November 4, 2005
Purdue University President Martin C. Jischke made these remarks Friday (11/4/05) during a meeting of the Purdue University Board of Trustees.
President Jischke updates trustees on the university's strategic plan
Four years ago, this board approved five-year strategic plans for Purdue University. It marked the first time Purdue has ever undertaken a strategic planning process systemwide.
Our plans are a commitment to move this university to what we initially called "the next level." We have now defined our vision as "preeminence."
Purdue is already a great university. We believe we can be even more. We believe Purdue is perfectly positioned to take the next giant step. And, in fact, we have already begun to take this giant step into the ranks of the world's leading universities.
The Times of London has recognized Purdue as ranked 59th in the world, 25th in North America, 22nd among U.S. universities and ninth among all U.S. public universities. Purdue's Krannert School of Management executive MBA degree program placed 18th worldwide in rankings released in October 2005 by Business Week.
This is the impact of our strategic plans.
The three primary goals of our strategic plans are based on our and-grant missions:
• First – Achieve and sustain preeminence in discovery.
• Second – Attain and preserve excellence in learning through programs of superior quality and value in every academic discipline, in every college and school.
• And third – Effectively address the needs of society through engagement.
Our plans include four elements that are essential to success in any planning process. First, our plans are challenging and designed to stretch our abilities to see how far we can go. Second, our plans are doable – while they are challenging they are clearly possible given commitment and very hard work. Third, we have realistically determined the cost of our plans and identified sources of revenue to support our initiatives. The fourth essential aspect of good planning is regular evaluation of our goals and objectives and the progress we are making through our initiatives.
Today I will present the fourth strategic plan progress report to the board of trustees.
I am very pleased to report that since its adoption in 2001, Purdue's strategic plans have had an incredible impact on our university. The continued progress we are making is reflected in almost every area of the institution.
I believe that Purdue is stronger now by every important measure than it was four years ago. I believe a Purdue education has never been better. I believe the reputation and value of a Purdue degree have never been greater.
Our plans are working.
For example:
• A universitywide honors program, which is a new opportunity for our very best students, was launched this academic year. They have already taken a learning experience to Quebec and met with Neil Armstrong.
• Diversity continues to improve. Since the inception of our plans, more than half of our new faculty hires have been minorities or women.
• We are engaged in the most ambitious building program in the history of Purdue.
• Research is at record levels.
• Engagement and statewide economic development initiatives continue to broaden and deepen through efforts such as: The creation of the Center for Regional Development, partnerships with 10 certified technology parks in Indiana, continued outreach to public schools, and an expanded role for the Technical Assistance Program.
Purdue is a leader for our state in learning, economic development and quality of life.
All of this is tangible evidence of our success.
But something else is taking place at Purdue. To understand it, you have to pass through the walkways and malls of our campuses, visit the classrooms and labs , and attend our events.
Everywhere you go at Purdue, you can feel a sense of strong purpose – an excitement about the university's success and its potential. Purdue people know they are part of something very special.
I want to congratulate this board for its vision and leadership in overseeing development and implementation of our strategic plans. And I want to compliment our faculty, staff, students, alumni, friends and corporate partners for everything they are doing to ensure success.
Our strategic plans have created an extraordinary time at Purdue; I believe the most extraordinary time in our long and great history.
Our strategic plans are supported by the Campaign for Purdue.
This campaign was initially launched with a $1.3 billion goal. But last year, the tremendous response to this campaign prompted us to make our first mid-course strategic plan correction. And it was a great one.
We were able to raise the bar! Our new goal is $1.5 billion by June 30, 2007.
Our campaign continues to make incredible progress.
Our Campaign for Purdue received support last year totaling $242 million – $47 million above our goal. With 71 percent of the time elapsed in the Campaign for Purdue, the university already has raised 79 percent of the funds – more than $1.2 billion.
During the campaign, Purdue has received gifts from nearly165,000 individual donors and from nearly 130,000 households.
We have already completed our Community Campaign, which raised nearly $49 million. Our Campus Campaign has already exceeded its initial goal of $40 million. The goal has now been raised to $50 million.
