State of the University Addresses

1998 State of the University Address

Thank you, Chairman Junker, for that generous introduction. I'm reminded of the fellow who was once introduced as one of the most gifted businessmen in the country, evidenced by the fact that he had made a billion dollars in California oil. When he rose to speak, he appeared a bit embarrassed. The facts as reported were essentially correct, he said, but he felt compelled to state that it wasn't oil, it was coal. And it wasn't California, it was Pennsylvania. And just to keep the record straight, it wasn't a billion, it was a million. And it wasn't him, it was his brother. And he didn't make it, he lost it.

Nevertheless, I am grateful to you, Ted, to members of the Board of Trustees, faculty and staff colleagues, students, alumni, and friends joining us here at the University Park campus and throughout Pennsylvania by satellite. Let me thank you all for joining me for my annual report on the state of our University.

I recently had a chance encounter with someone I hadn't seen in more than a year. "So what's new?" she asked. It flashed through my mind that I had a personally gratifying year as president of one of the nation's leading universities. We brought to fruition a historic merger with The Dickinson School of Law. We created the Penn State Geisinger Health System. We launched the Schreyer Honors College, set records in enrollments and fund-raising, approved a new curriculum, and launched the Penn State World Campus. Next thing I knew I heard myself say "Not much. So what's new with you?"

The aspirations, dedication, and enthusiasm of Penn State's faculty, students, and staff provide the foundation for progress at our University and are a constant source of inspiration and pride to me. We are blessed also with a supportive Board of Trustees, with an alumni association that is second to none, and with an extended University family that reaches into millions of households. I am grateful to all who bring Penn State to life each and every day. You've made the last year a memorable one in our institution's history.

The Student Experience

Before I review the broad state of the University, I want to speak to you candidly about a matter of profound personal and professional concern that has troubled me these past several years. I speak of the important educational role the University must play in the development of character, conscience, citizenship, and social responsibility. First, some background. I was something of an activist as an undergraduate. Probably no surprise there. There was much about society I wanted to change, and I worked hard at it--always peacefully and within the law and usually with a mix of respect for, yet a healthy skepticism of, authority.

And having spent my career in higher education, I've always felt a kinship with students and have prided myself on understanding student perspectives on most any given issue. I've preferred to think of our students not so much as adolescents but as adults. Universities exist first and foremost for our students; we must always remember that.

But in recent years I've been increasingly troubled by certain behavioral attributes arriving at the doorsteps of colleges and universities. Most of Penn State's students are fundamentally decent human beings. They have been taught positive values and appropriate behaviors. And make no mistake about it, most are high achievers. We are a very selective university academically. Our students tend to be articulate, sociable, and career oriented. Virtually all of our enrolled students are capable of succeeding here, and more than 80 percent of those matriculating at the University Park campus graduate. In short, we attract some of the best young minds in America here. A quote from John F. Kennedy is thus relevant here: "For of those to whom much is given, much is required."

But something is wrong. It is, to be sure, not uniquely a Penn State problem. Our profile parallels those at other national universities, including selective Big Ten and Ivy League schools. The problem is that many of today's undergraduates come to us as experienced drinkers–34 percent of surveyed college students were binge drinkers in high school. Moreover, binge drinking–defined as the consumption of five or more drinks in one sitting by a male or at least four drinks by a female–has become a popular activity among today's college students. And while drinking in college has always been with us, the difference today is that more people binge drink, and those who binge drink do so more often. There are data, nationally and locally, that show that nearly half of today's college students engage in binge drinking. One-fourth of students at universities like ours binge drink three or more times in a given two-week period.

Binge drinking has become institutionalized. The practice has become more accepted among participants as it has increasingly become a part of their social and personal life. Organizations, commercial establishments, and other entities may actually support the activity.

I want to state unequivocally that my colleagues and I in the administration intend to continue to pursue an agenda that promotes civic and social responsibility. To those students and alumni who have written to me to say that this should not be a University priority, I ask you to put yourself in my shoes. I challenge each of you to think about having to place a call or write to the parents of a student who has died on or near campus. You only need to do this once before a profound sense of responsibility washes over you. You will never forget the burden. I speak from experience.

In addition, each year I must cope with the reality of several hundred hospital emergency room admissions of our students due to alcohol poisoning or alcohol-related consequences. The majority of crime on campus and off is alcohol related–I'm referring to vandalism, assault, disorderly conduct, and sexual assault, not to mention public drunkenness and DUI. Our counseling center is overburdened with those in need of treatment for alcohol problems. I feel considerable responsibility for our students. We must all face this obligation.

