President Ruth Simmons briefed the faculty on the upcoming launch of the public phase of the Campaign for Academic Enrichment at the October faculty meeting Tuesday afternoon. The on-campus kick-off on the weekend of Oct. 22, which will coincide with the October Corporation meeting and an alumni leadership conference, will include a convocation for all students, a dinner for donors, faculty forums and a "battle of student bands," she said.
Though University officials will not reveal the official goal of the campaign in advance of next week's launch, Simmons told the faculty that it will be "in the range" of, but "not precisely," $1.3 billion.
Simmons said she hoped the campaign - and especially an attempt to ratchet up contributions to the Brown Annual Fund - will "definitively put to rest" notions that Brown can't raise as much money as its peer institutions.
Simmons also told the faculty that the Corporation will discuss the increasing cost of a Brown education at its October meeting.
Some Corporation members have expressed concern over the ever-increasing cost of tuition at Brown and have asked administrators to collect data on how students cope with rising tuition, she said.
Undergraduate tuition and fees topped $40,000 for the first time in 2005-2006. At its February 2005 meeting, the Corporation approved a 5.2 percent tuition hike, increasing the cost of attending Brown to $41,700.
Corporation members will also consider plans for the Friedman Study Center in the Sciences Library and the renovation of Pembroke Hall, designed to house the Cogut Humanities Center, Simmons said. Progress on Sidney Frank Hall and the Nelson Fitness Center will also be reviewed, but it is too early for the Corporation to approve plans, she added.
Providence Mayor David Cicilline '83 will address the Corporation's strategic planning session, Simmons said.
In other business, Provost Robert Zimmer told the faculty that Brown will soon have a new look on the Internet. Michael Chapman, vice president for public affairs and University relations, is leading an effort to redesign Brown's Web site, Zimmer said, acknowledging the growing importance of the Internet as an avenue for information.
Dean of the Faculty Rajiv Vohra P'07 updated the faculty on the University's ambitious faculty hiring efforts. Fifty faculty searches were conducted last year, leading to 40 new professors this fall, Vohra said.
But the size of the faculty did not change, Vohra added, because 40 professors did not return to Brown. He said that last academic year 15 professors retired, 19 resigned, three died and three left for other reasons.
Among the new faculty, Susan Alcock joined the University as director of the new Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World, Michael Steinberg as director of the new Cogut Humanities Center and Kenneth Wong as head of the new master's program in urban education policy. Arkady Belozovsky was appointed a lecturer at the Center for Language Studies as Brown's first full-time teacher of American Sign Language.
Four of the 10 new professors in the life sciences are women, but all of the nine new professors in the physical sciences are men.
Vohra told the faculty that 70 of the 100 new faculty positions provided for by the Plan for Academic Enrichment have been approved and 40 professors have been hired into the new positions.
An additional 13 professors have been brought to Brown through the plan's Target of Opportunity program, Vohra said.
The Target of Opportunity program allows departments speed and flexibility in securing top-quality candidates by bypassing the slower and more cumbersome standard hiring process.
Professor of Physics Robert Pelcovits, chair of the Faculty Executive Committee, updated the faculty on the process of introducing an ombudsman to mediate disputes between professors and the University administration.
Brenda Allen, associate provost and director of institutional diversity, and Russell Carey '91, vice president and secretary of the University, have worked with members of the faculty to create a description for the new position, Pelcovits said. The creation of a search committee is the next step, though it remains unclear whether the yet-to-be-formed committee will search for candidates within the University or seek outsiders, he said.
