The annual fall meeting of the Cornell Board of Trustees opened last week with a welcome surprise -- the announcement of $25 million from the state's Gen*NY*sis biotechnology economic development program toward the cost of constructing the university's Life Science Technology Building.
In other business at the meetings, Nov. 1 and 2, trustees were told that the university's finances remain "healthy," despite the weak economic outlook, and that enrollment trends are excellent. And in a unanimous vote, the board approved a bylaw change, recommended by the Faculty Senate, to establish the new, nontenure track academic titles of assistant, associate and full clinical professor, making them available as approved by the faculty on a college-by-college basis.
"This is a banner day for Cornell University and for New York state," said Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno (R-C, 43rd Dist.), an ex-officio member of the board, in making the grant announcement. "We will continue to partner with Cornell, to help you continue all the great things you are doing for the people of New York state." (Read related story)
The grant is being provided via the state's $225 million Gen*NY*sis (Generating Employment Through New York Science) program initiated by the Senate majority two years ago and approved in the 2002-03 state budget.
Cornell President Hunter Rawlings thanked Bruno and his colleagues in the Senate for promoting the state's economic development through investment in the life sciences and biotechnology. "The Gen*NY*sis Centers of Excellence program initiated by Sen. Bruno and Gov. Pataki is an essential component of New York's economic growth and prosperity for decades to come," he said. "With this new facility, Cornell's world-renowned strengths in the physical, chemical, biological and computational sciences will join forces to advance our path-breaking research and instruction in ways that will bring a tremendous benet to this region and to all of New York state."
The new life sciences facility will include state-of-the-art communication technology to provide links to businesses and other universities, medical schools and research laboratories statewide. The building is estimated to have a total construction cost of $110 million and will be the largest single construction project in the university's history. It is expected to generate an additional federal research investment of at least $200 million and create more than 1,000 new jobs over the next decade from the exploitation of research discoveries.
Reporting on the university's finances, Joanne DeStefano, vice president for financial affairs and university controller, said: "Cornell remains a very vibrant and healthy institution. Despite the difficult market conditions we faced this year, we have maintained a foundation that supports our institutional strategic initiatives."
DeStefano reported that total assets in 2001-02 declined by $147 million, or 2.3 percent, primarily due to difficult market conditions resulting in a loss of investment income. That continued the trend begun the previous year, when total assets decreased by $75 million, or 1.2 percent due to the falling market.
Cornell ended the fiscal year on June 30, 2001, with total assets of $6.1 billion, total liabilities of $1.1 billion and net assets of $5 billion. Total liabilities decreased by $37 million, or 3.2 percent, from fiscal year 2000-01, while net assets declined by $110 million, or 2.2 percent.
On a positive note, Rawlings reported significant improvement in graduate school enrollment, which had experienced what he called "a serious, worrisome decline" in both Ph.D. and overall graduate enrollment between 1991 and 1997. Overall graduate enrollment had dropped from just over 4,500 to fewer than 4,000 in that period, while Ph.D. enrollment dropped from 3,200 to 2,700, Rawlings said.
He said he was happy to report that total graduate enrollment is now back over 4,500, while Ph.D. enrollment is at 3,000.
This is quite important information for the long term at Cornell," Rawlings said. "It is due to the hard work of the graduate school and to the addition of numerous fellowships in important fields of study."
Doris Davis, associate provost for admissions and enrollment, reported that the university's aggressive enrollment management strategy was "a tremendous success" in its second year, with a fall freshman enrollment on target at 3,003 first-year students.
She noted, also, that the quality of Cornell's students is stronger than ever. Last year, she said, 81 percent of the freshman class were in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class; this year, it was 83 percent. Last year, 37 percent scored between 700 and 800 on the verbal SAT test; this year it was 38 percent. And last year, 56 percent scored between 700 and 800 on the math SAT test; this year it was 60 percent.
"Clearly, Cornell continues to attract the highest quality student," Davis said.
She added, however, "Cornell continues to be challenged by enrollment of students of color."
Davis said the percentage of African-American, Hispanic and Native American students has remained relatively stable, but the absolute number of students of color has fluctuated over the past decade. Moreover, the university "has yet to make significant progress with the enrollment of underrepresented minority students overall, and African-American students in particular," Davis said.
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