State of Purdue University presentation
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[ Applause ]
>> In past years, I've given the State of the University Address
at a winter Senate meeting.
But the Senate leadership thought
that it would invite a broader audience
if it were a campus wide event that is open to everyone.
Hence, today.
So thank you.
It was a great idea.
The cameras are here to tape our presentation
so that we can upload these remarks to the Purdue website
and share our discussion with an even wider audience.
It's nice to see so many of you here.
Thank you for coming.
My goal is to bring you up to date on the progress
that has been made on the university's strategic plan
and to set out the challenges ahead and our responses to them.
In brief, Purdue is in good shape to weather the challenges.
Resilient, forging ahead and building our reputation,
partnerships and the physical plant.
I'll talk more about these bright points
for Purdue shortly.
But I have to acknowledge that all
around us, there are challenges.
It would not be notice to anyone here that we're in the midst
of tough fiscal times.
At least 45 states are experiencing budget shortfalls
for this year or next year,
and at least 28 states have already implemented
or proposed cuts to public colleges and universities.
Governor Mitch Daniels' recent State
of the State Address emphasized that Indiana is
in an economic crisis.
Not as bad as in some states, but bad enough to threaten some
of the most important projects that are in front of us.
We won't know, of course, our final state appropriation
until the legislative session ends in late April.
You know that the state appropriation is set
for a two year period called the biennium.
That is, for fiscal years 2010 and 2011.
There will be one more revenue projection before the end
of April, and that may have a significant influence
on the level of appropriations established
for the next two years.
In the governor's budget recommendation, which was made
in early January, Purdue would see a reduction
of approximately 5% of its state operating appropriation,
or approximately $16.9 million on a systemwide basis.
These numbers include the 1% recision for this year,
which was announced in December.
Additionally, a part of the recision announced in December,
$9.9 million was made to repair and rehabilitation funds.
Those are also cuts for the 2008/2009 fiscal year.
We've taken several precautionary measures.
I want to show you that they've been taken after a lot
of thought, and in a directive way
that doesn't impede our mission
to provide the best quality education.
We've made the decision
to suspend the special merit pay program.
And we've asked your leadership to review position vacancies
and travel on a case by case basis.
I would like to ask that everyone do his or her part
by measuring expenses against return on investment and look
for opportunities to cut costs responsibly.
Yet we will continue to pursue the goals
that make Purdue distinctive that position our university
to be even greater coming out of this recession.
This economic crisis is troubling,
but as someone recently said,
a crisis is a terrible thing to waste.
This is an opportunity to regroup and refocus,
to think about how to move forward smartly.
Now is the time to find new methods
to emphasize what we do well and discard or refocus the things
that we don't do as well.
We need to ensure that we're making the most
of our investments and trimming areas
with diminished productivity or redundancies wherever we can.
And I'd like to ask you to join me in this effort.
In the coming months, of course,
the senior administration will be looking at many inputs,
suggestions for cost saving reductions.
We urge the whole campus to be part of this effort.
We do have a roadmap for enhancing excellence.
It's something that many of you
in this room have helped to design.
It's, of course, our strategic plan, and it provides us
with a sign post to follow
through in these tough economic times.
The development of the strategic plan tap the ideas and expertise
of our students, of our staff and faculty
and other constituents and stakeholders across Indiana
to determine Purdue's direction going forward.
Some of you were on a Tiger Team.
There were eight of them.
You did a fantastic job, contributing more
than 3,000 hours of your valuable time
and countless ideas.
You discussed the issues, you made creative recommendations
and showed us the best paths to follow.
Others offered input on the strategic plan blog
or in the many open forums held
to discuss strategic areas of focus.
The Board of Trustees gave its approval
to the strategic plan on June 20th.
Three bold themes of our plan serve us today.
They are launching tomorrow's leaders, discovery with delivery
and meeting global challenges.
With these three areas as our overarching goals,
we set key priorities.
By identifying and prioritizing these targeted areas,
we were able to allocate our resources more effectively.
The key priorities we identified are student success,
faculty staff development and work life,
research competitiveness and economic impact, national,
global presence, and campus design.
As you look at this list, you can see that they follow
from our three overarching goals.
Under each of these five key priorities,
we created specific tasks and device metrics
to assess our progress.
