• Introduction
• Our Heritage
• Our Record
• Pragmatic Goals
• The Academic Planning Process
• The Generosity of Others
• Hubbard Family Award for Service to Philanthropy

Welcome to a new year at the University of New Hampshire. A new academic year is always an exciting time for a university. I very much appreciate your participation in this day of celebration at UNH.

Because I plan to move toward retirement next summer, today I want to try to pull together many of the things we have talked together about over the last five years: who we are, where we are headed, and what is required to meet our highest goals.

There are many new members of UNH to welcome today. At the top of the list are 2560 first-year students. They have been intensely engaged in orientation activities and the first week of classes, learning what it means to be part of UNH. In our freshman class we welcome 120 students of color. That number compares to 65 in autumn 1998. This is our third consecutive year of increasing diversity among our undergraduates, a firm commitment at UNH.

The total student body this year numbers approximately 12,500 degree seeking students. Of these 10,340 are undergraduates. In autumn 1994 we enrolled 10,896 undergraduates so our undergraduate numbers this year are about 550 fewer than fall 1994. Over the next few years our enrollment plans anticipate a gradual return to the enrollment levels of 1994-95. A big difference between then and now is the strong interest of upperclassmen to live in campus residence halls. We have crowded the residence halls again this year in an effort to accommodate as many as possible, but we recognize the need for more on-campus housing. A new residence hall and a new dining hall are under construction right outside our doors here. We will go from my speech this afternoon directly outside for a celebration of the construction. The new facilities will ease, but not fully solve, the housing crunch. Please think positive when the noise, dirt, and inconvenience become bothersome during the months ahead. We do need these new facilities.

OUR HERITAGE

The University of New Hampshire is a different kind of university than most others. We were established in 1866 in response to the passing of the federal Morrill Act. Many years before that, the record shows substantial discussion, heavily influenced by the philosophies of Thomas Jefferson, about what the new nation would require of higher education, the need for an educated citizenry, a citizenry prepared to do the work of a democratic society.

In 1856 Benjamin Thompson bequeathed his farm and much of his wealth to the establishment of a college in New Hampshire that would provide education in agriculture and the sciences. He used language similar to what would appear in a bill proposed by Senator Justin Morrill from Vermont and signed by President Lincoln in 1862. The bill established a network of state colleges to "teach the practical arts together with the liberal arts" and provide education "to the sons and daughters of the working class." At that time the nation was at war to decide if it could be a single nation. Perhaps only the GI Bill compares—at the level of public policy—in establishing the important link between higher education and the democratic experiment.

These institutions would have special responsibilities to the states in which they were located and would be funded initially by grants of land from the federal government. Land grants were a common form of currency for the federal government at that time. The nation’s railroads were one beneficiary of federal land grants. Land grant universities were another.

The land grant universities are those that boldly undertake three missions all at once: instruction, research, and public service. They combine these missions to provide a rich learning environment for faculty and students. They recognize that citizenship and civic responsibility are important dimensions of education; that knowledge exists not only for its own sake but for its application to human need; they play an essential role in making education accessible to all who would benefit from it. Land grant universities are a very American invention. There were no such universities in Europe, and the land grants were a sharp departure from the private institutions founded early in our country’s history primarily to educate the clergy, the teachers, and the public officials for the next generation. These universities would not be cloistered behind stone walls. They would be integrally engaged with society.

OUR RECORD

We are very much in the debt of those who came before us and whose commitment shaped a distinguished university for our work today. It is important that we give no less than earlier generations and that we, too, leave a positive mark on this institution and the world beyond.

As I thought about the opportunity to talk with you today, I looked back to see what work at UNH attracted the attention of the media last year. As we might expect, the press and television of New Hampshire gave considerable attention to the University. They reported on the success of our engineering students in the national Moon Buggy Race and in the MINI BAJA competition, and on UNH’s first high-tech spinout company with a business plan developed by WSBE students. They noted the warm response of audiences in England to the tour of the UNH Symphonic Orchestra and highlighted the award winning play written by a UNH student and performed last summer at the Kennedy Center in Washington.

Increasingly the work of our faculty and students has national and international importance, and, as a consequence, is also featured in the national media. Last year, there was an array of stories in newspapers and magazines like The Washington Post, U S A Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, U S News & World Report, Business Week. The articles covered a great range of our academic areas: venture capital networking; mapping the floor of oceans and inland lakes; lobster population studies; child victimization on the internet; marital and partner violence; effective disciplining of children; crass humor in popular culture; depression in women; the destruction of the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory; effects of forests on carbon dioxide density; global warming and climate change; global water scarcity; meteor showers; accuracy in polling data; three Gates Scholars at UNH; a faculty member appointed to the President’s Panel on Ocean Exploration; a Dean appointed to the President’s Commission on Ocean Policy. This national coverage is a strong testament to the reputation of academic programs at UNH and to the relevance of the work being done here.

