Letter to the campus - Winter update
January 2001
I write to bring you up to date on our progress this fall in four areas: (1) the strategic plan, (2) campus housekeeping, (3) fund raising, and (4) enrollment.
The Strategic Plan
At the time of the Stated Meeting last September, copies of a draft strategic plan, prepared by the Planning Council in cooperation with a dozen sub-committees, were distributed to the campus community. The draft proposes three goals for the College: to maintain and improve academic quality, to build a student-centered campus, and to become a model citizen.
The draft was discussed in meetings of department, staff, and governance bodies and in well-attended open hearings early in November. Comments also came in by e-mail and on the dedicated listserv. I thank you for your contributions.
The Planning Council has met to discuss your comments and to make recommendations for the final version of the strategic plan. We will now rework the draft, incorporating these recommendations, and expect to produce a final plan this month. We will then implement the plan by identifying priorities, arranging them in sequence, and seeing to the necessary financing.
Implementation of the plan will engage the entire college support structure, from facilities to budget to technology. As we meet our goals or see conditions change, and as new opportunities present themselves, we will modify our plan, so that it remains a perpetually current guide and compass for our actions.
Campus Housekeeping
Comments on the draft strategic plan expressed a strong concern for the physical environment of the campus. Facilities has responded, redoubled its efforts, and produced results: the windows in James have been replaced and those in Ingersoll will follow in the spring. The old porcelain drinking fountains of another era are yielding to new stainless steel models. In Boylan we've started a pilot project of signs that direct people to offices and classrooms and we're experimenting with a map directory for the entire building in the vestibule. In a major departure from past practice, we've hired a building manager for Whitehead and Ingersoll -- Leo Gorodnitskiy -- who will function as a super and provide a model of what we can do elsewhere.
In my "campus tours" to visit departments and offices, in small lunches with faculty, and in student focus groups, I have heard much about the state of our classrooms. During intersession, Facilities will start to paint and renovate the classrooms in Whitehead, the first step of a campus-wide project. The long-promised renovation of the lecture hall on the second floor of Whitehead has begun. Using funding from City Council, we're about to overhaul eleven lecture halls in Ingersoll. At the request of Professor Charles Tobey, furthermore, the Faculty Council Committee on Campus Planning is conducting a survey of your priorities for campus repairs and cleanliness to which I urge you to respond. I am committed to improving the quality of life on campus and to making maintenance and cleanliness a matter of day-to-day routine so that we can direct our attention to the larger goals in the strategic plan.
Fund Raising
Reaching our goals is going to cost money. Funding by New York State and our revenues from tuition are not going to rise dramatically, and we must look to our capital campaign. The Brooklyn College Foundation, as I noted in my September letter, has retained a consulting firm, which undertook a feasibility study in the spring. That study indicated that donors and potential donors are particularly interested in supporting faculty development and retention; campus renovations and improvements; and scholarships, internships, and other programs directed toward students.
Even while we prepare a major capital campaign we have refurbished our campaign for the Annual Fund, with promising results. Figures are not yet final but we do know that this year's returns are running well ahead of last year's.
Enrollment
Nearly half our operating budget, as most of you know, is derived from student tuition and fees. Enrollment therefore -- both recruiting new students and retaining those who are here -- is a matter of utmost importance. Our enrollment this fall is almost identical with last fall's, both in number and in ethnic composition.
The University's process for admitting students will change next fall. For as long as anyone can remember, applicants have been asked to identify six colleges of preference and have been admitted to the first one for which they were eligible. Effective fall 2001, in a process called "multiple admissions," applicants will be notified, not merely of the first college for which they are eligible, but also of two others whose admissions criteria they meet. Rather than be assigned to one college, they may now choose among three.
This innovation is in our favor. It not only gives applicants a greater range of choice but also gives Brooklyn College an opportunity to compete for applicants who have not made us their first choice and, for the first time, to notify those applicants who are eligible that they have been admitted. Effectively, an offer of admission is the culmination of a recruiting process.
To equip us for this contest, the Office of Enrollment Services, working with the Enrollment Management Committee, Information Technology Services, and an outside consultant, has developed new strategies for reaching applicants, among them a "targeted" approach, which uses personalized communications, improved Web-based outreach, and campus visits to address applicants and their interests particularly. We will also ask your help in reaching applicants whose qualifications meet our high expectations of them.
I look forward to seeing you in the spring semester and extend best wishes for the New Year.
Sincerely,
Christoph M. Kimmich