We used as benchmarks other institutions
of high reputational ranking.
I'd like to now take you through each area
to let you know how we're doing, give you some examples
under each of these areas of our progress.
The first is student success.
More than half our tasks
for student success are underway already
in the new strategic plan.
One priority is to increase recruitment
of excellent students.
And we are doing so this year with the inauguration last fall
of the presidential and trustee scholarships
for students of the highest merit.
This has made us more competitive
for the best students, and already shows
in our academic profile.
We will continue to raise our admission standards
through several strategies;
requiring more rigorous coursework
in students' high school preparation, requiring,
as we've done for this incoming class next fall,
essays on admissions applications
and increasing the academic profile of Purdue;
enhancing retention measures
and keeping our integrated recruitment measures congruent
with the Purdue student experience;
messages of high expectations, exciting opportunities,
strong student support and the value of a Purdue degree.
We realize that our focus should not be
on how many students we enroll right after high school,
but rather how many we successfully retain
and graduate.
Student success stems from both the quality
of our entering students' credential and our capacity
and commitment to support
and teach them well during their first years with us.
Purdue West Lafayette is a challenging academic
environment, and admitting students
who are underprepared is not in their best interest
or in the best interest of the entire campus.
We're working closely with Ivy Tech,
our regional campuses and the Indiana Commission
for Higher Education to enhance transfer pathways for students
who need additional preparation after high school.
Increasing our transfer numbers will take us
out of remedial education and enable us to continue
to achieve overall enrollment goals,
balance our course offerings more selectively and effectively
and maintain accessibility for students when they're prepared
so that they're prepared to be successful,
and especially focusing on our Indiana residence.
Purdue faculty and administrators must partner
with other state institutions to ensure appropriate rigor
and transferability of courses that will enable transfers
to progress seamlessly toward earning a West Lafayette degree.
We are committed to doing that.
We still have a long ways to go.
But that is our goal post.
Purdue is also moving towards a requirement
of four years of high school math.
If there's a quick barometer of success, this is it.
Studies show that students
who take math throughout high school are more likely
to succeed in college no matter what they are major.
We are expecting more from entering students.
And research shows that the more you expect, the more you get.
A recent report by the National College Board showed
that Indiana lags most other states
in both high school graduation rate and college degrees.
The Indiana Commission for Higher Education is mindful
of this, and has set targets to be achieved
through its own white paper, its strategic plan.
Purdue will work with the Commission towards achieving the
common goals, but we expect our state funding to be favorable
in order to succeed in this.
Another priority for student success is to develop a plan
to ensure increased diversity of the student body.
To do so requires a focused campus wide strategy
in which all academic and student service areas are united
in goals and coordinated in approach.
Thus, we've created the position of vice provost for diversity
to take on this vital task.
This person would act as chief diversity officer
for the university.
Our national search for the best candidate is in progress.
In the interim, Dr. Carolyn Johnson holds the position
and is doing a great job for us.
Thank you, Carolyn.
Diversity is equally important in the faculty.
Here, we are changing the face of Purdue.
For this 2008/2009 academic year,
108 new faculty members have joined Purdue.
Of these hires, 71, or 66% of them,
are women and/or minorities,
and this is a trend we'd like to see continue.
Another key area for student success includes developing a
university wide core curriculum.
I'm gratified to see that the leadership
of the University Senate is very much engaged in this.
It has taken on this proposal.
Dozens of faculty members have volunteered to join this effort,
to look anew at the alignment of our curriculum
with learning goals in a new age.
Our strategic plan would also foster success
in gateway courses, in science, engineering and math,
through a new pedagogy.
These are under development by the colleges with a lot
of significant pilot programs, spectacular examples.
I'm very pleased to see the creative approaches
to enhancing the success of our students in these courses.
Here, we can truly develop national role models
for changing the face of freshman,
sophomore year education in these fields,
and retain many more students in what's called the STEM field;
science, technology, engineering and math.
Funding for increased financial aid
and scholarships became an important element
of our student success initiatives.
And that's why we developed access and success,
which is a $304 million campaign
that will expand student financial aid
and programs directed to student success at Purdue.
To date, we've achieved nearly 30% of our multiyear goal.
In addition to goals for various academic success programs,
like the common reading initiative,
the focus of the campaign is student scholarships.
