In his State of the University Address Saturday morning, President Hunter Rawlings thanked a Bailey Hall alumni audience for its generous support and spoke about the university's recent accomplishments and initiatives.
First he congratulated those gathered on a "remarkable Reunion" and for raising over $50 million for the university in class gifts. He also congratulated the alumni body as a whole for Cornell's ranking of third in the nation this past year in gifts raised for a university.
"It's a remarkable achievement for this institution and one we hope will continue," Rawlings said. "But it cannot continue without the extraordinarily staunch loyalty and support that you continue to give us. That is what makes the margin of excellence between a good university on the one hand and a great university on the other. This is a great university, and we intend to keep it that way."
Rawlings pointed out that alumni support is especially valuable in an era of leveling and/or dwindling government support and of tightening budgets.
The university, he said, "is now committed to a moderated period of tuition increases and to a period of trying to save dollars in every way we can to ensure we work just as hard on the cost side of the ledger as on the income side."
He described some of the university's efforts in that area, including:
·The purchase of a new, smart software system from PeopleSoft and the restructuring and streamlining of administrative services across campus through Project 2000. "This is a task in which we are now about two-fifths of the way along," he said. "It is going quite well, and we are pleased with the progress we are making, not only in terms of designing the software but in terms of convincing everyone on campus that this is a process we must engage in if we are to enter the 21st century in the most highly efficient manner we can."
·The reordering of academic programs across campus. "We think there is substantial synergy to be gained by creating larger entities across college lines," Rawlings said, citing the statistical sciences department's recent move to create a single, campuswide undergraduate major.
The president also discussed other initiatives, such as the creation of university-wide standards in tenure and promotion and the establishment of the new Provost's Fund for Academic Enrichment, which has offered departments the opportunity, he said, "to hire extraordinarily fine faculty members from anywhere in the world, as long as they are at the top of their field and can impact more than one discipline."
Finally, Rawlings discussed the need to maintain founder Ezra Cornell's vision that any student, from any kind of background, can have the opportunity to study at Cornell.
"Without the remarkably generous support of our alumni and friends, we could not possibly maintain the Founder's vision in this regard," Rawlings told the audience. "It is only through your help and support, and above all your agreement with that vision, that we are able to continue doing so. We think that is an integral part of our mission, and we are embarked on programs to enable us to continue to do that. We think it is essential to what a Cornell education means."