Remarks by President Christoph M. Kimmich at the Stated Meeting of the Faculty

20 February 2007

Who hasn't seen the changes [Photo] in the skyline across Bedford Avenue? What you're seeing is the steel girder skeleton [Photo] of the new West Quad building. Masons are now pouring the concrete floors. [Photo] Next, they'll install the pre-cast outer wall panels. Then work can begin on the interior. [Photo] That will take about a year, and we can cut the ribbon and move in by fall 2008.

Late this spring or early this summer, the construction crews will start work on the facades of Roosevelt and James. [Photo] Once that work is completed, a new west quadrangle will be open, and we can go back to entering Roosevelt and James by the front door.

The West Quad, [Photo] like the library, is part of a larger plan to bring the campus up to date. The steel skeleton we see now says that our work together these last seven years has erected the supports academic, financial, and physical of a twenty-first century campus.

We have changed [Photo] the Brooklyn College landscape, and the election last fall changed the landscape in Albany. Eliot Spitzer became Governor by a record plurality among the state's voters. He and his reform minded agenda have captured the support of editorial boards across the political spectrum. The Democrats now control both the Governorship and the Assembly, and are taking aim at the Senate, where the Republicans have held a narrow majority.

If they succeed, and 2008 will tell, it will be the first time in over 30 years that one party controls the governorship and both houses of the legislature. But control like that doesn't mean harmony. Both the Governor and the Legislature have vowed to address the political impasse that has long paralyzed government at the state level and reform the political process. But while everyone subscribes to reform, not everyone is agreed on what is meant by "reform." How that conflict will affect higher education in general, and Brooklyn College in particular, are matters we will be following closely.

In his budget message, [Photo] the Governor spoke of higher education in New York as an asset. He noted that public and private colleges here enroll some 1.2 million students and that 69% of high school graduates go on to college (ranking second in the country), and that we owe it to them to provide academic excellence and ensure access. Before the Legislature, the Governor spoke repeatedly about a partnership in higher education (an echo perhaps of the CUNY Compact) that engages taxpayers, students, and colleges. He said that CUNY and SUNY shouldn't merely be the biggest public universities in the country, but also the best.

The Governor's Budget indicates that he means what he says. [Photo] The budget proposes an increase over last year of $71.8 million for the senior colleges, probably the best starting position we've had in decades. The increase covers contractual increases, mandatory costs, utilities and energy and provides some support for next year's version of the Compact, called Compact II, with particular emphasis on recruiting faculty. You will recall that funds for the Compact, both this year's and next year's, are drawn from different sources [Photo] and are designated for different purposes. Compact I, this year, allowed us invest in new faculty and staff, student services, additional OTPS and temporary services funds for departments and programs, and improvements in technology and facilities. [Photo] Compact II, next year, promotes similar priorities hiring, faculty research and professional development, student services (for example, academic advising, personal counseling, career guidance, health services, writing across the curriculum), and technology (replacing the aged network connection of the College to CUNY).

Unlike previous budgets, [Photo] this one does not propose major reductions in TAP, the Tuition Assistance Program. And it does not propose a tuition increase. Before acting on tuition, the Governor will seek the advice of a Commission on Public Higher Education, which will be charged to develop strategies "to enable the public universities to go from being good to being great." The commission will be asked to develop a rational tuition policy to promote affordability, stability, and predictability in future tuition charges at SUNY and CUNY, and it will set benchmarks for comparing the educational accomplishments, research productivity, and academic quality of the State's public colleges with those of peer institutions throughout the country. It is widely assumed that the Commission will recommend a tuition increase next year. All in all, we anticipate an unaccustomed degree of stability in budgetary matters for the year ahead.

When we met last September, I discussed four priorities [Photo] we had set for ourselves this year. I want to bring you up to date.

First, [Photo] campus construction.

I've already talked about the West Quad.