Our faculty, with their students, continue to create new knowledge and to connect existing knowledge in ways that provide new insights and new applications. Their creative work appears, not just in the media, but in scholarly journals or as novels, plays, poems, histories, and textbooks. We expect that efforts now underway to create an organizational structure for certain areas of the social and health sciences and their applications will succeed in providing another strong institute at UNH to support the work of faculty and students. It is within our departments, centers, institutes, cooperative extension, and off-campus locations that the academic work of the University takes place. In a very real sense, everything that happens at the University is in support of that work. Those who moved tons of snow last winter, who prepare and serve our meals, who process our research proposals, who protect us against the Code Red worm, who keep the campus safe and secure, all of these people make immeasurably important contributions to the work of the University.

PRAGMATIC GOALS

When I arrived five years ago, I set pragmatic goals I thought essential to strengthening the University. I’d like to talk a few minutes about our progress in the support areas. I have already said a few words about enrollment planning and enrollment levels: we are moving to restore the enrollment levels of 1994-95 with a somewhat different undergraduate/graduate ratio, and with greater diversity in the student community.

Change the budgeting processes. We needed to make basic changes in our financial management and budget processes in order to address budget deficits and to guarantee that the University operates at every point as an efficient, cost-effective business. The goal is to get the most possible out of every dollar available to us. Under the administrative redesign and the new budget model, which we call RCM, we have delegated considerable financial authority and accountability to the 20 large units of the University, made our budgetary policies more flexible, and developed rules for resource allocation that cause resources to rise and fall with activity levels. Last year was the first year that all parts came together and the model could be implemented. We see several positive indicators: units are doing substantially more long-term planning and are accumulating reserves for later major investments, curriculum redesign is taking place in several areas, there is greater attention to revenue generation and cost containment, and our financial condition—although very tight—is stable. The number of glitches has been few. We get at least an A- for our first year with RCM. Change to a new budget model is predictably difficult and stressful, and the new model will need to be monitored closely with a full assessment after five years. We are indebted to the Steering Committee that guided the University through the three-year development process and now to the Central Budget Committee that will assume oversight of budget issues.

Increase revenues. We have a serious commitment to increase institutional revenues while moving tuition increases close to the cost of inflation. I can report substantial progress. A key factor has been the willingness of the Legislature to increase the operating budget for the University by 5% in each of the last two years and again by 5% in each of the next two years. In addition, the last legislative session provided the University System with a capital construction commitment of $100 million over the next six years. This commitment gives the University the funds to fully renovate Kingsbury Hall and Murkland Hall, an important step toward the $185 million need presented to the legislature in the original request. We will continue to work with the Legislature for approval of the remaining $85 million which includes four of UNH’s key science buildings. In the last session the Legislature also gave initial funding to provide state matching funds for the private gifts we receive for student scholarships. In each of these categories—operating budget, capital budget, and student scholarships—the state has provided the University with critically important funds. We are grateful to the Governor and the legislature for this investment. USNH Trustees, the Chancellor’s Office, the business leadership of New Hampshire, the UNH Advocacy Network, and our local legislators worked very hard with us to communicate the University’s needs to the Legislature. Their leadership and efforts have been invaluable.

Another area where funding increases are benefiting the University substantially is the area of external research funding. Five years ago when I arrived, the University had just completed a year when research funding was at an all time high of $41 million. This last year research funding came in at $82 million. We get an A+ in this category. These funds, for the most part, support the work of our faculty and students in their research endeavors, but from time to time we also receive federal funds for special facilities. Our Congressional delegation has helped us immeasurably in this regard. On August 21 we officially opened the Environmental Technology Building, the second building in our Entrepreneurial Campus. On the E-Campus, faculty and students work with scientists and technicians from industry on problems from industry. The other building on the E-Campus is the Ocean Engineering Building with a new wing that houses our Ocean Mapping Group and part of the University’s InterOperability Laboratory. That laboratory has 160 clients worldwide and employs approximately 60 UNH students to test the compatibility of new computing products with existing products. Another very important federal grant to the University in the last year was funding to provide a new marine research facility and pier on our land in New Castle. This facility will replace our Coastal Marine Laboratory which is bursting at the seams.

We have worked hard to increase revenues in strategic areas through our fundraising campaign, The Next Horizon. This $100 million campaign is designed to support academic programs, faculty, and students. As we complete the second year, we are proud and grateful to have gifts at the level of almost $75 million toward the goals of that campaign. Technology and other infrastructure.

Technology is one of our most important learning tools. Last year the number of technology-enhanced classrooms on campus increased from 15 to 25, and we now have substantially greater variety among these classrooms in terms of size. One of our most popular course-support software packages is called Blackboard. Two years ago, there were 16 courses using Blackboard with 873 students enrolled. This semester there are 260 courses with 13,600 student enrollments. Thirty-nine percent of our tenured and tenure-track faculty have been trained in the use of this software.

