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

19 February 2009
Remarks

[slide]

I will start with a few updates and a reminder.

First, the reminder. The Middle States team of evaluators will be on campus for several days the week of March 30. This site visit is the near final phase of the reaccreditation process, to be followed only by the evaluators' report on what they learned and then a formal statement of reaccreditation. While they're on campus, they will want to hear from faculty, students, staff, administrators. On Monday and Tuesday, March 30th and 31st, they will hold open meetings. They may invite some of you to smaller meetings, and they may approach still others randomly and informally. Please make yourself available and be prepared to answer their questions. What do you think about the College; what have we accomplished; what and where are we doing well; what remains to be done? The self study that, as you know, we labored over for nearly two years is finished and in their hands. It is a comprehensive accounting of our work together and of our thoughts on what we need to do in the future. You'll find it on our website in a day or two. Please take time to read it so you can take an active part in the discussion. The more informed you are, the better. This is important. Reaccreditation matters.

Two months ago, Governor Paterson released his budget for the coming year. It's a document of unhappy choices: it in effect proposes, on the one hand, to reduce the University's budget significantly and, on the other, to offset that reduction by raising tuition. An increase from $4,000 a year to $4,600 a year cannot but affect our students. Yet without that increase, our ability to maintain academic quality, hire faculty, and supply necessary services will be compromised. And there's something else. The budget also projects changes in TAP, the Tuition Assistance Program. It would raise eligibility for full financial aid for students from the traditional twelve credits a semester to fifteen. About 72% of our students receive some kind of financial aid, so this change in eligibility would affect many of them. The Governor's budget does not become law unless it is approved by the Legislature. The budget process is a political process, and I ask you, once again, to help shape the outcome. Please send a message to our elected officials. They need to know of our concerns. A large, concerted effort will catch their attention and will get them to act. An e mail message with instructions on how to send a message to your representatives will go out shortly.

(I should say that, even under the best of circumstances, the college budget next year will be tight. And that unavoidably has implications for how we do what we do. The Provost and I are already engaged in discussions with CAP and will confer on how we might mitigate the impact.)

The current year's budget, which caused us to curtail services and to tighten our belts, got a welcome boost this semester with a nice increase in enrollment. I'm particularly pleased to see continuing recovery in the graduate division, where enrollment has grown in each of the last five semesters, a change attributable at least in part to improvements in our admissions process. Total enrollment, as of this morning, stands at 16,331 students -- 12,608 undergraduates and 3,723 graduate students. That's up nearly 5% from a year ago and exceeds the target we set for ourselves.

Campus construction moves forward, if not as expeditiously as we might hope. We had anticipated occupying the West Quad building these weeks but won't be doing so until late in the spring. The building will be substantially completed by April. The quad will be landscaped, the pool filled, the athletic equipment installed, classrooms ready, and offices fully open for business by the start of the fall semester. We'll cut the ribbon early in September.

Also this fall, we'll have another kind of ceremony, this time at the other end of the campus, when we break ground for the new performing arts center. The opening salvo in that project is the demolition of Gershwin, and we will scramble this summer to prepare temporary classrooms and rehearsal studios in Roosevelt for those who will have to move out before the wrecking ball does its work.

Architects have been selected to design the new science complex, which will transform Roosevelt. They will take about a year, at which point the University will select a construction firm and get things underway. The project is divided into two phases. The first focuses on teaching labs and classrooms, the second on research labs and support facilities. When it's all done, the College will have a brand new, twenty first century science building. There is in fact a third, and final, phase. That's the renovation of Ingersoll Extension for the teaching and research needs not addressed in the first two phases.

And then, off campus, there's the new Student Residence Hall. The developer tells us that, despite delays of his own, construction is on schedule for a grand opening by the fall semester. We took him at his word and appointed a task force, chaired by Dean Jacqueline Williams, to develop recommendations on how best to administer the responsibilities that devolve on us. We are responsible for referring students to the residence hall, and we will have to provide services beyond those we provide now. The prospect is exciting and a little scary.

The physical changes on campus, both past and future, raise some basic questions. What, in the foreseeable future, is the optimal number of students this campus can accommodate, what programs will we need to offer them, what space and what equipment will these programs require, how sizeable a faculty and staff is necessary, and how can we assure a creative environment that allows everyone to flourish? Bearing in mind the physical limits of the campus and the constraints these impose, how do we arrive at answers?

