Around Campus

Newman Wraps Up Three-Year Term at Graduate School

When Karen Newman, professor of comparative literature and English, was named dean of the Graduate School in 2002, she accepted responsibility for leading the ambitious agenda set out in the Plan for Academic Enrichment to improve and expand graduate education at Brown.

Now just weeks away from the end of a self-imposed three-year term, Newman (left) leaves to her successor a Graduate School that has experienced unprecedented growth in size and selectivity: Applications are up 46 percent since 2001, and the acceptance rate has dropped to 17 percent. In addition, four doctoral programs and a handful of professional master's programs have been added during Newman's tenure.

"I am most pleased with the way Brown has been able to make the Graduate School more competitive," Newman said recently. "A very high number of our programs get their first-, second-, or third-choice candidates - and sometimes all three."

An influx of funding - an additional $4 million over the past three years, made possible through the Plan for Academic Enrichment - has had an enormous impact on the Graduate School's ability to be attract and retain stellar students, Newman said. Such funds make it possible for the Graduate School to offer its doctoral students full health care coverage as well as competitive stipends. (In 2001, the University offered a base stipend of $12,800. For the 2005-06 academic year, stipends are anticipated to be about $17,000.)

Newman also spearheaded initiatives aimed at professional development, and has established new programs to build community around graduate research. Combined with improved stipends, such programs should shorten the time it takes for a Brown graduate student to complete a degree, Newman said.

All of the above help Brown compete for the best and brightest graduate students. But when Newman was named dean, she conceived of the position as "much more than representing a special-interest group" within the University, she said. She wanted to ensure that graduate students and the Graduate School are firmly woven into the teaching and research fabric of Brown. A strong Graduate School "helps recruit faculty who want to prepare the next generation of researchers," Newman said, and a bright undergraduate body "needs the collaboration and supervision in the labs that graduate students supply."

When she accepted the Graduate School post, Newman said she would serve for only three years, and then would return fulltime to teaching and research. She begins a sabbatical in the fall, heading to France to begin a new research project on the reception of Shakespeare in France. In the 2006-07 academic year, she will return to the departments of English and Comparative Literature.

Provost Robert J. Zimmer has formed a committee to identify a new dean who has "as deep a commitment to graduate training and research" as Newman. - Tracie Sweeney

Haffenreffer Museum to Open Campus Gallery

Dark coverings on the first-floor windows of Manning Hall aren't hiding covert research projects; they're part of the renovations to convert the former lecture hall into an on-campus gallery for Brown's Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology.

Slated to open Commencement Weekend, the Manning Gallery will become an extension of the Haffenreffer - one that will bring its treasures to a whole new audience. Considered one of the Northeast's leading anthropological teaching museums, the Haffenreffer is located on Bristol land once inhabited by King Philip and the Wampanoag tribe.

It was President Ruth Simmons' idea "to convert this hall into a museum gallery to give the Haffenreffer a chance to be at the heart of the campus," said Shepard Krech, the museum's director and professor of anthropology and environmental studies. "We want to give people a sense of what we have eighteen miles away from campus. Most students never get to the Mount Hope grounds, and this will give them a chance to see our collection."

University officials have long expressed a desire to relocate the museum to Providence. Under President Vartan Gregorian, museum representatives and University officials considered using the Old Stone Bank property on South Main Street, but the project was abandoned when planners realized the extent of the renovations needed to make the building suitable. Although the Manning space is much smaller, Krech said the renovations have been "relatively minor" and mostly hidden; the biggest improvements have been made to the heating system and the hall's lighting.

An official public opening of the gallery is scheduled for Saturday, May 28, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., when the museum will present its first exhibition, Warp Speeds. The exhibit will showcase the Haffenreffer's collection of textiles from Africa, the Americas, and southeast Asia - and it will use the collection to examine the subject of globalization from an anthropological perspective.

"Our space in Bristol is so cramped, we've never been able to show our textile collection," Krech said. "Now we'll also be able to show the complicated issues of globalization."

"For many, globalization is synonymous with westernization and cultural imperialism, with the intentional, accidental or collateral homogenization of the world's cultures," explained Kevin P. Smith, deputy director and chief curator for the Haffenreffer. "An anthropological approach suggests that understanding globalization requires bringing more perspectives to bear." - Mary Jo Curtis

Employment at Brown Offers More Than Just a Paycheck

Students applying to Brown from around the world aren't the only ones hoping to be a part of the University's intellectual excitement: In 2004, the University received 17,500 applications for 500 available staff positions.

