In his first address to faculty since announcing his resignation last week, Dean of the College Melvyn P. Leffler said the inadequately funded school needs to continue major fundraising efforts after he leaves in order to retain its national prominence.
Leffler, who will resign from his post at the end of this academic year, has emphasized fundraising ever since he became dean in Sept. 1997.
Last week Leffler accepted the visiting Harmsworth Professorship in American history at Oxford University, a position he will hold for the 2002 academic year. He will spend the 2001 academic year researching for the position, which requires a series of lectures on American foreign policy and the Cold War, his area of expertise. After Leffler's stay at Oxford, he will return to the University as a history department faculty member, but not as dean.
Leffler said he will remain dedicated to the College as he winds up his job in the coming year.
"Although I'm resigning I don't feel a sense of resignation," Leffler said. "I continue to possess a tremendous sense of ambition for the College and the University."
Although Leffler said the College made substantial fundraising gains in the past several years, he said these efforts need more University-wide support.
"We've accomplished so much with so little. We could do so much more with the funding we need and deserve," Leffler said.
The amount of money the College receives is "totally inadequate," he said.
Additional funding will enable the College to guarantee great students and great faculty -- the two ingredients necessary for a premier academic institution, Leffler said.
Leffler noted the importance of improving the College's programs in the natural sciences and fine and performing arts. He also stressed that the University needs to strengthen these struggling programs while maintaining the current levels of excellence in the humanities and social sciences.
"We want to get better and we will get better," Leffler said.
Drama Prof. Gweneth West said she is excited about the recent efforts to build up fine and performing arts programs, noting the efforts of the Virginia 2020 Commission for this discipline.
The Commission originated in the President's Office and sets goals for where the University should be in 20 years.
Leffler also approached what he sees as weaknesses in the core of the College -- the undergraduate curriculum.
"We need to continue to enrich the challenge of undergraduate students," Leffler said.
Studies have shown College students study 15 hours per week, dramatically less than students in the Architecture and Engineering Schools, Leffler said.
Leffler added he does not think all professors assign enough reading and writing to students.
Many faculty members said they support Leffler's far-reaching initiatives for the College.
"He's undertaken just splendidly an ambitious mission for the College and everyone owes him an incredible debt," English Dept. Chairman Michael Levenson said. "The best way we can repay him is by carrying on successfully in the many areas he's already laid out."
Religious Studies Dept. Chairman Harry Y. Gamble, Jr. voiced similar sentiments to Levenson's, noting Leffler's resignation is a "tragedy for the College."
But Gamble said he was "not totally surprised" that Leffler will step down from his post, but declined to comment further.
Faculty Senate Chairwoman Patricia H. Werhane agreed the College will be at a loss without Leffler's skilled leadership.
"We [the faculty] were all surprised. The sentiment is real sadness to lose such a strong advocate for the faculty and for excellence at the University," Werhane said.
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