Vol. 17, No. 33	May 28, 1998

Trustees approve capital campaign, construction plans

The University's Board of Trustees authorized continuation of planning for a major capital campaign to be announced this fall, approved increases in dining and residence hall rates, authorized several construction projects on the campus, combined two departments to form a School of Education and recognized major gifts at its regular semiannual meeting, held May 26 in the Trabant University Center.

Details of the University's first comprehensive fund-raising campaign are scheduled to be announced Oct. 2. A University needs assessment has been conducted by the deans of the seven colleges and the directors of libraries and athletics, in consultation with the faculty, and the provost, deans and directors are identifying the highest priorities.

In other action, the board approved room and board rate increases, effective September 1998. Dining plan rates at UD will increase an average of 3.3 percent (or $72 for the year), and residence hall rates will increase an average of 4.5 percent.

For example, during the 1998-99 academic year, a meal plan with 19 meals a week will cost $2,252, and a traditional residence hall room will cost $2,700, an increase of $110 over the current rate.

Increases also were approved for the Student Health Service fee, which will increase by $3 to $138 per semester, and by $1 to $38 for Winter Session, and the Student Comprehensive fee, will be increased by $6 for a total of $90 per year. Charged to all full-time, undergraduate students, this fee supports student organizations, sports clubs and various intramural and recreational activities. [Decisions on a tuition increase are not made until the end of the fiscal year.]

In other action, trustees approved resolutions:

• merging the departments of Educational Development and Educational Studies to form a School of Education within the College of Human Resources, Education and Public Policy;

• issuing $23.7 million in bonds this summer for capital projects of income-producing facilities, including renovation and improvements of residence halls and construction of a steam/ chilled water plant for the Laird Campus;

• changing the name of the Department of Accounting to the Department of Accounting and Management Information Systems, to reflect the emphasis on the use of computer-based applications for management of business information;

• authorizing the administration to proceed with several construction projects, including renovation of Townsend Hall, the home of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the Carpenter Sports Building and several residence halls;

• granting permanent status to the bachelor's degree program in theatre production;

• expressing appreciation to Ronald L. Gardner, mayor of Newark from 1989 to 1998, as a good friend of the University who has worked to improve and foster city/University relations "with patience, dignity, a sense of humor, fairness and understanding";

• disestablishing the current Master of Mechanical Engineering with a thesis and nonthesis option and awarding provisional approval for four years to new programs leading to a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering, requiring a research project and written thesis, and to a Master of Engineering: Mechanical, requiring only coursework, to make a distinction between those students who perform research and write a thesis and those who do not;

• establishing a Department of Materials Science and Engineering in the College of Engineering;

• naming the former St. Thomas Church building, which is currently being renovated, as Bayard Sharp Hall, in recognition of a friend of the University for many years who has made a gift to the University toward the renovation and restoration of the former church;

• naming the new lighted, artificial turf facility, now under construction near the intersection of Routes 896 and 4, the Fred P. Rullo Stadium, in gratitude to Rullo, a 1963 alumnus and letterwinner who has been a faithful and generous supporter of the University for many years and who has pledged $1 million for this project;

• naming a new state-of-the-art pipe organ which will be installed in Bayard Sharp Hall the Edward and Naomi Jefferson Pipe Organ, in gratitude to the Jeffersons who donated the instrument to the University;

• congratulating Coach Mike Brey, his staff and basketball team on their recent accomplishments, winning both the America East regular season title and the conference championship tournament and participating in the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship tournament;

• congratulating Coach Bob Hannah, his staff and baseball team on the team's fifth straight America East regular season title, for winning the America East championship tournament for the third time in four years and for participating in the NCAA Atlantic II Regionals in Florida; and

• authorizing the president to confer degrees at Commencement on May 30.

Chairman Andrew B. Kirkpatrick Jr. opened the meeting by welcoming three trustees to their first semiannual meeting of the board: Richard S. Cordrey, P. Coleman Townsend Jr. and James L. Spartz.

Three trustees were re-elected: Robert W. Gore and Joan Thompson Mobley for additional six-year terms, and Katherine Lee, the recent graduate trustee, for an additional one-year term. Board officers- Chairman Kirkpatrick, Vice Chairman Howard Cosgrove and Secretary-Treasurer Robert A. Fischer Jr.-were re-elected for one-year terms.

Also at the meeting, University Treasurer Stephen Grimble reported that, as of April 30, the value of the University endowment fund pooled investment portfolio was $735 million, an increase of $85 million since the end of the 1997 fiscal year. He also reported that the Blue Hen Investment Club, a student group charged with investing $500,000 in April 1996, has increased the value of its portfolio to $680,000.