State of the University
Fall 2007

I am pleased to have this opportunity to address the faculty and summarize the major accomplishments of this year. This has been an extraordinarily productive year, with much time and energy going to the key new projects of the medical school feasibility and the application to host a presidential debate. Work on the next Five-Year Plan has already begun under my direction, and its emphasis will be on enhancing academics, including increasing the number of full-time faculty, as well as the number of endowed chairs and distinguished professors, investing in scholarship and research, and building Hofstra's academic reputation through enhancing academic departments and centers. I believe that Hofstra is poised to leverage its past successes and move to the next level of academic excellence nationally and internationally.

I have briefly set forth below the key achievements of the past year.

New Medical School at Hofstra University

Since I briefed you last year about the possibility of establishing a medical school at Hofstra University in affiliation with North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, we have been meeting with the health system and with our consultants and lawyers to assess the feasibility of this exciting endeavor. We have formed a university-wide task force with administrators and faculty from various disciplines and schools to provide input. Although I have long believed that a medical school would benefit the University in highlighting science programs, providing interdisciplinary opportunities for new programs, and attracting high-achieving undergraduate and graduate students, the impetus for this project was the call by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the Council on Graduate Medical Education for an increase in U.S. medical school enrollment, with the AAMC noting the need for an increase of 30 percent by the year 2015. Our consultants have concluded that the new medical school is feasible and achievable, that there would be a pool of qualified applicants both locally and nationally, and that the partnership between Hofstra and North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, with its strong clinical education, service and research programs, would benefit both institutions as well as the Long Island community.

I am pleased to announce that Hofstra and the heath system have now signed a preliminary agreement as to the material terms of the new Hofstra medical school that was approved by both our boards. We are beginning the process of seeking approval from the New York State Department of Education, and accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, and are forming a search committee to begin the national search for a founding dean of the medical school. Subject to receiving preliminary accreditation, the first class (with an anticipated size of 30 students, building over time to a class of approximately 100) would enter in 2010 or 2011. I believe that this project will fundamentally advance Hofstra's academic profile and prestige, and hope that the entire faculty will embrace this project and take advantage of the many interdisciplinary opportunities that will present themselves as the medical school evolves.

Admissions

We continue to make exceptional progress in enhancing the academic credentials of the entering classes, and this has, by any measure, been an extraordinary year in admissions. We received more than 18,000 applications for this year's class of 1,735, an increase of 37 percent in applicants from the preceding year. Selectivity has greatly improved; we accepted 54 percent of this year's applicants, compared to 62 percent last year and 80 percent in 2000. I am pleased to report that this year the average SAT of the entering class is at 1179, representing an increase of 10 points from last year's average SAT of 1169. It is all the more remarkable that this increase was obtained with a first-year class that is about 20 students larger than last year, and in a year in which the national average SAT score declined by four points. The average GPA continues to improve, and now stands at 3.37, up from 3.26 last year. The percentage of students in the top 10 percent of their high school classes also improved, from 23 percent last year to 26 percent this year. (I note that 25 percent was the goal set forth in the Five-Year Plan, and we will now work to reach 28 percent moving forward.) Most significantly, 55 percent of this year's entering class graduated in the top 25 percent of their high school classes, as compared to only 46 percent last year. This year's first-year class had 12 valedictorians, compared to six last year, and 10 salutatorians, compared to six last year. And in another milestone, the percentage of first-year students from out of New York state is more than 50 percent, exceeding the 50 percent mark for the first time in our history, and up from 48 percent last year. Again, this has surpassed the goal set forth in the Five-Year Plan.

Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Jessica Eads and her staff have done a remarkable job this year, and deserve special praise for their efforts. They are now turning their attention to next year, with enhanced recruitment efforts both locally and nationally, and a particular emphasis on high school visits. They are also working on planning for an Office of International Student Recruitment, which over time would add staff and other resources devoted to the recruitment of international students, both undergraduate and graduate.

Honors College

Honors College continues to grow and prosper. The fall 2007 Honors College class is larger than last year's, with an entering class of 173 students, compared to 163 last year. The average SAT score for this year's class is 1321, compared to 1316 the year before, and the fall 2007 class has an average high school GPA of 3.95. Sixty-one (61) percent are in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating classes, and they come to Hofstra from 23 states, including California (5), Texas (2), Colorado (2), Oregon (1), Florida (1) and Tennessee (1).

Looking beyond the entering class, HUHC's overall enrollment is now at 804 students. This means HUHC has met its original goal of enrolling approximately 10 percent of Hofstra's undergraduate population. To get an idea of the impact these students are having at Hofstra, it is important to note that their average Hofstra GPA is 3.56. They have leadership roles in an array of campus activities, including the Student Government Association, The Chronicle, athletic teams, service organizations and honor societies.

