Winter 2012
President's Summary
Board of Trustees Meeting

Finance Committee
Admissions
Academic Affairs and Campus Life Committee
Development and External Relations Committee
Audit, Risk and Compliance Management


Finance Committee

The committee discussed and the board approved action on the following matters:

New Debt to Support Capital Investments
The trustees supported the administration's recommendation to sell $30 million of bonded debt now to support current construction, the building of Academic West and other capital investments. The matching of cash expenditures with today's historically low interest rates provides a unique opportunity to help finance these improvements on our campus.

Tuition and Fees
At the November meeting, the trustees asked the administration to study a range of limited comprehensive fee increases, with the direction that any increase continue the University's commitment over the last five years to moderate such increases on a year-over-year basis. The University and the trustees remain deeply concerned about the impact on families of increases in the cost of attending Bucknell and ensuring access to a Bucknell education regardless of family financial status.

Consistent with University practice, Vice President of Finance and Administration Dave Surgala will first inform parents of our enrolled students and then the campus about the board's decision regarding the comprehensive fee.

The recommended increase is consistent with the recent discussions of the board's Finance Committee and the University Planning and Budget Committee. It is the lowest increase at Bucknell in the last 10 years, and lower than the three-year and five-year average increases among our peers. Nonetheless, we are certain to experience ongoing and considerable pressure on our comprehensive fee.

Compensation
The University is committed to providing competitive salaries and benefits, and continues to analyze the compensation and benefit practices of our peers and competitors and related market conditions. The University has made considerable investments in compensation in the past and intends to remain competitive in attracting and retaining the finest faculty and staff.

The board accepted the recommendations of its Finance Committee, which were consistent with the recommendations of the University Planning and Budget Committee, for an increase in faculty and staff compensation in the coming fiscal year. We are pleased that the board has agreed to establish a 3.50% salary increase pool for faculty and staff. The staff pool includes 2.75% for merit plus an additional 0.75% increase in the compensation pool that will be reserved for wage-floor adjustments and promotional or market-driven adjustments throughout the fiscal year.

For staff, as is done every year, the merit portion of the salary pool provides resources to be allocated by different percentages on a merit basis to each staff member by supervisors for implementation July 1, 2011.

Campaign

As you know, I firmly believe that for the University to have a successful campaign and, at least as importantly, position itself for success in future campaigns we must establish a new standard for giving at Bucknell. Doing so will have long-term benefits for our budget, competitiveness and goals across the University. Achieving this pivotal objective requires us to invest resources in campaign events, solicitations and outreach that, as never before, excite today's alumni, parents and other friends and inspire those who will be capable of giving generously in campaigns to come.

I am therefore pleased to report that following the recommendation of the board's Finance Committee, and consistent with the University Planning and Budget Committee, the University will allocate undesignated funds remaining from the fiscal 2011 budget process for future spending on the campaign. These funds include the one-time savings from the retirement incentive offer as well as under-spent operating expenses for FY11. These funds total approximately $3.0 million. While these investments may not pay for all costs associated with the campaign kick-off, the campaign road show in major cities, and other campaign communications, event, publicity and marketing costs, they establish a resource for a transformational campaign without reducing our budget for operations. This is a great expression of confidence by the board in the kind of campaign possible at Bucknell, and in the promise of campaigns to come.

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Admissions

In recent years, Bucknell has made important strides in admissions competitiveness through an approach designed to recruit students best suited to thrive at Bucknell rather than draw as many applications as possible. At this board meeting, we were able to report that applications to Bucknell rose 4.7% over last year at this time, from 7,854 to 8,222. Early decision applicants dropped 4.9%, from last year's record of 761 to 724. International student applications rose 21.9%, from 672 to 819, a positive sign of Bucknell's growing international reputation.

I want to commend the great work of the admissions staff and also underscore the critical role all faculty and staff play in demonstrating Bucknell's continued value to students seeking a superb private higher education experience in a highly competitive environment. Our focus now must be to enroll the finest class of new students yet.

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Academic Affairs and Campus Life Committee

The committee discussed the following topics:

  • Provost Mick Smyer provided an update on the University's assessment efforts, particularly as they relate to the Middle States discussions held earlier in the day with the full board. He described the comprehensive planning of university, college, department, and course goals, and the faculty and administration's on-going assessment framework and implementation. Deans George Shields, Keith Buffinton, and Susan Lantz provided examples of assessment approaches in the two colleges and the division of student affairs.

  • The committee discussed the update on recruitment and retention of faculty. Last year, overall, we were able to attract and hire the top candidate in 85% of the tenure-track faculty searches conducted. The committee engaged in a lively discussion of the competitive forces of the academic marketplace, why faculty members sometimes accept positions elsewhere, and efforts to attract and retain a more diverse faculty.

  • Dean Lantz updated the committee on Bucknell's participation in the Dartmouth Collaborative on Problem Drinking. The first six months have focused on efforts targeting information to parents, health screening of incoming students, and brief motivational interviews with students after high-intoxication incidents. The next six months will focus on environmental factors contributing to problem drinking, especially at on-campus, off-campus, Greek life and other student events. A significant issue to be examined is pre-gaming behavior, particularly among female students.

  • Dean Lantz updated the committee on the planning of the new residence hall. The goal is to align new construction with existing space, affinity houses, and similar efforts as part of a complete residential community.

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    Development and External Relations Committee

    The committee discussed the following:

  • The scope of the programs that fall under the committee, which include development, alumni relations, career services, communications, community relations and government relations.

  • The plans to kick-off the public phase campaign this October, on Homecoming Weekend, October 25-27. A planning committee for this effort is well in progress under the direction of Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations Scott Rosevear and VP Mackey, and we are looking forward to what promises to be an exciting and meaningful weekend for the campus and donor communities.

  • A spotlight on our Alumni Relations program, led by new Executive Director Josh Grill, who discussed how we are aligning our regional club program for alumni with the campaign and other university initiatives.

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    Audit, Risk and Compliance Management

    The committee reviewed and accepted a number of routine annual audit reports and discussed some of the many issues we now face in terms of our compliance with accounting, legal, regulatory and university rules and policies. It is expected that the University will embark on a facilitated enterprise risk management initiative that will begin this semester and eventually will help reduce the type of financial, reputational, procedural and other risks that affect universities in today's environment.

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  • Office of the President
    Bucknell University
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