Construction is about to begin [Photo] in the Student Center, which opened some 45 years ago and has suffered hard use. We envision fully renovated meeting rooms on the top two floors new walls and ceilings; new lighting; state-of-the-art audiovisual and sound systems -- appropriate to the kinds of activities we will have there. The work is scheduled to be completed late this fall, and the new space will be available for occupancy by the spring semester.

The Performing Arts Center [Photo] that's the new building between Whitman and Gershwin to create an arts complex at the east end of the campus. It is in large part a gift from alumni, with help also from the State and the University. To design the building, we have selected Pfeiffer Partners, a well known and experienced architectural firm that has done theater buildings on many campuses. A meeting of the architects and the working committee held two weeks ago was the first of an intense series of discussions to take place throughout the spring between the architects and the working committee, chaired by Professor Nancy Hager of the Conservatory of Music and composed of members of the performing arts faculty and of administrators. There will also be occasion during the spring for wider discussion to which all interested faculty will be invited. By the summer, we hope to have agreement on a design, which the architects will turn into construction specifications by summer 2008. Then we select and hire a construction company. We expect the new Performing Arts Center to open in January 2010.

Similarly, [Photo] discussions have begun with the architects who will design the new science complex. We will renovate Roosevelt Hall and turn it into a science building, then renovate Ingersoll and Ingersoll Extension. We all know the architects for this project. They did the library. With a different supporting cast, they will do the science complex. The working committee for this project is chaired by Professor Simon Parsons (Computer and Information Science) and composed of members of the science faculty and of the administration. The committee and the architects have begun discussions and, like the working committee on the performing arts center, will meet throughout the spring to arrive at a design.

Second priority: [Photo] faculty research and scholarship. These, I said at our fall meeting, are central to our mission, and the College must find ways to support them. [Photo] We have initiated several programs that provide time for research and help defray research expenses, and, under the auspices of the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, mounted a series of proposal-writing workshops for faculty, especially new faculty.

The New Faculty Fund is designed to support untenured faculty in all fields in their scholarship and research. Grants this year went to some 20 new members of the faculty to defray the costs of everything from books to travel to archival Photos to Web based training. The projects range from a study of the roots of modern West Indian literature to a casebook for professional stage managers to a documentary on a girl's coming of age in modern China.

The Provost's Initiative for Excellence in Research and Scholarship (PIERS for short) aims to stimulate research and scholarly activity, also in all fields, by encouraging mentoring among the faculty, creating peer support groups, [Photo] improving opportunities for inter-disciplinary projects, and generally preparing faculty members to seek external support. So far it has generated 10 research project proposals, mainly in the natural sciences and the social sciences.

The Provost's Unsponsored Research Fund, established last fall, is open to the entire faculty and provides reassigned time to pursue scholarly and creative projects. The Fund has supported work on [Photo] clinical electrocardiography and on quantal density functional theory, on translations and on poetry anthologies, on Stephen Spielberg's America and on the American Revolution.

The Provost and the Dean of Research [Photo] and Graduate Studies are working with the science faculty to develop strategies that will strengthen the natural sciences on campus and secure our presence in the University's doctoral program as this program undergoes far-reaching change. I insist that Brooklyn College be represented among the lead institutions in science at CUNY. We intend to secure additional resources or shift resources in order to position ourselves as one of the lead institutions. [Photo] We will focus our research agenda, strengthen departments by additional hiring, graduate student stipends, or acquisition of research equipment, and make the best use of the science facilities now in the planning stage. This is a long term project, delayed too long, and we will get there.

Third [Photo] priority: Enrollment. The College depends on enrollment. We all know that. We must increase the number of undergraduate and, especially, graduate students, retain those who meet our standards, and enable our undergraduate and graduate students to complete their studies and graduate in a reasonable period of time.