Combining the Community Campaign with the Campus Campaign, 14,000 local households are supporting our efforts. That shows incredible support from the heart of Purdue from the people who live and work here and can see for themselves the impact of our investments.
We continue to enjoy solid support from our state.
State operating appropriations for Purdue this fiscal year are $239.1. million – down $1 million from last year in an overall budget that exceeds $1 billion.
Though we appreciate support from our state, we also note that Purdue's state appropriations for 2003-2004 fell 32.2 percent below the average appropriation per full-time equivalent student at our peer institutions.
Our strategic plans are based on continued state support. This is very important to our success.
As you know, one of our major initiatives with the governor and the General Assembly is repair and rehabilitation on our campuses.
During the past four years, Purdue campuses have received less than $4 million in state repair and rehabilitation. That is a reduction in the long-standing formula that called for investing $56 million in Purdue repair and rehabilitation during that same time.
As a result, a deferred maintenance backlog has developed at Purdue, currently estimated at more than $413 million. The Repair and Rehabilitation challenge has resulted in a mid-course correction in our plans.
Last May this board approved a dedicated repair and rehabilitation fee on all of our campuses for new students beginning in the fall of 2006. Now we are also proposing that Purdue and the state partner to deal with the repair and rehabilitation problem from three perspectives.
First, we must invest $15 million annually in the ongoing repair needs of on our campuses. Second, we must address our deferred repair needs of $120 million. And third, we must address our rehabilitation needs of $293 million.
We have proposed meeting these costs through a combination of the student fee, university internal reallocations, bonds, additional state support and private fund raising.
In the fourth year of our strategic plans, applications for admission continue to increase, allowing Purdue to successfully manage undergraduate enrollment on the West Lafayette campus. Graduate numbers have been impacted by a nationwide decline in international enrollment.
The systemwide enrollment is 69,001 for the fall 2005, about 250 more than the previous fall. Systemwide, 74.3 percent of our students are Indiana residents.
Our West Lafayette campus enrollment includes 30,875 undergraduates and 7,837 graduate and professional students. Total enrollment is 38,712. That is a difference of only 59 students from last year. We were able to admit a larger freshman class this fall because more students are graduating in four years.
The quality of the student body remains strong, as average SAT scores have increased by 40 points over the past six years.
This year's freshman class has 240 valedictorians, an increase of 53 from last fall. The class also includes 86 National Merit Scholars.
Purdue has more new National Merit Scholars on campus than any other Indiana university this fall. Only two other Big Ten universities were expected to enroll more new National Merit Scholars than Purdue.
More than half of entering freshmen at Purdue had a 3.5 grade-point average or higher in high school.
Our domestic student diversity at Purdue this fall is 12.9 percent. That is up from 12.5 percent last year. The diversity of new undergraduates is 14.3 percent. While we continue to be below our peers and below where we want to be, we are making steady progress.
Since 2001, when diversity became an overarching initiative in our strategic plans, African-American enrollment has grown every year. This fall we have 1,356 African-American students on campus. That is an all-time record at Purdue. It exceeds the previous high in 1997.
Our graduate and professional African-American enrollment is up 34 percent in eight years.
Last fall minority diversity increased to 17.9 percent for tenured/tenure track faculty.
Since our strategic plans began in 2001, we have hired 499 faculty.
Of this total, 58 percent were female and/or minority. In fact, we almost doubled the number of women hired in a given year – from 36 in 2001-2002 to 63 in 2004-2005. We more than doubled the number of minorities hired in a given year – from 22 in 2001—2002 to 51 in 2004-2005.
Our staff diversity is holding steady at 7.4 percent. We are not showing progress in this important aspect of our strategic plans.
New initiatives to increase our staff diversity as well as other diversity issues are now being explored by two task forces – one in the office of Provost Sally Mason, the other in the Office of our Executive Vice President and Treasurer Morgan Olsen.
An important aspect of our efforts to recruit and retain top faculty is distinguished professorships.
In the past year we have appointed 25 new named or distinguished professors. This brings our total to 116. We are still behind our peers in this important area, but we continue to make progress.