We have redoubled Penn State's efforts to address this problem and to promote social responsibility, civility, and citizenship among our students. Although there is still a long way to go, we are making progress. The opening of the HUB twenty-four hours a day with expanded late-night programming on weekends has been an overwhelming success, attracting as many as 2,000 students each weekend. Working with our local chapters, Penn State's Interfraternity Council has implemented a number of policy changes that promote academics and de-emphasize the use of alcohol. Several fraternities have announced, and others are considering, plans to be alcohol free by the year 2000.

Strong partnerships with the communities we share across the Commonwealth are critical and are the focus of our Partnership for Prevention with the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board that began last spring. Town/gown teams for every Penn State location are working to implement local strategies to reduce underage and binge drinking. Such a statewide partnership is unique in American higher education.

I wrote to incoming freshmen this summer squarely addressing the issue. I spoke to all new University Park freshmen, focusing on the theme of social responsibility. We will be working with the Borough of State College, the Pennsylvania Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement, and others on a higher level of vigilance and enforcement. We have stepped up our educational programming and prevention programs. I have spoken and written about theseissues nationally. Finally, I have said publicly that I will refund the deposit of any Penn State applicant who is coming here principally to party and drink who might be dissuaded by our rhetoric, rules, enforcement, or attitude on this–no questions asked. To put it succinctly, let me say to all high school students: "If you are interested in Penn State because of the attraction of binge drinking, please go somewhere else."

The Commonwealth Education System

Let me turn now to a story. A woman goes to her attorney and says "I want to divorce my husband." The lawyer asks, "Do you have any grounds?" "About 10 acres," the woman says. "Do you have a grudge?" "No, just a carport," says the woman. "Does your husband beat you up," asks the lawyer? "No, I get up about an hour before he does every morning." "Why do you want a divorce?" asks the lawyer. The woman replies, "We just can't seem to communicate." Communication is the key to a well functioning university, and what I would like to do now is bring you up to date on some of our progress and plans.

The reorganization of Penn State campuses throughout the Commonwealth is proving to be an early success, especially in responding to the needs of communities and location-bound students. With new degree opportunities added at a number of the campuses, upper division enrollments at Commonwealth College locations increased 65 percent from fall 1996 to spring 1998. This has occurred while delivering on our promise that overall enrollments at the campuses would increase only modestly, a fundamental premise of our restructuring plan. We are providing greater flexibility for Penn State students to complete a degree at the campus that is most attractive to them.

The Dickinson School of Law

At Penn State's Dickinson School of Law, applications jumped 9 percent this year, substantially ahead of national averages. Interdisciplinary initiatives showing great promise include The Agricultural Law Research and Education Center, a joint project with the College of Agricultural Sciences, and five joint degree programs: a J.D./M.B.A. with the Smeal College, a J.D./Master of Public Administration with Penn State Harrisburg, and three interdisciplinary joint degrees with the intercollege Environmental Pollution Control program. The law school is establishing an articulation agreement with The Schreyer Honors College and will be examining additional opportunities for academic collaboration with other Penn State colleges this year. The Penn State Geisinger Health System

The creation of the Penn State Geisinger Health System has resulted in the third-largest group practice in the United States, with 2,700 physicians, and the largest rural health maintenance organization in the nation, with a total of 252,000 members in 40 counties a membership increase of more than 25 percent since the merger occurred. This is an incredible clinical backdrop for the students and faculty in our College of Medicine. It is also opening up important new opportunities for the integration of teaching, research, and service throughout the University in concert with the new health system. For example, the Colleges of Health and Human Development and Agricultural Sciences and Penn State Cooperative Extension are collaborating with the College of Medicine and the Penn State Geisinger Health System to develop rural women's health programs.

Cooperative Extension and Outreach

With the restructuring of Cooperative Extension and Continuing and Distance Education, Penn State has the largest unified outreach effort in American higher education. More than 1,500 faculty from all University locations and 800 outreach staff are now engaged in delivering programs and services to people in every county in Pennsylvania, all 50 of the United States, and 80 countries around the world. More than 50,000 Pennsylvanians serve as outreach volunteers for Penn State programming. One in every two households in Pennsylvania has a person participating in Penn State programs. More than 5 million people are served annually, including 220,000 youth ages 6 to 17.