After a national search for a dean of Honors College, I was pleased to appoint our own Professor Warren Frisina, who was one of the founding co-deans of Honors College, as the new dean and wish him every success in this role.

Retention and Student Services

Enhancing the retention and graduation rates of our students remains one of our highest priorities. Although this is not an issue susceptible to a "quick fix," as students leave for many different reasons, and identifying cause and effect in this context is a complex task, I am delighted to let you know that we have made some progress in the first-year retention rate for the class that entered last fall (fall 2006). Seventy-nine percent of that class returned to Hofstra for their sophomore year, the largest first-year retention rate in Hofstra's history, and up from a 77 percent retention rate for the class entering in fall 2005. The First-Year Task Force, which has been functioning for a number of years now, and consists of administrators, faculty and students, permits a unique conversation that cuts across various constituencies. The task force continues its important work of analyzing student satisfaction and retention and proposing improvements, and this year is focusing its attention on enhancing the student experience for transfer students and analyzing The Career Center and its opportunities.

The Division of Student Affairs under the leadership of Vice President Sandra Johnson has implemented a variety of new initiatives to enhance the student experience. This past year was the start of a multiyear effort to create a culture of excellent student service and support. We launched our Focus on Students campaign in February as the beginning of an organizational change to improve communication, processes and service across all departments under Student Affairs.

The overarching goal of the Focus on Students initiative is to provide personal and individualized support for students and strengthen the sense of community on campus with a better integration of all elements of undergraduate life. A number of departments were reorganized, including the Center for University Advisement, Parent and Family Programs, Services for Students With Disabilities, and the areas under the Dean of Students. It is the mission of the new organization to ensure that students receive the maximum educational benefits, in and out of the classroom, that can be derived from their time at Hofstra.

A new advising structure was created to ensure continuity in each student's experience and create a direct connection to the wide-ranging support system at Hofstra. All undergraduate students have been assigned an advisement dean who works with students in exploring the opportunities that exist to discover their passions, strengthen their academic focus and expand their undergraduate experience. This same adviser will stay with the student throughout his or her years at Hofstra. In addition, all programs and services for students with disabilities – coordinated through our new Services for Students With Disabilities office. We are further committed to expanding the outreach and support of the Counseling Center and have opened a satellite office in the Netherlands residential complex this fall.

Another important constituency group to whom we are reaching out is our parents and families. In spring 2007 we launched the Office of Parent and Family Programs. Since the establishment of the office, we have successfully published a Parent and Family Handbook, met with more than 1,200 family members of the Class of 2011, gathered valuable data from an online parent survey and are currently planning for an unprecedented level of participation at our Family Weekend, October 19 and 20. It was particularly rewarding for me to have the opportunity to welcome more than 1,600 parents and families of the Class of 2011 on the first day of Welcome Week in August.

Leading the practice of introducing our new students to the academic and social constructs of campus life, we now have a dedicated Office of Orientation and New Student Programs. This past summer, more than 94 percent of the incoming first-year class attended a summer orientation program, and our Welcome Week continued the momentum. We introduced new traditions, such as a welcome from the provost the day following move-in, a class banner, and alumni participation in our welcome to the community, and continued with traditions such as our new student carnival and club fair the day before classes began and our Convocation for New Undergraduate Students.

The new Office of Multicultural and International Student Programs is committed to the collaborative development of programs and events that educate the campus community and raise awareness and understanding of different racial, ethnic and cultural groups, as well as issues pertaining to discrimination, safety and wellness.

The Office of Residential Programs began the second year of the Netherlands living/learning complex with three new learning communities: the Civic Engagement house, the Arts house and the Health Sciences house. We were encouraged with the level of interest and ended the assignment process with more students than we could accommodate. Combined with newly renovated classrooms, we anticipate a lively living community for our first-year students. This year, the number of first-year students living on campus increased to 79 percent, up from 70 percent last year and the largest percentage in our history.

Safety and Emergency Preparedness

The University implemented a comprehensive plan to enhance Hofstra's emergency preparedness that includes a campus-wide public address system, an expansion of the campus closed-circuit television network, the installation of a television alert system, the addition of a high-speed emergency notification system, the installation of a remote building locking system, the hiring of a full-time fire and safety officer with 27 years' experience, and the hiring of a new director of emergency preparedness, who will oversee the University's emergency management and disaster preparedness systems. With the assistance of consultants, we have also prepared comprehensive disaster recovery and business continuity plans for administrative units. Although it is impossible to make any large campus absolutely secure, we are confident that we have invested so as to ensure the safety of our students and community to the fullest extent possible.

