TEXT OF PRESIDENT
McCORMICK'S MARCH 7, 2006 E-MAIL TO
THE RUTGERS-NEW BRUNSWICK/PISCATAWAY COMMUNITY REGARDING
"President's Recommendations for Transforming Undergradate Education"
Members of the New
Brunswick/Piscataway Campus Community:
With great pride in Rutgers
and with deep gratitude to those of you
who
participated in this historic discussion,
I am pleased to
submit my recommendations for undergraduate education in New Brunswick/Piscataway. I
am confident that they will dramatically
improve students' educational experience by re-engaging faculty in
undergraduate life and by providing students with equal access to the
rich resources of a great public
research university.
These recommendations,
which
are available along with an executive summary at http://ur.rutgers.edu/presidentsplan,
will be considered by the Board of Governors at a special meeting on March 10. The
board has ultimate responsibility for
setting educational policy for the university.
This proposal reflects the
remarkable consensus supporting the vast majority of the report by the
Task Force on Undergraduate
Education, as well as the intense discussions of the last eight months,
and
provides a comprehensive plan
for
transforming undergraduate education at a 21st century public research university. It
is designed to:
- Eliminate
roadblocks for students and confusion for the public, and open the
resources of the university to all undergraduates by establishing a
single School
of Arts and
Sciences with a uniform admissions standard, a core curriculum and
standardized graduation requirements.
- Create
welcoming campus communities at Busch, College Avenue, Cook, Douglass
and Livingston, each headed by a dean, to provide co-curricular
programs, local access to student services and a supportive learning
environment.
- Preserve
and expand Rutgers' long-standing commitment to women's education and
diversity by establishing the Mabel Smith
Douglass Residential College
on the Douglass campus; maintaining Douglass as a women-only campus;
creating an Institute for Women and Art; appointing an associate vice
president to advance women in the sciences; and charging Undergraduate
Admissions with aggressively recruiting a diverse entering class.
- Attract
the best and brightest, high-achieving students by offering small,
interactive first-year seminars taught by regular faculty; encouraging
seniors to participate in a capstone experience; and creating a
vibrant, campuswide honors program.
- Improve
physical facilities, especially those on the Livingston
campus, including a 2007 groundbreaking for an expanded student center.
The process we have
undergone
to arrive at these recommendations should serve as a model for
collegial
analysis and deliberation. From the extensive research conducted by the
Task
Force on Undergraduate Education to the open debate of the campus
forums to the
impressive alternate reports and responses submitted by campus groups
and
individuals, I had before me a wealth of ideas for envisioning Rutgers' future. I
carefully considered all of these perspectives as I weighed and wrote
my
recommendations to the board. I hope you
will take the time to read my full proposal, which provides a blueprint
for a
new public research university.
These
recommendations,
however, are only a beginning. Should
the Board of Governors move to adopt my proposal, which would take
effect for
new students entering in September 2007, the real work of implementing
a major
transformation will commence immediately.
In that event, I hope I can count on your help to make these
substantive
and much-needed improvements to undergraduate education at Rutgers. Again, my
thanks to everyone who has already
contributed to this remarkable and historic discussion.
Richard L. McCormick
President
Rutgers, The State University
of New Jersey