Lawrence reports on strategic plan
Rutgers closer to taking its place among top universities in nation
Archived article from Oct 29, 1999
By Douglas Frank
Rutgers, energized by the creation of the university strategic plan, "A New Vision for Excellence," has made significant progress toward the goal of reaching the top echelon of North America's public research universities, President Francis L. Lawrence told the University Senate Oct. 22.
"It has now been more than four years since the Board of Governors endorsed the university strategic plan we created together to advance our institution," Lawrence said. "Together we have established a vision for Rutgers as a pre-eminent public university, one of a very small number of research institutions both committed and prepared to exercise national leadership for American higher education."
This vision includes dedication "to a standard of quality that makes Rutgers a preferred choice for students, a first-rate intellectual environment for faculty and an outstanding place to work for staff," said Lawrence in his State of the University address before the senate, which met in the Paul Robeson Campus Center on the Newark campus.
Rutgers, Lawrence continued, strives to create knowledge and ideas for the improvement of the human condition, prepares students to meet the needs of a changing society and advances the well-being of our communities, our state and our nation.
"That is our vision: to be one of America's very best universities," he said.
For Rutgers, the long-range plan:
--Focuses efforts on strengthening academic programs and emphasizes excellence in instruction, scholarship and service.
--Reaffirms Rutgers' role as a generator of new knowledge and a university dedicated to diversity, access and affordability.
--Fosters community and collaboration in academic matters across disciplines and campuses.
--Values the identification of and response to emerging needs in the state and the nation.
--Acknowledges the importance of interdisciplinary approaches, recognizes the value of international perspectives and affirms the need to integrate technology into all academic endeavors.
--Places strong emphasis on the university's public-service mission.
To display Rutgers' progress, Lawrence offered a presentation of what he called the "university's vital statistics" covering such areas as quality of faculty and students, diversity, funding for institutional priorities, sponsored research, private fund raising, and state and federal support.
"The numbers," he advised, "tell only part of the story. Rutgers is not only one of the nation's oldest and largest universities, but one of its most distinguished as well. We have built on our past accomplishments and are now a stronger and better higher-education institution than ever before."
Among statistics cited were these:
--Rutgers has nearly tripled the number of its doctoral programs ranked among the top 20 nationally.
--Memberships in the national academies of science and engineering and the Institute of Medicine have increased from 19 to 25.
--Between fall 1989 and fall 1999, the number of applications for first-year undergraduate admission increased by nearly 25 percent.
--Since the inception of the Outstanding Scholars Program, there has been a 37 percent increase in the number of students with composite SAT scores above 1350 and rank in class among the top 15 percent.
--As a result of the strategic plan, 19 new degree programs have been created at the undergraduate and graduate levels across all three Rutgers campuses.
--First-year minority enrollment at Rutgers grew by 39 percent in the 10 years ending with fall 1998. In addition to access, the minority graduation rate nearly doubled, from 17 percent of the total baccalaureates awarded in 1989 to 31 percent in 1998.
--The Strategic Resource and Opportunity Analysis (SROA) program has awarded a total of $12 million so far for 75 projects to enhance academic excellence on all three campuses and has leveraged nearly $100 million in external support.
--The Reinvest in Rutgers program has contributed more than $22 million to provide enhanced graduate student support, faculty start-up packages, funding for multicultural initiatives, additions to library resources and a number of academic infrastructure improvements.
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