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Remarks by President Dennis L. Hefner on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, at the SUNY Fredonia General Campus Meeting

Good morning and welcome back for the start of the spring semester. Until this past week, it felt more like the beginning of the fall semester, as winter had nearly disappeared from Western New York. The temperatures were so balmy over the past two months, the campus enjoyed savings by not heating buildings, not plowing streets, and not using ice melt on the sidewalks—that last remark better not jinx us for the remainder of winter.

I hope the break gave all of you a chance to visit with family and friends. In a deviation from our normal pattern, Jan and I did not visit our grandchildren over the holiday break. Instead, we went house hunting in North Carolina, where we have decided to retire. But don’t worry, we will not be neglecting our three grandchildren, as Jan and I travel to Austin, Texas, in early February to attend Grandparents Day at their school.

Intersession saw another successful J-Term, with head count and credit hours only 4 percent below their respective all-time highs. Also, over the break, the SEFA Committee announced our campus once again surpassed its target—for the 15th consecutive year! —thanks to the generosity of so many of you.

Two weeks ago Kiplinger’s Finance Magazine released its “Best Buys” in higher education, and SUNY Fredonia was again ranked among the “100 Best Public College Values in the Nation”—a designation we very much deserve.

Spring semester is the time for new student leadership. I would ask that our newly elected Student Association President Jordan Nicholson, a junior Social Studies Adolescent Education major from Mayville, N.Y., who also is the voice of Blue Devil Hockey, and SA Vice President Erin Dorozynski, a sophomore Business Administration/Management major from Pine Plains, N.Y., stand and be recognized. Both have served in numerous student leadership positions and will do a great job leading SA over the next 12 months.

Spring is also the time for admitting next fall’s freshman and transfer classes. As expected, because of a statewide drop in the number of high school graduates, applications to all SUNY University Colleges declined by 6 percent. Fortunately, we fared somewhat better, and are only 2 percent below last year’s application total.

Dennis Hefner talks to fculty and staff at the All Campus Reception in January 2012.

At last year’s spring semester all-campus meeting, academic departments were asked to work closely with our Enrollment Management team to turn acceptances into paid deposits. The response from across the campus was uniformly positive, and I am so grateful that your efforts allowed our campus to enroll one of our best freshman classes ever. Today, I am again reaching out to everyone, and especially our academic departments, asking you to keep enrollment activities near the top of your spring priorities in order to maintain the academic quality of our incoming class.

Two days ago we welcomed 83 South Korean students to campus as part of our 1+3 program with Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, better known as HUFS. These students, who are majoring in a wide range of academic programs, come to us with excellent English skills and with a full year of university credit. They are regularly enrolled Fredonia students, and will be with us for the next three years. A formal welcoming ceremony was held in Rosch Recital Hall, and we were honored to have HUFS’ president, Dr. Chul Park, in attendance. It was impressive to see so many faculty and staff attending the ceremony to extend a warm welcome to these students. Student enrollment was so successful that the numbers exceeded both our and HUFS’ expectations, so next year we will be admitting a smaller 1+3 class to bring the program into alignment with our original projections.

Now for news from Albany. Carl McCall, former state comptroller and a strong advocate for public higher education, was recently appointed Chair of the SUNY Board of Trustees, replacing Carl Hayden, an Elmira native, who worked diligently during the past four years to do whatever he could to help SUNY campuses survive the economic downturn.

On Jan. 9, SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher presented her 2012 State of the University address. Her remarks included a commitment to expand shared services between campuses, to further shift resources toward academics and student services, to work toward elimination of remedial courses at all four-year SUNY campuses, to standardize data systems, and to begin initial steps toward implementing a performance-based funding model for SUNY. The exact approaches to achieving these goals will be developed in the coming months.

