President Richard L. McCormick Confident Rutgers Can Meet Academic, Research, Service Goals Despite Economic Challenges

View the video and full text of the speech

Rutgers President Richard L. McCormick said Friday during his Annual Address to the University Community that U.S. institutions of higher education, including The State University of New Jersey, will continue to confront  challenges brought on by a difficult economic climate.

McCormick expressed confidence, however, that steps taken to generate more revenue, implement cost savings and efficiencies, and invest strategically in people, programs, technology, and facilities will allow Rutgers to continue to prepare students for the 21st century workforce, foster the creation of new knowledge by faculty and improve the quality of life for all New Jerseyans.

“We cannot wait for the state to provide a windfall, nor can we delay while the economy recovers,” McCormick told an estimated 500 students, faculty, and staff at his eighth annual address.

He announced that in October, the university will launch the public phase of a $1 billion fundraising campaign, “Our Rutgers, Our Future” – also the title of his address at the first University Senate meeting of the academic year at the Rutgers Student Center on College Avenue.

“Some say we should not be starting a campaign in such bleak economic times. I say we must,” McCormick continued. “We need to give our students more scholarship support. We need to keep attracting world-class scholars to our faculty. We need facilities that match our ambitions. We need to continue our outreach as a state university.”

McCormick also spoke about Rutgers’ research strengths, especially in disciplines “where we can make a difference to something important – highway safety, childhood nutrition, wireless technology, urban entrepreneurship, and alternative energy.”  He cited the more than $430 million in research funding – a Rutgers record, with much of it from the federal government – earned by investigators last year, a $40 million increase from the previous year. ”

Rutgers must continue to expand existing revenue streams and seek new ones, McCormick said, especially in light of a two-decades-long decline of government support for public higher education in the U.S. The problem is not unique to New Jersey; America, a former world leader, now ranks 12th of 36 developed nations in the percentage of citizens with a college degree.

The economic downturn is helping to drive Rutgers’ search for new income sources, cost savings and strategic investments. McCormick observed that growth in online and off-campus educational opportunities extends the university’s outreach to more nontraditional and foreign students. Executive and continuing education, new master’s degrees, and summer and winter sessions are efficient and profitable. During the past year, revenue from off-campus degree completion programs increased by 14 percent, while income from online courses doubled.

McCormick said Rutgers has reduced energy expenditures by about 5 percent this year and anticipates an additional energy reduction of 7 percent for an annual savings of $5 million. In October, the New Brunswick Campus will start phasing in a new Internet-based phone system saving $1.4 million.

Rutgers has invested in 130 new faculty in fields from autism to municipal finance to high-energy physics. The university has placed resources into such new construction as the Gateway building in New Brunswick that will house the Barnes & Noble Rutgers Bookstore, the proteomics building on the Busch Campus and the renovation of Olson Hall in Newark.

Rutgers continues to invest heavily in student aid despite state budget cuts, including a mid-year rescission of $18.5 million followed by a $46 million reduction in the current year. The commitment to financial aid is especially noteworthy since students and their families must shoulder more of the burden in this troubled economy.

While McCormick acknowledged the entire university must engage in shared sacrifices during the ongoing fiscal crisis and that as unfortunate consequences, employees are experiencing a salary freeze and some layoffs will occur, he remains optimistic about the future.

“Rutgers has mighty challenges ahead, but also a wealth of talent and commitment among our faculty, staff, students, alumni, donors, board members, parents and friends,” he said. “I deeply appreciate the good will and extraordinary efforts that are being exerted across our university, by all in a tough time, to maintain quality and achieve our goals. Because of these efforts, we will meet the demands I have described today, just as we and those who came before us have done for nearly 250 years.”