracts, pre-award, negotiations, compliance, IRB, etc.). We hired a Contracts & Grants Manager to establish a sponsored research office and help faculty with research proposals and administer sponsored awards. Our faculty have proposed over $2.8 million and have been awarded nearly $1 million in FY15. These include the Florida Energy System Consortium on sustainable energy, Harris Foundation for embedded system design, State Price Index and Wearable Devices Security. We also have a $5M gift to build a Health Care Informatics program.

Objective 2.3: Manage creation and growth of strategic Centers, Institutes and Laboratories (CILs) that align with the University mission and academic programs

We held several discussions with senior leadership at Mosaic on the future of the Florida Phosphate Industry Research (FIPR) Institute. We are in the process of responding to those comments and re-engineering FIPR to make it more relevant to the phosphate mining industry. FIPR Institute continued work on the 5-year DOE Critical Materials Institutes (CMI) project led by the Ames Laboratory. We also completed laboratory-testing projects, developed the FIPR dolomite flotation technology, which could double the usable phosphate resources in Florida, and demonstrated the technical feasibility for remote chemical analysis of phosphate mining face using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy. We upgraded FIPR Institute laboratory capabilities by installing new equipment, participation in inter-laboratory check program, safety training and implementation of new safety policies and procedures in alignment with Florida Poly. We continued FIPR Institute integration with Florida Poly including a re-design of the structure and content for the website to align with Florida Polys website. We revised and submitted the FIPR Institute COOP plan for inclusion in the Florida Poly submittal to the Governors Office. FIPR Institute staff submitted a unit assessment plan in support of the SACSCOC application We published and presented research with broad environmental applications in Florida, e.g. Screening of a New Candidate Biological Control Agent of Brazilian Peppertree, Selective Control of Invasive Exotic Grasses, and Peninsular Florida Stream Systems: Guidance for their Classification and Restoration. We proposed the construction of two new research centers to the Legislature this past session. The first was a Sensor Analytics center ($13M nonrecurring) that both improves the efficacy of NASA launch decisions and helps improve water management in Polk County. The second center is an Applied Economic Analysis center ($1M recurring) that studies the role of STEM in catalyzing state economic development and identifies potential impediments. The Florida Transportation Innovation Center (FTIC) is a joint initiative of Florida Poly and Floridas Turnpike Enterprise (FTE). We have been in discussions with Florida DOT and FTE and have developed a concept for a new research center on Florida Polys campus that will conduct research and test advanced tolling methods, autonomous vehicles and airborne drones for traffic monitoring, among other things. We have a draft MOU currently under review and are planning several workshops to define the requirements for this new center. We are also in discussion with attorneys for the Williams property and hope to convince them that this is a positive addition to our property. We made significant progress on building and growing our Health Care Informatics program. We hired an Interim Director, a faculty member with significant experience in both structured and unstructured analytics and a visiting faculty that has a DVM from UF and PhD from MIT. We made significant progress with our sponsor on defining the mission and identifying advisory board members. We built strategic relationships with key local health care organizations including Lakeland Regional Health, Winter Haven Hospital, Moffitt Cancer Center, Peace River Center and possibly WellDyne. We are also in teaming discussions with Cerner, a major Electronic Health Record (EHR) provider. We are nearing completion of a Big Data Lab that will host this research and have already started populating our system with important and relevant datasets.

Goal 3: Form industry and community partnerships for mutual benefit

Objective 3.1: Continue to grow a deeper exchange with industry leaders and business partners

To date, we have established 90 industry partners. Of these 90 partners, 74 are located in Florida with the majority being in Central Florida. All 90 partners have agreed to advocate on behalf of Florida Poly. Most partners have also agreed to provide internships (80), student projects (18) and/or sponsor faculty R&D (20). We hosted our Second Annual Industry Partner Summit and had an exceptional turnout with four Summit Sponsors and 104 participants. We highlighted student projects at this Summit to attract student internship opportunities and had John Tonnison, the EVP and CIO for Tech Data as the keynote speaker. The Summit also included industry breakout sessions to allow us to learn more about specific industry needs. A summary presentation of those lessons learned is currently being drafted. We hosted four other industry events at Florida Poly and represented Florida Poly at 13 external industry events. While companies typically target rising seniors for internship positions, we are aggressively establishing a career planning and internship center. To this end, we built a Career Planning Center complete with Purple Briefcase, a software package that helps manage internships. We held a Career Prep day on campus to teach students how to write resumes and cover letters and to provide them with interview coaching. 234 students attended the event.

