by Henry S. Bienen, President of Northwestern University
April 2 and 3, 1996
This has been an exciting year--the Rose Bowl and beyond--and believe it or not, I have been involved in more than ticket orders.
I look forward to these meetings with the faculty and staff of the Chicago and Evanston campuses of the University so that we can share our thoughts and concerns about the University and its future. In this way we can strengthen our common understanding of how we can best serve Northwestern and its purposes of teaching and research.
In the day-to-day pressure of our work, we sometimes lose sight of these basic purposes.
We should recognize that, as a group, we are very fortunate because, unlike many other organizations in our world, we work for an institution that has a rare combination of concern for basic values, for reviewing the past, and looking to the future.
We fulfill this mission best when we act as a community of faculty, staff and students in which we all depend on each other. I value very highly the contributions you all make to this University community every day as you go about your various duties and tasks. The tasks are highly varied, I know, but they are all critical to our success.
I have come to recognize and value at Northwestern the level of mutual respect and civility that is present among us. I want to do all I can to preserve and support that mutual respect and civility because it is so crucial to the success of the University. We have tried to strengthen this respect over the last year.
In that connection, let me express my thanks to Ginny Darakjian, Chair of NUSAC, and her colleagues for maintaining the dialogue between the staff and the administration. While we may not always agree on every proposition, we maintain open lines of communication on matters of importance to the community.
As we talk today, I want to briefly share my views as to: how are we doing? and how are we going to do in the future?
HOW ARE WE DOING?
The University continues to have a very strong and stable financial base.
We continue to enjoy a balanced budget, according to our latest financial report, because we manage our resources carefully. I am committed to maintaining this strength and stability.
Our combined tuition, room and board cost to our students continues to be $3,500 a year below the average of our private peer institutions.
We continue to maintain our physical plant in first class shape while making substantial improvements by renovating old facilities and building new ones.
Examples of new and enhanced facilities are: the new Medical School Library facilities; renovated animal care facilities; the continuation of the $120 Million reconstruction of the Engineering School; the new garages on the Chicago campus, the new Walter Annenberg School of Education Building; and the expansion and renovation of the Allen Center and Andersen-Leverone Hall.
We continue to invest in information technology including a new client-server human resource information system which will go on line this year, better funding of PC replacement and continued improvement in the University's backbone network. Many of you have made innovative use of this new environment to better serve our clients.
Our endowment continues to grow and just exceeded $2 Billion due to strong giving and positive performance from our investments.
Our sponsored research support continues to grow in an ever tightening environment and exceeded $173 Million in new awards last year. The Chicago campus and the Medical School in particular deserves special recognition for that success.
Although we have not had to borrow funds, our bond ratings have been upgraded by two external rating agencies during the last year.
The University Continues to Attract and Retain a Strong Faculty.
Our average faculty salaries continue to be the eighth highest in the country.
The research strength of our faculty is demonstrated in their sponsored research awards and in the increasing quality of the student body.
Excellent examples of the quality of our faculty are: the recent $2.2 Million grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute for research in human genetics, molecular medicine and structural biology under the direction of Dr. Larry Jameson of our Medical School; the $5 Million NIH grant for the Research and Training Center on Communicative Disorders under the leadership of Dr. David Hanson, Dr. Peter Dallos and Dr. Albert Farbman; and, the election of Professors Bazant and Bankoff of the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science to the National Academy of Engineering.
Having noted these successes, I believe we must continue to work on the attraction and retention of the best faculty and staff. We must also worry about our balance of trade.
The University's Attraction of an Excellent Student Body Continues to Progress
- For next year our undergraduate applications are up more than 20% or 2,600.
- The quality of our undergraduate students continues to rise.
- We continue to provide almost $60 Million in graduate and undergraduate
student financial aid to assure an appropriate mix and quality of students.
- We have been able to maintain undergraduate student financial aid at a level
that permits a needs blind admissions policy.
The University Continues to Support Its Staff
- Salary pool increases have been consistently higher than inflation.
- Access to benefits has been extended to same sex domestic partners.
- Employment at the University has been stable over a long period.
- Cash benefits for support of child care have been provided based on need.
- We have upgraded our retirement counseling program.
- We have improved our workers compensation case management program.
HOW ARE WE GOING TO DO IN THE FUTURE?
I am very confident about the future of Northwestern University because of the strong position in which I was fortunate to find it and because of the new leadership that has joined the already strong team in place. We were fortunate to have a superb Chair of the Board for a decade--Mr. Howard Trienens. We have an excellent new Chair of the Board of Trustees in Mr. Patrick Ryan, an established and nationally recognized leader of industry and an Alumnus of Northwestern. Our new Provost, Larry Dumas, comes to his position from an excellent career as a professor in the life sciences, Department Chair and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Like Larry, David Van Zandt, the new Dean of the Law School, has had a distinguished academic career here at Northwestern. David will provide excellent leadership for the Law School. We have a new Associate Provost in Eugene Lowe and most recently a new Chief of University Police, Saul Chafin, who came to us by way of a very distinguished career in the same position at Harvard University, Vanderbilt and the University of Massachusetts.
What about directions for the future?
The University Will Continue To Husband Its Resources Wisely
- We will maintain strong fiscal stability and balanced budgets.
- Our tuition, room and board rates will be somewhat more aggressive than in
the past but will not much alter our competitive advantage with peer
institutions. For next year we have raised undergraduate tuition, room and
board by 5.16% which will maintain the gap well below our private peer
institutions.
- We are reconfiguring our endowment investments toward a more diverse
portfolio strategy. The aim is to achieve higher growth and handle risk.
- We will continue to invest in energy conservation strategies and programs to
achieve greater energy economies.
- We will substantially increase our fund raising over the coming five years,
perhaps with a major comprehensive campaign.
- We will continue our seven year, $20 Million program to renovate our
residence halls.
Northwestern Will Substantially Advance Its Academic Excellence
- We will make strategic and concentrated investments in basic intellectual
disciplines in the arts and humanities and in the scientific disciplines.
- We will make selective and specific investments in renovating, upgrading and
adding to key research facilities on both the Chicago and Evanston
campuses. For example, we have just awarded the construction contract for
Phase VI of the Tech Reconstruction and are proceeding to select the
Architect for Searle 13 East renovation.
- We will maintain our strong position in average faculty salaries.
Northwestern Will Continue to Invest Heavily in The Quality of the Undergraduate Educational Experience
- We will maintain the excellent career development and career guidance and
placement services to undergraduates that Vice President Barr has put in place.
- We will design and implement a new Student Information System that will
simplify and facilitate enrollment, course registration, degree audit,
student financial aid and other services for our students.
- We will continue our student financial aid program to allow a needs blind
admissions policy.
- We will continue to invest in educational technology. In particular, we
will provide more multi-media classrooms.
- We will have another winning football season and go to a bowl game.
Northwestern Will Continue to Support Its Employees
- The new Human Resources Information System will be completed and become
operational, providing a basis for improved service to employees.
- We have funded a new Employee Assistance Program to provide professional assistance and counseling for employees who have serious psychological or substance abuse problems.