Two weeks ago, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s State of the State message provided positive comments about SUNY and about public higher education, both in educating our population and in assisting with economic development. On Tuesday of this week, he released the Executive Budget and the news about next year’s operating budget is much better than the past four years, and although not great, not even close to great, it’s better than any budget I have seen during my time in SUNY. As a result, there is no need for me to distract you by juggling, wearing silly hats, performing stupid skits, or having the Fredonia State cheerleaders lead us in the “Empowerment” cheer. In 14 of the past 16 years we have cut our operating budgets. During this long period, Fredonia’s per student funding from the state, adjusted for inflation, declined by a whopping 74.6 percent.

Today, I’m pleased to report that we begin the process of reversing this downward spiral. The Executive Budget provides for “maintenance of effort,” which has been defined as freezing our budget at last year’s state funding level, meaning no further cuts. There are a few modest dollars to cover any costs associated with the collective bargaining contracts, but all other inflationary costs must be covered by tuition. We haven’t seen maintenance of effort and a few inflationary dollars in many years, so this budget truly is a reversal. I had hoped that the Executive Budget would continue the practice of reducing the “tax on tuition” by another 10 percent, but given statewide fiscal challenges, this action was not included. However, on the positive side, Governor Cuomo reiterated support for the rational tuition policy passed last summer by providing spending authority for a $300 tuition increase. From this increase, $75 will be returned to Albany to augment student financial aid, while the remaining $225 stays on campus and generates approximately a million dollars. How’s that for an operating budget report?

It’s pretty exciting, but we can’t get too excited. Remember, the campus is currently running an annual structural deficit of $6.6 million, and next year we must begin the multi-year process of correcting this imbalance. Inflation is likely to require $200,000 and another $400,000 must be used to cover the special, non-recurring, one-time dollars used to close this year’s gap. However, we can and should get excited about restoring $400,000 worth of items that assist in the long term success of this campus. The exact list of restorations will be developed this spring, but one item has already received approval for next year. Sabbaticals, which were cancelled this past year, have been restored for the 2012-13 academic year. Thanks to the rational tuition plan, next year we will reduce the structural deficit from $6.6 to $5.8 million. It took a number of years to create this structural deficit, and it will take a number of years to dig us out of this deep hole. Fortunately, the digging has begun!

My final comment about the operating budget involves saying “thank you” to each of you for keeping this campus moving forward during what have been some of the most difficult budgets our university has ever faced. Thank you for your dedication, thank you for your commitment, and thank you for your willingness to go above and beyond.

Now for the other part of the budget that has been good news for quite some time: construction. The $60 million Science Center is currently well ahead of schedule, and within the next four or five weeks, steel will begin rising from the ground and the immense size of this project will become clearly visible. Maytum Hall is on schedule for completion this summer after three long years of vacancy, and the Williams Center remodel is progressing nicely, with the first and second floors reopening for the fall semester. Due to work on the spine’s support pillars, the roadway between the Williams Center and Jewett Hall has been made “one way.” It is an unfortunate, temporary inconvenience, but a necessary step to keep this project on schedule. The road should become two-way again in April of this year.

The fitness center bids were within budget and construction begins following graduation. Construction of the new 196-bed townhouse apartment complex located near the softball field also begins this summer. Design of the $40 million Rockefeller Arts Center Addition is moving forward, and construction should begin next spring.

As I said during the fall all-campus meeting, this current year represents the low point in our operating budget. Nevertheless, when the vice presidents were asked to provide a list of accomplishments from this past semester, they identified a very long list. Here are 10 highlights selected from their lists:

1. Yo-Yo Ma. Fall 2011 will be remembered as the “Semester of Yo-Yo Ma.” Just prior to his visit, I joked that Yo-Yo Ma was having a pretty good week. First President Barack Obama presented him with the Kennedy Center Honors, and then he had the privilege of travelling to Fredonia in the dead of winter. But in truth, it was Fredonia that was having an incredible week. His two-day visit to our campus, as a Williams Distinguished Visiting Artist, was filled with many highlights, from teaching a master class to a filled King Concert Hall to his performance with our College Symphony. Words used by our music students to describe his two-day residency included “magical,” “inspiring,” and “life-changing.” Kudos to Karl Boelter, the School of Music faculty and staff, and everyone else involved in making this historic event a reality.

