February 25, 2003

Dear Brown Faculty, Students, and Staff,

I am writing to report on the annual winter meeting of the Brown University Corporation, held this past weekend. As many of you are aware, this meeting of the Corporation was a retreat designed to allow the Fellows and Trustees sufficient time to engage in an in-depth discussion of the University's strategic directions, goals, and objectives for the next ten to fifteen years and beyond.

The discussions the Corporation members had among themselves and with representatives of the faculty, student leaders, and the administration over the course of the weekend were an outgrowth of the Initiatives for Academic Enrichment that they approved last February. They reviewed the progress we have made in implementing the Initiatives and were generally very pleased with the results. The February 2002 proposals called for $36 million in budget increases to be phased in over three years. Despite the worsening economy and a smaller growth in revenue from the endowment, the Corporation maintained its commitment to that plan and is reviewing ways of developing the necessary resources.

The Corporation agreed with our assessment that the Initiatives are just the beginning of the investments we must undertake in order to sustain an ambitious program of improvements. Towards that end, the Corporation considered strategic plans covering a broad range of University activities and encouraged the administration to present a more fully developed plan at the May meeting. That plan will offer strategies for improving faculty support, the academic and non-academic experience of undergraduate students, graduate education, strategic planning for the Division of Biology and Medicine, multidisciplinary initiatives, diversity, and the physical campus.

As part of its review, the Corporation considered preliminary cost estimates that suggested an effort of this magnitude could add approximately 35 to 40 percent to the University's annual expenditures over the next 10 to 15 years. Those strategic plans would also involve substantial additional investments in physical facilities to support the expansion. The Corporation also discussed the probability of a large, comprehensive campaign and the role that they and alumni and friends of Brown must play to underwrite the proposed plan and the Initiatives over the long term.

Faculty Size and Support

All of our planning efforts and activities recognize the central role of the faculty in carrying out the mission of the University. In particular, the Initiatives identified the relatively small size of Brown's faculty as a limiting factor in the University's plans for academic enrichment and established a goal of adding as many as 100 new positions within five to eight years. That expansion, together with efforts to improve compensation and research support, is underway and will continue.

The Corporation considered further plans to expand and better support the faculty, including continuing the growth of the faculty beyond the 100 positions approved last year by adding 1 to 2 percent in subsequent years. They also heard proposals for improving and expanding the research and teaching facilities to support the activities of a larger faculty and for enhanced research administration under the new vice president for research, Andries van Dam.

The Undergraduate Experience

Improvements to the undergraduate experience were among the most prominent changes during the first year of the Initiatives. In addition to implementing a policy of need-blind admission, the University replaced work-study requirements with additional grants for first-year students who receive financial aid. Dean of the College Paul Armstrong added 24 new seminar classes for first-year students and has commitments for at least 45 such courses for next year. One hundred thirty-nine new courses have been added during the current academic year. The Corporation discussed planning for a number of additional improvements to the undergraduate experience, including smaller average class sizes; increased opportunities for student-faculty interaction; major renovation and expansion of campus dining halls; and construction of a new facility for fitness and recreation.

Multidisciplinary Initiatives

Brown's ongoing efforts to expand the size of its faculty, coupled with the University's well-established ability to foster multidisciplinary research and instruction, have created a unique opportunity. Provost Robert Zimmer reported that during the next three to five years, Brown will establish several multidisciplinary centers or institutes that will bring faculty expertise and resources together in optimal ways, possibly through collaboration with other institutions. In addition to establishing several new centers and institutes, the multidisciplinary initiatives would add library resources to support collecting in the new areas. This effort would also connect more closely the work of Brown's existing centers with appropriate academic departments (for example, the Annenberg Institute for School Reform and the Education Alliance with Brown's Department of Education).

Division of Biology and Medicine

In the summer of 2002, the Board of Fellows of the Corporation commissioned an external review committee to study the structure of the University's Division of Biology and Medicine, which includes the Brown Medical School. The group also studied the Division's financial relationship to the University and its institutional relationships with our affiliated hospitals. The Board of Fellows encouraged the senior administration to continue its discussion and analysis and to come back with recommendations at a future meeting.

Graduate School

Dean of the Graduate School Karen Newman reported to the Corporation about plans to strengthen graduate student support. Plans are also being developed that may provide additional housing for graduate and medical students.

Diversity

The Corporation reviewed results of a November 2002 retreat by its Committee on Minority Affairs and the plan to establish a full-time director of institutional diversity position within the president's cabinet.

Campus Master Plan

In June 2002, the University engaged the architectural firm of Kliment & Halsband to develop a master plan for the campus that would support the Initiatives for Academic Enrichment, particularly its provisions for an expanded faculty. Architect Frances Halsband has led an analysis of existing buildings, land use, open space, campus history, and zoning provisions. Although the final report on the campus master plan will not be ready until later this spring, she reported some of her findings to the Corporation. She noted that the median building size on campus is 25,000 square feet, which is small for University functions and small compared with other research universities. Her preliminary assessment is that Brown will need approximately 500,000 square feet of additional academic space on campus during the next 10 to 15 years and suggested that the University could add more than a million square feet in a way that would enhance the quality of the campus and preserve landscaped green space. Beyond the Life Sciences Building, which is scheduled to be built on campus, she noted that several areas south of College Hill could support certain research activities and collaborations between Brown and other institutions.

Conclusion

Taken together, these proposed ideas and potential directions constitute the framework of a long-term plan for Brown. If undertaken, these steps would make a significant difference for Brown, Providence, and the state of Rhode Island. However, as I have said before, the choice for Brown is quite clear. If we are to continue to be a university-college in the top echelon of higher education in the United States, we must set our goals at an appropriate and relevant level.

Being a leading university requires careful planning, extensive consultation and discussion, clear and consistent priorities and priority-setting processes, and robust resource streams. Most importantly, however, it requires committed faculty, students, staff, alumni, parents, and volunteer leaders. I am certain that we have the necessary resolve and dedication to achieve singular and meaningful results over time.

Successful attainment of our goals will also, especially in these difficult economic times, require hard choices and sacrifice. As you will read in the report of the University Resources Committee (URC) and my response (both of which will be released to the community shortly), like most universities today we are facing significant financial challenges. For example, although the University's endowment has performed better than most - it achieved a 0.9 percent return last year - it still faces continued sluggishness in national and international financial markets. The URC has made a number of recommendations designed to balance the budget, maintain our commitment to academic enrichment, and make select, targeted investments in student scholarship support, faculty and staff compensation, health and tuition-assistance benefits, information technology, public safety, and graduate student support. In order to do all this in the current environment, we must also find opportunities for savings and new revenues.

I have encouraged the URC to continue its discussions, particularly on strategies for achieving further administrative savings. The URC is planning to review the implications of various budget cuts and revenue enhancements with senior officers during the next few months. They will be looking carefully for all possible alternatives to keep the budget in balance and to avoid having to go through staff layoffs and/or other undesirable cutbacks. Based on these reviews, the URC will make additional expenditure recommendations to me in early April. I will carefully evaluate these recommendations before presenting a final budget for consideration by the Corporation in May.

This is at once an exciting and difficult time in Brown's long and distinguished history. Our academic initiatives and strategic planning have provided us with the opportunity to make significant improvements to an already outstanding university, and the Corporation fully shared in our enthusiasm for the success we can achieve. Over the next several months, there will be many occasions for you to discuss and comment on the proposed plans we intend to present to the Corporation for approval in May. I look forward to receiving your input and suggestions as we work together to make this the best possible plan for Brown.

Sincerely,

Ruth J. Simmons