That is the purpose of a new Master Plan that will see Brooklyn College through to 2020. Architects who specialize in the field will begin next month to take a look of our needs and our future. They will first address two short term issues. Most immediate, what is the best use we can make of space that becomes vacant as offices relocate to the West Quad building; what logic, in other words, should govern the assignment of campus space when, for the first time in decades, some becomes available. Also for the short term: since construction of the new science building will take some time and since research labs are indispensable if faculty are to pursue their work, where in Ingersoll Extension do we best put such labs? For the long range, the architects will devise a roadmap for new major capital projects so the College can meet its academic goals in the years ahead. They will need information and advice from us, and they intend to give us ample opportunity over the next few months to speak with them. Their work will shape the contours of the campus for coming generations, just as the master plan of 1995 shaped it for us. We have to get it right.

* * * * *

This is the nineteenth time that I stand here to address the Stated Meeting of the Faculty. It is also my last. Not a few of you have been friends and colleagues since I arrived here more than thirty years ago, and many of you have contributed mightily to the College and its development. What strikes me as perhaps most remarkable as we traverse these early years of a new century is how open we have been to change, how willing as an institution to adapt to the demands of a more complex age.

This late in the day, we may not recall how hard we have worked or how much we have accomplished. Improvements and advances have made the College better equipped to meet the challenges that come with innovation and new knowledge, the demands and opportunities of a global economy, and of course the technological revolution of our day. Throughout my presidency, I have had the benefit of your deep and unwavering dedication to this College and its welfare. That dedication has made my work easier and I thank you here for your support.

What a difference we have made.

The College is more welcoming and hospitable. [slide] Remember how students and visitors perhaps even a few of you wandered about the campus looking for classrooms and offices for what must have seemed days on end? Well, it's not so easy to get lost now. [slide]

[faculty slideshow] We have expanded, rejuvenated, and diversified the faculty. Ten years ago, there were 487 of you, now there are 538. If all our searches pan out, another twenty two will join us ranks this fall. Well over half of you have arrived in that ten-year period. Most of you are at the associate and assistant rank, another difference from ten years ago, when we cried over a missing generation. You represent greater variety, greater diversity in every respect. It is a transformation -- and one we can speak of with enormous pride. The vigor our new colleagues bring to the College and to their departments has been bracing -- and a signature development in the College's recent history.

Since we brought so many new colleagues to the College and the borough, and since we already had the best guide to the borough, [slide] we thought we would explain Brooklyn to them -- even to the native New Yorkers among them who, inexplicably, had never set foot in the borough before. You cannot appreciate us if you've never window-shopped on multilingual Coney Island Avenue, eaten in Chinatown in Sunset Park, or strolled through Little Odessa in Brighton Beach. That gave birth to the now famous new faculty bus tour. [slide] The tour takes in a good ten miles, at least six distinct neighborhoods [slide] and last we heard has not lost a single participant along the way.

Having begun to rejuvenate the faculty, we set out to do the same for the setting in which they were active. Do you remember when Faculty Council used to meet here? [slide] Now it meets here. [slide]

Did your classroom once look like this? [slide] Well, it now probably looks like this. [slide] It's part of a vigorous program we've undertaken to renew our facilities. Seventy-seven classrooms, about a third of all our classrooms, have been completely renovated. Labs have been refurbished; [slide] chalkboards gave way to whiteboards; [slide] air-conditioning units were installed. What you may not have noticed is that, in buildings across the campus, decaying windows were replaced; drinking fountains installed; [slide] elevators upgraded; roofs and ventilation systems repaired.

That's what we did for ourselves. What did we do for students? We increased their number too. In fall 1999, there were 15,057; last fall, there were 16,690. [slide] And we raised the bar. Incoming freshmen now have a mean high school average of 86 (ten years ago the mean was 80). And since more now come directly from high school, they are now more of traditional college age eighteen as opposed to the early twenties, better prepared to handle college work.

A re-energized scholarship office, staffed by knowledgeable and proactive professionals, was the key to recruiting honors-quality students and to building our reputation as a College where students compete -- and win - prestigious awards. [slide] A Rhodes Scholar in 2005, [slide] a Truman Scholar in 2006, and, starting in 2007, [slide] a Gilman Scholar (or two) [slide] each year.