For the spring, we're doing better than a year ago, but we're still short of where we hoped to be and should be. The shortfall continues to be mainly in the graduate division. As of this morning, total enrollment of degree-seeking students is just over 15,000. There are [Photo] 11,142 undergraduates, up about 4% from last spring, and 2,897 graduate students, down about 8%. [Photo]

What have we done about this? Last semester, we engaged a marketing research firm to determine how current and prospective undergraduate and graduate students, parents, and members of the college community perceive the College. [Photo] What are our strengths, what our weaknesses; how do we build on the former and minimize the latter. We have already put together new admissions materials for our programs and prepared a recruitment video, which was recognized recently with a Gold Award -- first prize -- by the Admissions Marketing Report, the leading organ in the admissions marketing world. I should tell you also that our newspaper ads for last year's summer session were similarly honored. Well done, Enrollment Services.

As many of you know, we expanded our winter session [Photo] this year, doubling both our offerings and our enrollments. We want to enlarge this initiative and extend it also to the summer sessions. Our students ask for additional courses. They also want year round class schedules to help them plan their course of study. We will discuss these matters with the department chairs in the weeks ahead.

Most importantly, we're working to stem the decline in graduate enrollment.

We now have published a guide to graduate enrollment, [Photo] an online application guide, and a list of graduate programs on the Web site. The Office of Admissions has been reconfigured to expedite processing and to provide assistance to incoming students and to graduate deputies as they review application folders.

Central to our effort is a reassessment of what we offer graduate students. [Photo] Why does our current offering not attract them? The Provost has been working with departments to upgrade and broaden our offerings, but we've only just begun. Much more needs to be done to salvage a program that has been in slow decline for a long time. The faculty knows best how to develop and shape curriculum and how to create new programs. The College needs your help in rebuilding the graduate program.

Finally, [Photo] academic advising.

Some of you joined me last fall to cut the ribbon [Photo] on the new and refurbished Center for Academic Advisement and Student Success on the third floor of Boylan. It's more than just renovated space; it's a whole set of initiatives, developed last spring and summer and implemented in the fall semester.

The center [Photo] has extended its evening hours, instituted weekend services, and opened a branch office specifically to help students with probation, readmission, and appeals to the Faculty Council Committee on Course and Standing. The center sees all first-year students, who come in as part of a required first-semester benchmark process. It coordinates its services with those of other advising offices in Student Affairs, the Honors Academy and the Library, the Magner Center, the Women's Center, and the Learning Center. It has built links between professional advisers and faculty advisers and created a team of specialists to advise pre law students and those interested in health careers. It has expanded even further its use of technology: created a listserv for advisers, both faculty and staff, to answer questions and provide updates and set up an e mail site to answer questions about the new core curriculum.

The number of students [Photo] coming to the center for academic advising and for help with academic regulations has grown substantially. This is our first step in offering them the kind of assistance they must have if they are to make a success of their college careers.

These four priorities [Photo] will continue to be a major part of our activities this semester. Some of them can be handled administratively; some will require your help. They are all necessary and important for our common good.

[Photo] All of you are aware of Provost Roberta Matthews's decision to retire as of this coming summer. We are deeply indebted to her for her years of committed service to the College. She has helped recruit new faculty (we have 47 searches under way right now; if they succeed, more than half of our teaching faculty will have been hired in the last seven years), build a strong curriculum, including a revised core curriculum, and bring in an academically strong student body, provide them with the necessary programs and advice, and enable them to stay and graduate. The list is long. Roberta, we thank you.

We have launched a search for a successor, advertised the position, and engaged a search firm. I have appointed a search committee, chaired by Steve Little, vice president of finance and administration, and composed of three members of the faculty: Professor Ellen Belton, English; Professor George Cunningham, Africana Studies; and Professor David Troyansky, History, and of Dean Milga Morales of Student Affairs. The committee will review applications in March and interview candidates in April. We hope to have a new Provost appointed by July 1st.

For the Middle States reaccreditation in 2009, we must do a self study, examining the ways in which the College has changed since the last reaccreditation in 1999 and determining how we move ahead. On your way in, you received a form asking you to join this process. I urge you to do so. We want our self study to be broadly representative, and we want the Middle States Association to hear from the entire college community, not just from the president and the deans.