There are opportunities that can match the interests and passions
of all alumni and friends at Purdue.
First, for those who want to help us attract the very best
and brightest to Purdue, the program that I mentioned,
our High Merit Presidential and Trustee Scholarships.
Next, to ensure that Purdue remains accessible
to the lowest income Indiana residents,
the Purdue Promise combines grant and work aid with academic
and social support for 21st century scholars,
beginning with the fall of 2009 class.
And third, a special interest to many donors
in the Purdue community, the Marquis Scholarship is targeted
for middle income Indiana residents who qualified
for little or no federal or state aid.
In the coming weeks, we will be announcing the qualifications
and eligibility for the Marquis Scholarship
for freshmen entering next fall.
And finally, in addition to these programs,
we also welcome new and enhanced scholarships
that support other enrollment goals,
such as supporting students
from particular geographic areas and school districts.
Diversity oriented scholarships that can be awarded
through our wholistic scholarship selection process
are also encouraged.
And the colleges have many more specialty scholarship programs
that they are offering.
In all of our marketing and financing messages
to both prospective and continuing Purdue students,
we continue to emphasize the value of a Purdue degree.
Employers continue to recruit our students
for both internships and permanent employment.
Our graduates who carry student loans have one
of the lowest default rates in the nation, less than 1%.
Over 90% of our recent graduates are employed or are
in graduate school within six months of graduation.
And in the past month, two external sources,
Smart Money Magazine and the Princeton Review,
have cited Purdue as a best value,
with a high return on investment.
We beat schools like Harvard and Yale.
We also just learned that Purdue beat a number
of Ivy League colleges in another area,
which is web popularity worldwide.
The goal of this ranking is
to provide an approximate popularity ranking
of worldwide universities and colleges based
on how much their websites are used.
And Purdue was number six in the world in this ranking.
Of course, the real value of Purdue is created
by our faculty and our staff.
It's their vital roles that shape the Purdue experience.
Our faculty, as you know, includes some
of the world's outstanding scholars and researchers.
Last year, for example, Jue Chen, Associate Professor
in Biological Sciences,
became the first Purdue University scientist
to be appointed as an investigator
for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute fellowships.
This is an incredibly prestigious award.
Twelve previous Hughes investigators have been honored
with the Nobel Prize.
Philip Nelson, a professor in Food Science,
was awarded agriculture's Nobel Prize equivalent,
the World Food Prize.
Dr. Nelson was honored for his work in aseptic processing.
It's a technology that allows processing of large quantities
of seasonal crops, like tomatoes and oranges
for long term storage and bulk transportation.
Yesterday, it was announced
that Dr. Les Geddes was the first recipient
of Indiana's Dr. Philip E. Nelson Innovation Award,
which was created by Governor Mitch Daniels
to recognize outstanding Hoosier scientists.
So we're doubly proud today,
proud at the honor that's being bestowed on Dr. Geddes,
and proud that the award is named by the governor for one
of our most esteemed faculty members.
This past fall, nine
of our faculty members won the National Science Foundation's
most coveted honor for outstanding young researchers,
the Faculty Early Career Development Award.
And some of you know English professor Robert Lamb.
He's taught here for 28 years and never missed a class.
The Carnegie Foundation named Dr. Lamb the Indiana Professor
of the Year.
Part of my job is to ensure that Purdue is led and managed
by top administrators across the state.
My first appointment as your new president was bringing hope
to the campus.
Danny Hope, that is, your new football coach.
Danny Hope is hard at work
at this very moment finding the best recruits for the team.
We're proud of our fine athletics program,
as it inspires the students to do their best,
and it engages our alumni.
Thank you to Morgan Burke for his leadership.
And good luck to all our coaches.
I've been recruiting some of the best academic
and business leaders for our university
to compliment the other terrific academic
and business leaders that we have here.
I'd like you to meet our new recruits in order
of their taking office.
And please hold your applause
until they've all been recognized.
Provost, Randy Woodson.
Randy, would you stand up?
Vice President for Research, Richard Buckius.
Vice President for Marketing and Media, Teri Thompson.
Vice President for Physical Facilities, Bob McMains.
Chief of Staff to the President, Carolyn Curiel.
Interim Executive Vice President for Business and Finance
and Treasurer, Jim Almond.
