Faculty Senate minutes - March 31, 2006 meeting
President Hennessy called the meeting to order at 4:32 p.m.
II. Report from the Faculty Senate President Hennessy introduce Professor Rob Polhemus, chair of Senate 37, for a report of Senate activities since the Academic Council meeting on April 15, 2004.Polhemus noted that "The members of the 36th and 37th Senate are particularly grateful to the President and Provost for the extensive reports that they have given to the Senate at its fortnightly meetings; these are a major attraction as well as fuel for energetic discussion. We are grateful as well to the chairs and members of the Academic council committees. The chairs this year have been:
Abbas El-Gamal C-ACIS
Eamonn Callan C-GS
David Riggs C-LIB
Elisabeth Pate-Cornell C-RES
Howard Zebker C-RUM
Hazel Marcus C-UAFA
Rosemary Knight C-USP
"In the last twelve months the senates 36 and 37 have conferred more than 4000 degrees, a major responsibility of this group, have heard numerous reports and approximately 25 memorial statements, and have approved important action items. Among these were approval of degree granting authority and operation approval for:
Interschool honors program in International Security Studies IDP
Undergraduate IDP in East Asian Studies
Individually designed majors in the school of Humanities and Sciences
IDP in Scientific Computing and Computational Mathematics
IDP in International Policy Studies
A plan for reapportionment of the faculty Senate
IDP in Environmental Technology, Science and Policy
IDP of the Institute for Computational and Mathematical engineering
Revisions to the Policy on Conflict of Interest and Commitment
IDP in Cancer Biology
Revisions to the General Education Requirements
Master of Liberal Arts
Symbolic Systems
"Among reports heard by the Senates have been:
A summary of the past five years activity at the School of Law, given by Kathleen Sullivan
Report on the Overseas Study Program
The Undergraduate Advising Program
An Update on the Oracle Financial System implementation
The Provost's presentation of the University Budget Plan for FY '05, and Retiree Benefits (retirement savings and medical plan)
The Provost's Advisory Committee on Status of Women Faculty
Emeriti Faculty activities
Planning and Policy Board
Summaries of activities of the seven Academic council committees appointed by the Committee on Committees
Parking and Transportation Systems
The Stanford University Press
Export Control regulations of the federal Department of Commerce
Faculty Recruitment and Diversity
HighWire Press and the Stanford/Google project for mass digitalization of printed words in the libraries
Religious Life at Stanford
The Graduate Student Survey
Board on Judicial Affairs
Development Office achievements and challenges."
Chairman Polhemus expressed his gratitude to the senators and to the Academic Secretary's office staff (Trish Del Pozzo, Priscilla Johnson, and Valerie Goss) for the smooth running senate process during the current academic year. He then handed the gavel back to President Hennessy who reported on the first five years of his presidency at Stanford.
President Hennessy titled his talk, "Looking Backward, Thinking Forward," having been reminded of Edward Bellamy's utopian novel, "Looking backward: 2000 to 1887" written at the turn of the twentieth century and which exploited the device of looking into the future to better understand the present.
The President's crisp talk succinctly covered much ground, naming and discussing the multiple events of these past five years. When he took office, he noted, "Under President Gerhard Casper's leadership, many of the landmark enhancements that were proposed by the Commission on Undergraduate Education had been implemented, including Stanford Introductory Seminars, Sophomore College, and the new Introduction to the Humanities sequence." This was the peak of the "dot.com" boom and its disintegration was about to begin. The UCSF-Stanford merger was unraveling, and discussions about the University's new General Use Permit were beginning. Challenges before us included restoring our hospitals to financial viability, adding graduate student housing, building the Clark Center, and launching Bio-X.
President Hennessy then discussed in detail many of the responses of the University to these challenges.
Undergraduate studies. The $1 billion Campaign for Undergraduate Education was launched at his inauguration, and this goal was reached in December, 2004. Among the new undergraduate initiatives was creation of the Bass University Fellows Program to honor and recognize faculty who have made distinguished contributions to undergraduate education in the classroom, in laboratories, or as advisors and mentors. As of today, 32 Bass Fellows have been named.