The World Campus

The University's new outreach structure has also rapidly deployed the Penn State World Campus. Just a year after this initiative was introduced, the first pilot programs went online, enrolling students from as far away as Oregon, Puerto Rico, and Chile. Seven additional programs are scheduled to be offered this year. We anticipate that 300 new courses will be developed within the next several years.

Our leadership in the digital age is an area that raises fascinating new questions for the university. Intellectual property rights are far more complicated in an environment of ubiquitous and instantaneous communication. We face new academic policy issues as distinctions between distance education and resident education courses become blurred and as both are increasingly delivered with the assistance of technology. Electronic journals and other digital forms of scholarly communication will require us to develop more flexible approaches to faculty evaluation. Inter-institutional collaboration will become more common. Through our work with the World Campus and our active involvement in Internet 2, Penn State will have a head start in addressing these issues. None of these challenges will be simple, but they present the opportunity to create a responsive model of the university of the twenty-first century.

Information Sciences and Technology

I am pleased to announce that today the Board of Trustees formally approved the establishment of a School of Information Sciences and Technology. This school will be responsive to urgent workforce needs in one of today's fastest-growing industries. The school will also serve the needs of students in every other discipline to develop information technology skills that are a necessity throughout society and in today's marketplace.

In planning for the new school, we have been working with industry from the beginning. In meetings with industry executives, we have been told that the need is not just for more programmers but for people who understand project management, who have good communications skills, who can function effectively in teams, and who are adaptable to changing corporate needs. We've been told that we need to produce a different kind of graduate with a richer set of skills and a capacity for lifelong learning.

The model we are creating embraces this input. It emphasizes interdisciplinary teaching, research, and service, and involves linkages with other academic colleges at Penn State. Our School of Information Sciences and Technology will serve undergraduate majors and minors and graduate students through resident instruction and on-the-job workers through on-line delivery of programs via the Penn State World Campus. We are already beginning to develop strategic partnerships with industry to enhance student learning experiences and expand opportunities for faculty research and service. Our timetable for the new school is ambitious; we hope to welcome the first students next fall.

Interdisciplinary Initiatives

Let me next congratulate those of you who have been involved in the interdisciplinary work of several of our new academic initiatives. The Life Sciences Consortium, now in the third year of a five-year special funding commitment, is gaining visibility with accelerating recruitment of outstanding faculty and graduate students. Four faculty were added last year, seven arrived this year, and thirteen searches are under way. There are now fifty-three students in the new integrative biosciences graduate degree program, twenty-eight of them entering this year. Shared technology facilities in support of life scientists have been added, as well as a new science-based business incubator.

Last year at this time, I announced four other interdisciplinary areas of compelling societal interest for future investment. In addition to the steps being taken in information sciences and technology, this year we are providing seed money to move forward in a second area. The Children, Youth, and Families Consortium has identified more than 250 Penn State faculty members with allied interests. We have more than 900 undergraduate and graduate course offerings. The consortium is in the process of organizing working groups to promote interdisciplinary research, intervention, education, and outreach related to four themes: preventing health risk and problem behaviors, family change in a changing world, rural communities in an urban society, and understanding and promoting cognitive, social, civic, and academic development. Penn State will continue to provide significant national leadership in the area of children, youth, and families.

Undergraduate Education

Penn State's students will benefit tremendously from the educational foundation our new General Education curriculum will provide. This is the first major change in ten years in the General Education curriculum at Penn State. The curriculum encourages sustained interaction with faculty beginning in the freshman year, promotes active learning, encourages creativity in teaching, and develops skills in such areas as writing, speaking, quantitative reasoning, computer literacy, problem solving, and teamwork.

To implement the new General Education requirements, and more generally our goal of reducing the average undergraduate class size at Penn State, we have funded 105 new faculty positions this year, doubling the hundred added last year. The quality of a Penn State education continues to be of highest priority. I am deeply committed to giving our students all that we possibly can for their futures. We hold a very important key to the lives of some 80,000 individuals, the largest enrollment in Penn State's history.

With the continuing growth in Penn State's popularity, we are stretched to the limits this year at the University Park campus. I ask all of the faculty and staff for your understanding with this sometimes challenging situation and your help in serving this large pool of talented students.

Speaking of talent, the quality of students entering and graduating from The Schreyer Honors College is astounding. We are attracting truly brilliant students from among the top 1 percent of high school graduates. The vast majority are entering graduate or professional school following graduation. Their baccalaureate theses are genuine scholarly contributions. And most of our honors students now have significant international experiences.

