University of Delaware
Office of Public Relations
UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 20, Feb. 20, 1997

              UD makes request to Joint Finance Committee
  
  The support of the Joint Finance Committee and the
General Assembly has enabled the University of Delaware to
emerge as a true national leader among state flagship
universities, UD President David P. Roselle told members of
the Joint Finance Committee at a hearing Tuesday in Dover.
  "The partnership between the University and the state in
meeting the educational and general needs of citizens in the
state and region is a collaboration in which we can all take
considerable pride," Roselle said.
  He asked the legislators to "explore any and every
opportunity to enhance and strengthen that partnership,
which has so effectively served the citizens of Delaware."
  Roselle said the University is grateful for the
governor's support of many items on the University's initial
budget request, and he urged the committee to fund all those
items as "wise investments in the state's future."
  He then asked support for items not funded in the
governor's recommendation, which, he said, "represent
opportunities to significantly enhance the partnership
between the state and your flagship University in serving
the citizens of Delaware and the region."
  The many partnerships between the University and the
state's economic, cultural and governmental sectors have
made Delaware a better place to live, Roselle said, citing
partnerships with the chemical, banking and poultry
industries and the agribusiness community. He also noted the
University's unique partnerships with the Winterthur and
Hagley museums and Longwood Gardens.
  In addition, Roselle said, state, county and municipal
governments and nonprofit agencies are direct beneficiaries
of several UD programs, and a strong partnership also exists
between the University and the state's educational
community.
  "The University values its many partners who help us
serve the citizens of Delaware," Roselle said. "None of our
partnerships is more important than our partnership with the
state. Together, we have significantly improved the quality
of life in Delaware."
  Roselle outlined new ways to strengthen that partnership:
  He asked the committee to expand the base of scholarships
available to Delaware residents so that no student is denied
a UD education because of inability to pay. The total number
of Delaware resident applicants for aid in F.Y. 1996 was
over 2,100. Of these, just over 1,600 were aided before
funds were exhausted. The University requests $250,000 to
expand the number of grants offered to Delaware residents
with unmet need, and this is expected to be a recurring
request to the state until the funding base is expanded by a
total of $1 million.
  "This commitment of funds will significantly improve
access to the University for qualified Delaware residents,
while at the same time helping to shield them and their
families from undue burden resulting from heavy loan
indebtedness," Roselle said.
  In his remarks, Roselle recognized the "unique and
generous support" that MBNA America is making available with
its educational foundation.
  "I suspect that this generosity will have a significant
impact on the ability of Delaware students to pursue higher
education in our state and will significantly help close the
unmet need gap in the future," he said.
  He also asked them to approve funding at the original
full request level for two emerging partnerships: the
Molecular Biology/Biotechnology Initiative and the
Application of Advanced Materials to Civil Infrastructure
Initiative.
  The governor's budget supports both initiatives but at
levels that partially fund the overall needs. "Should
additional funds become available, we seek your support in
funding each initiative at the original full request,"
Roselle told the legislators.
  The Molecular Biology/ Biotechnology Initiative, now in
the second phase of implementation, partners the University
with the DuPont Co., DuPont-Merck and other local industries
in moving Delaware into a national leadership position in
plant DNA sequencing, gene targeting, soil microbiology and
other areas central to the state's agricultural community.
  The governor's recommendation funds for the second year
two additional faculty positions. Roselle asked for support
of that recommendation and, should funds become available,
requested $80,000 additional for a fifth faculty position to
"expedite the full development of this important economic
undertaking."
  The second emerging partnership grew from a joint
research and educational initiative begun in the early 1990s
by the University's Department of Civil and Environmental
Engineering and the Center for Composite Materials-the
application of composite materials to infrastructure renewal
to address a major problem facing Delaware and the nation:
the deterioration of bridges and highways.
  This technology is on the verge of implementation in two
important pilot projects needed to take the technology out
of the University's laboratories and onto the state's and
nation's highways.
  "Success in this effort will benefit the state, both by
generating new business and jobs and by providing a means to
rehabilitate and renew our bridges and highways," Roselle
said.
  The governor recommended half of the University's
$200,000 request for two civil engineering faculty lines and
a laboratory coordinator.
  "Should funds become available, restoration of funding to
the full $200,000 level will enable us to accelerate the
process and move the technology forward at a swifter pace,
thereby better positioning the University and its partners
to assume that national leadership role, and accrue to the
state the economic benefits associated with that
leadership," he said.
  Roselle noted that the governor recommended appropriation
of $500,000 in the capital budget for one-time equipment
funds.
  While urging support for that recommendation, the
president said that $1.25 million was originally requested
to support the Molecular Biology/Biotechnology and
Application of Advanced Materials to Civil Infrastructure
Initiatives.
  "Each of these initiatives requires expensive high
technology laboratory equipment that is not currently
available at the University," he said.
  Noting that time is of the essence, he asked the
committee to restore these one-time requests at their
original levels if funding becomes available.
  In other requests, Roselle asked for
  * $200,000 in recurring funds for replacement of
computing equipment for students and faculty, to assist the
University in its commitment to maintaining its nationally
recognized standard of excellence in computing;
  * $40,000 to support a position responsible for operation
and repair of all video equipment in Lewes and Georgetown,
as part of the interactive television network with the
Newark campus, a network that will enable the University to
expand the delivery of video services to public school
districts in Kent and Sussex counties;
  * $146,000 in one-time funds to purchase interactive
video equipment and to install dedicated lines to enhance
distance outreach to southern Delaware, along with $24,000
in recurring funds to maintain those dedicated lines and
support interactive instruction, specifically to implement
an interactive classroom setup in Kent General Hospital.
(This equipment will expand outreach for graduate education,
will facilitate the transition of southern Delaware students
moving from Delaware Technical and Community College to
University study in the health sciences curricula and will
serve the continuing education needs of health practitioners
in southern Delaware by advancing the concept of "Telemed"
to nurses and other health-care practitioners);
  * $275,000 for creation of a Center for Community
Development and Family Policy to enhance the University's
ability to work with government and community agencies in
meeting the family and human services needs of citizens
throughout the state;
  * $100,000 to support training in decision making and
total quality management in schools and school districts, to
provide direct technical assistance to school building and
school district management in specific policy areas and to
support an Education Management Fellows Program, which will
provide trained management interns to schools and school
district administrations; and
  * $170,000 to establish a Center for Health Research in
the newly reorganized College of Health and Nursing Sciences
to work with the state Division of Public Health through a
research consortium, charged with responsibility for
identifying major health issues confronting the state,
developing strategic responses to those issues and field
testing those responsibilities as the basis for developing
statewide health policy.
                                               -John Brennan