Goal 4: Successfully launch University and establish sound financial growth, stability and administrative practices

Objective 4.1: Create a flat and integrated organizational structure with key positions filled and a focus on continuous improvement

We created the appropriate delegations of authority in several areas to become more consistent with the operations of other SUS institutions and with SACSCOC requirements. We reorganized along three levels and identified key positions that needed filling. We returned control of individual budgets over to each department, and then we went through a re-budgeting process that tied departmental budgets to our strategic plan. We identified excess funds and re-budgeted to maintain strategic reserves for capital improvements and infrastructure investment We developed a methodical budget planning process for FY16 and have developed a Budget Council that reviews and approves all budgets. We held training sessions on budget authority and budget construction. A study of both our peer institutions and other institutions in the SUS defined a target staff-to-faculty ratio. Based on that target, we developed a hiring plan and allocated positions accordingly. We filled the key positions of CFO, VP of Advancement, Director of Institutional Effectiveness, Director of Environmental Health and Safety, and Director of Purchasing. We created and implemented a student worker program to fill voids, and we created a Presidential Ambassador Program for important events. We created a Presidents Cabinet that meets weekly to discuss strategic University issues. This cabinet also conducts weekly deep dives into a business unit to discuss its budget, staffing, goals, priorities and strategic directions. We additionally hold weekly operational meetings, Academic Affairs meetings and town hall meetings with faculty. We also hold a monthly All-Hands meeting. We restructured all standing committees and memberships to both make the committees more effective and to reduce burden on key individuals. We built a Purchasing Department that assumed responsibility from UF for all competitive solicitations. This department helps establish fiscal responsibility by enhancing competition and reducing the use of high-risk contracts. We established a purchasing policy for goods and services and implemented a supplier diversity procedure. We built a Bursars Office that created infrastructure for cash handling, payment plans, book vouchers, credit card payment processing, meal plan payment plan, financial aid refund, delinquent accounts, student financial responsibility, returned check, uncollectible accounts/write-off, tuition & fee deferment, employee tuition assistance, petty cash, SSN use, nonresident alien tax withholding, taxable scholarships & grants and third-party billing. The department created nearly 20 forms, an operations manual and an office-landing page that is relevant to operations. We built a Business & Auxiliary Services Office that developed numerous auxiliary services. We developed parking rules and procedures, permits, passes, a citations and appeal structure, on-line vehicle registration and permit sales. We installed visitor parking kiosk stations, an on-campus POS for parking passes, and provided payroll deductions and billing for faculty/staff parking permits. We established a food service management contract that came with a $1M investment in our cafeteria dining and catering program. We built out the kitchens and seating areas in the Wellness Center. We built Starbucks, Grab & Go, Grill and Sub Connection for convenient access. We established a POS for meal plans and food-to-go programs. We also designed meal plan brochures, sold meal plans online and built an online catering request process. We analyzed results from the first year meal program and re-negotiated our contract with Sodexo to eliminate their minimum purchase requirement and to increase food quality. In the future, all on-campus residents will be required to have a meal plan, so we added new options that made dining at Florida Poly more flexible. We established a bookstore management contract with Barnes & Noble and equipped the bookstore at the Wellness Center. We established a book voucher system linked to students Florida Poly ID cards and provided online textbook adoption for faculty and students to order and purchase textbooks. We established textbook ordering deadlines with the goal of adhering to the Board of Governors new regulation on textbooks. We established a mail/copy service management contract and used this contract for all copiers and printers on campus. We set up copy/print codes on all copy machines. We also provided text notification of packages to resident students, established digital submission of documents for printing or copy-making to the copy center and provided postage meters for campus mail. We set up an ID card office that was integrated with the student information