Workforce Development

I want to say a word today about Penn State's role in workforce development, an areawhere we make significant contributions to meeting the needs of the Commonwealth. The University is the second-largest provider of technical and occupational associate degree graduates in the state. We offer about ninety such programs across our campuses, including the Pennsylvania College of Technology. Growing collaboration between Penn State and Penn College will further extend our involvement in workforce education and capitalize on our special research and teaching resources.

A perfect example of this potential is a new joint program to serve Pennsylvania industry for which $2 million in funding has been released through the state's Semiconductor Manufacturing Initiative. Students in this two-year degree program in semiconductor manufacturing technology will spend their first three semesters at Penn College and a fourth capstone semester at the University Park nanofabrication facility that is part of Penn State's Electronic Materials and Processing Research Lab. This is one of the few university-based, state-of-the-art clean room facilities in the nation, enabling important hands-on training to meet industry needs.

Research and Scholarship

I remember with some nostalgia the many times in my career when my research data confirmed a hypothesis, led to a new insight, produced a finding that had never been discovered before, or even contradicted the work of others. I now live those moments more vicariously through several thousand active research faculty and staff. A great university thrives on research and scholarship, and at Penn State, we will continue to promote research, scholarship, and creative activity as one of our fundamental missions. Such effort contributes substantially to our role in economic, human, and cultural development. Our undergraduate and graduate students learn much by working with faculty at the forefront of their fields. And, of course, the citizenry gains from our discoveries.

Penn State consistently ranks among the nation's leading research universities, with total research expenditures exceeding $350 million per year. Moreover, we rank first among the nation's public universities in research supported by industry. Last year, 379 Pennsylvania companies invested in Penn State research projects. Penn State's research and technology transfer activities created hundreds of jobs and resulted in twenty companies started and twenty-seven products commercialized.

These numbers represent important connections between the academic core of the University and the marketplace. The need to strengthen these connections was addressed among the recommendations made recently by a Penn State Task Force on Research Administration and Technology Transfer. We also will be taking steps to strengthen Penn State's position in the increasingly competitive external research funding environment. We want to assure our continuing position as one of the nation's top research universities. Last year was Penn State's best year ever in new awards received, a record that bodes very well for the future.

University Leadership

Penn State is in a period of significant leadership change. We welcome a new dean in the Eberly College of Science, Dan Larson, and a new vice provost for educational equity, Terrell Jones. Searches currently are under way for new deans in the Colleges of Communications, Education, and The Smeal College of Business Administration. Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Bob Secor has assumed increased responsibility for coordination of academic issues across all of Penn State's campuses. We also have elevated the position of chief information officer, occupied by Gary Augustson, to vice provost for information systems, in keeping with the expanding role of technology in every facet of Penn State. We are building the leadership team that will advance our University into the next century.

I am pleased to report that with the appointment of six new campus executive officers since January of this year, all of our campus deanships and campus executive officer positions are now filled with an impressive group of leaders. And in May, Davie Jane Gilmour was named president of Penn College, having previously served as interim president and vice president for academic affairs and provost at the college.

And it is with intensely mixed emotions that I acknowledge that after eight years of dedicated and insightful leadership, John Brighton plans to retire as executive vice president and provost, effective next June 30. John has been one of the most influential academic leaders in Penn State history. He is one of the finest persons with whom I have ever worked, and I look forward to the continued working relationship we will have this academic year and beyond. John will conclude his academic career with the title of university professor, focusing on his special interests in instructional improvement, quality initiatives, and cross-disciplinary collaboration. We will soon launch a national search for our next provost.

Framework for Diversity

A vital component of Penn State's leadership for the future is the extent to which we promote fairness, equity, pluralism, and compassion in our University. Last spring, the University Planning Council, in conjunction with the vice provost for educational equity, released a plan titled A Framework to Foster Diversity at Penn State.

At the heart of this framework are three concepts I have promoted during my presidency. We must do more to expose students to a variety of cultures and international perspectives in order to prepare them adequately for the future. We must continue to foster a humane University community in which everyone feels welcome. And we must consider among our most important educational goals the development of social responsibility, citizenship, and respect for others.

As part of Penn State's strategic plan for the next five years, the framework identifies specific actions to help academic and administrative units meet the challenges of fulfilling our obligations in these three domains. These are comprehensive and University-wide recommendations. I ask every department and unit to contribute to our progress in this important area for Penn State and for society.