Vice President for Ethics and Compliance,
Alysa Christmas Rollock.
Associate Vice President
for Governmental Relations, Tim Sanders.
And we have three newly appointed deans,
Dean of Purdue Agriculture, Jay Akridge.
And I know he's on the road, because I was just with him
in Indianapolis earlier today.
Dean of the Graduate School, Mark Smith.
And Dean for the College of Education,
Maryann Santos de Barona, who will be joining us this summer.
I'd also like to mention
that Rab Mukerjea is now Executive Director
of Strategic Planning and Assessment,
overseeing the strategic planning more broadly
across the university.
I'd like you to help me show our appreciation to all
of these talented, dedicated people, and thank them
for coming to Purdue and staying at Purdue.
[ Applause ]
I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank all of you
who participated in the search process for these positions.
Many of the deans, many
of the faculty led these very important searches.
In some cases, as you see, we found the people
to fill these roles on the campus.
And then others we recruited from the outside.
It was a long process, and all
of you involved gave it your valuable time
and serious thought, and I thank you very much for that.
A second key priority area
within our strategic plan is faculty
and staff development and work life.
Within that area, we tasked ourselves
to enhance compensation and benefits.
For fiscal year 2009, which began, of course,
this past fall, we were able to have the highest salary raises
since fiscal year 2000, nearly 4% overall.
In less than three months from the board's approval
of our strategic plan,
the trustees adopted a paid parental leave policy.
The policy was first brought forward
in the University Senate, and then became a partnership
between the faculty and the staff and the administration.
This past fall, we saw the opening
of the Patty Jischke Early Care and Education Center.
Providing choices like these help our faculty and staff
to balance the demands of work, life and family life.
And addressing quality of work life issues is an essential part
of improving the Purdue experience
for our faculty and staff.
We have a long way to go.
We have a lot of current fiscal challenges.
But our strategic plan has given us direction.
Another priority area within our strategic plan is research
competitiveness and economic impact.
Here, too, we are making progress.
And I'll highlight a few recent accomplishments.
In the past six months,
Purdue has opened two new technology parks,
one in New Albany, which is in southeastern Indiana,
and one that we just dedicated in Indianapolis,
near the airport, last week.
These are in addition to the ones that we already have
in Maryville, and, of course, our Purdue Research Park
and Discovery Park right here in West Lafayette.
All of these are incubators for innovation,
and will help Purdue become one
of the top research delivery universities in the world.
And I'd like to personally thank Joseph Hornett
for his leadership with the new technology parks, in particular.
Thank you, Joe.
Remember our goal, discovery with delivery.
The facilities at Discovery Park are designed
for interdisciplinary research and provide a unique,
interdisciplinary infrastructure among science, engineering,
technology, education and other disciplines,
with the focus on global challenges.
Many of our faculty members are making important discoveries
that someday may help citizens of the world,
and indeed, are already doing so.
Last week alone, there were public announcements
of many stunning Purdue accomplishments in research.
And I'd like to just give three examples.
One was featured in today's Exponent,
out of Graham Cooks' chemistry lab, is a test for melamine,
a toxic found in Chinese food products.
Another, out of ECE, Professor Babak, Ziaie's team,
comprising mostly students heralds the record
for how long one can stretch an electrical conductor.
These liquid electrodes developed
in the Birck Nanotechnology Lab are being used
to study stresses on cardiac cells.
And a third announcement from a team led by Tim Fisher
in mechanical engineering concerns a new biosensor made
of gold coated nanocubes, tethered to carbon nanotubes.
The sensors could, in principle,
be used to continuously monitor blood glucose for diabetics.
Our distinguished faculty continues to inspire us
as they connect basic research to extraordinary applications.
I was proud to be one of those
who represented Purdue University at the inauguration
of President Barack Obama.
His pledge to quote restore science to its rightful place
and real technology's wonders, to raise healthcare's quality,
lower its cost, among many other things,
was an encouraging message
for great research universities like ours.
Successful research helps us gain wide attention.
This is the next key priority on our list of five,
national and global presence.
Increased visibility for Purdue, for what it does very well,
is key to securing a broader investment
in our research and scholarship.
We will shortly advertise and search internally
for a vice provost for global affairs.
