February 26, 2005
Dear Members of the Brown Community,
I am delighted to write to you with news of the Brown Corporation meeting, held this weekend.
The Corporation acted on my recommendation endorsing the budget for the 2005-2006 year developed by the University Resources Committee. The budget continues to support the Plan for Academic Enrichment and our collective vision for Brown. Among other investments, the Corporation approved a budget that will improve faculty compensation, fund a net increase of nine faculty over current levels, increase funding for University libraries and graduate stipends, and increase funding for undergraduate financial aid by $3.77 million (9 percent). The financial aid allocation includes $400,000 for incoming resumed undergraduate education students and transfer students.
The Corporation formally accepted a number of significant gifts to Brown, including $20 million from an anonymous donor to endow five professorships in academic departments that are directly involved in the Center for Computational Molecular Biology, as well as support for undergraduate and graduate student research and teaching programs in the Center. This gift is a significant commitment to the work and research of the faculty involved in the Center who are engaged in applying the data-processing tools of mathematics, statistics and computer science to key questions about human development, aging and evolution.
The Corporation also accepted a gift from Craig '75 and Deborah Cogut that will establish the Cogut Humanities Center in expanded and renovated quarters at Pembroke Hall. The Corporation appointed noted historian Michael Steinberg, currently professor of modern European history at Cornell University, professor of history and music and he will serve as the first director of the Cogut Humanities Center. The Cogut Humanities Center will support faculty members in the various humanities departments and multidisciplinary programs at Brown by generating new resources for their research and creating forums for the dissemination of their work. The center will welcome both emerging and established scholars and provide occasions for intellectual exchange and public engagement, including colloquia, lectures, readings, screenings, exhibits, and conferences.
A gift of $5 million from Susan P. and Richard A. Friedman, 1977 and 1979 Brown graduates respectively, will enable the University to renovate the lower three levels of the Sciences Library to be used as 24-hour student study space. The Friedman Study Center, while still in the planning stages, will likely include individual study spaces, computer and multimedia stations, small conference rooms to support group projects, a cafe and a central commons area. Creating such spaces for students and other members of the community is a priority of the Plan for Academic Enrichment, and we are deeply grateful to the Friedmans for making this possible.
The Corporation's Facilities and Design and Budget and Finance committees discussed and endorsed plans to raise $30 million for a new creative arts building. This building will complement the University's existing arts departments facilities by providing a place where those departments can come together, develop interdisciplinary projects and offer those projects to the campus community. The building will likely include flexible, modular and acoustically designed performance spaces, exhibition spaces for new media, multimedia and digital arts labs and production studios. A planning study will be undertaken to determine the best site for the new building.
More information about these and other actions of the Corporation at this weekend's meeting, as well as the full report of the University Resources Committee, may be found in the University press releases linked below.
Sincerely,
Ruth J. Simmons
Corporation approves budget, sets tuition:http://www.brown.edu/news/2004-05/04-091.html
$20M Gift will support Center for Computational Molecular Biology: http://www.brown.edu/news/2004-05/04-094.html
Corporation establishes Cogut Humanities Center:http://www.brown.edu/news/2004-05/04-092.html
University will build 24-hour Friedman Study Center: http://www.brown.edu/news/2004-05/04-093.html