Dear Colleagues,

This is the first in a series of periodic Presidential letters designed to update you on issues we are working on here at Roosevelt. I hope you find the information in them useful, and I encourage you to make the letters interactive by responding directly to me via email at cmiddleton@roosevelt.edu with your reactions and thoughts, and with suggestions on topics you might like me to address in the future.

I know that as we enter this holiday season many in our community share the national mood of uncertainty about the economy. While we must all be cognizant of the economic forces that will always have an impact on the University at some level, I continue to believe that overall our future prospects remain bright and within our grasp to achieve exactly or at least close to how we have been envisioning them over the past months.

This conclusion is based upon a careful analysis of our circumstances, some key aspects of which I cover in detail below.

Yet it remains equally important to remember that only by our hard and intelligent work in enhancing the quality and reputation of Roosevelt can we continue to reap the benefits of enrollment growth that are a sine qua non for this success.

Now for some particulars.

Enrollment

We should be in good shape in the spring 2009 semester. Registrations of continuing students and applications from new students are strong on both campuses and remain ahead of last year at the same time. So far we are nearly 80% of the way to our goal. These results follow a truly exceptional fall semester of 2008 in which our headcount total of 7,693 students was the second highest in University history and total credit hours were the largest ever.

Full-time undergraduate students are now the majority on both campuses and our student FTE total has surpassed 5,000 students. By 2014 or 2015, assuming that we continue at the current pace, we should be at 7,500 to 8,000 FTE, which will put us in the middle range of a robust new peer group of successful and highly-regarded institutions. It will also give us more resources to support individuals and programs than would ever have been possible in the smaller historical size of the University.

RU and the Economy

The biggest impact of the current global economic crisis on Roosevelt University is on the value of our endowment which stands at about $41 million compared to $75 million at its highest level just a year ago. We have always followed a conservative investment policy and continue to do so. While there is no escaping the force of the stock market’s collapse, this practice has buffered us from the worst aspects of the economic downturn.

There is also a silver lining in all this. It is that because we are not dependent on our endowment for a substantial portion of our operating budget, we will not need to take any payout from the endowment in the first quarter of this fiscal year, thus allowing for the possibility of greater growth as the market recovers in the future. We continue to monitor the market on a daily basis and to deposit new gifts (over $200,000 this quarter) into our investment accounts.

Wabash Development Project

The proposed new facility to be built on the Herman Crown Center site will support much of the University’s future growth. Its development remains on track. The architects have met with a broad range of University personnel to ensure that program needs will be accommodated successfully in the new building. It’s too early to know with certainty whether the project’s finances can be successfully arranged, as that will depend on many economic factors that are both unknown and unknowable at this time. Whatever the circumstances in 2009, we will certainly be ready to act when the moment comes thanks to our continuous planning this fall.

Infrastructure

Since our student FTEs have crossed the 5,000 level, we have entered a new operational level in higher education. The clear and obvious advantages are financial and the prospective ability to leverage growth into more full-time faculty lines, higher compensation for all employees, and expansion of other types of support services and facilities.

But there is a corollary, which is that we must also change how we do many of our jobs and become a more interdependent University community that is able to innovate and consistently improve our performance in all areas. To enable us all to be successful in a more complex environment, we will continue to develop better shared information and a common commitment to timely, efficient processing of our work.

Just as the world is an increasingly electronic place, we, too, must discard old paper processes and replace them with technology. The goal is to enable us to interact better through electronic information sharing and service provision.

Among other things that are being done to help with this goal, RU is in the process of redesigning its website using the expertise of mStoner, a nationally-recognized web company. Our students, whose lives are embedded in this new electronic world of the 21st century, will find this very helpful. I believe we will as well. Along with other technology enhancements it should also enable all of us to do our specific jobs in new and exciting ways even as we maintain our common commitment to enhanced quality of service for them and for each other. The new payroll procedures, course scheduling, and financial accounting practices and policies are examples of these developments which will strengthen the University.

I will have more to say on these and other important activities in forthcoming messages. For now, I hope that my comments on these items have been helpful to your understanding of the issues discussed.

Permit me to conclude by thanking you for your dedicated and exceptional work that has made all this success possible. Happy Holidays to one and all.

Chuck Middleton