Five-Year Plan

The Five-Year Plan, which covers the period from 2005 to 2010, continues to guide our academic planning and implementation. The 2007-08 budget included the enhancements outlined for the year in the academic plan (eight new full-time faculty lines, increased scholarships, additional staff for Orientation and New Student Programs, the Center for University Advisement, and The Career Center, start-up funds for science faculty, funds for enhanced stipends for grant generation, library resources, expansion of the First-Year Connections program, and funds for social and academic enrichment activities, and as well as additional computer software and hardware). It also included additional funding for a faculty line in suburban studies, additional support for new administrative positions, including new positions in Institutional Research and Student Accounts, as well as investing monies to support accreditation and outcomes assessment, and support for a new imaging project and escalations in technology costs. We are monitoring the University's progress toward meeting the goals of the Five-Year Plan on an ongoing basis, and have already exceeded several of our targets.

Academic Initiatives

The 2006-2007 year was a year of continued enhancement of the academic core of Hofstra University, with many new initiatives at all levels. The First-Year Connections program now includes 20 clusters and 37 seminars and serves almost 1,000 of our new first-year students. If you add to this Honors College, New College, School for University Studies, and NOAH (The Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program), we are serving more than 80 percent of our incoming class with specially designed and highly supportive first-year programs. Each of these programs has been significantly strengthened in recent years and, in the case of the first-year clusters and seminars, the number of options substantially expanded as well.

At the doctoral level, we have added a new program in the School of Education and Allied Human Services. This program, the Ed.D. in Learning and Teaching, is ideal for a master teacher who is interested in a leadership role in ensuring effective and creative teaching.

Other new graduate programs include the School of Communication's master's programs in Journalism and in Documentary Studies and Production. The School of Communication is also opening its Converged Media Room and adjacent multimedia classroom, both high-end centers for the cross-training of journalists and broadcasters, which will include PC and Mac computers, equipped with Avid nonlinear digital editing software and i-News. Large plasma screens will provide displays of resource material, while cross-media news and information coordination systems (e.g., Pathfire) will help manage content.

Our Zarb School of Business continues its focus on more specific M.B.A. programs, with a program in Sports and Entertainment Management, a new M.B.A. in Human Resources Management, as well as another new program being finalized in Real Estate and Real Estate Finance. The Zarb School has completed a proposal to begin an ambitious program in Chinese Business Practices that involves developing relationships with Chinese institutions, exchange programs, and the development of courses and programs for Chinese students, Chinese business leaders, and Americans interested in doing business in China; also, the Harold Lazarus Endowed Chair in China Studies was created through the generosity of Hofstra Trustee Alan Bernon.

The Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency has begun its important work and, under the leadership of Dr. Meena Bose, will host its first conference on "The Road to the White House" in April 2008. The Department of Religion, which was created last year, now offers a B.A. in Religion, hired Dr. Balbinder Singh Bhogal to fill the Sardarni Kuljit Bindra Endowed Chair in Sikh Studies, and has begun recruiting for the new Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies. The Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize, established by the family of Mr. Ishar Bindra, which also endowed the Bindra Chair in Sikh Studies, aims to encourage interfaith activities by awarding a biennial prize of $50,000 to an individual or organization that has made significant contributions to the promotion of religious dialogue and/or peace.The announcement of this year's award generated more than 75 nominations from all over the world. The award winner will be announced before the end of the year.

The National Center for Suburban Studies will be under the new leadership of Larry Levy, formerly of Newsday, who will focus on enhancing the visibility of the center and undertaking new projects, studies and conferences. And the newly created Wilbur F. Breslin Center for Real Estate Studies, which is to be endowed by a generous gift from Wilbur Breslin and led by Vice President Richard Guardino, will combine Hofstra Law School real estate courses and programs, an M.B.A. in Real Estate at the Zarb School, and conferences, research and publications relating to the real estate industry under the auspices of a single center.

Hofstra College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has completed the design of a new, completely online master's program in Computer Science, which will begin in January 2008. The program will be followed by a completely online master's program in Physician Assistant Studies.

On the undergraduate level, we have new HCLAS bachelor's programs in Women's Studies, Chinese, and Chinese Studies.

As we continue to expand our choices and offerings at all levels, we also continue to add to our full-time faculty. We added another seven full-time faculty lines last year, and eight more are authorized for this year. These additional lines enhance our full-time faculty coverage and are not tied to any enrollment increase.

Great progress was made in the initial stages of our accreditation marathon, with extensive work already being done in business, journalism, psychology, speech, education and allied human services, as well as our Middle States accreditation, which covers the entire university. Complementing the accreditation effort is the focus on outcomes assessment, which directly involves everything we do in the classroom. For example, beginning last year, we have placed learning goals on course outlines so that we know what the expected outcomes will be and we are then able to assess whether these outcomes have occurred.

Our commitment to increased diversity has been strengthened by our faculty exchange program with Claflin University. I very much appreciate Professor Dan Sciarra's participation last year, and I am most pleased that Professor Shalon Irving will be Hofstra's visiting professor at Claflin this coming spring. I also believe that the report of the provost's Task Force on Diversity is an important document in fulfilling our important goals in this area.