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| Vol. 19, No. 7 | Oct. 14, 1999 |
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| Vol. 19, No. 7 | Oct. 14, 1999 |
We had a very good week," President David R. Roselle told the semiannual General Faculty Meeting, announcing that the Campaign for Delaware has reached $150 million--67 percent of its five-year, $225 million goal, in the first year of the fundraising effort.
When the campaign was launched last October, the University had only two named professorships endowed in excess of $1 million," Roselle said, but "if things go as planned, there may be as many as 10 times--or 20--such endowed chairs when the campaign ends," he said.
Earlier, Roselle told his audience the University is the "absolute leader" nationally in delivering student services, noting that IBM has named UD one of 15 "Best Practice Institutions." "Complimenting UD staff members for their good work in assisting students, he noted that student satisfaction with the University rose in the 1990s, according to the American College Testing student satisfaction survey administered on campus in 1990 and again in 1995.
Student satisfaction in general is higher at the University than the national norm, Roselle said. In 1995, the UD satisfaction score was ahead of the national average in 39 categories and tied in 15. UD's overall satisfaction score was 4.02, as compared with the national average of 3.87.
Noting other accomplishments over the last decade, Roselle said that the University had completed 22 major new buildings, bringing the replacement value of the University's infrastructure to $1 billion. He also said the University had managed to keep administration costs to 2 percent of the total annual budget and that several new revenue streams have been created, including the dining and bookstore contracts, a UD credit card and other corporate agreements.
Roselle reminded the faculty of networking improvements in the '90s, including the Student Information System with student access, online advising and course work now available on the web. Electronic library services and interactive voice support now assist the entire community, he said.
No new or old business was conducted at the Faculty Senate meeting that followed. Also, Joe DiMartile, University registrar, demonstrated an online process to propose a new course or revise or deactivate old ones. Departmental "approvers" manage the site, which automatically routes course changes to the senate for approval and works in concert with the Student Information System.
-Cornelia Weil
