President Ruth Simmons reiterated her commitment to enhancing Brown's international profile and welcomed new faculty members at the first faculty meeting of the semester Tuesday evening.
To continue strengthening Brown's international presence, Simmons said the University must "accelerate the pace of decision-making and step up our risk profile."
After acknowledging individual faculty members' involvement in international issues and work abroad, Simmons said attracting the best international students and becoming a global institution would prevent "isolationism and xenophobia from taking over this land."
International students are not currently admitted under a need-blind policy, but Simmons said a proposal for increased and "very important" international student aid - if not need-blind admission - would go before the Brown Corporation in October.
"The goal is that we are not making any decisions at all based on (students') ability to pay," Simmons said.
In an interview with The Herald earlier Tuesday, Simmons said some alums' experience working and living abroad has demonstrated that Brown lacks the international recognition she believes it should have. "We obviously have to change that," she said.
Simmons told faculty that after a summer "breather" spent evaluating her first five years at Brown, she realized her tenure has included some "missteps" and less ambitious goals. She then noted recent fundraising successes, including record years for the Parents Annual Fund, the Sports Foundation, the Brown Medical School Annual Fund and the College's Annual Fund, which she said reached "a phenomenal, phenomenal milestone" at $30 million last year.
Also in an earlier interview, Simmons told The Herald that improving physical spaces is among priorities for this year. "I'm impatient with the pace of improving spaces for our students," she said, adding that the Sharpe Refectory's lack of handicap accessibility until this year "mortified" her.
Following Simmons' address at the faculty meeting, Provost David Kertzer '69 P'95 P'98 cited assessing the "health of the College" as one of three primary initiatives for this year. Despite Brown's status as "an incredibly healthy college," Kertzer said the University's focus on undergraduate education will be re-examined. However, changes to the "sacrosanct" New Curriculum are not likely, he said.
Echoing Simmons' emphasis on Brown's global presence, Kertzer included "internationalization" in his three initiatives. When asked by a faculty member whether the University would accommodate additional international students through increasing the size of the College or accepting a larger percentage of non-American students, both Kertzer and Simmons said details of the effort are not yet determined.
A faculty committee led by Dean of the Medical School Eli Adashi will spearhead the third initiative listed by Kertzer, which involves strategic planning to bring the Medical School to what he called a "new level of stature."
Women scientists receive $3.3 million grant
The National Science Foundation yesterday awarded Brown a $3.3 million grant to encourage career development for female science and engineering faculty, Kertzer announced during Tuesday's faculty meeting. Funds from the NSF's Institutional Transformational Award will primarily support junior, and likely untenured, female faculty, he said.
Known as ADVANCE, the grant supports "innovative and comprehensive programs for institution-wide change," according to its Web site. Some of the grant's benefits, such as mentoring and possibly funding for research, will be available to all science and engineering faculty, said Pamela O'Neil, associate provost for policy and planning.
Though details of the program have yet to be confirmed, O'Neil said the grant will support career development awards and visits from outside experts. With the grant's support, female faculty selected through a competitive peer-reviewed process will be able to develop collaborative groups of their female colleagues from other institutions.
Ombudsperson appointed
As the University's first ombudsperson, Flora Keshgegian will mediate potential conflicts among faculty and administrators. Keshgegian, who arrived at Brown two years ago as a visiting scholar at the Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women, began the part-time job Aug. 1.
Potential disputes may include dissatisfaction from individuals or a group of faculty members regarding tenure status, promotions or sabbatical and funding approval, she said. A department's space needs could also generate conflict, Keshgegian said. "Wherever there's scarcity, there's going to be tension over it," she said of Brown's limited physical space.