To accomplish its 21st century land grant mission,
Purdue must serve as a hub for innovation
in global cooperation, linking Purdue faculty,
staff and students to a global network of strategic partners.
This means that Purdue will have the leading portfolio
of innovative global learning opportunities, embrace research
that has global impact, and link with local and global partners
to address the grant challenges of our time.
We'll encourage initiatives that improve human well being
and extend worldwide the benefits
of science and technology.
We've asked Carolyn Curiel to coordinate the launching
of our new public policy institute,
which would combine Purdue's strengths in the physical
and life sciences and engineering
with a public policy platform.
This would enhance the impact of Purdue nationally and globally.
In a new presidential administration,
this is definitely the time for Purdue
to be a leader in national affairs.
We have the talent among our faculty
and the research staff to do so.
We now need to identify those areas where Purdue is poised
to make an impact and construct a plan
to position our university
to realize this impact more broadly.
Our final key priority under the strategic plan is campus design.
I'm sure you've noticed all the construction going on.
We've completed the multiyear food services consolidation plan
within the new university residence system,
with the opening of Wiley Dining Court.
My husband, Chris, and I can personally attest to the quality
of the food there, and the enjoyment of getting
to eat with the students.
The newest residence hall facility will be completed
for fall 2009 occupancy.
For now, we've given it a generic name,
First Street Towers, but we're looking for someone who wants
to adopt it and put his or her name on it.
I'd like to thank, at this moment, John Sautter
for his leadership in the housing
and designing services area, and his whole team.
Other major projects under construction,
Discovery Learning Center; Hockmeyer Hall
of Structural Biology.
Those are both on schedule.
The Mackey Complex is coming.
I'm very excited that the initial site work is underway
for Mackey.
It's going to be just stunning when it's finished.
One of our key priorities for campus design was
to incorporate sustainability, as well as energy, environmental
and ecological consciousness into our campus.
By making this a component of the strategic plan,
we are able to ensure that this element will be frequently
emphasized and incorporated into everything we do.
For example, the Roger Gatewood addition
to Mechanical Engineering is our first leadership in energy
and environmental design, or LEED, green building project.
Through this project, we're learning firsthand
about the benefits of green buildings,
and we plan to incorporate the principles
that we've been learning into future projects.
A number of other buildings are already under review
for potential LEED certification,
and we hope to get to the point
when all our buildings are LEED certified.
It's important for us to examine how we use energy on the campus
by exploring green building techniques.
And at the same time, it's critical
that we evaluate the impacts of how we generate that energy.
The Boiler 6 project replaces outdated steam generation
with new technology to serve the university's highly efficient
combined heat and power system.
Not only will this upgrade increase the plant's overall
efficiency and reliability,
it will decrease the plant's total emissions
of regulated pollutants by 40 to 90% annually and make use
of biomass at our plant feasible in all
of our solid fuel boilers.
Now, just in case you don't think this is real exciting,
I have to mention that I am teaching our president's
leadership class this year is devoted to sustainability,
and I had all the students over on Monday night,
and we were talking about sustainability on the campus,
and they've asked for a tour of our power plant.
And I thought when the curriculum suggests
to the students that they should go on their own
into having a tour of the power plant and really understand
at a fundamental level what we're doing there
with reducing emissions and how heat and cooling works
on our campus, then we've really achieved something
to incorporate the students in our physical plant efforts
and our sustainability initiatives.
Other green efforts have included recycling
at the football games this fall.
And that was a big undertaking, and I want to thank everyone
for the cooperative efforts, for the members
of physical facilities, athletics,
and the Boiler Green Student Club in that.
To assist in forward sustainability at Purdue,
physical facilities formalized recently the director
of sustainability
and environmental stewardship position
with Dr. Robin Mills Ridgway serving in this capacity.
And I thank Robin for taking on this responsibility,
and Bob McMains for appointing her.
Too numerous to list today are the other programs
across the campus
that collectively demonstrate the university's commitment
to sustainability.
Many of these programs were highlighted during our first
green week last September.
I look forward to reaching the point
at which Purdue is green all year round.
We've completed the planning and conceptual design
for the Recreational Sports Center.
And I hope you saw the headline article in today's Exponent
about the Rec Sports Center.
We're waiting for approval
in this legislative session before we can proceed further.
