Campus update - Fall 2009

Brian C. Mitchell
Campus update - Fall 2009

Dear Fellow Bucknellian,

As has been done in the past, I want to provide the campus with an update as we begin a new academic year.

The Class of 2013
First, we want to welcome the 921 members of the Class of 2013. More than 7,500 students applied for admission to Bucknell this fall. 2,261 of these students, or 29.8% were offered admission. And 41% of those offers were accepted. Few universities in the nation can boast of those figures, particularly a yield rate over 40%. Once again, we are proud to have a highly selective group of scholars joining the Bucknell Community.

In addition, 23 students have transferred into the University. Many of these students have enrolled through our partnership with the Jack Kent Cooke Community College Transfer Scholarship program, which brings outstanding community college students to Bucknell. Last May we graduated our first cohort of Cooke Scholars and our first cohort of Posse Scholars. As part of our commitment to diversity, Bucknell operates several programs that enable bright young students who might not otherwise be able to afford attending a prestigious, private university to come to Bucknell. These students have enriched both the academic and social life on campus, so we want to welcome the new Cooke Scholars, Posse Scholars and Davis United World Foundation Scholars to the University.

Faculty and Staff
We also welcome 43 new members of the faculty, 28 of whom are tenure track appointments. We were able to attract extremely strong candidates for these positions through competitive national searches, and they will be strong additions to our faculty this year and for years to come. We also want to welcome back the faculty who are returning from leave.

In addition, we welcome new staff members. While I want to highlight five new employees here, all of our new staff are important additions to the Bucknell community. The Reverend Thomasina Yuille is our new University Chaplain. Thomasina is already having a welcomed impact on the campus. She is joined by our new Catholic Chaplain, Father Fred Wangwe. Robert Springall has been appointed Dean of Admissions. David Foreman has been appointed Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations and Joanne Romagni is the new Director of Sponsored Research. Joanne and David will be working with faculty and staff to develop new external funding sources. Later this fall, Joanne will be meeting with faculty to discuss Intellectual Property and research funding issues.

Accreditation
Consistent with best practice in higher education, Bucknell must earn accreditation on a regular basis from the relevant professional organizations. Accreditation provides an important means for the community of higher education to hold colleges and universities to a common set of performance standards, including in the areas of academics, fiscal management, and University governance. This summer our engineering programs were reviewed by the national engineering and computing accrediting agency, ABET, and ABET approved each of the engineering and computer science programs. For the first time, a relatively recent addition to our engineering curriculum, the biomedical engineering program, was able to seek full accreditation, and ABET awarded it full accreditation, evidence of the strength of that program.

Every 10 years, Bucknell also goes through an accrediting review by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. The last review was in 2004, so 2009 represents the midpoint between reviews. Consequently, we were required to submit a periodic review report (PRR). The report was submitted in May. In August we received the report of the team selected to review our PRR. They found that that compared with 2004 Bucknell appears to be stronger and more focused; that the University community is working together on the mission and the strategic planning process and that our fiscal health is strong.

The Middle States reviewers did identify two areas to which they recommended the University devote increased attention. One area of focus was integrating the out-of-class aspects of student life with academics, creating a clear and definable student experience. The other was implementing measurable assessment mechanisms and incorporating the results of these assessments into strategic planning and budgeting. We find these observations useful and relevant.

On the whole, Bucknell fared extremely well in these important accrediting processes. I want to thank Tom Solomon, Candice Stefanou, and Jerry Rackoff for their leadership of the Middle States process and Jim Orbison and his colleagues in the College of Engineering for leadership of the ABET processes. We will soon post the documents relating to the ABET and Middle States reviews on myBucknell, under the Quick Links.

Fiscal Situation
The impact of the economic collapse last fall continues to be felt over all sectors of the American economy, including higher education. Bucknell is not immune to these challenges, but compared to many of our peers continues to fare well. We have a balanced budget for 2009-2010, although not without some pain. We continue to have two over-arching priorities:

• The first is protecting the academic core and residential learning experience. That is what separates Bucknell from the rest. That is why students make Bucknell their first choice. And that is what alumni treasure most.
• Second, we are determined to fulfill Bucknell's commitment to access through financial aid resources that support the ability of current students with demonstrated financial need to complete their Bucknell education and enable the University to enroll new, strong and vibrant classes.

Working with the Committee on Planning and Budget, the Finance Office has developed a dynamic modeling tool that will enable us better forecast our budgeting over the short and long term. In the coming months, we will continue to seek additional program efficiencies and other ways to save money, as well as exploring new and expanded revenue sources. Unlike many of our peers, we have not had to lay off employees, curtail working hours or implement across-the-board hiring freezes to date. It is also encouraging that there are signs that the U.S. and world economies may be recovering. Our endowment, which had peaked at slightly over $600 million last summer and then dropped to $400 million last winter, has begun to edge back up and now is around $440 million. That is s a good sign, because we rely on the endowment for operating budget support. Despite the improvements, however, I have asked David Surgala and Mick Smyer to continue to lead the campus effort to respond to the challenging economic conditions.

