Board of Trustees report
Feb. 2, 2007
Dear Members of the University Community:
I write to report on the winter meeting of the University's Board of Trustees held last week. The winter Board meeting is designed to be an intensive and brief meeting, so it was held this year at a hotel at the Newark airport. This year's meeting began Thursday morning, Jan. 25, and concluded mid-afternoon Friday, Jan. 26, 2007. While relatively short, it was also productive.
Thursday
The Board focused on two crucial items of business:
1) Extensive interviews with four potential new members of the Board. The next day, the Board unanimously elected the four nominees as Trustees. These four will therefore begin their four-year terms as Trustees on July 1.
a. James H. DeGraffenreidt P'05, the chairman of the board and CEO of WGL Holdings and of Washington Gas, a utility serving nearly one million customers in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area.
b. Michael E. Flowers '76, partner, Bricker and Eckler LLP, a specialist in business law and an accomplished lecturer on related issues, including diversity in the practice of law and the modernization of laws in Africa.
c. Peter C. Gerhard '80, managing partner, East Avenue Capital Partners (a hedge fund investment firm), and a former managing partner at Goldman Sachs.
d. Stephen P. Holmes '79, chairman, CEO and director, Wyndham Worldwide Corporation, one of the largest hotel corporations in the country.
2) A comprehensive analysis of the University's endowment investments. The University's endowment has enjoyed solid investment returns the past several years, and now stands at approximately $560 million.
Thursday evening, the Board's Ad Hoc Committee on Governance met and discussed key governance issues facing the Board, administration, and faculty, which were then discussed further on Friday among the entire Board, as specified below.
Friday
Friday began with a 90-minute Executive Session. This provided an opportunity for me to update the Board on such matters as current personnel searches and the campus master planning process. I also reported on a study the University is initiating of perceptions alumni and prospective students have of Bucknell. Following an assessment that began last fall with 30 leading research and communications firms, in December we selected Peter Hart Research Associates to conduct this study, which will be the most comprehensive assessment of Bucknell's reputation and identity in a generation. The Hart researchers have broad experience in higher education and the non-profit sector, including work on similar intensive projects with Duke University, UC Davis, the UC System, Franklin & Marshall, and the Association of American Colleges and Universities, and as the development research adviser for such institutions as the Holocaust Memorial Museum since its inception. The research will take place this spring, involving alumni, donors, prospective students, and higher education leaders. Those of us who participate in our campus life daily know and appreciate the strengths of Bucknell. The survey will help us craft a communications strategy which best portrays and emphasizes those strengths to prospective applicants, alumni, donors, and the wider higher education community.
The remainder of Friday consisted of reports from the following committees, as follows:
- Ad Hoc Committee on Governance – Co-chairs Joe Ciffolillo '61, the vice chair of the Board, and Ronald Benjamin '67 summarized the Board's continued work on its own governance practices. Since the chair of the faculty, Professor Marty Ligare, was present – as was Professor Tom Solomon (who attended as the chair of the University Committee on Planning and Budget) – Mr. Ciffolillo invited Professor Ligare to update the Board on the faculty's work completed so far and underway on faculty governance review. As the Board continues to address concerns raised by our Middle States Association accreditors about Bucknell governance, it appreciated the opportunity to discuss with Professor Ligare the status of the faculty's work in doing so. Our thanks to Professors Ligare and Solomon for attending the meeting and participating in these discussions.
- Finance Committee – Chair Ronald Benjamin '67 welcomed a presentation by Mr. David Surgala, vice president for finance and administration, on the University's budget and led a related discussion. Mr. Surgala reported that the University's comprehensive fee (tuition, room, and board) is currently eighth (first being highest) among the 13 peer institutions that serve as the baseline in this analysis. While we are pleased that our comprehensive fee is highly competitive with our peers, we also recognize that an excellent, private, liberal arts education is expensive to provide. We will, therefore, continue to focus on containing costs where possible and to lessen Bucknell's budget dependency on tuition. The comprehensive campaign ahead will be designed in part to raise funds that decrease this tuition dependency and further expand our capacity to award scholarships and financial aid. We expect to announce the comprehensive fee for 2007 to our students and their parents within the next two weeks.