system. We also established an off-campus merchants program. We established contracts with an ATM provider and a vending provider. We built a lounge and study area in the Wellness Center and provide important campus information on the TV monitors. We built an Assistant Controller Office that provides a centralized Accounts Payable (AP) process for approval and payment of invoices. We negotiated vendor payment terms, implemented controls over cash collection, and streamlined Accounts Receivable, revenue collection, processing and recording. We built a Facilities & Construction Office that finished and closed out all capital projects on time and within budget ($135M). We procured continuing service provider contracts, updated our Master Plan and developed campus standards and specifications. We designed a recreational field and campus parking facilities. We had signs installed on I-4 and created way-finding signage for campus. We also had the speed limit on University Blvd. and Research Way increased to a more reasonable speed to reduce the number of speeding tickets from our important visitors. We built a Human Resources Office that developed important HR policies, authored an Employee Handbook, updated all job descriptions, implemented a staff credentialing process, developed an outside activity and disclosure form, worked on a COI policy and an Employee Assistance Program, developed a staff appraisal process and form, developed a process for posting and approving positions and drafted offer letters and contracts. We implemented federal policies on Title IX and immigration H1B processes. We built an Accounting Office that implemented a CAMS billing module, successfully negotiated down the Universitys position in buildings transferred from USF, processed the University finance equipment leasing program and built all financial tables for the SACSCOC application. We rectified several issues that would have resulted in audit findings for the University. We coordinated the FY14 financial audit resulting in a clean audit for financials. We also coordinated an external audit of construction and operations. We engaged KPMG to assist us with an internal audit plan and internal controls and are currently going through an operational audit, audit of Bright Futures and a financial audit from the State of Florida. Our Foundation received a clean audit. We built a Finance & Planning Office that completed all requests from the BOG on time and accurately. We provided for state reporting including, but not limited to, the Universitys preliminary operating budget, tuition and fees schedule, 2015-16 Legislative Budget Request (LBR), Capital Improvement Plan, Universitys Employee/OPS file, Universitys Salary Category Detail file, Universitys Operating Budget and seven supplemental schedules, Universitys Consolidated Financial Statements, Universitys SUS GAAP Financials, Universitys Five Percent Budget Reduction Exercise, Universitys Efficiency Report, Financial Section of the Universitys Workplan and the Finance Data section of IPEDS. We developed and implemented several policies and procedures including the Universitys Ethics Policy and Surplus Property Policy. We led the process for disposing surplus property resulting from the move from the South Florida Avenue location to Main Campus and Poly South. We implemented all policies/regulations mandated by the Florida Legislature, Board of Governors and SACS (47 regulations, 4 rules and 39 policies). We built an Environmental Health & Safety Department that developed and implemented policy and procedures on health, environmental and safety protection. We ensured that emergency action preparedness plans are communicated to all personnel to ensure familiarity and coordination between facility personnel and emergency responders. We drafted and published a Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) in accordance with state and federal mandates. This plan describes the roles and responsibilities of the Universitys support departments, operational groups and personnel during emergency situations. It is currently filed with the State of Floridas Department of Emergency Management. We built a Department of Public Safety and Police that hired five sworn police officers and four non-sworn Public Safety Officers to replace contract security. Department services are provided 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. An ORI number was obtained from the FBI to be recognized as an official Police Department. We brokered mutual aid agreements with the Lakeland Police Department (LPD) and the Polk County Sheriffs Office (PCSO). LPD provides dispatch duties and background checks at no cost to the University. We drafted 85 departmental policies and procedures and created over 25 forms to be used by our police officers and PSOs. We obtained three Ford Crown Victoria vehicles and a 30 mobile command center from UCF at no cost to the University.