A steering committee has been appointed and has met. Professor Lynda Day and Professor Bonnie Gustav have generously agreed to co chair it. Appropriate working committees are being staffed and charged. Dean Colette Wagner has taken on the large task of serving as liaison and overseeing the effort, for which I thank her. We fully expect to be reaccredited, but we must take the process seriously. It requires diligence and attention to detail.

We have arrived at the subject of honors and awards won by members of the college community since last we met.

Let's start with students:

Pangeline Edwards is the first Brooklyn College student to be awarded a Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, a scholarship sponsored by the United States Department of State and intended to increase the number of American undergraduates studying abroad and prepare them for careers in the international arena. Pangeline is studying in China this semester.

Kerron Gilford, a senior in the Honors Academy, received an Award for Excellence in Biomedical Science for work he presented at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students. He's the first Brooklyn College student to receive a conference award.

Daniel Blake, a graduate student in the Conservatory of Music, was awarded Grand Prize for Jazz in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, an international competition open to both amateur and professional songwriters.

Jonathan Judge, a junior active also in student government, was accepted into The Washington Center's Congressional Leadership Program and is working at a government relations firm in Washington.

Rosemary Taveras and Stephanie Medrano were two of only five CUNY students to be selected as Young Latinas Leadership Institute Scholars by 100 Hispanic Women, Inc.

And Stellar Kim, who graduated from our MFA Program in Fiction in 2005, won the Iowa Review Awards' first prize in fiction for her short story collection Findings and Impressions.

Members of the faculty have distinguished themselves in various ways, and I want to recognize and acknowledge them. I would ask, as usual, that we hold our applause until I've named them all.

Clement Mbom, Broeklundian Professor in Modern Languages and Literatures, was awarded the Ordre des francophones d'Amerique by the Premier of Quebec last spring for his role as a scholar and teacher in promoting French as a language and object of study.

Professor Patricia Cronin, from the Department of Art, was a recipient of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Rome Prize in Visual Arts and is spending the academic year in Rome.

Distinguished Professor Tania Leon, of the Conservatory of Music, was honored by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers with an ASCAPLUS Award, which recognizes the unique value of a composer's original work over time.

Professor David Grubbs, also of the Conservatory of Music, was selected for a grant by the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, one of the most prestigious awards in the field of music and sound -- prestigious because it comes from a Foundation founded by Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and John Cage, who, as you will know, rank among the truly illustrious artists of our time.

Professor Donald Landolphi, formerly of the Department of Physical Education and Exercise Sciences, was inducted last month into the Hall of Fame of the American Baseball Coaches Association.

And An Hepperman, who directs our student radio station, WBCR, was part of a trio that won a 2006 Third Coast International Audio Festival Award for the Song and Memory series they produced for Weekend America.

Congratulations.

Members of the faculty and the administration have been awarded major institutional and research grants:

From the National Endowment for the Humanities:

To Gerald Oppenheimer, Health and Nutrition Sciences, for an intellectual and social history of the evolution of epidemiology in the United States since World War II.

From the National Science Foundation:

Three million dollars over five years to Dean Louise Hainline and Professors Simon Parsons, Wayne Powell, and Micha Tomkiewicz for a series of interrelated projects designed to improve science education and teaching from high school through graduate school.

From the United States Department of Energy:

Three quarters of a million dollars for advanced imagining equipment in a new Microscopy and Imagining Center for faculty and students doing basic research in the sciences, a project conceived of and developed by Dean Louise Hainline.

From the United States Department of Justice (the first award from that department that has come to the College):

To Professor Mel Pipe, who joined the Children's Studies Program and the Department of Psychology last September, for a study of the effectiveness of commonly used interview protocols in child protection and criminal proceedings.

Congratulations.

This concludes my report. Are there questions or comments? Hearing none, I hereby adjourn the Stated Meeting of the Faculty.