Addressing the MSU community in his 10th State of the University address, MSU President M. Peter McPherson urged students to continue to make progress academically and for the university to increase diversity in the classroom.

“The preparation of entering classes had steadily improved, and this year’s freshman class has the highest academic profile in the university’s history,” McPherson said. “We enrolled the highest proportion of students of color in the freshman class of 2002 in MSU’s history.”

In addition, McPherson discussed the $1.2 billion capital campaign - a university fund-raiser that officially started Sept. 20 with donations from alumni and trustees. McPherson also discussed the quality of MSU’s Study Abroad program and keeping salaries competitive with the national market for faculty and staff.

For more information on this article, see Wednesday’s edition of The State News.