The April session of the Board of Visitors commenced yesterday in Darden's Abbot Hall, bringing with it new goals, new metrics to evaluate progress and new finance plans for the University.
The Special Committee on Planning opened the meeting with its presentation and analysis of the University's national and international rankings.
Ariel Gomez, vice president for research and graduate studies, presented a comparison and analysis of the significance of four published measurements, including the U.S. News & World Report, Federal Research Expenditures as reported by the National Science Foundation, National Research Council Departmental Rankings and World University Rankings.
John O. Wynne, chair of the Special Committee on Planning, noted that rankings can have an effect on prospective students' perceptions of the University and said that the University's goal is to achieve a ranking of 15 in the U.S. News & World Report.
The Committee's report contrasted the University with peer institutions, such as Duke University, University of California-Berkeley and the University of Arizona. Wynne also evaluated the University's individual ranking within each publication to see if there were any parallel areas of strength or weakness.
"There is a weak correlation overall," he said. "But there is a group of institutions in the top 20 in world rankings that are ranked highly in the U.S. rankings."
Gomez cited graduate study and research as an area which the University could improve upon and emphasized that an increase in funding for research and research space allocation, as well as faculty reputation, publication and citation in magazines could influence the University's ranking.
Wynne said that he and other administrators estimated how large the University's budget would need to be in order to reach the rank of 15 by analyzing the budgets of the other schools currently ranked between 10 and 20. In order to be comparable, the University would need to increase annual funding by at least $1 billion.
In addition, Wynne said the University should work in conjunction with faculty and administrators to create new programs and initiatives which would excite alumni and encourage them to donate. Some possible suggestions included having every undergraduate student conduct original research and write a thesis, expanding the elementary education program at the Curry School or creating a school for public policy and public service.
"Speaking personally, this is the stuff that gets me up in the morning," Wynne said. "I can get excited about this. Usually, [the Board moves] in small increments. If we can raise the money and get creative in finding other internal financial resources, we have a shot of moving ourselves forward in a significant way."
Wynne emphasized, however, that these ideas represented the types of programs they are looking to explore, but that they would like faculty administration members to spearhead the creation of these initiatives.
The Special Committee on Planning also outlined performance measures it will use to analyze their progress on the Board's Ten-Year Plan and approved five measures presented by the Finance Committee. These measures include a proposed increase in faculty housing costs, an expansion of a temporary loan for the John Paul Jones Arena and an average 5.2 percent increase in meal plan rates for the next academic year.
Tuition rates are normally approved during the April session of the Board, however, Leonard Sandridge, executive vice president and chief operating officer, reminded members and the public that this action will be postponed until the approval of the Commonwealth's budget.
Sandridge added that Board members will be provided with a written report when a state budget is announced.
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