- Compensation Committee – Chair Randy MacDonald P'02 welcomed a presentation by Mr. Surgala on the University's compensation of its personnel and led a related discussion. Over the last several years, as the result of deliberately aggressive increases in staff and faculty compensation as directed by the Board, Bucknell's compensation now is highly competitive with its peers. Compensation for staff as well as all three professorial ranks – assistant, associate, and full – has risen to near or above the mid-point among the 11 peer institutions that serve as the baseline in this analysis. To maintain and even increase that ranking in fiscal year 2008, the Board voted to incorporate into the fiscal year 2008 budget an increase of 5 percent in the faculty salary pool, and a merit increase pool of 3.5 percent for staff, plus to make available an additional 2 percent increase for staff as appropriate for promotions and market adjustments. Mr. Surgala also thanked Professor Solomon for his good work as chair of the University's on-campus Planning & Budget Committee in both the areas of comprehensive fee and compensation.
- Long-range Planning Committee – Chair Jeb Bachman '78 welcomed a presentation by Mr. Surgala on implementation of The Plan for Bucknell and led a related discussion. The Board was pleased by the progress so far in developing, reviewing, and implementing tactics, and dedicated particular attention to the first Plan goal, the academic core. The Board re-iterated a point made during its November meeting, that as much as possible, future faculty hires, including those associated with the implementation of the five-course teaching load, be strategically aligned with the goals of The Plan. The Board also asked that the University create a strategic plan for the academic core that can guide us in achieving Plan goals, selecting among tactics, and strengthening academic programs. Professor Ligare, Provost Mary DeCredico '81, and I have since had good conversations about initiating the development of this strategic plan for the academic core. We anticipate it will prove highly useful in focusing the University on achieving ambitious but realistic academic priorities aligned with The Plan.
- University Relations Committee – Chair Ken Freeman '72 welcomed a presentation by Mr. Sam Lundquist, vice president for development and alumni relations, on early planning for the comprehensive campaign and led a related discussion. Mr. Lundquist summarized the results of the leadership briefings Mrs. Mitchell and I have hosted across the East Coast with leading Bucknell alumni and other friends of Bucknell, outlined the re-structuring of the Division of Development and Alumni Relations that he has now largely completed, and reviewed the early phases of establishing a nationwide campaign leadership network. Mr. Lundquist also provided the Board with a helpful summary of how and why academic tactics and goals drive the formation of campaign goals, which led to an informative conversation among the Trustees and re-affirmed the importance of the work now beginning to create a visionary strategic plan for the academic core.
- Nominations Committee – Chair Alan Walker '66 officially nominated the four new members described above, which the Board unanimously voted to join them as Trustees.
- Buildings and Grounds – Chair Craig Mills '76 welcomed a presentation by Mr. Surgala about the plans to renovate Swartz Hall this summer. A&B wings were constructed more than 50 years ago, while C&D wings were built more than 40 years ago. The A&B wings were upgraded in the late 1980s, but C&D wings have never been renovated. This summer's renovation will improve parts of A&B wings and markedly upgrade the C&D wings. The renovations will be carried out on an aggressive schedule this summer, when the hall is empty, to complete before students return in the fall.
This concluded Board business. In my closing remarks, considering the discussions the Board had during this meeting about the upcoming comprehensive campaign, I felt it appropriate to remind the Trustees of the great privilege they have of serving on the Board of one of the greatest institutions of higher learning in the world. We know the Trustees will be leaders as we begin the campaign, and appreciate the service they continue to give in multiple ways to Bucknell.
I trust you will continue to find these Board reports useful.
Yours sincerely,
Brian C. Mitchell
President