The entire development process
for the new rec center has been a real team effort.
And it was lead by students, with faculty
and administration support.
It's a great example of how our key priorities overlap.
The rec summer meets our goals for campus design,
quality of life and student success.
When it's completed, the center will improve the health
and the quality of life of our students
and make us more competitive with our Peer institutions
and offer alternative venues for student enjoyment, let's say,
at weekends and evenings, as well as, of course,
recreational activities.
Another key priority that was identified
in our strategic plan was
to implement a new campus master plan for West Lafayette,
and each of our three regional campuses.
We've completed these plans, and they've all been reviewed,
all the regional ones have been reviewed by the Board
of Trustees, and approved.
The new West Lafayette campus master plan will be presented
to the board at its meeting next week.
Our strategic plan is only seven months old.
Yet, as you can see, we're making significant progress.
There's, of course, a lot to do.
This chart shows a comparison
of Purdue's financial resources per student.
Actually, per full time equivalent, FTE student.
It compares it to our Peer
and our Big Ten public institutions in revenue areas.
Purdue is on the left, Peer institutions are in the center,
and Big Ten publics are on the right.
These data represent the fiscal year 2007.
It's the nature of this kind of information,
you know, to lag a bit.
But I felt that looking at our situation relative
to other universities would be helpful,
and we'll have the fiscal year 2008 results by this summer.
There are five channels of revenues stream displayed here.
Starting at the bottom and moving up, state appropriation,
tuition, sponsored programs, private gifts and donations,
and then finally auxiliary funds.
They're represented by the different colors in the bars
that you see in the chart.
So in state appropriation, the bottom level,
you can see that Purdue falls behind our Peer
and Big Ten public institutions by about 20%.
This is made up for, somewhat, in tuition,
which is the next level up.
Not because we have high tuition fees.
In fact, it's just the opposite.
Our tuition rates are considerably lower
for in state students than our comparison colleges.
The reason we are able to run in parity with tuition funding is
because of the large number of non resident students who come
to our West Lafayette campus and pay the full ticket price.
Moving up the bars, we come to sponsored programs,
which largely signifies externally funded research.
The difference, you can see here, is dramatic.
Purdue is behind our Peer and Big 10 public institutions
and sponsored program funding.
Similarly, the next level private funding lags
substantially behind.
It's important to remember, however,
that this chart shows a frozen moment in time at the end
of a particular time period.
What it doesn't show is the derivative, the trend.
It doesn't show that we have doubled philanthropy
and we have doubled sponsored research funding
over the past seven years.
So the trend is excellent.
The top level represents auxiliary funds.
These are self supporting areas, such as athletics
in the residence hall system.
And this funding is fairly even in our comparison.
Overall, then, what this chart shows us is that Purdue is
about 37% behind our peers in Big 10 publics.
It gives us a clear picture of where we need
to focus our efforts in growing our resources.
We will continue to seek funding from all sources
to further advance our strategic plan, our goals.
To do this, we realize that partnerships are critical.
There are about 4,000 institutions
of higher learning in the United States.
And only 60, just 60, qualify to be included in the AAU
as research universities, the Association
of American Universities.
And Purdue is one, and IU is another.
So how smart we would be if we combined the strengths,
the very distinctive and somewhat different strengths,
of each of our two great research institutions
in this state for the benefit of both, and ultimately
for the benefit of the State of Indiana and the world.
So that's the idea behind the Indiana Innovation Alliance,
or IIA, as we call it.
It's our proposed partnership with IU
in the life and biosciences.
The alliance would unite Purdue and IU with businesses,
economic development organizations,
healthcare enterprises and the state government
to expand Indiana's share of national investments
in bioscience research and development.
The IIA is designed around three key strategies.
The first is to make Indiana a hotspot for life sciences
and biosciences research
by enhancing its core research capabilities.
This is really an infrastructure component.
These capabilities will be available to both academic
and corporate researchers throughout the state.
When we remove duplication of burdensome costs of equipment,
salaries and infrastructure, research expenses decrease,
and everyone benefits.
These facilities would be prime facilities that can't be paid
through normal grant funding.
The second strategy for the IIA is
to bring more national funding to Indiana.
States that provide matching funds
for large scale research grants
and initiatives have a much greater potential
for winning major national funding.
