Feb. 4, 2013: Board of Trustees Winter Summary

Dear Faculty and Staff Colleagues,

I write to provide a summary of the most recent meeting of the Board of Trustees, held Jan. 24-26 in Washington, D.C.

I also here am summarizing the main items of business from the abbreviated October meeting, which was largely otherwise dedicated to campaign launch events.

Last week, I was pleased to announce to the board that, with gifts and pledges exceeding $262 million, we have crossed the halfway mark to our campaign goal. To give you an idea of the scale of this milestone, the previous campaign, which concluded in 2000, raised a total of $189 million. We still have a long way to go to reach our half-billion-dollar goal, but given the enthusiasm evident across the University community, I am confident that we will succeed.

I also informed the board about the SAT omission errors that have come to light. I discussed with the board the potential implications for the University and our communications plan for sharing this news with the Bucknell community, external organizations and media, as well as the processes we have put in place to avoid such data errors in the future, as you have now seen referenced in my statement on this matter.

In plenary session, which includes the full board, Dean Susan Lantz and Associate VP Dennis Hawley provided an update on the programming and design of the 340-bed student residences, to be opened south of the library by the fall semester 2015, that the board authorized previously and which will entail at least 250 more students living on campus rather than downtown.

The committees of the board discussed goals, developments and updates related to their respective areas. Please click here to read the summary of these meetings.

Many thanks to the colleagues who attended this meeting as faculty representatives on trustee committees, and especially to Kim Daubman, faculty chair, and Roger Rothman, faculty secretary, for being there. Special thanks to Professor DeeAnn Reeder, who delivered a presentation to the Academic Affairs and Campus Life Committee on her research in the South Sudan and on white-nose bat syndrome, and to Professor David Rovnyak, who presented to the full board on his dynamic approaches to teaching. DeeAnn and Dave were stellar representatives of Bucknell's tremendous community of teacher-scholars and captivated the trustees. We look forward to future faculty presentations to trustees, which we are making a regular part of board meetings.

Thank you for all the great work each of you does for our students.

Sincerely,

John