Facilities

One year into our $500 million, five-year capital construction plan, we are precisely on schedule. Some additional projects have been added this past year, and we hope to add still others. Penn State's facilities needs are extensive due to a combination of enrollment growth, expanded research, the aging of our buildings, substantial deferred maintenance, our goal of improving our environment for working and studying, access needs for persons with disabilities, improvement of campus aesthetics, and the changing academic priorities of our state and nation. These projects will have a profound impact on the educational programs and quality of life at Penn State.

The University Park campus is in the midst of major construction activity. In addition to the Paterno Library addition and HUB/Robeson expansion that have been under way for some time, projects recently begun or soon to begin include the Leonhard Building for the College of Engineering and a new research center for engineering and the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, a general purpose classroom building to be connected to the Thomas Building, a multi-sport and indoor track facility, a visitor center, a child-care center, an expansion of Eisenhower Chapel, and the alumni center. Looking further ahead, plans include a building to house the School of Information Sciences and Technology, new buildings for business administration and the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, a new life sciences building, a major new facility for chemistry and related sciences, College of Agricultural Sciences buildings for food science and forestry, and extensive renovation of several older buildings and facilities at University Park, including Beaver Stadium.

Major projects at campuses across the state include a library/classroom building for Penn State Harrisburg, a new classroom building at Altoona, an academic support building for the College of Medicine, a new biomedical sciences building at Penn State Fayette, a library/classroom building at York, and a conference facility at Great Valley. We also will be building new residence halls at Berks, Erie, and University Park.

Funding

Let me tell you a story. A man was told by his doctor that he needed to lose weight and he should walk five miles every day for a year. The man called his doctor back in one year and said. "I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is I lost fifty pounds. The bad news is I'm 1,500 miles from home."

In a way, Penn State is like the man in this story. We have had to reduce our costs, and we have–through the daily exercise of efficiency and carefully targeted priorities. Yet we are much more fortunate than the poor soul in the story, as our process of internal budget reductions and reallocations has helped us get even closer to the core activities of teaching, research, and service that are the reason Penn State exists.

Penn State's total expenditures per student are the lowest in the Big Ten, a benchmark that speaks to our tremendous efficiency and focus, and at the same time reflects the limitations of our state funding and the University's commitment to keep tuition as low as possible. We are constantly striving to keep costs down and will continue to do so. Yet our good stewardship for the future will always put quality first, to provide the highest possible value for the financial resources with which we are entrusted to operate, and to preserve and protect Penn State's physical resources. This means generating new revenue streams. Earlier today, I proposed to the Board that a small component of our annual tuition increase over the next several years be dedicated to help meet critical needs for major maintenance and new facilities.

Philanthropy

Significant new resources are being realized for Penn State through private giving. In fiscal year 1998, private dollars received by the University totaled $123 million, exceeding the $100 million mark for the first time in Penn State history and representing a $28 million increase over the previous year, the largest dollar increase ever. When pledge commitments to be paid over time are added to actual gifts received, the amount committed this past year was $251 million. The number of donors rose by more than 6,000 to almost 115,000, with alumni donors representing about 60 percent of this total.

This record reflects the enthusiasm that has greeted the early phase of Penn State's new capital campaign. I have been overwhelmed again and again throughout the last year with the generosity that has been bestowed through leadership gifts to the campaign. I am grateful to all who have established a brisk pace and high standard of giving for the leadership gift phase of this initiative. These gifts will influence significantly the course of the capital campaign after it is formally launched this spring.

Building A Model for Our Future

Something is happening at Penn State. New research grants and contracts jumped 10 percent last year. Applications for admission increased by 4,000. Private giving rose 30 percent. Compared with five years ago, statewide surveys show that there's been an 8 percent increase in public awareness of Penn State's contributions to Pennsylvania, and a 5 percent increase in our reputation in the eyes of citizens.

I believe these are indications of the added synergy and creativity that come with increased integration of teaching, research, and service. I am heartened by the enthusiastic response to our goal of being the top university in the nation in the integration of these missions. Make no mistake about it. We have been asking Penn State faculty and staff to do more than our counterparts at most other universities. I am astounded by how much you are doing, how efficiently you are doing it, the good spirit you bring to the task, the evident progress that comes from it, and the difference it is making in our communities, for our students, and in society. I am truly grateful.