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UD's future is bright, President tells faculty 2:44 p.m., April 5, 2006--Reviewing the University's progress over the last 15 years, UD President David P. Roselle told the semiannual General Faculty Meeting April 3 that the institution has increased the diversity of both faculty and students, improved undergraduate retention and graduation rates, expanded study abroad programs and increased financial aid and faculty compensation. Illustrating his presentation with charts, the president first addressed the diversity of UD's faculty. “The faculty of the University is not as diverse as we want to be the case. Every new faculty hire should be seen as an opportunity to strengthen and diversify,” he said. “The faculty has the responsibility to hire the faculty and, since you have that responsibility, we want you to evidence that responsibility and recruit. “For example, when you attend professional meetings, is one of your goals to return with names of persons you think would be good colleagues and who you would want to be candidates for a position in your department?” Roselle then discussed an institutional research report that compares diversity at 15 different institutions. Of the University's 1,070 full-time faculty, 37 percent are women, he noted, placing UD second after James Madison University. With 45 African-American faculty members representing 4.4 percent of all UD faculty members, only the University of Maryland at 4.8 percent has a higher percentage. Other minority groups include Hispanic faculty, who represent 1.9 percent of the UD faculty, and Asian-Americans, who represent 7.8 percent. Roselle also said that the college deans have been canvassed and it is predicted that there will be more than 50 African-American faculty members as of fall 2006. The comparator schools in addition to James Madison and Maryland are Bucknell, Connecticut, Cornell, Lehigh, Maine, New Hampshire, Penn State, Rochester, RPI, Vermont, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and William and Mary. Turning his attention to full-time undergraduates, Roselle said that in the fall of 2004, women represented 57.7 percent of a total student population of 15,580. African-American students represented 5.6 percent, Hispanics represented 3.7 percent and Asian Americans represented 3.4 percent. He also compared those percentages to those of each of the comparator institutions mentioned above. Citing two important milestones, Roselle noted that UD's graduation rate for African-Americans is sixth among all public institutions and that the Ronald E. McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement Program at UD is the only one of 162 federally sponsored programs to have a success rate of 100 percent. The McNair programs are intended to foster graduate study by underrepresented groups. UD's McNair program consists of 20 students funded by federal grant and eight funded by the University. The University also sponsors ASPIRE, FORTUNE, NUCLEUS and RISE, which are all college-specific programs that promote success among majors who are minorities. Moving on to the changing conditions for graduate students, Roselle said that the number of graduate students has increased from 1,463 in 1990 to 2,567 in 2005. During the same time period, doctoral degrees have increased from 100 to 172. “We have fewer part-time graduate students,” Roselle said, “and the pool of University-sponsored financial aid available for this group has increased to $52 million as contrasted with $20 million in 1990.” Roselle said that undergraduate SAT scores have improved over the last 14 years, from an average of 1121 in 1991 to an average of 1206 in 2005. Financial aid also has increased from $19 million to $56 million in the same time period. In 1991, a total of 833 Delaware students with an average SAT of 1107 were enrolled as freshmen. Fourteen years later, 1,166 Delaware freshmen with an average SAT score of 1156 were enrolled. Non-Delaware students enrolled as freshmen in 1991 totaled 2,363, with an average SAT score of 1125. In 2005, the number non-Delawareans enrolled as freshmen totaled 2,396, with an average SAT of 1230. The SAT scores of students admitted to the Parallel Program (now the Associate in Arts program) have remained nearly constant over the past 15 years, Roselle said. The 487 students admitted in 1991 had an average SAT score of 966, and the 713 students admitted in 2005 had an average SAT score of 974. On the Newark campus, Roselle said the freshman to sophomore retention rate increased from 84 percent in 1991 to 89 percent in 2005. The average graduation rate for all students is 75 percent of those admitted. He noted that graduation rates for Delaware students have decreased a bit in recent years, while graduation rates for out-of-state students have increased. Praising the faculty, Roselle said that there are nine faculty members who have been designated as Presidential Young Investigators and 95 faculty members who have won prestigious National Science Foundation Early Career Development Awards. “This speaks well for the future of the institution,” he said, adding that annual grant and contract expenditures have increased by more than $100 million over the last 15 years. Roselle said that UD now has 106 named professorships, supported by approximately $70 million in endowment funds. The study abroad program continues to be successful at the University, Roselle said, with 374 students participating in 1990 and 1,477 taking part in 2005. “This year at Commencement, we will ask the students who have taken part in this program to stand,” Roselle said. “It is anticipated that 41 percent of the graduates will stand, and we look forward to a near future Commencement when more than half of the students will stand.” He said that some scholarship support for this program is now available and it is a priority to increase the availability of such funds. Roselle said increasing faculty salaries has been another priority over the last 15 years, noting that compensation for full professors in 2004-05 was 23 percent higher than inflation-adjusted 1990-91 compensation. He said a successful campaign to increase the University's endowment signals a bright future for the University. The endowment increased from $326 million in 1990 to $1.16 billion in November 2005 and so contributes more than $50 million per year to the University's budget. He said that the growth in the endowment has been due to good investment strategies as well as to further endowment contributions. Roselle announced an open house April 21 for Jastak-Burgess Hall, the home of the Department of Languages and Literatures. He said the Elbert N. and Ann V. Carvel Research and Education Center in Georgetown will be dedicated May 1, and the Research Vessel Hugh R. Sharp will be commissioned May 7 in Lewes. Two 250-bed residence halls on the Laird Campus are expected to be ready for occupancy in the fall, Roselle said. They will be named after two signers of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas McKean and James Smith, who were also members of the first class of the New London Academy, to which the University traces its origins. Roselle said that the opening celebration for the Center for the Arts, which will be open for the beginning of the fall semester, will be in October. Following Roselle's presentation, Carroll Izard, Trustees Distinguished Professor of Psychology, presented him with a plaque bearing a resolution passed by the Faculty Senate in November 2006. The resolution states, in part, that the “Faculty Senate recognizes that the accomplishments and strides made by the University of Delaware during the past 15 years are in significant measure attributed to President David P. Roselle.” Article by Cornelia Weil |
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