And this feeds the sponsored program channel
through which we can bring funding to Purdue.
So it's absolutely necessary that we position ourselves
for increased federal funding by increasing our ability to match.
We anticipate that the IIA would increase also much needed
medical and pharmaceutical professionals in Indiana.
Finally, we would try to make healthcare more affordable
and accessible for everyone.
The alliance would support programs that communities need
to improve the health of our citizens
and lower employer healthcare costs
through cooperative extension programs.
So for all of these reasons, for Purdue and for all
of the potential benefit to Indiana citizens
and citizens worldwide, we're going to continue
to seek state support for the Indiana Innovation Alliance.
It's still early in the state budget approval process.
Lots of our supporters statewide from corporations
to legislators really support this initiative.
We're not giving up on new state appropriations to support it.
We've made presentations
to the State Legislator's Budget Committee,
and also the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce,
community councils and small business groups
to gain support for the initiative.
And next week, we testify before the State Ways
and Means Committee.
And when I testify to the state, I am always doing
so in partnership with President Michael McRobbie at IU,
because we want to show that we're going together
in support of this initiative.
We remind our legislators
that the alliance is one important way
that Purdue can help economic development in our state.
Purdue itself is Indiana's sixth largest employer.
And it's amazing how many people don't know that.
In fact, I was with a prominent group this morning,
where that was a surprise to them
that we are the sixth largest employer in Indiana.
We provide jobs to more than 18,000 people statewide.
And we generate employment for an additional 10,000 people
who provide goods and services.
In a time when few returns are guaranteed, an investment
in Purdue is one that the state can count on.
Every dollar entrusted to Purdue is managed with care.
Our university has one of the best records
of fiscal management of any large university
that helps us weather tough economic times like these
and get maximum return for our investors' dollars.
So here is the ratio that we should all remember.
And this comes out of a recent assessment
of economic impact of Purdue.
For every dollar the state invests in Purdue,
we generate nearly $9 in total impact on the economy
through salaries, consumer spending, and much more.
A nine to one return on investment.
I would say that that's a very good return on investment.
So when we talk about what Purdue University needs,
I'd like us all to remind people that Purdue gives back
in a huge way economically and through important research, and,
of course, through educating 72,000 students systemwide.
All of us have the opportunity to be ambassadors for Purdue.
We do so when we volunteer with non profit groups, when we serve
on commissions and boards and guide the direction
of many community and civic organizations
that shape our cities and our counties and our state.
To be effective ambassadors, we need to carry a unified message
as we advocate for Purdue.
We all, as I like to say, need to be on the same page.
So let me take a moment to describe to you what being
on the same page means.
It means that we all agree on certain messages
about Purdue and where it's going.
So first, fiscal reality.
Purdue is managed prudently, and will continue to be a model
of a fiscally effective university.
While any salary raises will be difficult in this environment,
we need to retain flexibility
to address market and retention issues.
Second, academic preparedness.
Student success depends on this.
At Purdue, we're committed
to raising the academic preparedness of the state
by raising our own academic standards.
It includes also recognizing our role in enhancing K
through 12 education through teacher training,
outreach programs and summer bridge programs.
Third, the student experience.
We're committed to improving the student experience
through enhancing the quality of life on campus
through curricular reform,
and by providing enhanced opportunities for service,
research and global experiences.
Fourth, affordability.
We're proud that Purdue was recently named,
by a nationally recognized publication,
as one of the top 10 universities
in the nation for value.
We're respectful of the choices that the state needs to make
to ensure a balanced budget.
And we appreciate the financial difficulties
that college students and their families face.
My administration is continually looking
at best financing approaches in order to assure
that Purdue can continue to provide a quality education.
Fifth, external funding.
We'll intensify our efforts to increase other important sources
of revenue, such as sponsored research and philanthropy.
Because of our recent doubling in these areas
and the huge success of our recent capital campaign,
I'm optimistic that we'll continue
to increase external funding.
But success does require new innovative approaches.
And finally, priorities.
The key priorities that I've talked about today,
priorities that embrace diversity, sustainability
and the need to recruit and retain top talent
and reward it are found within our strategic plan.
I've shown that in all areas, we're making progress.
And now, now is the time to accelerate those efforts.
I welcome your partnership as we move forward on the same page.
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