The Annual Fund and the Comprehensive Campaign
When events like this global financial mess unfold, we learn more clearly than ever that we are more than a university; we are instead a community. To its credit, the Bucknell community again has rallied in the face of adversity. For example:

• Contributions to the University's Annual Fund surpassed $10 million in cash gifts for the first time in Bucknell's history.
• Total contributions through the fiscal year ending in July 2008 topped $45.7 million, the second-highest total in Bucknell's history. This raises the campaign total to more than $122 million in its first 24 months, or 31 percent of the campaign's $400 million goal.
• Parents gave a single-year record $1,422,000.
• More than 42 percent of all current Bucknell parents contributed, including 45 percent of Class of 2012 parents - a record for first-year parent classes.

We rely on current gifts to support our operating budget and the many deferred gifts help us in the future.

I want to note a special thanks to our parents, whose generosity is an inspiring endorsement by our families of the experience their students enjoy at Bucknell.

Successful Internship Challenge
On a related note, I want to thank our alumni, parents and friends of the University for meeting our internship challenge. Internships provide great experience, give students a chance to explore the connection between their class work and their career opportunities, and give them a head start in the job market. Alumni, parents and friends of the University rose to the occasion and surpassed our goal of setting up 500 internships this summer for Bucknell students. They offered a total of 514 internship opportunities, including opportunities at companies such as Deloitte, ABC News, Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed Martin, NASA, the Smithsonian Art Museum, Children's Hospital Boston and TIME, Inc.

Campus Conversations
As we have in the past, members of the University leadership will be holding a series of forums about vital University issues. Dave Surgala and Mick Smyer will reprise their important program on the financial health of Bucknell. The Provost's Office will hold at least one session of academic strategic planning in light of the state requirement that Bucknell move from a class credit system to a course credit program. The results of recent student surveys and their import for the student experience will be the focus of another campus forum this fall.

Facilities Planning
As I have mentioned in the past, the Board of Trustees has approved moving ahead with planning some new campus buildings, specifically developing drawings for a new academic quad south of the Bertrand Library to address the critical need for classroom, lab and office space. In addition, they have authorized refining plans for a new Arts Building and a new student housing complex. This fall, University representatives from will be meeting with architects to refine the plans for these new buildings.

At the same time, progress has been made on a number of community initiatives. Hopefully, you have noticed the work being done on the new bookstore on Market Street. I had a chance to tour the building recently, and while it is just a shell right now, it will be a spectacular new facility. The University continues to explore the option of locating some "backroom operations" downtown that would free up space on campus for faculty offices and increase foot traffic in the downtown area. Bucknell also continues to support the Lewisburg Area Recreation Authority and Union County in their efforts to develop a rails-to-trails network that would make it possible to jog or bike on safe, well-made trails.

Campus Opportunities
Academic offerings outside the classroom continue to abound, and we hope you will take advantage of these cultural and educational opportunities. They include

• The presentation on Wednesday, September 9, by senior IRS official Richard Harvey, a member of the Class of 1977, speaking on tax policy in the current economic climate.
• The Bucknell Forum will continue its series on "Global Leadership: Questions for the 21^st Century," beginning with a talk by author and historian Niall Ferguson this coming Tuesday. Later this fall, the forum welcomes Howard Gardner, the Harvard scholar who pioneered multiple intelligence theory; and Doug Lebda '92, who is chairman and CEO of Tree.com.
• On September 29, we will welcome author and essayist John Edgar Wideman, who will accept the 2009 Janet Weis Fellow in Contemporary Letters award. In addition to this event, the Weis Center will host an impressive array of performances this year - from ballet to Bela Fleck to Shakespeare.
• On October 1 and 2, Bucknell hosts the conference on "The People's Republic of China at 60: Internal and External Challenges."
• The Stadler Center for Poetry offers an interesting series of poetry readings, starting with Will Schutt, 2009-10 Stadler Fellow, and Michael Scalise, 2009-10 Philip Roth Resident, this coming Tuesday, September 8.
• The Samek Art Gallery offers a half-dozen exhibitions, starting with the current one, on William Christenberry through October 9, 2009.

Information about these and the wide array of other interesting programming offered throughout the year is available on the Bucknell website.

A Final Note
On a final, personal note, as you know, I recently announced that I will be ending my tenure as Bucknell president at the conclusion of this academic year. The Board of Trustees will be announcing the formation of a Presidential Search Committee shortly. Maryjane and I have enjoyed our time at Bucknell immensely. There are still things we want to accomplish. I want to take this opportunity to thank the members of the Bucknell community who have wished us well. This is truly a special place.

Best wishes to you as the academic year begins.

Brian C. Mitchell
President