My report to you has four major headings; the current status of UPG, major events since our last meeting, community-related activities, and the progress of our plans to increase academic excellence.

Current Status of UPG

As we near the end of the year 2001, UPG continues to prosper.  Enrollments remain at record-breaking levels and will do so in the spring semester.  As you know, UPG has nearly reached the limits of growth.  We do not intend to admit more freshmen in 2002 than we did in 2001.  This has allowed us to set even higher standards for admission than in the past, and those standards have gone up every year since 1998.  Early results show that despite heightened standards, more students than ever before are applying for admission in the fall of 2003.
 In other areas of campus operations, things are also going smoothly.  Our faculty continue to publish important research.  For example Associate Professor Donald Liddick of our Administration of Justice program has published his fourth volume titled the Government for Sale:  Political Fundraising, Patron/Client Relations and Organized Criminality.  Associate Professor Sayre Greenfield and his wife, Linda Troost, who is a faculty member at Washington and Jefferson College, have put out the second editions of their very well received work titled Jane Austen in Hollywood.

The UPG staff have also been active.  Janet “Dolly” Biskup was designated as a winner of the Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Staff service at a ceremony held in Oakland last week.  She is the second UPG person to be so honored.  Carol Calloway received the award a few years ago.

You may have read about reports from the Federal government that vans have a greater tendency to roll over than other types of vehicles.  UPG and all Pitt campuses have a great dependency on vans to transport athletic teams, student outings, and to handle any number of business-related needs.  We have proposed and Oakland has agreed that UPG will develop and implement a training program that must be taken by anyone wishing to drive a university van.  The program is now in place and includes a background check to eliminate anyone with a poor driving record.  Many UPG personnel including the entire President’s Cabinet have gone through this training session.

Major Events Since Our Last Meeting

The fall semester is always a very busy time at UPG and this semester certainly fit the pattern.  This past October we held the second St. Clair Lecture featuring Dr. Colin Calloway of Dartmouth College.  The event and surrounding activities were very well attended.
The always-outstanding Cultural Series lecture was delivered by Robert Krulwich of ABC News.  Mary Catherine Bateson, daughter of Margaret Mead, spoke at the inauguration of our fourth academic village, the Behavioral Sciences Academic Village.  Both presentations were outstanding and attracted large audiences.

Just last week the campus welcomed Mary Simeti, a well-known author on historical and contemporary Sicily.  American-born, she went to Sicily after graduating from Radcliff in the 1960s and decided to stay there.

Our theater program, under the leadership of Assistant Professor Kimberly Jew, continues to develop strength.  A few weeks ago, her students did an excellent job of producing The Lion in Winter.

In sports, UPG’s men’s soccer and golf teams were invited to their respective Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Tournaments.  The golf team finished second in extra holes after being tied at the end of regulation.  The soccer team lost its first game in the tournament but came very close to winning.

Besides these high points there were numerous other student or village sponsored activities.

Community-Related Activities

UPG continues to expand its impact on the surrounding communities it serves.  UPG again hosted the Walk to Cure Juvenile Diabetes.  Our men’s basketball team received nation-wide publicity through the NCAA newsletter for working with Hutchinson School children on improving their reading skills.  As you know, our Education students participate in reading clinic activities at Hutchinson every year.

The reading program at Hutchinson is not the only UPG effort to strengthen the local school systems.  For example, as part of the St. Clair Lectureship top high school history students participate in a seminar with the lecturer.  Another effort involves high school physics teachers.  Professor Ted Zalewkiewicz of UPG has developed impressive programs that bring secondary teachers up to speed on such topics as plasma physics.  I am pleased to report that the Grable Foundation has recently awarded UPG a grant of $30,000 over three years to support this program.

A few weeks ago, UPG was prominently featured at a press conference and then at a large civic gathering at the Courthouse organized by the Unity Coalition.  Through Special Assistant to the President Carol Calloway, UPG is a founding member of the Coalition.  Originally founded to combat Klan activities in the area, the Unity Coalition held this event to speak out against bias directed at Arabs, Arab-Americans, and foreigners generally in response to the events of September 11.  Many UPG students, faculty, and staff participated.

A few weeks ago, UPG hosted a town meeting on the issue of changing the laws governing juvenile justice.  Judge John Driscoll was a key organizer of this event along with Dr. Frank Wilson of our Administration of Justice program.  It was sponsored by the local bar and a statewide commission on legal reform.  This was the first of a series of town meetings to be held in the state.  UPG may host others.  Like other community activities at UPG, this event showed how service to community can be integrated into our educational programs.

