Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little has been welcomed this semester as a new member of the University community. Though she has built a solid foundation with her proposed goals, voice and visibility, she must make it a priority next semester to take the action necessary to accomplish these goals.

From the beginning, Gray-Little has made one of her priorities to place a special emphasis on students and academics, paying particular attention to increasing the graduation rate and improving the University’s research profile, according to a June 10 article in The Kansan.

Additionally, she has extensively been traveling both inside and outside of the state, meeting with donors, benefactors and community members of 13 towns and cities in Kansas.

“People all over the state see KU as an institution in the state, and wherever I’ve gone there’s been a wish to have a connection with KU and to see KU in their communities,” Gray-Little said in a Kansan article from Nov. 27.

More recently, budgetary concerns have gripped both the state and the University. Gray-Little will need to be even more efficient when it comes to the budget and its relations to her three initiatives.

Gray-Little’s ongoing commitment to students is evident in her three initial priorities: a higher level of scholarly research, an increased amount of private funds and improved graduation and retention rates. She has implemented three task forces to look into these three priorities. These task forces should make the most of their time to be prepared to report publicly on their plans next semester.

Her first semester with the University has also been marred with the issues attached to the football program, which have been nothing but distractions to the chancellor and her goals for the University as a whole. Gray-Little has handled the situation admirably, and did the right thing by releasing concise, thorough statements to the public.

“I certainly wish we would have headlines with athletics that would be more positive than the ones we have,” Gray-Little said. “I would prefer that whatever gets into the national media about the University would be more positive, whether it would be academics or athletics.”

It is evident that Gray-Little is off to a productive start. However, reaching her goals will be a challenge, especially after Gov. Mark Parkinson announced a $2 million cut from the Board of Regents budget last month. Next semester, the task forces and the chancellor will be critiqued closely to see how their efforts live up to their powerful words.