Do you remember the arrival, in fall 2001, of the first class of CUNY Honors College students, some thirty-five high achievers? [slide] They were the start of a reinvigorated Honors Academy, which now consists of seven honors programs. It is almost a college within a college. It attracts talented, lively, enthusiastic students, many of whom have been in your classes. Nearly three quarters of those who will graduate in June will go on to graduate or professional school. [slide] The promise embedded in a top-quality Honors Academy also attracted a splendid gift our very first endowed chair, the Carol Zicklin Chair in the Honors Academy.

[slide] We listened, and we heard what students asked for. Many of them wanted to finish and graduate in four years. So, in 2001, we established The On Course Advantage to make sure they had that opportunity. TOCA cuts through red tape, supplies the necessary guidance, and prods and nudges those who fall behind. It is the only program of its kind in the University and by now it has graduated over 1600 students, all of them indebted to Jesus Perez and his successors, who directed and molded the program.

Our evening students told us they could not pay their bills, get transcripts, or register complaints because offices closed at five sharp. We established the YESS Center, which in turn became the Enrollment Service Center, [slide] the popular, efficient precursor of the conglomerate of services admissions, scholarships, financial aid, the registrar, the bursar that will reside in the new West Quad building. Do you remember when registration looked like this and students stood on line half the day, only to get closed out of courses? [slide] We changed that too. [slide]

This decade has seen an explosion of technology on campus, a tribute to the state-of-the-art ambitions in ITS, our Office of Information Technology Services. Our first computer labs were built in 1985. They were functional, [slide] and we thought of them as cutting edge. But of course they were nothing compared to today's [slide], not only well-equipped but comfortable, even inviting, places to work. Almost the entire campus -- inside and out -- is now WiFi accessible [slide] so we may search the Internet from anywhere or receive e mail messages any time of the day (or if they're from me the night).

Does anyone remember this place? [slide] Today that's the Library Café, [slide] open and frequented 24/7, the only one of its kind in the University. Demand there has never flagged and capacity has doubled.

[slide] We've become more efficient at gathering college data and doing institutional research. We established and staffed an Office of Institutional Planning that in the last nine years conducted scores of surveys, tracking everything from enrollment trends to classroom use to academic satisfaction. What can numbers and data do for us? They allow us to plan better. To target program development and the allocation of resources. To sharpen our understanding of what our students do and what they want.

One such survey told us that they wanted help most particularly in determining how a liberal arts education translates into career opportunities. [slide] In 2002 with the support of Marge Magner, one of our most generous alumnae we established the Magner Center for Career Development and Internships. Internships allow students to explore professional options while they're still in college and assemble solid résumes even before they graduate. [slide] And when they're about to graduate, they will find the Center an almost inexhaustible source of hands-on advice, job information, and valuable connections. [slide]

The Magner Center illustrates the importance of the relationship between the College and its alumni. I have found them ready and willing to support our activities and our goals. That's why the Brooklyn College Foundation is an important lifeline. In 2000, the Foundation took on new resolve and new energy. With a reconstituted Board and an able staff, the Foundation's fundraising campaign brought in nearly $88 million over the last nine years, of which, by December 2007, $58 million made up a permanent endowment. [slide] In the last year alone, we received three endowed chairs in Constitutional Rights; in the Philosophy of Culture; and in Science making a total of five. Alumni generously support our building projects, student scholarships, research and travel stipends. They finance that margin of excellence that gives us an edge.

We set out to raise funds not only from alumni and friends but also in the public sector. [slide] The Office of Government and Community Relations, working with faculty and students, helped secure nearly $300 million in State and City funds that enabled us to put up the West Quad building, to renovate classrooms, lecture halls, and science labs, and much well-worn space in the Student Center, and to undertake the construction of the new science complex and, in part, the performing arts center.

We have always had a beautiful campus, and have made it more so. Over the years [slide] we ourselves lent a hand now and again. The high point of the year, commencement, graduated from plain [slide] to festive. [slide] The grounds crew takes particular care in working toward that day. They know what they're doing, and they take pride in what they do.