Objective 4.2: Maintain accreditation schedule and activities to support legislative timeline

We hired a SACSCOC consultant and created a timeline that would provide for a potential December 2016 decision on regional accreditation. We worked with Academic Affairs and staff to generate four drafts of the initial application before submitting the fifth and final draft on time on December 19, 2014. We now wait to respond to any feedback the commission might provide concerning our status. Several key individuals attended the SACS Annual Meeting in Nashville and had discussions with our SACS coordinator and the President of SACS in preparation of submitting our application. We invited the President of SACSCOC to give a talk on SACS and the accreditation process at our June Board of Trustees meeting. We continue to hold regular accreditation workshops and trainings. We also conducted a debrief meeting with our consultant to discuss how we might better prepare for the next series of submissions. We re-engineered our internal committees and immediately began work on the full application. First semester data has been compiled and an update to the application was submitted as promised. We developed a new process and schedule for how each committee communicates and how work flows through the steering committee. We developed a timeline for each of the comprehensive standards and assigned primary responsibilities. We built a status spreadsheet that is discussed at each weekly update meeting. We have transitioned much of the day-to-day operations of our accreditation to our new Director of Institutional Effectiveness, who is providing skeletons of what needs to be answered for each of the standards and requirements. We have begun the ABET accreditation process and hope to develop its application in parallel to SACSCOC. We developed a timeline for meeting with ABET and submitting our application.

Objective 4.3: Develop a 10-year strategic University growth plan that includes student growth, capital needs, faculty hires, degree production, foundation needs.

An initial 10-year strategic growth plan has been completed that identifies student growth over the next ten years. From this, housing, faculty, office space, laboratory space, degree offerings and other important requirements for the University can be derived. This plan will drive the Campus Master Plan, which will be included as part of the SACSCOC application for candidacy. In growing to 5,000 students over ten years the plan shows that we would require too much capital investments to make the plan feasible. The plan was modified to a three-phased approach with more realistic growth expectations and capital requirements.

Objective 4.4: Develop the University foundation to support the scholarship and financial initiatives of the University

We planned and held a very successful PIVOT and LAUNCH event celebrating the opening of this new University. We secured 56 sponsors, grossed over $1.8M ($3.6M with an applied match) and brought over 1,500 people to the campus in a 24-hour period, including the Governor, BOG representatives, and other state and local officials. We successfully raised the necessary capital to fund our scholarships, advocacy and salaries for this first year. We secured a gift agreement for the Health Informatics program in the amount of $4.75M and were able to use up to $2M of that for matching funds. We launched the second annual faculty/staff campaign with 62% participation for $21,000. We hosted an inaugural scholarship luncheon recognizing scholarship supporters. There were over 100 guests in attendance and included a select group of student scholarship supporters. Planning for the Presidents Investiture events are underway. The scholarship fundraiser, PIVOT, will take place on Thursday, October 8, 2015. The Steering Committee continues to meet monthly and has successfully launched an Ambassador Program to engage additional community leaders in support and awareness of the event. We established five new committees as part of the Foundation Board and established nominating policies and procedures. We approved growing the Foundation Board to include up to 32 members with a focus on growing members outside of Polk County. We initialized and implemented Foundation financial policies and procedures and are working to implement a Moves Management Software System to refine and grow our donor/prospect list.

Objective 4.5: Increase awareness of the University and develop relationships with University constituents including the Florida Legislature, Board of Governors and regional elected officials and community leaders

We participated in Polk County Day at the Capital, where we met with legislators to discuss Florida Polys Legislative Budget Request. We held a separate Florida Poly Day in the Capital, which included 15 students and six staff. We met with six members of the Legislature and gave away promotional items including a white paper focused on the economic importance of STEM. We worked through our legislative delegation to ask for a $2M increase in operational funds, $10M for first-year funding to construct an Applied Research Center, $13M of nonrecurring funds for the Sensor Analytics Institute and $1M recurring funds for an Applied Economic Analysis Institute. We met with numerous key members of the Legislature along with their staff to discuss the Florida Poly mission and vision. We visited four key BOG members and hosted Norm Tripp, Dick Beard, Tom Kuntz and Ed Morton during their visits to the campus to discuss housing and University growth issues. We provided monthly written update reports and presented to the Florida Poly Select Committee six times. We met with Marshall Criser (Chancellor of the State University System of Florida) and Randy Hannah (Chancellor of the Florida College System). We met with three residing SUS presidents (Hitt, Bense, and OShea), all three University and college presidents in Polk County (Polk State College, Florida Southern, Southeastern University) and the Polk Superintendent (K-12). We reached over 400 individuals through outside speaking engagements. We met with 20 local elected officials from the City of Lakeland, Polk County Commission and the City of Auburndale. We hosted numerous influential leadership groups on campus, reaching over 200 individuals. We hosted several Economic Development groups reaching over 125 people. We met with the Commissioner of Agriculture to share our mission and vision for the University. We completed a statewide media tour including visits to the Tallahassee Democrat, Miami Herald, Orlando Sentinel, Florida Today, Tampa Tribune and Tampa Bay Times. We followed that tour with letters to the editor of each paper. In the first quarter of 2015 alone, we have had more than 50 positive news stories. We developed three external advisory committees comprised of influential area leaders. Each committee has representation from local government and businesses. Key staff members represent the University in leadership programs throughout the region as well as sit on numerous boards and committees.