In the fall of 2002, Purdue West Lafayette faculty salaries were 9 percent below the peer average. But we have made progress. Today we are 6.4 percent below the peer average.
If cost of living considerations are taken into account and benefits are added to salary to compare total compensation, we compete even better. Staff salaries remain competitive with respective markets.
Total student financial aid in the last academic year increased to $381 million on the West Lafayette campus alone. Systemwide it is $480 million.
In West Lafayette, this was a 5.3 percent increase in one year and a 16 percent increase in two years. This year total student aid increased another 6.3 percent on our West Lafayette campus, 9.5 percent in Calumet, 6.1 percent at IPFW and 6.5 percent at North Central.
Among undergraduate students who borrow money, the average student indebtedness at graduation is $18,978, which compares favorably with our peers.
We are in the midst of the most aggressive building and renovation program in the history of our university.
More than $301 million worth of construction has been completed since 2001. Another $300 million in construction will be completed by 2008. And more is in the planning stages.
Among the West Lafayette projects completed within the past year are:
• the $20 million addition to the Forney Hall of Chemical Engineering,
• the $43.5 million Pao Hall of Visual and Performing Arts,
• the $4 million John S. Wright Forestry Center
• and the $2.7 million Spurgeon Golf Training Facility at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex.
Two Discovery Park buildings were completed: the $58.3 million Birck Nanotechnology Center and the $15 million Bindley Bioscience Center.
Adjacent to Discovery Park, construction is well under way on the $25 million Biomedical Engineering Building. The $20 million Lawson Computer Science Building is progressing. Construction has begun on the $53 million Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering. We have broken ground on a $7.2 million Dennis and Mary Lou Schwartz Tennis Center. A $10 million Mann Hall for our e-Enterprise Center in Discovery Park is getting under way and a $10 million Discovery Learning Center is planned.
Purdue continues to utilize its physical facilities to maximum efficiency. Compared with our peers and Big Ten Conference institutions, we have about a 30 percent higher utilization rate with 30 percent less in classroom space per student.
A $51 million renovation of Cary Quad continues. Three of the four buildings are now completed.
Also nearing completion is a $48 million makeover that is melding 11 cafeteria operations into five major dining courts. The Windsor Halls Dining Court opened in August 2005, and the Ford Dining Court was dedicated in October 2004. These projects are being funded through room and board payments. No state or tuition dollars are being used.
The OnePurdue project has been successfully launched.
This $73 million project for developing a major information technology infrastructure involves a major business practices review and redesign at Purdue. OnePurdue is a four-year initiative to modernize our dated administrative information systems and computing applications, including the areas of student services, human resources and finance.
At Purdue Calumet, a 376-bed student housing project named University Village and costing $16.5 million opened this fall. Also, the student lounge in the Student Union and Library building was redesigned and renovated, and the Learning Center in Merrillville was dedicated.
At Indiana University—Purdue University Fort Wayne, the $25.5 million Waterfield Campus Student Housing project with 568 beds was completed in time for occupancy last fall. It is fully occupied this year. Also at IPFW, just this week we broke ground on a $25 million music building. A master of science degree in organizational leadership and supervision has been added.
At Purdue North Central, the cafeteria in the Library-Student-Faculty Building was remodeled and a cyber café was created to encourage student use for individual study or group meetings. A private housing complex known as University Village opened this fall across from the south entrance to the campus. In addition, a master's degree in business administration was added.
Our strategic plans in learning are focused on preserving excellence through programs of superior quality and value in every academic discipline.
Our strategic plan goal is to add 300 faculty to the West Lafayette campus. As of this fall, we have added 200 strategic plan faculty positions. We have filled 184 of this positions. This includes nearly 134 new assistant professors, 23 associates and 24 full professors.
Our one-year student retention rate slightly decreased from 85.5 percent to 85.1 percent.
The four-year graduation rate is 39.2 percent. That is up from 33.4 percent five years ago. During the past year our six-year graduation rate has increased from 65.6 percent to 68 percent. That is a significant increase in one year.