We even changed the skyline. [slide] [slide]

[slide] Some things change inevitably and irretrievably. [slide]

Some things never do. Much as we've tried, they have frustrated even the best minds on campus. [parking lot movie]

And some things ought not to change. [slide] They are much as they have always been [slide] -- and as they are meant to be. [slide]

So, as you and I continue on, our paths diverting for now, we should stop, reflect, and enjoy what we have done and all the promises our undertakings may inspire. [slide]

The search for a new president for Brooklyn College is underway. The chancellor intends to have someone in office by the fall. Members of the search committee, as you know, visited the campus last week and listened to you and other representatives of the campus community as you spoke about the College and the kind of leadership it should have. The full search committee also includes three Brooklyn College faculty members, two students, and an alumna. If all goes according to schedule, three finalists will visit the campus late in May for our inspection.

Now my favorite part of these remarks I want to single out and acknowledge members of the college community for honors they have, collectively and individually, brought on themselves and on the College.

I want to recognize and thank the members of the various Middle States committees for their hard work over the last two years, and extend a special thanks to Colette Wagner for assuming the enormous task of overseeing the writing of the report and its delivery, right on time, to the evaluators.

I want to recognize the work of Nancy Hager and Jennifer Rubain, who co chaired an Advisory Committee on Diversity that prepared a new five year Diversity and Inclusion Plan, a copy of which you were handed when you came in. The plan provides the College with a framework for increasing faculty diversity, creating an inclusive campus environment, and incorporating the principles of diversity and inclusion into the classroom. It is the successor to the plan that helped shape our efforts in the first half of my presidency, and should help us weave the principles of diversity and inclusion even more into College life. Last year, the College was among thirty-nine colleges and universities honored by a national group called Minority Access for its outstanding commitment to attaining and promoting diversity.

The College was once again among the fifty public colleges the Princeton Review ranked as "America's Best Value Colleges" surely something of note in these times.

And the College earned a coveted spot on the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for our students' exemplary volunteer service efforts in Brooklyn communities.

And students continue to distinguish themselves:

Amy Iturres Alomia, a senior majoring in film and French, is the College's latest recipient of a Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to study abroad. She is studying Italian at the Scuola Lorenzo de' Medici in Florence.
Six Honors Academy students Tara Mulqueen; Seth Nadler; Nadine Alexander; Sonia Afroz; Ashley Warmington; and Sameen Farooq will make presentations at the National Collegiate Honors Council Regional Meeting in Annapolis next month.
Last fall, our Men and Women Cross Country Teams swept the CUNY Athletic Conference championships, winning in the women's 6 kilometer and the men's 8 kilometer races.

Two former film students are making a splash:

Oren Moverman won the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay of his movie, The Messenger, at the Berlin Film Festival. The movie, which he also directed, was originally screened at the Sundance Film festival -- as was Brooklyn's Finest, a film written by Michael Martin.

I want to recognize and congratulate members of the faculty and staff who have been honored recently. I would ask that you hold your applause until I have mentioned them all.

Michael Washington, Music, is heading to South Africa on a Fulbright Fellowship to study the roots of jazz.
Tania Leon, also in Music, has been honored with a 2008-2009 ASCAPLUS Award for her concert work.
George Brunner, Music again, was one of only two American composers this year to receive a commission and residency at the Institut International de Musique Eletroacoustique in Bourges, France. His composition, "The Candle and the Mirror," is slated for premiere this summer in France.
Amy Hempel, English, the director of the MFA program in Fiction, was awarded the 2008 Rea Award for the Short Story considered to be among the top awards for short story writing in North America.
Moustafa Bayoumi, also in English, received the American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation for his book, How Does it Feel to Be a Problem: Being Young and Arab in America, published last summer.

And significant grants have been received by members of the faculty and the administration:

To restore the greenhouse atop Ingersoll Extension, Louise Hainline, Dean of Research and Graduate Studies, secured $479,000 from the Department of Energy.
To study cognitive treatment of anxiety disorders for ill adolescents, Laura Reigada, Psychology, got $270,000 from the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America.
To advance the purposes of the Brooklyn College Community Partnership, an after-school program, Nancy Romer, Psychology, and Diane Reiser received $49,999 from the New York State Higher Education Services Corporation.
To conduct research into flavor conditioning by glutamate, Anthony Sclafani, Psychology, was among seven scientists out of 140 who received a two year $222,775 Ajinomoto Amino Acid Research Grant.
And Laurie Rubel, School of Education, is the winner of one of the highly competitive and much-coveted National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Awards. It gives her $625,137 for five years.

Let us give them a hand. Congratulations.

This concludes my remarks. Are there any questions? Hearing none, I hereby adjourn the Stated Meeting of the Faculty.