TULANE TALK

April 29, 2002

Good Morning:

As you may recall, I announced in February a reorganization of the senior staff with the creation of a new Senior Vice President (SVP) for External Relations position and the elimination of the existing SVP for Planning and Administration position now occupied by Yvette Jones. This change is effective July 1 when Yvette assumes the new SVP position.

This reorganization also affects the reporting relationship of four key functions, which now report to Yvette but will not after July 1. These functions include: information technology; budgeting and financial analysis; research administration and other related functions; and human resources. After much thought and discussion about each of these critical areas among the senior officers and those most affected by the changes, we have decided the following:

Information Technology, under the leadership of John Lawson, our new VP for Information Technology and CIO, will report directly to me. This reporting relationship was suggested during the search process two years ago and seems appropriate given the strategic importance of this function to the university’s future.

The Budgeting and Financial Analysis department will report to Tony Lorino, SVP for Operations and Chief Financial Officer. This is a logical fit given the scope and nature of Tony’s current responsibilities.

Human Resources, under the leadership of Andy Heck, VP for Human Resources, will report to the President’s office through Chief of Staff Anne Banos. It is unlikely that this will remain a long-term reporting relationship but given the importance of “People” in our strategic plan and the other organizational changes underway, this is a logical interim move for the foreseeable future.

Research Administration and other related functions: The Technology Transfer function will continue to report to Yvette in her new role. Given the purpose and nature of this function, combined with Yvette’s new position and existing functional expertise, this is a logical reporting relationship. This function will be directed by Carla Fishman and will be given increased emphasis in the next few years as we try to significantly enhance our technology transfer and business development efforts. This initiative is consistent with the strategic plan and in keeping with the direction of other major research universities. An expansion of this function could lead to very substantial long-term benefits to the university in the years ahead.

Research Administration and other related functions (e.g. pre- and post-awards, animal and human research protection, vivariums, shared instrumentation) will report to a newly created position of Associate SVP for Research. The person filling this position will report jointly to the SVP for the Health Sciences, and the SVP for Academic Affairs and Provost. The creation of this new academic position has at least two important benefits to the university. First, it will allow us to put more emphasis and importance on the university’s basic and applied research with the expectation of significantly increasing our profile and performance as a major research university. Second, the creation of this university-wide function should allow us to more effectively capture research synergies across the university, consolidate important research activities while eliminating potentially duplicative activities, and have as strong a full-time research advocate at a senior administrative level as we now have at the Graduate School in the presence of Dean Herman. I am very hopeful that the academic team of Paul Whelton, Lester Lefton, Mike Herman and the new research appointee will work very closely together, as well as with the deans and faculty to enhance our capabilities as a research and graduate educational institution.

Paul Whelton and Lester Lefton are in the process of preparing a job description for this new position and discussing how best to fill it from within the university. They will keep you informed of their progress.

The organizational changes outlined above should be finalized by the end of this fiscal year at little or no additional cost to the university. I anticipate these changes will significantly enhance the effectiveness of our external relations and research capabilities in the years ahead.

As always, do not hesitate to contact me if you have any comments or questions regarding the planned changes described above.

TULANE TALK

April 19, 2002

Good Morning:

Eight members of our faculty were selected to receive Awards for Excellence in Teaching this week. These annual awards are given to full-time faculty members who have displayed an ongoing commitment to teaching and learning. The recipients will be recognized at our upcoming Commencement on May 18. But I couldn’t wait until then. So here it goes…

The President’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching goes to Stacy Overstreet, associate professor of psychology.

The President’s Award for Excellence in Graduate and Professional School Teaching goes to Oliver Houck, professor of law.

The Recognition Certificate for a Junior Faculty Member goes to Kay C. Dee, assistant professor of biomedical engineering.

The Recognition Certificate for a Senior Faculty Member goes to Karen Kingsley, professor of architecture.

The Recognition Certificate for Service Learning goes to E. Eean McNaughton, adjunct associate professor of architecture.

The Recognition Certificate for Interdisciplinary/Team Teaching goes to Scott Wall, associate professor of architecture and T.R. Kidder, associate professor of anthropology and newly appointed dean of Tulane College.

The Recognition Certificate for Dissertation Direction goes to E. Wyllys Andrews V, professor of anthropology and director of the Middle American Research Institute.

The recipients were chosen by the 12-member University Senate Committee on Teaching Quality from a list of nominees, supporting material and testimonials submitted by the deans of our 11 schools and colleges. As you can imagine, the selection process was very difficult given the high caliber of our faculty. Congratulations to all our recipients!

Have a great weekend,

TULANE TALK

April 5, 2002

Good Morning:

“U.S. News and World Report” released its annual rankings of graduate and professional school programs today. I always have a mixed reaction to these rankings. In my mind, they rarely reflect what is truly important in the educational experience such as student learning, student satisfaction, and the value and quality of the educational experience.

Instead, the rankings are mainly based on input measures of quality (e.g. test scores, GPAs) that reflect student achievement prior to their college experience or rely on rankings from peer institutions whose administrators may not really be familiar with a particular campus. Moreover, the actual differences between schools ranked 10 or more places apart are often small. Yet their numerical ranking can create an impression of large differences in quality.

Still, despite their obvious shortcomings, these rankings can’t be ignored because they are carefully followed by prospective students, parents, alumni and other groups important to the university. While it’s always good to be ranked higher, I never get too enthusiastic or depressed by the rankings.

So how did we do this year? Well, the magazine ranks Tulane’s A.B. Freeman School of Business 39th in the nation, up from the 45th spot it held last year. Tulane’s Law School is ranked 43rd in the nation compared to last year’s ranking of 40th. This year no law schools were ranked 41st or 42nd because of numerous ties at the 40th position. Tulane’s Environmental Law program is ranked 7th in the nation compared to the 6th position it held last year. I was pleased that Tulane’s Law School was also included on a list of schools that have the most racially diverse student bodies among law schools in the country.

Despite my reservations about the validity of these rankings, I am happy that our Business and Law Schools continue to be nationally recognized in this manner.

Have a highly ranked weekend,

TULANE TALK

March 22, 2002

Good Morning:

I received an e-mail on Tuesday from Navy Lt. David O’Dell, a 1995 graduate of our School of Engineering, who had just returned from the USS John C. Stennis in the Northern Arabian Sea. Lt. O’Dell wanted to remind me that many Tulane alumni were currently involved in combat operations in the war against terrorism. I want to take this opportunity to assure Lt. O’Dell that everyone here in New Orleans is ever mindful of the sacrifice these fellow Tulanians are making. We wish them success in their mission and a speedy return home.

I spent a lot of time this week addressing various student forums. One major concern of the students is our recent 5.3 percent increase in tuition and fees. This tuition increase underscores the need for us to lower our dependence on tuition as a major source of revenue. This is why we are putting so much emphasis on increasing our annual giving, endowment and research and development awards. Yet, having said all of this, it turns out that our proposed increase is very much in line with what other universities with much larger endowments and annual giving levels are doing. We will continue to be sensitive to this issue each year as we do our annual planning.

I also met with many potential Tulane students from around the country this week. These students are among the nation’s best and brightest high school seniors who have been accepted for admission by Tulane (and many of the country’s other top universities) but have not yet committed to a school. This weekend I’m joining a few faculty and admission members for a visit to the New York and Boston area to meet more of these top scholars in the hope of enrolling them at Tulane. I always enjoy these sessions and talking about what makes Tulane such a unique university.

Have a good weekend,