The Wide Area Network in New Hampshire, anchored at UNH, has seen significant growth. The number of videoconferencing sites has increased from 9 to 16 in one year with a projection of 40 sites by this time next year.

New Hampshire Public Television is a valuable resource to the University. The University and NHPTV now participate in a collaboration within the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to use educational products from other institutions and stations, and to supply UNH courseware nationally. There are great opportunities for us in this area. NHPTV is currently offering college credit courses for students in the New Hampshire Community Technical College System. NHPTV is also one of the University’s important connections to the schools of New Hampshire. With 99% of the schools in the state enrolled, NHPTV is feeding approximately 200 hours of student programming a year to the schools and providing professional development to over 3500 teachers.

Let me also mention an enormous project that will affect all the UNH staff who carry out our technology, business, and accounting work. The replacement of the administrative computing system is expected to go live with the finance portion in January, 2002 and with the human resources portion next July. This change is a big one, but necessary. Our old system was last updated a decade ago and runs on hardware that is no longer manufactured. We can expect the transition to be somewhat disruptive, but in the end the new system will better meet our needs.

Play an essential role in New Hampshire. The University of New Hampshire has always played a strong role across the state. In four of the five last years I have had the privilege of taking a three day bus trip across the state with new faculty to see where UNH is working and what is being accomplished. In no year have we duplicated sites from an earlier year (that is, with the exception of The Balsams, one of New Hampshire’s classiest grand hotels in the North Country; they graciously host us each time we come). So, I have been aware that University programs were everywhere in our state. But a year ago I asked our University Relations staff to inventory where our programs were located and what we were doing in that one year. Even I was surprised at the results: in the area of business and industry, 665 UNH projects in 88 communities; with K-12 education, 664 projects in 152 locations; 37 environmental projects in 33 communities; in health and human services, 143 projects in 27 communities. And so it goes. That was last year and I’m sure this year will be similar.

An essential part of our being a truly public university is the role played by UNH Manchester. Last year we were able to dedicate the fully renovated facility for Manchester programs in the millyard, thus providing the Manchester campus with appropriate facilities to meet the University’s urban mission. We are beginning to see the adaptation of Manchester programs to their urban audience. We are now able to deliver professional masters’ programs at our Manchester site in most professional areas. Cooperative Extension has offices there and a very vital program directed toward the needs of the city.

Improve the collective bargaining process. After a protracted and difficult process, we were able to finalize a contract for the faculty last October. The Trustees have reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining compensation levels competitive with the market, not only for faculty, but for each of our employee groups. Unlike earlier contracts, this one specifies certain work to be done before the next formal bargaining session in an effort to develop a more collegial and timely bargaining process. That work includes identifying comparator institutions for UNH, developing processes for the distribution of merit salary increases, and evaluating on a continuing basis the University’s benefits package. I’m pleased that meetings are being conducted on a regular basis, that they are productive and collegial, and that it is realistic to expect this work will lead to more effective and timely negotiations in the future.

THE ACADEMIC PLANNING PROCESS

I have been talking mostly about the last five years at UNH. Now let’s look ahead. A critically important goal for us has been the long range planning needed in order to build on our strengths over the next decade. Program planning has been done and done well in recent years within the units of the University, but we have not had an institutional framework to give direction and cohesion to unit planning. Eighteen months ago we undertook an ambitious Academic Planning Process under the leadership of Provost David Hiley and a creative, committed steering committee.

Last year we saw the finalizing of two important stages of the planning process. The first, called Critical Issues, was finalized last fall, and the more recent goals and strategies document, An Academic Plan for the Future of the University of New Hampshire, was released this past summer. Both of these documents are on the University website and I commend them to your careful reading. This semester’s work will include the implementation plan and the release of the action plan. Next spring we will work with all University units to revisit and adjust unit plans to be consistent with and supportive of the institutional plan. I am confident this comprehensive planning effort will move UNH to a unique and exceptionally important position within American higher education.

The most recent planning document provides the University with statements of values and vision that we have not had before. This work is not easy. UNH is a land grant institution, but UNH is much more complex than that. I am so pleased with the work of the Steering Committee that I have put in your program a card exhibiting the Vision Statement so that we can talk about it briefly today.

The University of New Hampshire will be distinguished for combining the living and learning environment of a small New England liberal arts college with the breadth, spirit of discovery, and civic commitment of a land grant research institution.

There you have it! The answer to the question "What is the University of New Hampshire?" We bring together at this University the best that we know in liberal arts colleges and the best that we know in land grant research institutions to give our students and our extended community a university that has very special distinction.