UPG’s most important community commitment is the Smart Growth Partnership of Westmoreland County.  Alex Graziani, whom you met, is off to a great start as Executive Director.  He is already having a significant impact on local government officials and public opinion.

During this past month UPG and the Westmoreland County Historical Society took the lead in announcing formation of Westmoreland Heritage, another county-wide partnership that is dedicated to raising public appreciation of our remarkable history and to encouraging historical tourism.  There are 35 members on the Executive Committee including Dave Dahlman, Jack Robertshaw, Vance Booher, and myself.

Taken as a whole, UPG’s community service activities are notable for their breadth, the numbers of people involved, and their potential to influence the community in positive ways.  We remain committed to the idea that no student should graduate without a significant public service experience.

Plans to Increase Academic Excellence

UPG aims to be the best institution of its kind in the United States.  To do this we must have a vision, a plan, resources and a commitment to academic excellence.  You already know that the quality of the student population has dramatically improved.  You also know that we have good facilities, a dedicated staff, and an outstanding faculty.

Let me now talk about some of the ways we are building on that strong base.  The $1,000,000 given to us by the Katherine Mabis McKenna Foundation has been committed to laboratory renovation and science equipment upgrades.  Phase I of that project is nearly complete.  Without these improvements in our science facilities and equipment, UPG could not have hoped to compete for national recognition.

A second initiative relates to the $500,000 grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation.  We have a strong faculty and, thanks to other private gifts, we have good technology.  Faculty and students have easy access to computers and specialized software.  But how well do we really use technology to make our professors better teachers and our students better learners?

The Mellon grant will be used to integrate technology into the UPG curriculum.  I have appointed a Presidential Task Force to investigate how best to expend these funds to achieve our goals.  It will be reporting back to me in the spring.  Vice President McColloch, who is leading this effort, is currently at a conference in Baltimore where technology in the classroom is being explored.  If used wisely, the Mellon funds will put UPG into the forefront of institutions nationally who are effectively using technology.

Even as we plan for a future in which we link fine students, talented and dedicated faculty, and state-of-the-art technology, we must address the issue of how we measure or assess learning outcomes.  How effective are our programs?  How much do the students really learn?  And what does this information tell us about our national standing?

Last year we began our work in this area by conducting evaluations of our General Education requirements compared to peer institutions.  This year we are doing the same thing with our largest and most popular academic majors.  Eventually, every major will be investigated and evaluated.  In addition, I have appointed a second Presidential Task Force to look at the question of how to measure how much our students have learned in their academic programs.  Members of that task force have already attended one national conference to find out about the best practices nationally.  This task force will also report their findings to me this spring.

Excellence must be rewarded.  To encourage excellence, UPG has carefully calibrated its salary policies for faculty and staff and created new clubs to recognize students who do well in academic performance, athletics, and service.  There are special awards for faculty, staff, and students who excel.

I recently announced the formation of the Da Vinci Society, a new student honors society that has the most stringent standards of all for membership.  To be a member of the Da Vinci Society, a student must fully express in his or her record the full range of characteristics of the ideal UPG graduate.  These characteristics include superior scholarship, evidence of significant public service, proof of significant international experience, and a history of campus leadership.  A committee has been appointed to manage the Da Vinci Society program.  Some 23 students have applied for membership, which pleasantly surprised us.  We feel that no more than 3-5 students a year will be judged good enough to be inducted.  Those chosen will receive special recognitions and a scholarship.  The Da Vinci Society is being initiated as part of La Cultura.

To help more students meet the International requirements for the Da Vinci Society, we continue to expand opportunities for our students to travel abroad.  During the spring term UPG students will be traveling with faculty to London, Paris, Havana, and Guanajuato.  I am very pleased that fears generated by the events of September 11 have not deterred students from signing up for these trips.  Let me add parenthetically that we do have a University of Guanajuato student living in Rossetti International House this semester.  A Guanajuato faculty member will be here next fall.

To sum up, UPG is engaged in a number of important initiatives designed to give UPG national status as a high quality academic institution with a unique and important program to develop fully the intellect, social skills, and leadership of all our students.

This is my report and I welcome any questions or comments you may have.