2. Student Performances. Two other student performances deserve special recognition. The Hillman Opera production of the “Merry Wives of Windsor” was stunning in every way, as more than 200 students, on-stage and behind-the-scenes, came together to produce a magnificent opera. “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” invited several audience members onto stage each night. I had the pleasure of being on stage one of those nights, and was so impressed by the ability of the actors to keep the play moving forward while at the same time directing a group of people on stage who had absolutely no idea of what was going on. And the “I Love You” song was one of the most moving and poignant numbers I’ve ever seen performed on this stage.

3. “Doors to Success” Campaign. Although SUNY Fredonia’s timing for the $15 million “Doors to Success” capital campaign couldn’t have been worse—the formal campaign announcement occurred only weeks before the nation’s economy entered the Great Recession—I am delighted to announce that the campaign, which ended on Dec. 31, 2011, raised more than $16.7 million, nearly $2 million above target. Congratulations to Vice President David Tiffany and our University Advancement staff and to the many others on campus who participated in this campaign either through donations, solicitation of gifts, or helping identify potential donors. We are also indebted to the fine work of the Fredonia College Foundation board members, and to our national campaign chair David Carnahan, who was so instrumental in helping us reach our goal.

4. Grant. Despite a difficult funding climate and significant competition, the campus won a five-year, $2 million Project MAST2ER (Mathematics and Science Teacher Training in Educational Resources) grant in collaboration with the Jamestown and Dunkirk city school districts. The grant will annually support 50 mathematics and science teacher candidates and 10 teacher mentors from partnering districts. The principal investigators are Drs. Barbara Mallette (Education, Emeritus) and Holly Lawson (Chemistry and Biochemistry).

5. Campus Planning. Drafts of three major planning initiatives were prepared during the fall semester: (1) The Task Force on Baccalaureate Goals report identifies four critical student learning goals; (2) the new five-year strategic plan, entitled, “The Power of SUNY Fredonia,” focuses on five areas that dovetail nicely with SUNY’s system-wide strategic plan; and (3) the SUNY Fredonia Report Card, which compares campus statistics with national benchmarks, is scheduled for release next month.

6. Diversity Discussions. A series of diversity discussions involving faculty, staff, and students resulted in completion of a work plan to improve our campus’ climate for diversity. Key action items include revising the policies and procedures for handling reported hate crimes/incidents, creating a student diversity corps, upgrading relevant websites, and scheduling a “Diversity Summit,” which will be held on Wednesday, Jan. 25 in King Concert Hall and will feature a major presentation by Dr. Maura Cullen. Additionally, Dr. Cullen will be conducting two diversity training workshops while on campus. Free tickets to attend her presentation can be obtained from the ticket office. I hope you will encourage students to attend this important event.

7. Campus Naming Opportunities. This fall the campus saw a number of naming opportunities that assisted with our fund-raising efforts. In October, the Rockefeller Arts Center gallery was renamed the Cathy and Jesse Marion Art Gallery, in honor of an alumnus and her husband, who are true patrons of the arts. Our Science Center also saw 14 naming gifts totaling nearly $900,000. We love installing those name plaques on the wall because it means our students will be receiving more scholarships and experiencing more educational enrichment opportunities.

8. Individual Recognitions. Geoscience Professor Gary Lash was named by Foreign Policy magazine to its “Top 100 Global Thinkers” list for 2011, in recognition of his and a Penn State faculty member’s pioneering Marcellus Shale research, which the magazine described as “upending the geopolitics of energy.” Joining Gary on this impressive list were President Obama, Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke, and Microsoft Founder Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda. Reilly Condidorio became the first All-American in the history of our women’s soccer program, and the Golden Key International Honour Society selected SUNY Fredonia student Zhuojun “Georgie” Fu as its 2011 International Student Leader of the Year.

9. Incubator. A recent report issued by the Rockefeller Institute showed SUNY Fredonia’s incubator produced 46 percent of all new start-up firms generated by SUNY-affiliated incubators statewide during a 12-month period. Also, the Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce honored the incubator as the Outstanding Economic Development project in the county at its annual banquet held in October.