A New England liberal arts college, at its best, has a primary commitment to undergraduate education and to high quality teaching. All programs are strongly grounded in the liberal arts. There is a close relationship between the faculty and students. Students have opportunities to be engaged in learning in all forms including research. They have opportunities for leadership, recreation, and intercollegiate competition. The institution is anchored in its campus locations, has an attractive and safe physical setting, has a supportive social climate, and embodies a community of learners with common goals. The administration is accessible and responsive.

A land grant research institution must have a world-class faculty. It is sufficiently comprehensive to guarantee that the disciplines are not isolated and that interdisciplinary work can be facilitated. Research, scholarship, and creative activity engage all parts of the institution. Graduate education is a priority and reflects the strengths of the academic areas. A commitment to service to the state, region, and world is deeply engrained in the institution. There is a sense of civic commitment, an understanding that knowledge is pursued not only for its own sake but also for its applications. The institution recognizes its responsibilities to business and industry, K-12 education, health issues, the natural environment and agriculture, the quality of life for all citizens.

This statement is a bold vision for the University of New Hampshire. Not many other universities have sought to define themselves this way. The challenge for us is not simply in understanding the strengths of a New England liberal arts college or the strengths of a land-grant research university. The challenge is in understanding the implications of integrating these two visions: how our teaching commitment will be influenced by the spirit of discovery that guides faculty research and the civic responsibility so basic to our principles; how our research and service efforts will be shaped by our commitment to instruction. The challenge is to ensure that our financial decisions and our policy decisions are always supportive of this integration and that we have sound ways to measure success in fulfilling this vision.

Even with the challenges, I am confident that the integration of a New England liberal arts college and a land grant, major research university is a realistic vision for UNH because, to a large extent, we are realizing that vision today. The University’s research reputation is very strong. The Undergraduate Research Conference last spring gave clear evidence that research strengthens instruction and that the quality of work UNH students do under the supervision of faculty is high. Our Honors Program, IROP, and UROP programs provide exceptional opportunities. The Entrepreneurial Campus will provide more. Our residence halls now offer opportunities for students both to live and to learn together. The number of courses with a service-learning component continues to grow. UNH is exceptional in successfully integrating instruction and research and then providing for the extension of its teaching and research resources to this region.

THE GENEROSITY OF OTHERS

We know that we have not come to this level without the commitment and contribution of scores of individuals. Emerson said that any institution is the lengthened shadow of one person. In truth, we find the shadows of many persons within the University of New Hampshire. Benjamin Thompson was our original benefactor. He left us the farmland that in time became a first-class research university. Over the years there have been many men and women who helped to shape this institution and make it what it is today. You know some of them as names of our buildings: Thompson Hall, Pettee, Dimond, Murkland, McConnell, Horton, and Morse.

But our benefactors are not all in the past. In our own day, many others are helping the University in significant ways. The renovated Dimond Library and the new library in Manchester are beautiful and state-of-the-art because of the gifts received for those facilities. We will soon complete the Atkin’s track replacement project providing our student athletes with one of the finest facilities possible. In recent months we have filled the McKerley Chair in Health Economics with a senior scientist from Washington University, and we have filled the Hubbard Chair in Genomics with a researcher at the top of his field from the University of Missouri. The Hamel Center for the Management of Technology and Innovation connects our programs in communication technology, environmental technology, and biotechnology with our management programs in WSBE to prepare the next generation of business management and to assist the industry of this region as it advances. A year from now we will have the first group of Tyco Science Scholars after a national search to identify the strongest talent in this area.

Our donors bring us large and small monetary gifts and much more. They advise our programs and help us identify prospective students. They encourage our work with their own commitment to UNH. We have a video so that you can meet some of these individuals and understand why they have chosen to invest in the University of New Hampshire, and in a very real sense, in you.

Video

Hubbard Family Award for Service to Philanthropy

Today when we think of philanthropy at the University of New Hampshire and in the state of New Hampshire, we think first of the Hubbard family. Three Hubbard brothers graduated from the University of New Hampshire in the 20’s: Oliver in 1921, Austin in 1925, and Leslie in 1927. They worked together on a family farm in Walpole, New Hampshire. Working with a poultry specialist at UNH, they bred a line of chickens resistant to a destructive bacterial disease of the time, a breed which came to be called the New Hampshire Red. For three generations the Hubbard Farms, concentrating on research and development, applied advanced poultry genetics and modern management techniques to develop superior breeding stock. In time their agricultural company was operating in 50 countries providing one of the finest chicken products ever developed. In 1974 that operation was acquired by the large pharmaceutical firm, Merck & Company.

The gifts of the Hubbard family to the University have greatly enhanced our programs in biological sciences, environmental sciences, climate change research, marine science, and sustainability. And the Hubbards have generously given need-based scholarships to UNH students.