The Plan for Academic Enrichment - which includes such bold initiatives as an increase in the size of the faculty, the introduction of need-blind admission and the construction of new buildings around campus - is the driving force behind the most ambitious fund-raising drive in the University's history, the Campaign for Academic Enrichment.
The Campaign will be crucial in funding many of the Plan's programs that are already in place. Since components of the Plan were first announced in February 2002, the University has already implemented significant initiatives even before securing the long-term financial support for them.
"Their continuation to the full extent of the Plan is absolutely contingent on the success of the campaign," said Richard Spies, executive vice president for planning and senior advisor to the president.
The Plan addresses nearly every area of University affairs, from the undergraduate curriculum to physical expansion. University administrators have followed it closely since it was drafted by Simmons and her top advisors and approved by the Brown Corporation in 2002.
"It is probably true that lots of places get by without (such a plan). But I think it adds enormous value because, in a university, there are so many good ideas ... you could easily spend all your time chasing after just a small fraction of those great ideas," Spies said. "The net result would be individual examples of success, but the institution as a whole would only be significantly better off by accident."
"The opportunity at Brown is to be much more focused than that - to say what it is that will make Brown a better institution," he said.
A boon to the faculty
The Plan for Academic Enrich-ment initiative that is most likely having the most wide-ranging impact on life at Brown is the dramatic increase in the size of the faculty, administrators said. The plan established 100 new faculty positions - a 20 percent increase in the size of the faculty.
"Many ask what Brown has gained from this. In terms of educational value, there are courses that we did not previously have, and we now have freshman seminars - that is a change that happened very quickly," said Dean of the Faculty Rajiv Vohra P'07.
The addition of faculty has helped lower Brown's student-faculty ratio, previously among the highest in the Ivy League.
"With a curriculum like Brown's that stresses student-faculty interaction, we needed a lot more faculty than we had," said Dean of the College Paul Armstrong.
Seventy-five of the 100 new professorships have already been allocated to specific departments, programs or initiatives. The other 25 are reserved for the Target of Opportunity hiring program, which was created by the Plan for Academic Enrichment to allow departments speed and flexibility in securing top-quality candidates by bypassing the slower and more cumbersome standard hiring process.
Thirty-nine professors have already been hired into new positions and 16 have joined Brown as Target of Opportunity hires, for a total 55 professors "who would not have been here without the Plan for Academic Enrichment," Vohra said.
The remaining 36 newly created positions will be filled over the next few years, and the Target of Opportunity program will continue to bring exceptional professors to Brown as circumstances arise.
Faculty growth will not stop once the 100 new positions have been filled. Simmons' plan calls for annual growth of one to two percent, which would add 6 to 13 professorships every year after the addition of the initial 100.
"It is not an easy endeavor to grow in a way that you are confident is actually adding real value," Vohra added. "This is a great opportunity ... for us to take a great leap forward in terms of some areas that we want to cover."
First-year seminars - another of the Plan's key initiatives - were made possible by the faculty expansion.
"It is one of the things that I am most pleased about," Armstrong said of the seminars.
Armstrong said it was too hard for first-years to interact directly with professors before the seminars were introduced.
"In a very short time, we've managed to change that dramatically," he added.
Now in its fourth year, the first-year seminar program encompasses 63 courses. Most enroll about 15 students, so some 900 first-years are taking advantage of the courses, Armstrong said.
Expanding the scope of advising
Undergraduate advising was also targeted for improvement as part of the Plan.
Armstrong said dramatic improvements have already been made to first-year advising. In addition to the advising that has been traditionally offered to first-years, administrators are now starting to revamp advising for sophomores. Armstrong said many students report "feeling adrift" during their second year at Brown. A recent anonymous gift to endow improved advisory programs will fund an overhaul of sophomore advising, Arm-strong said.
Gifts for improved advising will be sought in the fund-raising drive. "Donors who understand the curriculum and understand the importance of good advising" have been enthusiastic, Arm-strong said.
New initiatives in undergraduate research - another of the Plan's top priorities - will also be funded by the upcoming Campaign.
Armstrong said endowing the Undergraduate Teaching and Research Assistantship program, which provides undergraduates funding for summer research, is an explicit campaign goal. Supporting UTRA grants was also an important goal of the University's last campaign, the Campaign for the Rising Generation, which ended in 1996.
The Plan also called for revamping Brown's financial aid program for undergraduates. Need-blind admission was first introduced for the Class of 2007, and the traditional work-study requirement was eliminated for all first-years.
The $100 million gift from liquor magnate Sidney Frank '42 to endow full scholarships for Brown's neediest students - the largest gift in Brown's history - headlined the University's improvements to financial aid.
The first Sidney Frank Scholars are 60 members of the Class of 2009. The average income of their parents is $18,600.
"No longer is financial aid an issue with students and no longer is it an issue on campus. ... That's the good news," said Director of Financial Aid Michael Bartini.
Bartini said the elimination of work-study obligations for first-years had an immediate beneficial effect, giving students more time to explore all that Brown has to offer.