10. Master’s degree in Music Therapy. The master’s degree in Music Therapy was officially launched in fall 2011. Ten graduate students are currently enrolled and the level of interest in this new degree program has been stronger than expected.

This spring promises to be very busy. In addition to completing the planning documents previously mentioned, we will finalize and submit our Middle States progress report, which focuses on assessment of student learning and consistency in personnel review practices. RecycleMania begins shortly, and our campus is looking to improve on last year’s best ever finish.

This year’s convocation events, centered on the theme, “Taking Risks: Rewards and Repercussions,” continue into the spring. Our fall convocation keynote speaker, Karthik Bala, did a wonderful job with the exception of one line where he said going to college and then to graduate school like his parents had done was just too ‘old school’ for him. Unfortunately, he failed to tell students that: (1) he completed his undergraduate degree in a timely manner, and (2) he is currently working on an Executive M.B.A. Next year’s convocation theme, “How the Media Shapes Our Self Identities” will kick off in September when Jean Kilbourne travels to Fredonia to give the Maytum Convocation Lecture.

One other special event for fall will involve a multi-day residency by a world famous opera performer. This residency will occur thanks to the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Star, who were so impressed by Yo-Yo Ma’s visit to campus, that they offered to financially assist with another visiting artist. The School of Music is working on the final contract, and expects to make a formal announcement shortly.

During the break, the Presidential Search Committee conducted airport interviews and the name of each of the five finalists will be released four days prior to their campus visit. Jan and I have already put an offer on a house, so we’re really counting on the search committee releasing a list of outstanding finalists.

I want to conclude my remarks with a few personal observations. Today is the 31st and final time I have the pleasure of speaking to you at the General Campus meeting. There are so many lasting memories that Jan and I will bring with us to North Carolina: witnessing the beautification of the campus, with the planting of perennials and annuals, addition of banners, and placement of benches; awarding President’s Awards, Chancellor’s Awards, and Distinguished Professorships to so many deserving faculty and staff; meeting distinguished campus visitors, such as Isaac Stern, David Halberstam, and Dr. Maya Angelou; securing the funding that resulted in the design and construction of more than $360 million worth of building and renovation projects; swimming for the very first time in the Natatorium; meeting with donors and alumni from across the nation and the globe who genuinely love this university; working directly with the members the Fredonia College Foundation, the Fredonia Alumni Association, the College Council, and the many other advisory groups who are dedicated to making this campus a better place; eating weekly at the dining halls to hear directly from the students; walking on this stage with my 5-month-old granddaughter (Jillian) to introduce her to all of you; cooking and serving breakfast at the President’s House for nearly 300 faculty and staff spread over 20 different days to encourage giving to the SEFA campaign; making, wrapping, boxing, and distributing nearly 50,000 pieces of my “blue-ribbon winning” homemade caramel candy; installing a Peace Pole on campus and rededicating it every year; approving implementation of the “Fredonia in 4” plan; sharing together in the sorrow generated by 9/11; flying safely across this stage four times as part of the tornado scene in the “Wizard of Oz,” thanks to the skill of three students who nicknamed themselves “Air Force 1;” playing the toy triangle with our chamber orchestra; savoring peanut butter bombe cake and macadamia nut cookies; predicting and then 12 years later seeing the Scholar’s Breakfast become so large it was moved to Steele Hall; shaking hands with nearly 19,000 SUNY Fredonia graduates; and, along with Jan, welcoming you to those wacky and wonderful all-campus parties. My head is filled with a wondrous kaleidoscope of people, places, and events that reach far beyond these few examples. But what I am most proud of is the way the faculty and staff on this campus came together to work as a team. From the day we arrived, Jan and I worked diligently to emphasize teamwork, to let everyone know that each of your contributions, no matter how different from that of others, truly makes a difference in the overall performance of this university. It has been an honor and a joy to work with you, to serve as your president, and to see the difference you have made in the lives of our students.

So, for the 31st and final time, I have the honor and the pleasure of concluding my remarks with these four words, “Have a great semester!”