Remarks by President Frank A. Cassell:

As is customary, at the last Senate meeting of the year, I wish to report to the campus on the progress we have so far made in reaching the goals announced at our first-ever State of the Campus Convocation held last fall.  You may recall that some 75 goals were laid out at that time.  Of course, the year is not completed and some of our goals have not yet been fully met, although I am confident that most if not all will be satisfactorily addressed in the end.

Let me say that this has been an extraordinary year by any measure in the life of our institution.  It began, you remember, with the events of September 11.  I think we can all take pride in the solemn and thoughtful response of our students as they dealt with the shock and horror of those events.  The faculty and staff are also to be commended for their support of the students and the swift development of events and programs that helped everyone deal with their grief and their need to understand the causes of the disaster.

Rather than report on our progress on reaching all 75 goals, allow me to emphasize what I think are the most significant accomplishments so far.
 
1. Fundraising. UPG has nearly completed the first phase of its fundraising campaign.  Nearly $3.5 million has been raised.  Much of this money has already been committed to campus improvements such as ResCom, science laboratory refurbishing, and the front entrance project.  Plans for phase II of the campaign are now being formulated.

2. Recruitment. There have been no less than eleven faculty searches this year. While  a few of these may need to be renewed next year, I am pleased at the growing number of successful searches and the quality of those accepting appointments.

3. Enrollments.  As you know, we have reached the maximum student body size we can sustain. The challenge for this year was to pursue strategies that would maintain our size while increasing quality and taking into account a rising percentage of students remaining at UPG into their junior and senior years.  As a result, we are seeking a smaller but better prepared freshmen class for next fall. So far the results are most encouraging in terms of SAT scores and class rank.  For example, if percent trends continue, nearly 75% of next year=s class may be in the top 40% of their graduating high school class.  Almost 11% may be in the top 10%.  At present the average SAT scores are 1034, up from 1023 last year.  This represents tremendous progress.

4. Faculty achievement. This faculty continues to be productive as scholars, activeprofessionally and in the community, and committed to excellence in teaching.  Let us again congratulate Drs. Orange and Spore, our tenth and eleventh, recipients of the Chancellors Award for Distinguished Teaching.  As you know, Dolly Biskup received a Chancellor=s Distinguished Staff Service Award.
 
Let us also congratulate Dr. Savisky who will receive the campus distinguished teaching award, Dr. Tom Wolf, who will receive the distinguished service award, and Dr. Mary Beth Spore, who will receive the distinguished professional development award.

5. Community Service. UPG continued to evolve as an intellectual and service center for our community.  In addition to a host of fundraising events for local charities and benevolent institutions, UPG took the lead in two county-wide partnerships.  The first is the Smart Growth Partnership of Westmoreland County.  Based at UPG, Smart Growth has attracted nearly $500,000 of formulation support to underwrite its efforts to address issues of poor land use planning, sprawl, and congestion.
A second initiative, Westmoreland Heritage, seeks to increase public appreciation of our remarkable local history while encouraging historical tourism.  This organization is also based at UPG. Part of Westmoreland Heritage is our own St. Clair Lectureship which took place last October with Dr. Colin Calloway of Dartmouth as the speaker.

6. LaCultura. This unusual and highly successful program included our first-ever fundraising dinner and four lectures on the life and influence of Leonardo da Vinci. As part of LaCultura, UPG announced formation of its highest student recognition organization, the DaVinci Scholars.  Only 100 UPG students were deemed eligible to apply. In the end only five were judged worthy of the distinction by a faculty committee. DaVinci Scholars best represent the qualities we seek in all of our graduates -- academic excellence, commitment to service, and knowledge of the world community.
 
7. Academic Villages. This, our signature program, continued to develop strongly over the year.  The four villages have over 300 student members. They have truly become dynamic centers of intellectual and cultural programming. UPG representatives continue to be invited to national conferences to inform other institutions about our unique Villages.

8. Publicity.  In no previous year has UPG received so much and such favorable coverage in the media.  LaCultura, The Cultural Series, Smart Growth, Westmoreland Heritage, and the St. Clair Lectureship all drew significant press interest and some television coverage.

9. The Future. Increasingly we must begin to think about the future and the next steps in UPG's development.  Most of the goals set out in our original strategic  plan, Investing in Excellence, have been realized, and the end of growth will have broad repercussions.  This year I appointed two Presidential Task Forces, one on assessment and the other on incorporating technology into the curriculum.

The work of these task forces will help us formulate new strategies to reach our goal of national distinction.  But in addition, our thinking on physical plant development, curriculum development, and many other issues must become clearer. In the months ahead I shall be talking more with you about UPG=s future.
 
This relatively brief summary of the results of this very productive year has necessarily left out much of importance. Let me merely note that this was a year that also saw new academic programs adopted, improved campus publications, a successful implementation of a new Student Government Structure, successful competition by some of our athletic teams, growth and development in our alumni organization, expansion of our study abroad programs, growing strength in our Advisory Board, an increasingly active and very helpful UPG Staff Association, and heartening evolution of our new combined arts program which is rapidly becoming an important asset to the campus.

As I did last year, I plan to publish a President's Report that more fully addresses the many important developments at UPG. I again thank all of the faculty and staff, for it is you who are responsible for what is happening here at this institution.