Letter from UO President Frohnmayer to the UO Community September 28, 2004

September 28, 2004

Dear Colleagues:

Late this summer my wife Lynn and I were picking blueberries in a sunny field west of Eugene. The bushes were head-high and thick, and people picking at one spot could hear the voices but could not see the people just a few rows away. So it was with great interest that I overheard a nearby conversation among several family groups that obviously included junior faculty members here. Happily for this story, they did not know of my unseen presence Ñ nor do I know their identities or even academic departments.

They talked about the university and a mentoring faculty culture that had embraced them, about potluck dinners and desserts at each other's homes, about an unusual sense of belonging that had been engendered here compared to other universities they had known, and about how they had grown from our efforts to nurture excellence.

While I was not surprised, because I know these qualities to be true of this campus, I was overjoyed at the enthusiastic nature of these unsolicited remarks about our life here that radiated a real sense of belonging and joy.

There is no better way to start the year, one for which I have high expectations.

A cornerstone of those expectations is Campaign Oregon: Transforming Lives. We continue to make great progress in this campaign, our largest ever, and have eclipsed the total of our previous campaign even before the public opening of Campaign Oregon. That event will be held on January 29, 2005. Last year many of you submitted your ideas for how philanthropy could best advance the university. We received more than 500 proposals, totaling about $2 billion. The Internal Campaign Advisory Committee reviewed these in light of the four cornerstones of the campaign: inspiration (teaching and learning), discovery (research and scholarship), connections (to our various communities), and opportunity (financial support for students). Many of the proposals have been included as specific gift opportunities in our campaign case statement or other campaign materials. All of the proposals will serve as a "toolbox" for our development officers to use to match to the interests of potential donors. You can view the proposals at http://campaign.uoregon.edu/matrix/.

We received this summer a wonderful gift that illustrates just how this process can work. UO Foundation Board member emeritus Dave Petrone and his wife, Nancy, asked us to identify a number of programs based on criteria they had established. They spent two days on campus visiting programs we selected from our "toolbox."

As a result, I am pleased to announce that Dave and Nancy have made a $2.5 million additional commitment to Campaign Oregon, the effects of which will be felt across the campus. Their gift will be divided among the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center, the Map Library, the Condon Hall Renovation Fund, the Center for Biomedical Research and Health Assessment, student scholarships, and the president's special projects fund.

I know that you join me in gratitude for this extraordinarily generous support and vote of confidence from Dave and Nancy.

In addition to the changes that will come as a function of our campaign, I believe this year will bring a continuation of dramatic change at the system level in higher education. That change was sparked by Governor Ted Kulongoski's call last November for reinvestment in our public universities and by his new appointments to the State Board of Higher Education. The new board has made key changes in the chancellor's office and board operations, giving each campus a greater role in charting the course of higher education. The board has appointed George Pernsteiner as Chief Operations Officer and Acting Chancellor. The results so far are more effective communication among campuses and board members, an articulate vision for higher education, and thoughtfully proposed operating and capital construction budget requests to the governor and legislature for our seven public universities. We owe much gratitude to the governor and the State Board of Higher Education. Now, our efforts move to the legislative session beginning in January. We need to ensure that the members of the state legislature support the governor's call for reinvestment.

This academic year, we will move forward on an orderly plan for transition in key leadership posts held by widely respected administrators whose service has been invaluable to us. We have been blessed by long continuity and unusually strong skill and leadership from Senior Vice President and Provost John Moseley, Vice President for Academic Affairs Lorraine Davis, and Vice President for Administration Dan Williams. Their service has been stellar and their wisdom and energy widely admired both here and at our peer universities. Dan Williams has announced his retirement effective at the conclusion of this academic year. A national search process, under the chairmanship of Vice President Rich Linton, has just begun. The portfolio for this position will be altered to include budget and finance responsibilities; intercollegiate athletics will report directly to me with increased oversight provided by the university's general counsel. The new Vice President for Finance and Administration will report to the Senior Vice President. I have asked both John Moseley and Lorraine Davis to extend their service as long as possible and am gratified that both agreed to serve through the 2005-2006 academic year on a phased retirement schedule. The search for John Moseley's successor will occur during the 2005-2006 academic year. Lorraine Davis' position will be held open so that the new provost can be involved in filling this position.

All of these changes have been under consideration for some years and have been discussed in the past with the university's elected Faculty Advisory Council.

Some 3,000 new freshmen should be here with us for the beginning of fall term, with about two-thirds of them from Oregon; freshman enrollment is up by approximately 200 over last year. The total enrollment, which should be approximately 20,200, is at or near a record and will be a special challenge for us that I know we will meet. Our plan, as you know, is to keep enrollment relatively stable, and I believe we will meet that goal this fall. We had nearly 600 fewer freshman applications this year than last, but because of hard work in recruiting by the admissions office and faculty and staff across campus, a larger percentage of those students who applied are enrolling. This will be another strong class in terms of academic preparation.

We are hopeful that we can continue other remarkable successes from last year as well. Our licensing income from University of Oregon inventions, for instance, grew to nearly $2 million in fiscal year 2003-4, putting us among the top tier of the nation's research institutions per research dollar expended. And we had a record 40 new inventions last year. More than 90 percent of the licensing income was reinvested in UO research by distributing it to faculty inventors and academic programs. And research by our faculty resulted in the creation of three new spin-off companies.

Our newly appointed Vice Provost for Institutional Equity and Diversity, Dr. Gregory Vincent, has already fulfilled his high promise in helping us to assess our efforts in achieving the diversity necessary to extend equal opportunity to all sectors of our society. His initial assessments show both positive results and a candid view of the long distance we have yet to travel. We will devote major efforts this year to developing an action plan as well as to elevating our awareness and increasing the focus of our energies on diversity and inclusion. Those involved in faculty governance, the President's Small Executive Staff and the university's department heads at their annual retreat last week have all focused attention on the obstacles and opportunities we face related to issues of diversity. During our fall Convocation now scheduled for Monday, October 25, at 2:30 p.m. in the EMU Ballroom, we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the historic Supreme Court decision that prohibited state-sponsored segregation in public education. I hope each of you will make special efforts to attend Convocation and, in addition, bring a critical and constructive view as to how we can improve our efforts in the various initiatives related to diversity.

Those of you who were here over the summer break know that it has been very busy on campus: we have moved the people and collections into the beautifully expanded and renovated Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art; construction will soon be completed on the Heart of the Campus project that gives us a much more graceful and integrated physical center at 13th and University; construction continues on the Many Nations Longhouse; the School of Music has moved some programs into Collier House; we have redeveloped 15th Avenue and will soon begin construction of a new plaza at Hayward Field; and we broke ground on the Living-Learning Center, which will be a model of integrating academic life within a student residence hall. All of this new construction and beautification brings a tangible and exciting sense of renewal to a campus that is already both functional and visually stunning.

As I noted at the beginning of this letter, there is a fondness, that approaches the devout, for this campus Ñ for its culture and its caring, for its splendid architecture and welcoming spirit Ñ that all of you have helped to create and sustain. I welcome you this year, just as all of you are welcoming our new and returning students Ñ and are creating the spaces and circumstances that make possible those remarks I overheard in the blueberry field.

As always, I would be pleased to hear from you. My e-mail address is pres@uoregon.edu.

Warmest wishes,

Dave Frohnmayer President