But more work needs to be done to improve financial aid, Bartini said, citing in particular the need for more financial aid for transfer and Resumed Under-graduate Education students.
The lack of aid for transfer and RUE students has long been a complaint on campus. The Corporation first responded to the issue in Feb. 2005 by allocating $400,000 for transfer and RUE financial aid.
Overall, Bartini said Brown's financial aid program is "in the middle of the Ivy League."
Financial aid is expected to be a popular item in the campaign. "Financial aid gives donors a compelling reason to give to Brown. ... There are lots of donors who think that it is the right thing to give," Bartini said.
Campus life improvements
Capital projects to build and improve campus buildings are among the most high-profile elements of the Plan for Academic Enrichment, in terms of both dollars and visibility. Current capital projects under the Plan include the Jonathan M. Nelson '77 Fitness Center, the 24-hour Friedman Study Center in the Sciences Library, renovations to the Sharpe Refectory and Rockefeller Library and the creation of a campus center.
"In a campaign, the timing of things begins to shift and change depending on how funding becomes available and depending on how other priorities end up emerging," said David Greene, vice president for campus life and student services.
The top campaign priority for campus life is raising the final $10 million needed for the fitness center, Greene said. Three alums, including Nelson, donated a total of $20 million in September 2004 for the new fitness center.
Greene said another campus life focus for the campaign is improvement to residence halls, with an ultimate goal of reducing the number of upperclassmen who live off-campus.
"When I first came over to this position, I don't think I realized how significant of an issue (off-campus housing) was. But looking at it now, it is a very high priority," he said.
The Plan for Academic Enrichment calls for an additional 300 residential hall units and upgrades to existing dorms every 30-35 years.
Greene said he hopes that newer on-campus apartments will fulfill upperclassmen's desires for more independent living options while providing all the benefits of living on-campus - including safety and security.
The large number of students living off-campus - 1,225 this academic year - also affects life on campus, Greene said.
"I think if we had more students living on-campus, we'd have greater participation in cultural and arts events, lectures and other things that are happening on campus. Students would be more connected to campus," he said.
Plans also call for improvements to the Sharpe Refectory and Rockefeller Library. Greene said work on those facilities over the next several years will more likely occur through incremental steps than through top-to-bottom renovations.
"We have to keep moving on improving these (facilities) so there are visible, high-impact projects that improve the lives of students, even knowing that there is bigger work to be done," he said.
A campus center - a facility Simmons has said Brown is sorely lacking - is indefinitely on hold, Greene said.
Last year, administrators conducted a feasibility study and found that the Metcalf Research Laboratory or a building along the proposed Walk between Lincoln Field and the Pembroke Campus were promising sites for the campus center.
"I continue to think that it would be a good thing for Brown. It could really have a salutary effect on the lives of students. But there are a lot of other things that we need to do in the meantime," Greene said.
One reason the project is delayed is that there is a natural limit to the number of capital projects the University can undertake at any one time. Currently, construction of the Life Sciences building is nearing completion, and construction of Sidney Frank Hall, the Nelson Fitness Center and the Friedman Study Center and renovations to Pembroke Hall and Rhode Island Hall are all planned for the next few years.
Most campus life improvements involve expensive, large-scale capital projects, but Greene said the campaign will also raise money for a variety of smaller improvements, including renovations of student lounges, social areas and athletic facilities.
Improving the Graduate School
The Plan for Academic Enrichment also called for more support for the Graduate School, including providing students with health insurance and increased stipends and engaging in a fresh effort to attract more top-quality students.
"The improvements to the Graduate School go hand-in-hand with improvements at the University as a whole," said Dean of the Graduate School Sheila Bonde, who assumed her current position in July 2005 after 21 years at Brown as a history of art and architecture professor.
Bonde said both the Grad School and academic departments have put more effort into recruiting top candidates - an effort that has paid off with an increase in applicants, making the Grad School more selective.
New programs to be funded by the campaign include an effort to improve the residential experience for grad students, she added.
The Plan as a "driving force"
The Plan for Academic Enrichment is now almost four years old. Some details of the Plan have been altered since its creation, but Simmons and her senior administration continue to steadfastly support its main vision.
"The fundamentals of the Plan still remain the driving force. The basic initiatives are still in place," said Spies, Brown's chief planner.
The ambitious Plan has created a buzz across campus and in higher education circles. Administrators from across the University are excited by the Plan and the fundraising campaign that it has spurred.
"People are really impressed by the changes that are planned. Many of the people who are thinking about coming to Brown or who have accepted our offers have noted this palpable sense of movement and excitement. It's nice to be at a place where new things are going on," Vohra, the dean of the faculty, said.
The creation of the Cogut Humanities Center and the Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World have helped contribute to this buzz surrounding the Plan's initiatives, Vohra said. While humanities programs tend to be stagnant at other universities, with most growth focused on the sciences, this is not the case at Brown, he said.
"Some of the things the University was able to do earlier in Simmons' term created a buzz that said, 'Wow, that is bold, that is aggressive.' The fact that we have been able to keep it up ... shows that Brown is a force to be reckoned with," Spies said.