For these hopefuls, Brown jobs are plums for a variety of reasons. Take Linda Trahan, for example.

Previously a staff member in the Office of Summer Studies, Trahan left the University to work at a small manufacturing company closer to home. But the job lacked "the personal fulfillment and intellectual stimulation" of working at Brown, Trahan said, so she took steps to return to campus. Last June, Trahan was hired as an administrative assistant at Brown's Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, a position that has what the manufacturing job lacked: "a lot of freedom and flexibility ... and the people here are so warm and appreciate what you do."

Maureen O'Donnell, an executive secretary at the John Carter Brown Library, worked at several nonprofit and government organizations before coming to Brown about a year ago. O'Donnell says that in comparison to other employers, Brown offers a wonderful work environment. "The staff is great. The work is engaging," she said. "The fact that I get to work in a library full of the most delectable materials imaginable is just icing on the cake!"

But it is the total compensation of salary plus benefits - the Tuition Assistance Program, a choice of health insurance carriers, a bonus program, retirement contributions, summer hours, and a winter break, to name a few - that make working at Brown desirable for many.

"We are diligent in our review of staff salaries at Brown, and have a keen eye for keeping them competitive in the area job market," said Roberta Gordon, assistant vice president for human resources.

This past February, the Brown Corporation and the University Resources Committee recommended a $4.3 million budget for FY06 to provide for staff compensation increases. This includes a 2.25 percent performance pool, .75 percent for directed adjustments applied to all nonunion staff, and .5 percent for individual equity and promotional adjustments. These funds will be distributed to senior officers to allow them and their department heads to target individual salaries that are significantly below those of comparable jobs in the market or significantly below the salaries of other Brown staff in comparable positions, and to recognize staff who have taken on higher-level responsibilities. The remaining .5 percent will fund increased benefit costs.

"Staff enjoy significant benefit programs, learning and development opportunities, and a work-life environment that includes cultural enrichment events and special services," said Walter Hunter, vice president for administration. "Although University staff members can take pride in the generous portfolio of total compensation that Brown offers, what makes Brown a truly special place is the unique spirit of cooperation that exists among the many talented members of this community," he said. "People feel they're really making a difference - and they are." - Tracie Sweeney

New Administrative Information System Moves Forward

The University is nearing the halfway point of a four-year, multimillion-dollar project to convert Brown's scattered student information systems into one nimble, unified database.

The software application that will replace the multiple systems is called Banner, which the University purchased in December 2003 and began putting into production the following year. The University will launch its first Banner components - those that deal with prospective students, and admissions for the College, Medical School, and Graduate School - this spring and summer. The financial aid component and the course catalog are expected to go live later this year. Coming in 2006 and 2007: basic student record maintenance, course announcements and online registration, accounts receivable, classroom scheduling, and transcript production.

"The Banner project is not just online registration, not just an information technology project," said Ellen Waite-Franzen, vice president of computing and information services. The new administrative information system brings a new way of doing business to Brown, she said, and it will affect every student, as well as many faculty and staff members.

Staff members in the Office of Admission are among the first to be affected. "Learning a new system always presents a challenge," said Michael Goldberger, director of undergraduate admission and a member of the Banner steering committee. "The way the data about prospective students is entered into the system, stored, and retrieved is entirely different."

But the payoff for these changes, says Waite-Franzen, is consistency, with one record representing one individual as he or she moves through the admission process, becomes an enrolled student, and then an alumnus.

Registrar Michael Pesta, a member of the Banner team, agrees. "The Banner system replaces nearly a dozen separate information systems, some of which are fifteen to twenty years old. It integrates data using more modern technology."

Brown community members will use the new software in two ways. Students and faculty will interact with Banner though the self-service web client. From their Internet browsers, they will be able to access registration information, class information, grading information, and other student-centered information. Staff will largely interact with Banner through what is called Internet Native Banner (INB). Like the self-service client, INB is accessed through an Internet browser.

The new software carries with it some specific desktop requirements, which can be found online. - Tracie Sweeney

Newman photo by John Abromowski