In the Admissions office, Stanford moved to a "single-choice, early-action" plan that gave students a chance to receive an early decision without making a binding commitment. Although almost $300 million has been raised for undergraduate financial aid endowment, more is needed, especially for low-income and international students. The President recommended "…that we set two ambitious long-term goals. First, during the next five years, we should move to eliminate any current financial contribution for families with incomes below $45,000. Second, I recommend that we set a longer-term goal to provide 'need-blind' admissions for international students. He added that although most of the visa issues for international students have been alleviated, "…there is a lingering impression that the United States no longer welcomes international students with open arms. Such an impression is not in the best interests of Stanford or the country, and we must do something to rectify it."
Graduate Studies. Hennessy pointed to the appointment of a Diversity Action Council in 2002, and urged continued focus on increasing graduate student diversity. A Commission on Graduate Education has been established to develop plans for improving and renewing graduate education.
Faculty. "In the past five years," said the President, "we have welcomed 565 new faculty colleagues to the various components and schools in the University. New leadership has included new deans: Deborah Stipek (Education); Philip Pizzo (Medicine); Sharon Long (H & S); Pamela Matson (Earth Sciences); and Larry Kramer (Law)."
As well as increasing diversity in the student body, there is, he said, an "…ongoing struggle to strengthen the gender and ethnic diversity of the professoriate….As part of the Diversity Action Council there has been established a Committee on the Status of Women Faculty, and these efforts have led to the establishment of the Faculty Recruitment Office to work with search committees, helping to enhance diversity in applicant pools."
New Academic Directions. University-wide planning and needs assessments have identified three high priority opportunities: Environmental science; Bioscience and Bioengineering; and International Affairs. Developing these, he said, "…can make a positive contribution to addressing the challenges the world faces - from advancing the state of human healthcare, to sustaining our environment for future generations, to preserving peace and improving the human condition around the world."
The James H. Clark Center has been built and functions well, housing biosciences, the new Department of Bioengineering, and biomedicine under the working name, "Bio-X." Fund raising for research in Bio-X is going well.
Jeff Koseff from the Department of Environmental Engineering and Buzz Thompson from the Law School have taken leadership positions in the newly created Stanford Institute for the Environment. "Later this spring," noted Hennessy, "an international initiative focusing on three key research areas, Peace and Security, Good Governance, and Human Development, will be launched. This has been planned with leadership from Chip Blacker, director of the Stanford Institute for International Studies (SIIS) and Elisabeth Paté-Cornell, Professor of Management Science and Engineering, and a senior fellow at SIIS."
In addition to the scientific priorities, said the President, "…each of these challenges also has a deeply human element. For example, how should we address the challenge of providing state-of-the-art medicine to residents of developing countries? What environmental legacy do we owe our children? How should efforts to democratize societies and improve human rights be reconciled with traditional cultures and practices?" The planners for these initiatives also described a fourth initiative, focused upon the arts that will incorporate visual, literary, and performing arts.
Interdepartmental initiatives from within single schools are evolving as well, and include the Center for the Study of the North American West, endowed by Bill Lane and led by David Kennedy and Richard White, and the Institute for Cancer and Stem Cell Biology and Medicine in the medical school.
Palpable international programs at Stanford have been enhance by adding overseas campuses in both Beijing and Australia, as well as addition of overseas seminar programs that are one month in duration. In addition are IDPs such as the Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, and the France-Stanford Center for Interdisciplinary Studies.
Physical Infrastructure The General Use Plan (GUP), an agreement with the county of Santa Clara has enabled the University to add much-needed facilities over the next ten to twenty years, in return for building housing, preserving open space, creating trails, controlling traffic growth, donating financial support for public schools, and providing land for community services. The President pointed out that "The cost of the agreement to the University may reach more than $100 million. They have increased the importance of using space wisely and maximizing the use of land in the core campus while preserving our open spaces." As examples of the latter philosophy, library storage is now off-site in Livermore, and Stanford Hospital and Clinics will move some outpatient clinics offsite to Redwood City.
Between the fall of 2000 and June, 2005, the University will have completed more than $800 million of capital projects, just over 40 percent are academic ones, and 35 percent represent housing for faculty, staff, or students.
