A strong investment performance helped boost the university's assets by 14 percent in 1997-98, members of the Cornell Board of Trustees were told at their annual fall meeting Oct. 24.
That performance outpaced investment performance at many of the university's peer institutions, according to Yoke San Reynolds, vice president for financial affairs and university controller.
The investment news and reports by other administrators fortified the upbeat mood that buoyed trustees in the wake of President Hunter Rawlings annual State of the University message Friday morning. Rawlings told trustees Friday that he will ask them to approve the investment of more than $400 million over the next 10 years in an aggressive new program to transform undergraduate education on campus.
Half of the $400 million investment will be for the creation of new scholarship endowments to provide financial aid to those who need it. The remainder will be "to enhance the living and learning environment for undergraduates," Rawlings said.
Reynolds reported that Cornell ended the fiscal year at June 30, 1998, with total assets of $5 billion, total liabilities of $957 million and net assets of $4 billion. Total assets increased by $604 million, or 14 percent. Net assets increase by $534 million, or 15 percent.
Donald A. Saleh, dean of admissions and financial aid, reported that "undergraduate enrollments at Cornell remain strong." He said the university continues to have a "sufficiently large applicant pool to make it possible to admit and matriculate a highly diverse and extremely well qualified undergraduate student body."
He added, however, that the recruitment of undergraduates is a highly competitive market and that Cornell must continue to improve its recruitment, marketing and admissions procedures to attract the best students.
Saleh said another challenge for admissions is to maintain the undergraduate population at no more than 13,000 students, in order to ensure that both academic and non-academic needs of students are met. That requires the establishment and effective management of recruitment and admissions targets for each of the seven colleges as well as the university as a whole for both entering freshmen and transfer students, he said.
The board also unanimously approved the title of Assistant Secretary Emeritus of Cornell for Joyce W. Cima, who retires Nov. 20. As assistant secretary of the corporation, Cima has scheduled, planned, attended and recorded more than 100 meetings of the board of trustees. She also "has ably assisted six board chairs, five executive committee chairs, four university presidents and five secretaries of the corporation during her distinguished tenure," said a board resolution passed in her honor.
| Cornell Chronicle Front Page | | Table of Contents | | Cornell News Service Home Page |