Objective 4.6: Continue to develop the University brand and increase the marketing reach of the University

We continued to develop a strong versatile brand identity through a successful #NextGreatMascot initiative that created an official University mascot through a student-centered process. Following the reveal of the mascot, we began developing a fresh logo and seal for the University. We also generated positive growth in direct visits to FLPoly.org. We continue to advertise strategically and emphasize measurability and ROI. We launched a new digital ad campaign targeting students, which included pay-per-click, re-marketing and social media ads. The campaign has generated more than 150 leads, which is a more than 200% improvement over last years campaign at a reduced cost per lead of 29%. We continued to evolve FLPoly.org by launching a new design for our websites homepage based on feedback from students, staff and faculty focus groups. We launched a basic search engine optimization (SEO) campaign and a Web CrossFit effort to add content to FLPoly.org with a better balance between design and information. We transitioned the site to our own independent cloud-based server to improve site security and scalability and have maintained strong year-over-year traffic growth. We built social media communities to lead the on-line STEM conversation. We maintained strong growth and engagement on social media channels, and we have grown followers on Google+, YouTube, Vimeo and Flickr channels. We completed a series of three Google+ Hangout virtual events in which we discussed robotics, Big Data and Supercomputers, and STEM employment. Each session generated significant increases in traffic to our academic program pages. In addition to driving traffic and leads, the videos are archived on our site offering rich content that showcases our faculty, industry partners and programs. This helps to improve on-site engagement and SEO. We expanded our portfolio of promotional material with an emphasis on brand consistency. We designed a new general brochure, updated our admissions viewbook, created a new financial aid brochure, created a digital acceptance packet, updated the Poly Premiere footage, designed a cutting-edge showcase booth for conventions and created a vetted catalog of promotional items. We finalized and tested our crisis communications plan and tools, and we worked with the Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) committee and the Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP) to ensure alignment. We launched a dark website that can take over the FLPoly.org homepage in the event of an emergency and serve as a communications hub for students, parents, staff and community members. We established a collection of emergency notification templates for our Blackboard Connect emergency alert system to ensure emergency alerts can be sent quickly with clarity and consistency, and we developed a department-level Continuous Operations Plan and conducted team cross-training to ensure duplication of basic skills in the event of an emergency. We completed a media training series for key University spokespeople that included crisis communications training, interview tips and on-camera practice sessions and coaching. We are working with our General Counsel and Purchasing departments to establish a trademark use and brand licensing process for both internal and external requests. This includes the recently added Marketing and Communications sign-off requirement for purchases involving Florida Polys brand elements. We developed a University style guide to ensure consistent use of our existing brand elements and conducted our first communications survey of staff, faculty and students to inform communications strategies moving forward and to set benchmark data for future comparison. We also transitioned oversight of the campus electronic message boards to Marketing and Communications, who developed a content plan and workflow for regularly updating information and managing requests.

Objective 4.7: Develop a plan for independent back office services to eliminate the shared services agreement with the University of Florida.

We re-negotiated the Shared Services Agreement from 10% of actual expenditures to 7.5%. We developed a phased-in approach for transitioning activities from UF to Florida Poly, and we are currently in the process of assuming all functions associated with purchasing, accounts payable, travel, and P-card. Human Resources functions such as payroll and benefits administration will remain with UF until we implement an ERP system. The University completed an extensive due diligence on several ERP systems, including a return on investment analysis, and chose Workday. Our initial goal is to have a unified system to handle all financial and human resources processes in a seamless manner. The implementation will begin late June/early July and includes hiring key employees funded from the savings from the Shared Services Agreement.

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