Planned for the Science, Engineering and Medicine Campus will include eight buildings. "An example," said Hennessy, "is the Environment and Energy Building, a center for the Stanford Institute for the Environment. Others include homes for the interdisciplinary institutes in medicine, a new astrophysics building, and four buildings that will form a new quadrangle abutting the existing Hewlett-Packard quadrangle, and renovated/new facilities for computer music, archaeology, and art/film studies."
Housing "Thanks to a $43.5 million gift from Charles Munger and his wife, Nancy, a Stanford alumna," said the President, we will build new graduate residential facilities that will be open to graduate students in law, business and other disciplines." These buildings will allow "unstuffing" of undergraduate housing as the Munger spaces permit undergraduate use of current graduate housing.
University Finances President Hennessy was particularly grateful to the entire community for "…their efforts and sacrifices as we worked our way through several years of significant budget cutbacks. That hard work paid off when we ended fiscal year 2003 and 2004 with small operating surpluses." He complimented the Stanford Management Company for their superb stewardship of the endowment, but pointed out that Stanford's endowment provides only 20 percent of our operating budget, in comparison with the endowment of our peer institutions that provides 30 percent or more.
o Sponsored research Last year, he noted, "Excluding SLAC, sponsored research provided 43 percent of the operating budget, double that provided by endowment income. Indirect costs provide $80 million (15 percent) of the general funds allocated by the Provost." He expressed confidence that the faculty's success in competing for funding from outside agencies will continue.
o Hospital performance Faced with deficits after the "divorce" from UCSF of $31 million or more, the hospitals have made a fine comeback. Last year, said Hennessy, "…the Stanford Hospital and Clinics reported a surplus of $101 million, and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital reported a $47 million surplus." The struggle to sustain these numbers will continue to take much effort.
o Development Key gifts to Stanford, in addition to general gifts to the alumni fund have included the "incredibly generous" gift in 2001 of $400 million from the Hewlett foundation. In July, 2004, the School of Humanities and Sciences surpassed the $100 million mark in matching gifts and pledges. A new capital campaign is being developed and will be launched next fall.
Thinking Forward…. President Hennessy emphasized that "The spirit of bold leadership started more than 100 years ago with the Stanford's, who created a university in the west that balanced idealism and pragmatism and was co-educational long before most other universities. That spirit was embodied in David Starr Jordan's creativity and leadership in those early years, in Wallace Sterling's and Fred Terman's drive to make Stanford a great research university, and, more recently, the renewal of undergraduate education spearheaded by Gerhard Casper. We have transformed higher education by being willing to strike out in bold new directions.
"If Stanford is to continue to lead the way we must answer two questions:
1. How can we use our incredible research capability to help understand and find solutions for society's most important problems?
2. How can we train our graduates to be lifelong contributors and leaders in the 21st century?
"To address these questions, we will need to bring together and build bridges among the best scholars both for research and teaching, and let our goals drive the organization and structure. We may need new ways of selecting and appointing faculty. We will need to help students learn outside their primary disciplines to better equip them to be lifelong global learners. We also will need facilities to enable these efforts, and we will need to cultivate existing avenues of research support, as well as developing new ones."
He emphasized that the success of these many endeavors will depend on the efforts of many, including all of the students, staff, and faculty within the university, as well as the alumni and others outside the campus.
President Hennessy concluded with, "I have been struck by how many members of the university community have made critical contributions to our success. Our students and faculty have been eager participants in our bold enhancements of undergraduate education. Our staff and administrative leaders have supported the University through the difficult budget cuts and deployment of a less-than-perfect new financial system. Our graduate students have been committed contributors to new research endeavors and willing partners in rethinking our approaches to research and teaching. The faculty has devoted countless hours to planning of new initiatives. The University's academic leadership has worked as a team, creating a bold vision for Stanford in the 21st century." He was particularly grateful for the past and continuing efforts of John Etchemendy, the Provost, for his management of the budget, development campaigns, and decisions about academic programs and faculty appointments.
"On behalf of the future generations of faculty, staff, and students who will benefit from your efforts…thank you!"
III. Discussion.There were no questions
IV. AdjournmentThis, by unanimous consent, occurred at 5:24 pm.
Respectfully submittedEdward D. Harris, Jr., M.D.Academic Secretary to the University