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| Town Hall: Rozanski Addresses Rider's Renewal
In his fifth town hall meeting last Thursday, Rider University President Mordechai Rozanski reviewed for the community the state of the University. His presentation focused on a number of major issues shaping the University’s progress, most notably the New Jersey state budget, enrollment, fundraising and revenue generation, implementation of the Strategic Plan and Middle States accreditation. “We have been making solid progress in our renewal consistent with our Strategic Plan. Without a doubt, the budget cuts proposed by the Governor have presented us a new challenge, but they will not divert us from our forward progress,” he told an audience of almost 300 students, faculty and staff who gathered in the Bart Luedeke Center (BLC) Cavalla Room on the Lawrenceville campus and by direct video feed to Talbott Library on the Princeton campus. Addressing the proposed budget cuts in higher education, President Rozanski stated that “while we recognize the need to address the State budget deficit, the proposed cuts impose a disproportionate burden on the state’s colleges and universities, threatening the quality and accessibility of higher education for current and future students. “If approved by the legislature as submitted, higher education will suffer a near $300 million cut, $169 million in direct operating support and the balance in unfunded mandates, principally at public institutions,” he said. Rider and all other New Jersey private institutions would experience a loss of 50 percent of the $24 million allocation under the Independent College and University Assistance Act. For Rider, that means $1.28 million. This loss is a worst case scenario, as the Governor has indicated publicly that any improvement in the state’s revenue prospects prior to the new fiscal year will result in restoration of higher education funding as a first priority. In response to the proposed cuts, Rider is developing contingency plans through a balanced and responsible approach of revenue enhancement and expenditure deferrals and reductions. Rider’s contingency planning calls for enhancing revenues through enrollment growth, fundraising and auxiliary services. With regard to budget adjustments for next year, Rozanski made it clear that staff layoffs are not being considered. “Nor will we divert from our goal of institutional renewal as outlined in the Strategic Plan.” Rozanski also spoke to the recently announced tuition increase. “We did not want students to bear the full burden of the state budget cuts nor the inflationary cost increases we are facing,” he said. Rider’s tuition increase for next year is 5.7 percent. Combined with an increase of 5 percent in the room and board rates, the overall increase in cost of attendance will be 5.5 percent, which compares to last year’s overall increase of 5.25 percent. “Our goal was to have a moderate and competitive increase,” he said. On a comparative basis, Rider’s rate of increase falls in the lower tier of private and public institutions and below the national average for private institutions. In terms of an external response to the proposed budget cuts, Rozanski noted the major effort under way to educate both the public and legislators about the value of higher education to the State’s economy and well-being. Rozanski emphasized that “independent higher education is and should remain a worthy and valuable investment in New Jersey’s future and we will work hard to retain this support for our students.” He encouraged students, faculty and staff to assist in this effort by writing their legislators. Additional information is available on the Rider Web site. President Rozanski thanked Rider’s own Shirley Turner, chair of the Senate Education Committee, for her staunch support as well as Perry Whiteley, president of the SGA, who represented Rider at the Governor’s Mansion along with other students to make the case for higher education. Turning to Rider’s renewal, Rozanski praised the “solid progress” Rider has achieved with regard to implementation of the Strategic Plan, initiated in June 2005, and highlighted implementation results on both campuses.
Work continues toward increasing undergraduate and graduate enrollment and improving retention and the quality of new applicants. “While it is still early in the process, I am cautiously optimistic that we will achieve our enrollment goals for 2006, including those related to increased academic quality,” said President Rozanski. He shared the good news: fall 2006 applications are running 11 percent ahead of last year at this time, a difference of more than 500 applications, and 19 percent over the past two years. Deposits are currently up 11 percent over the last year and 49 percent over the past two years. “Without a doubt these numbers will change as we get closer to the fall. But this trend is encouraging,” he said. Selectivity is increasing as evident in the decrease in the undergraduate acceptance rate from 84 percent in 2004 to the current rate of 77 percent. Progress is also being made in out of area and international enrollment. The number of applicants from states other than New Jersey has increased to 25 percent, up from 22 percent two years ago. International enrollment is currently 93 percent ahead of last year with 106 overseas applications. That is in addition to the 50 Sanda students who are currently attending Rider. President Rozanski also noted that Rider has so far exceeded its credit goal for the Summer I session thanks in part to ten on-line courses being offered for the first time this year and the discounted summer housing option now available to students taking six or more credits. It is noteworthy that initially, only six on-line courses were offered. Student demand was so great that four more were offered and all closed quickly.
