Its no secret that keeping score is a part of the greatest games in the world. Whether it’s the Super Bowl, the World Series or the Olympics, you can’t tell the winners without a scorecard. Keeping score serves two primary purposes; it holds players and coaches accountable and establishes a baseline for improving individual and team efforts. In much the same way, Fort Hays State University (FHSU) is making use of a scorecard to measure institutional performance and translate vision and strategy into high quality learning experiences. Our metrics are based on the priorities of the FHSU strategic planning process, the system level goals of the Kansas Board of Regents, the university’s institutional accreditation track known as the Academic Quality Improvement Project (AQIP) and the imperatives of two Senate bills (S.B. 345 and S.B. 647).
     The scorecard’s key performance indicators are being cascaded to lower levels within the FHSU structure and connected horizontally across colleges, departments and nonacademic units. This is a critical part of the project. The cascading process will allow each and every player on the university team to make a contribution to the design and implementation of what is increasingly becoming known to parents and students alike as “the FHSU Experience.”
      FHSU is well on its way to using this comprehensive set of measures to continuously check the health of the organization and align inputs (state monies, faculty, facilities, etc.,) with processes and desired outcomes, especially student learning and our “vital few” AQIP goals. Even at this early stage in the use of the scorecard, FHSU has been recognized as a Level 1 winner in the Kansas Award of Excellence program.
      I invite you to use this accountability and improvement brochure to take a look at our efforts to manage by measurement. We want you to know the score by reviewing our key performance indicators to see how FHSU is keeping our promise to help you build a world-class state system of higher education. In our centennial year we recorded the highest enrollments in our 100-year history. These record enrollments are no accident. We have accomplished this by developing innovative degree programs, deploying new technology, targeting our marketing initiatives and staying focused on continuous quality improvement.
      I speak for many when I say that as exciting as the last 100 years have been for the university, even greater things are in store for FHSU in its next century.

      Cordially,
      Edward H. Hammond, President
      Fort Hays State University