Career placement increased to 72 percent and advanced study rates increased to 18.9 percent – for a total of nearly 91 percent of our graduates.
In West Lafayette, about 59.0 percent of all baccalaureate graduates remain in Indiana one year after graduation. Systemwide, 64.1 percent stay in Indiana.
In West Lafayette among baccalaureate graduates who were Indiana residents when initially enrolled, 82.5 percent remain in Indiana. Systemwide, 85.1 percent of these students remain in Indiana.
Programs to encourage more student participation in undergraduate research, study abroad, and service-learning have increased dramatically.
Participation in Study Abroad increased over the past two years by 47.8 percent, to 1,026 students. Last year, study abroad students were involved in 167 programs in 47 countries. Community Service/Service Learning Grant programs increased by 50 percent to 79 programs in 2004—05.
Purdue placed 46th in the Athletic Directors' Cup competition. Our goal is to be in the top 25. The 73 percent graduation rate of athletes is just under the goal of 75 percent.
In the most recent national program rankings by U.S. News & World Report, Purdue had 25 programs among the top-10 rankings and 40 programs among the top-20 rankings. That is one more program in the top 10 than we had last year and two more programs among the top 20.
We are making progress.
At the same time, peer institution rankings showed an average of 49 programs among the top-10 rankings, and 75 programs among the top-20 rankings.
We have more work to do. But as we complete the initiatives in our plans I believe we will continue to see more progress.
Our goal in discovery is to achieve and sustain preeminence, and we are moving forward rapidly. Major research highlights continue to reflect the growing strength in research and visionary initiatives at Purdue, most of which are interdisciplinary or collaborative.
Discovery Park is open with our nanotechnology, bioscience and entrepreneurship center buildings all up and running. More than 850 faculty are associated with Discovery Park. Discovery Park awards reached $53 million last year. The number of Discovery Park awards increased last year from 56 to 111. We nearly doubled in one year! Eight companies have spun out of Discovery Park research.
New Discovery Park centers include the Center for Advanced Manufacturing, the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering, the Center for Regional Development, and the Center for Research and Engagement in Science and Mathematics.
Thanks to a $25 million Discovery Park grant from Lilly Endowment, we have also launched a Center for the Environment, a Cyber Center, an Energy Center and an Oncological Sciences Center.
Our research initiative is seeing incredible results.
Purdue sponsored programs went from $243 million in 2003-2004 to $294 million in 2004-2005! That is an increase of $51 million in one year. It exceeded our goal by $44 million.
Each of our schools and colleges at Purdue boasts various major discoveries, inventions and innovations.
In agriculture, researchers in the Department of Food Science have developed a method for using chlorine dioxide gas to eliminate bacterial and fungal contamination on food. This decontamination method protects human health from inherent food-borne pathogens, lengthens shelf life of produce and can also help reduce threats from bioterrorism.
In Consumer and Family Sciences, researchers have done a three-year study of child care used by low-income working families, and research on aging is spanning a wide range of interests – from cells to social structures. Core research areas include aging and cancer, health inequality, health promotion, financial security in later life, and aging and communicative disorders.
In education, brain imaging studies are suggesting that there are certain structures that develop in the brain before birth that are associated with learning disabilities and/or special talents in nonverbal thinking skills.
In engineering, researchers have developed a system to monitor heat panels that could safeguard future spacecrafts.
In liberal arts, Professor Scott Shim, assisted by two students in art and design, designed and built a bicycle that won the top prize at the 2004 International Bicycle Design Competition in Taiwan.
In management, in a recent worldwide study which examined the productivity of 300 finance faculty members over the past 50 years, two Krannert School faculty members, Bill Lewellen and John McConnell, were ranked among the top 10. An example of Professor McConnell's work is his research about the positive correlation between having outside members on corporate boards and the return to shareholders that those companies generate.
In pharmacy, researchers have found a cell surface protein found in green tea and chili peppers provides a molecular basis for therapeutic and preventive cancer benefits.