By the end of March, Rider raised a combined total of $9.4 million in gifts, new pledges and matching gift commitments, an increase of 61 percent over the same time last year. “Much of that increase is the result of the leadership gift from Marion Cullen, a former Westminster trustee, in support of the academic complex proposed for that campus,” said Rozanski. “Marion’s planned gift is valued at more than $5 million, making it the largest single gift in Westminster’s history. “I am looking forward to further progress in this area with the near completion of the restructuring of the University Advancement division under Vice President Jonathan Meer’s leadership.” Expansion of the camps and conferences program is proving successful in generating additional revenue. Rider hosted over 3,000 individuals during the academic year and anticipates another 8,500 this summer. Capitalizing on the new Student Recreation Center, Rider hosted corporate retreats and meetings as well as the baseball playoffs and fencing championship for the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. This summer, the University will again host, among others, the Olympic Development Committee soccer program and a significantly expanded Study Tours program through which 400 Italian high school students will receive intensive ESL instruction.
A major priority of strategic planning, said President Rozanski, is the focus on structural and academic program integration. “With regard to Westminster, our goal is to develop a plan to maintain a high quality and sustainable Westminster program within the context of Rider University.” An ad hoc committee of the Board is working on this effort, as is a special task force chaired by Dean Bob Annis and comprised of Westminster faculty and staff. The task force is considering the development of a two-campus college focused on music, the fine and performing arts and integrated programs involving music theater and music education, among others. Conversations and planning involving faculty and administrators is ongoing on both campuses. He also announced that the Westminster Academic Policy Committee approved a unified academic calendar for both campuses beginning next academic year.
President Rozanski introduced Phyllis Frakt, vice president for academic affairs and provost, who will retire in June. He praised her 32 years of distinguished service to Rider and attributed many of the academic initiatives of the past several years to her leadership. Frakt discussed a number of academic initiatives completed so far this year and representing the creative collaboration taking place between Rider’s colleges and academic departments. Among the new academic programs are the BA in integrated sciences, the MA in organizational leadership, the entrepreneurial studies major, the event planning and production major and middle school education minors. She also highlighted two recent initiatives - the Center for Business Forensics and the Applied Leadership Institute for Science Professionals. The Center, a joint effort involving Rider’s accounting and computer information system programs, is hosting a kick-off event on May 8 with a Forensic Accounting Conference. The Institute, a collaborative effort of Rider’s Business and Science Advisory Boards, is hosting an intensive, professional development three-day workshop in June for science professionals making the transition into corporate leadership positions. Frakt also provided an update on the work of six academic related task forces established in response to the Strategic Plan. They are honors, learning objectives and competencies, first-year experience, advising and mentoring, University Studies, and experiential learning. Comprised of students, faculty and staff across both campuses, the task forces have been working throughout the year reviewing best practices and current initiatives and developing recommendations for review this year and next by the appropriate academic policy committee. Facilities Master Planning Facilities master planning committees, comprised of students, faculty and staff on both campuses, have each participated in design charrettes with one of Rider’s two architectural firms – KSS Architects at Princeton and The Spiezle Group at Lawrenceville. The charrette process provided an opportunity to gather information and facilitate creative dialogue regarding current and anticipated facilities needs. They will be the basis for much of the facilities master plan that will be completed this fall. The plan will provide a framework for academic and residence needs, deferred maintenance, renovation and new construction, and landscaping and parking. President Rozanski highlighted a number of facilities projects
completed so far this year: Summer projects include:
President Rozanski called on Debbie Stasolla, associate vice president for planning, to provide an update on Middle States accreditation. She and Robbie Sethi, professor of English, are co-chairing Rider’s accreditation process. Stasolla highlighted preparations for Rider’s accreditation site visit scheduled for March 4 – 7, 2007. Rider is conducting a selected topics model of self-study through which the institution is studying in depth four of Middle States’ 14 accreditation standards that most closely relate to the strategic planning and academic assessment that have been integral to the University over the past several years. They are planning, resource allocation, and institutional renewal; institutional resources; institutional assessment; and assessment of student learning. Rider will demonstrate compliance with the remaining 10 standards by means of a document roadmap, or audit that utilizes existing documentation. Leading this effort is a steering committee comprised of students, faculty and staff from both campuses, many of whom also served as planning task force members, providing continuity with Rider’s strategic planning. The draft self-study report and document roadmap will be available for review by the University community via Rider’s Web site at the start of the fall semester. Campus forums, one on each campus, will be held the first week in October to provide the community an opportunity to comment on the drafts. This will be followed on November 6 and 7 with a preliminary visit by the chair of the visiting team, Dr. Steve Sweeney, president of the College of New Rochelle. Additional information regarding Rider’s accreditation
preparations can be found on Rider’s Web site. |
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