Subject: President's Newsletter, Issue 5
From: [email-masked]
Cc: [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 20 Jun 2001 12:14:02 -0700 (PDT)

Monmouth College Trustee Newsletter
		. . . from the President's Office

Issue 5, June 20, 2001

The Monmouth College faculty and staff send their greetings, and I want to
share some of the activities that we are currently involved in here on
campus.

	*	The campus is buzzing this week with a whole host of
elementary and high school students here.  Our College for Kids program,
which we have been doing for a number of years, offers exciting
opportunities for pre-college students.  At Glennie Gymnasium, Coach Terry
Glasgow has over 100 young basketball players participating in a basketball
skills camp.  We continue to try to build summer programming so that we can
utilize more of our facilities year round.

	*	The comprehensive curricular review, funded by the Teagle
Foundation grant, continues to move forward.  The curriculum task force met
with several national consultants during the two weeks following
commencement.  Some initial emphases coming out of the review include
support for improved pedagogy for all faculty, and an emphasis on enhancing
the communication skills of all of our students across the curriculum.  This
task force will continue to meet over the next two years, and we will be
sending out teams to visit innovative campuses and programs during that
time.

	*	We continue to add international study opportunities for our
students.  Approximately fifteen of our students are currently studying in
Reading, England with two of our faculty members.  We also are working on an
additional exchange program with a college in Korea.

	*	New faculty contracts have been sent out.  We were able to
give compensation increases to reach the short-term Board goal of having all
of our faculty ranks average at the 60th  percentile in salary among
colleges nationally.

	*	We currently have 315 paid deposits for next year's freshman
class.  Marybeth is confident that we will reach our goal of 350, which
would increase our overall enrollment to approximately 1,100 for next fall.

	*	For the first time in many years, it looks as though we will
have as many new male students as female.  This counteracts a national trend
where nearly sixty percent of liberal arts college students are females.

	*	We have completed an Admissions audit, which was conducted
by national consultant, George Dehne.  He will be working with Marybeth and
staff to implement some ideas that will strengthen an already strong
program.

	*	We are nearing completion of the most successful year in
fundraising history at Monmouth College.  Already we have received over $7
million in gifts to the College this fiscal year.  This compares to $4.8
million last year and $3 million in 1998-99.  It is important to note that
this number only refers to money received and does not include pledges.  In
looking back over College records, it appears that our greatest previous
year totaled just over $5 million.

	*	The campaign is off to a great start.  You have been
receiving notification of some of the very generous gifts given by some of
our Board members.  We will have other exciting announcements coming out
periodically throughout the summer and fall.

	*	We recently received another outside grant for the library.
This $250,000 anonymous grant continues to move us toward our goal of $5.7
million to complete the library renovation.  Work has already begun on the
third floor, and by the fall meeting you will begin to see progress on this
important project.

	*	Monmouth continues to balance its operating budget.  We will
again have a strong financial year, and we plan to reduce the endowment
drawdown from 5.5% to 5.35% in next year's budget.  We hope over the next
several years to get that down to 5%.

	*	Construction is going on in almost every corner of campus.
The main dining room has been gutted, and we now are beginning the
construction phase of a very attractive main venue for food service.  Phase
1 of the recplex is well underway with the renovation of the locker rooms
and training rooms in Waid Gymnasium.  Bowers Hall is nearly completed and
will be ready for occupancy this fall.

	*	Eleven houses are being razed this summer for future campus
expansion.  Gibson Hall will also be coming down soon, once the asbestos
abatement has been completed.

	*	The Nominations Committee of the Board of Trustees will be
meeting on June 27 to consider new members for the Board.  We continue to be
grateful for the wonderful additions to the Board over the past several
years.  If you have someone that you would like to see considered for
membership, please contact Nominations Committee Chair Peter Bunce or me.

	*	The Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees will be
meeting on campus Thursday and Friday, August 9 and 10.  Please note that
the fall Board meeting will also begin on Thursday afternoon, October 18,
2001 and conclude at noon on Saturday, October 20.  Remember that we
scheduled it at this time to coincide with Homecoming weekend.  The
Homecoming football game will be at 1:30 on Saturday, and I hope that you
will get a chance to see what I expect will be a vastly improved team.