In science,a multidisciplinary scientific team has developed a group of rhodium-based compounds that, when exposed to light, can kill tumor cells and deactivate a virus closely related to the West Nile and yellow fever viruses.
In technology, graduate students are conducting a large-scale test project comparing different technologies for high-speed wireless data connections in both rural and urban settings, as well as performance testing in a number of challenging environments.
In veterinary medicine,a biological nanomotor was recently discovered and synthesized in the laboratory of Peixuan Guo, a finding that creates new possibilities for the development of nano-devices.
More than 90 percent of the 122 centers and institutes at Purdue are interdisciplinary. That is an increase of six centers over last year.
In 2004-05, these centers received $81.1 million in sponsored funding, an increase of $35 million from the previous year.
The third element of our land-grant mission and strategic plans is engagement – taking all of our learning and discovery results from the campus and into society.
The Purdue Research Park continues to expand – with 139 companies employing 2,500 people. The park is recognized as one of the top technology/business incubators in the nation. Of the 80 high-tech companies at the Purdue Research Park, one-third are based on Purdue-licensed technologies.
Our Research Park has been named the country's Outstanding Research Park by its peers. It has been praised nationally along with a dozen other universities, including Stanford University and MIT, for its efforts to accelerate business growth through technology transfer.
In technology transfer, disclosures increased by 25.3 percent to 208. There were 160 patent applications. U.S. patents that were issued decreased to 26, licenses/options stood at 74 and royalty revenue decreased slightly to $4.3 million. These numbers vary from year to year based on timing issues.
The Technical Assistance Program assisted more than 400 companies, impacting local government as well as business and industry. TAP has now teamed with the Regenstrief Center and the Indiana Hospital and Health Association working to reduce healthcare costs. We have completed or started 23 projects with 14 hospitals. Eighteen Purdue faculty, students, and staff are involved.
Purdue is partnering with 10 of the 15 Indiana Certified Technology Parks in our state. These parks help attract and grow businesses for Indiana.
Purdue continues to build strategic partnerships with the private sector as exemplified with Rolls-Royce, Fairfield Manufacturing, Jasper Engines and the Central Indiana Cancer Center.
Purdue has sponsored state academic competitions impacting more than 30,000 Indiana students in the past year. Last year our College of Science outreach programs have benefited more than 23,000 Indiana students and 1,300 teachers.
Purdue's Science Bound program is now in its fourth year and has enrolled 220 Indianapolis Public School students. The program is supported by grants exceeding $1.4 million. This program offers students the opportunity to earn full tuition scholarships to Purdue.
It is clear we are making incredible progress. While we have not yet completed our plans, Purdue is already a better university from what we have accomplished.
Through a period of difficult state economic conditions, we have been able to stay the course with our plans, and our students and state have benefited enormously.
As clear as our success has been, it is equally clear we have more work to do. While we are having tremendous success, with one year remaining in our plans we have not reached all our objectives.
As we move forward into our fifth year, there are three aspects of our plan that merit special attention.
The first is our strategic plan initiative to add 300 new faculty. As reported earlier we have added 200 faculty positions as of this fall. We have plans to add 50 more by next fall, the final year of our five-year plans. We will still need to add the last 50 positions to reach our strategic plan goal of 300.
Second, while we are making remarkably fast progress in our building and remodeling, there are still some facilities in our strategic plan that will not be completed at the end of the fifth year.
And third, our Campaign for Purdue runs into 2007. We have raised more than $1.24 billion in our campaign to date. This campaign has always been scheduled for completion on June 30, 2007. And I am confident we will reach our goal by that date.
To allow us sufficient time to add the final 50 faculty, to complete new facilities and to coincide with the planned June 30, 2007, completion of our Campaign for Purdue, I believe our five-year plans should be extended one additional year to June 30, 2007.
Once again, thanks to this board for the remarkable leadership that is leading us to success. Thanks to our students, faculty, staff, our alumni, friends and corporate partners who are doing so much to move us forward.
The progress we have made in the past four years is the result of a great deal of hard work. It is the people of Purdue who are making all of this possible.
Congratulations to you all!
Now let's move forward and finish the job.
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