Under President McCormick’s leadership, Rutgers has launched a series of wide-ranging initiatives that are significantly enhancing the university’s commitment to world-class instruction, groundbreaking research, enriched student life and service to the people of New Jersey and beyond. President McCormick has led Rutgers at a time of historic accomplishment and visibility – generating pride across the state while setting records for applications, enrollment, private donations and federal support for research.
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ACADEMIC INITIATIVES
Transforming Undergraduate Education: In 2006, the university implemented President McCormick’s bold vision to enhance virtually every aspect of undergraduate learning and student life across the New Brunswick Campus – the most significant reorganization of Rutgers in a quarter-century. Enhancements include establishment of the School of Arts and Sciences with its comprehensive new curriculum, first-year seminars, signature courses, dramatic expansion of opportunities for undergraduate research and honors programs, and greater support for top undergraduates competing for the most prestigious scholarships and awards.
School of Public Affairs and Administration: An outgrowth of the Graduate Department of Public Administration, the new school opened on the Newark Campus in 2006 – the first new school at Rutgers-Newark since 1972.
Childhood Studies: The nation’s first doctoral degree-granting program in this emerging discipline was launched in 2007 at Rutgers-Camden – the first doctoral program in the history of the Camden Campus.
Interdisciplinary Initiatives: New programs in nutrition, materials and devices, transportation, childhood studies, urban entrepreneurship, and climate change and alternative energy are positioning Rutgers as an institution that is competing in the global economy while working to find solutions that benefit humanity.
INSTITUTIONAL REFORMS
Alumni Relations: In 2007, the university implemented the president’s sweeping plan to strengthen and enhance the relationship between the university and its nearly 400,000 alumni worldwide. The most significant change was creation of the Rutgers University Alumni Association – a single volunteer structure to include all Rutgers graduates from all campuses.
Improved Governance: In 2008, the university adopted badly needed changes in the management of intercollegiate athletics. These changes contributed to reforms improving the governance of the entire university, including new compliance rules as well as new policies and procedures in such areas as contracts, purchasing, hiring and employee ethics.
NEW FACILITIES
Livingston Campus: Rutgers’ campus in Piscataway is being transformed into the model of what the university will become in the 21st century, with an emphasis on professional, executive and continuing education; state-of-the-art residential and dining facilities; and integration with the Rutgers Ecological Preserve. A newly renovated student center opened in 2010, the new dining hall facility is scheduled to open in 2011, and a new student housing complex will be completed in 2012. Completion of the new Business School building is scheduled for 2013.
Life Sciences Building: Dedicated in 2005, this Busch Campus building is home to the Human Genetics Institute, the Department of Genetics and the New Jersey Center for Biomaterials.
University Square: Housing nearly 600 students, University Square opened in 2006 – the first new residential housing on the Newark Campus in 16 years.
Biomedical Engineering Building: This three-story facility on the Busch Campus, which opened in 2007, added nearly eight times the academic and support space to what was previously allocated to this growing discipline.
School of Law-Camden: In 2009, the university dedicated the law school’s new four-story, 53,000-square-foot building. The complex allows Rutgers to serve the community more effectively through its clinics and centers, which provide more than 30,000 hours of free legal services annually. The facility also boasts a fully functional courtroom that allows students to engage in critical moot court training on campus.
New Rutgers Business School Building in Newark: Opened in 2009, this building has substantially improved the quality of the school’s facilities and classroom technology, while expanding its capacity to meet the rapidly increasing demand for business education. The 15,000-square-foot atrium features a trading room – a state-of-the-art facility for advanced instruction of business school students.
Harnessing Solar Power: The university is installing more than 40,000 high-efficiency solar panels on canopies over two large surface parking areas on the university’s Livingston Campus. The 32 acres of solar canopies are expected to generate eight megawatts of power – equal to the annual energy consumption of nearly 1,000 households. When completed, the canopy system will be more than four times larger than the “solar farm” that the university opened on Livingston in 2009. When the canopy project is completed, these two facilities are expected to provide 64 percent of the power on the Livingston Campus – saving the university $1.5 million in annual utility costs.
GROUNDBREAKING RESEARCH
Cell and DNA Repository: In 2003, Rutgers’ repository of DNA and cell lines became the largest university-based repository in the world. These are crucial assets for biomedical research to cure diseases like schizophrenia, diabetes and Alzheimer’s.
Fighting AIDS: Since 2004, Rutgers Chemistry and Chemical Biology Professor Eddy Arnold and his colleagues have announced a series of breakthroughs in the development of new drugs to stop the spread of AIDS. Professor Arnold’s lab at the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine and Rutgers University worked together with a team of scientists at Johnson & Johnson to create and develop two anti-AIDS drugs, including the drug rilpivirine that was recently approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration. The team used structures obtained by the Arnold laboratory to guide the design of the best molecules, which have exceptional potency against drug-resistant HIV.
