Illinois State University President Aondover Tarhule highlighted recent achievements and future plans for ISU in his fourth State of the University address Thursday.
Tarhule laid out five leadership priorities for ISU, including its reputation and national prestige, student success, academic excellence and relevance, a culture of innovation and agility, and AI readiness.
Student success
Tarhule said ISU must focus on improving its student retention rate (81%) and six-year graduation rate (nearing 68%).
"I'm extremely proud of our student-success numbers," he said. "But I think we can do more. Because if we flip the equation and look at the number of students we lose, every year we lose close to 800 students who drop out of Illinois State. Students that we don't retain. That's a big number.
“With a 68% six-year graduation rate, it means after six years, 32% of the students who come to Illinois State have either dropped out or not received a degree. Those numbers are too large. I think we have an opportunity to reduce those numbers,” said Tarhule.
Tarhule echoed concerns earlier this semester — that financial issues are the biggest hurdle to a student's ability to enroll or graduate at ISU. University analysis over the last half-decade showed almost 60% of students who leave the university do so for financial reasons. Second on that list is family issues, followed by academic struggles.
ISU is pursuing several initiatives to improve retention and graduation rates. The Gateway Course Redesign Initiative, the Academic Program Success Academy, the CollabLab and Georgia State University’s National Institute for Student Success were examples offered of coordinated approaches to student success. Philanthropy is also helping students graduate. Nearly 3,000 students received scholarship support for fiscal year 2026.
There are early signs of success: Since last year, ISU’s graduation rate among students within six years of enrollment rose by 2.8 percentage points, to 67.3%.
During a Q&A after his speech, Tarhule was asked how ISU could stay relevant to students, employers and communities. He said one way to do that would more intentionally focus ISU's research efforts on certain "pillars of excellence."
“I think Illinois State has research that is too distributed and lacks concentration around key themes and pillars,” said Tarhule.
Budget pressures
There are also financial pressures.
Declining birthrates are contributing to the enrollment cliff that colleges and universities are now beginning to feel the effects of. Tarhule said the number of Illinois high school graduates is expected to decline 32% by 2040. This fall ISU saw its first decline in total enrollment since 2021.
That comes with a budget impact: Tuition and fees make up 86% of ISU's operating budget, with only about 13.7% from the state.
"We must communicate more transparently and clearly to parents and prospective students about why a college degree is the best investment they can make," Tarhule said.
At the same time, ISU's expenses are rising faster than its revenue.
“Our financial projections indicate that inflation, combined with a 3% annual increase in wages and operating expenses, could add an additional $46 million in our operating cost over the next five years,” said Tarhule. “At the same time, we recognize that our faculty and staff are the backbone of Illinois State's success, and that competitive compensation for employees must remain a priority.”
Tarhule said the plan for the university is to act “decisively and proactively” to avoid cuts to services and programs or hiring freezes.
Artificial intelligence
Tarhule explained how the university is embracing AI during Thursday's speech. Tarhule said students graduating today must be AI literate.
“You can't put the genie back in the bottle. So AI is here to stay. It's going to get stronger. It's going to get better. It's going to get more ubiquitous. So our role as a university is to make sure that our students know how to use it,” said Tarhule.
Tarhule said to embrace it, the university has to teach how to use it “ethically and responsibly.”
ISU’s Adaptive Edge Institute offers programs, services and events that teach students, faculty, staff and the wider community about how to navigate responsible use of new technology, including AI. Tarhule said there are 15 active projects under way at the Adaptive Edge Institute, including a study guide for introduction to financial accounting that was made using AI.
Tarhule likened the rise of AI technology with other tech breakthroughs that preceded it.
“I went from when we use typewriters to when we use computers. I went from computers to the internet, and we're going now through AI. Believe it or not, each of those previous changes was as monumental as what we're experiencing today,” said Tarhule.
“Everybody had the same kind of fear and scare. 'Students are not going to be learning. There will be no more jobs.' None of that has happened, right? Because people simply learned how to use those technologies and moved on to do other things because those technologies can do it better,” said Tarhule.
He said the focus of universities has to change as AI improves at doing tasks.
“It has to move from looking for information to questioning what we do with that information,” said Tarhule.
Scott Pelley coming to ISU
Tarhule announced that former 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley will come to campus next month as part of ISU's Presidential Speaker Series.
Pelley will speak at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27, at Braden Auditorium in Bone Student Center.
CBS fired Pelley earlier this year after he confronted CBS leadership over changes being made at 60 Minutes, one of the most well-respected news programs in the U.S.