Ancient Footprints from Anatomically Modern Feet: In 2009, Rutgers Anthropology Professor John W.K. Harris and an international team of colleagues found ancient footprints in Kenya that show some of the earliest humans walked like us and did so on anatomically modern feet 1.5 million years ago. This rare discovery marked a major contribution to the study of human evolution.
Plastic Lumber: In 2009, the U.S. Army successfully tested lumber developed from recycled plastic by Rutgers engineers – by driving a 70-ton tank over a plastic lumber bridge at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. The test proved the practical viability of plastic lumber, which is more durable and environmentally friendly than traditional treated wood.
Crossing the Atlantic: In 2009, faculty and students in Rutgers’ Coastal Ocean Observation Laboratory launched and piloted a submersible robot glider, the Scarlet Knight, across the Atlantic Ocean from New Jersey to the coast of Spain – the first successful crossing of an ocean by such a vehicle. The project proved the practicality of very long glider flights, and paved the way for the deployment of fleets of these vehicles to gather vital data about the state of the world’s oceans.
Preventing Prostate Cancer: In 2010, researchers at the university’s Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy announced that they have determined the inner workings of a gene that normally protects against prostate cancer in mice. This discovery could lead to new treatments to prevent prostate cancer in humans.
Electron Microscope: A project at Rutgers to build one of the most advanced electron microscopes in the world was praised by the White House in 2010 as an example of a federal stimulus project that is helping to transform the nation. The project is led by the university’s Institute for Advanced Materials, Devices and Nanotechnology – a research environment where Rutgers physicists, chemists, biologists and engineers work collaboratively.
Genome Research: Rutgers geneticists were instrumental in sequencing the genomes of rice and corn. This research ultimately will lead to bigger and better food harvests.
NEW REVENUES FOR RUTGERS
Fundraising: In 2004, Rutgers completed its most successful fundraising campaign to that point in the university’s history, raising $615 million – 23 percent higher than the campaign’s original goal. In 2010, the university publicly launched Our Rutgers, Our Future, the most comprehensive and ambitious fundraising campaign in the university’s history. The $1 billion campaign focuses on meeting the university’s most pressing academic and financial needs – such as providing scholarships to hundreds of undergraduates and more than doubling the number of prestigious endowed chairs to attract and retain world-class faculty. The university already has raised more than half the goal.
Financial Support for Research: Since 2002, total annual funding for Rutgers research from the federal government, the state of New Jersey, corporations and nonprofits has increased significantly – from $242.4 million to $433.9 million. The university has secured prestigious grants to conduct vital research in health, science, transportation and homeland security.
ATHLETICS SUCCESS – ON THE FIELD AND IN THE CLASSROOM
Moving Rutgers Athletics to National Prominence: In 2010, the Rutgers football program was ranked No. 1 in the nation by the NCAA for the academic progress of the team’s student-athletes. Rutgers is the only state school with a football program ranked in the top 10 nationally in Academic Progress Rate for four straight years. Four additional Rutgers programs – gymnastics, tennis, men’s cross country and women’s soccer – were recently recognized by the NCAA for top academic performance. The university also is investing in improvements to athletics facilities, including Rutgers Stadium. Championship programs in recent years include football (four consecutive bowl wins); women’s basketball (2007 Final Four); and wrestling (eight wrestlers qualified for the 2011 NCAA Championships).
COMMUNICATIONS AND COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Rutgers Future Scholars: In 2007, President McCormick launched this program to help disadvantaged students in the university’s host communities – Camden, Newark, New Brunswick and Piscataway. Rutgers works with school districts to identify top eighth-graders. As the students proceed through high school, the university provides support and mentoring – including workshops on preparing for college. By next summer, the program will reach its full enrollment of 1,000 pre-college students – each holding the promise of a free Rutgers education if they earn admission.
Branding Rutgers: Since 2004, Rutgers has adopted a series of reforms to address the university’s perennial identity problems. These reforms include a new universitywide system of logos and graphic marks, advertising that promotes Rutgers’ accomplishments, and the growing popularity of the university’s tagline, “Jersey Roots, Global Reach.”
Rutgers Day: Since launching in 2009, this annual community event has attracted 200,000 visitors to the university to enjoy hundreds of free programs appealing to every age and interest.
Web Innovations: In 2009, the university completed a major overhaul of the Rutgers website, including the launch of Rutgers Today, the university’s award-winning, web-based news center.
HISTORIC RESULTS
Record Applications: In 2010, Rutgers received a record number of applications from prospective first-year and transfer students – 44,800. That is a nearly 14-percent increase compared to 2002.
Record Enrollment: Rutgers welcomed 7,300 first-year students in fall 2010 – the largest new class in the university’s history. Enrollment has grown from 51,480 students in 2002 to an anticipated 58,000 this fall.
Media Contact: Greg Trevor
732-932-7084, ext. 623
E-mail: gtrevor@ur.rutgers.edu