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It is a delight to see all of you gathered together in anticipation of a new academic year, mindful as we are that many have been hard at work all summer on main campus; in Philadelphia and Pottsville; in libraries and home offices; at conferences and out in the community. All good colleges rely on summertime for special projects, for significant scholarship, for professional renewal, for campus improvements. Yet the diversity of our student population and programs makes Alvernia a year-around operation, unlike a smaller, predominantly residential campus. Summer programs, such as our expanded pre-college offerings for inner city youth, require dedicated staff and faculty. There was, this year, as always heroic effort to upgrade the campus by our facilities staff.
 Nonetheless, I hope that all of you—in your own style—found time for family, friends, and personal renewal. The Flynns joined close friends on the Delaware shore in a tradition stretching back long before children appeared, and Daniel and I made our annual pilgrimage to worship the great god of Rock and Roll. I viewed it as a favorable omen for the year that one of our new freshman’s parents greeted me enthusiastically at last weekend’s Allman Brothers and Tom Petty concert and that Alvernia T-shirts were spotted along the beach.
Today continues the longstanding custom of the State of the College address and the new tradition of an opening breakfast. The monthly newsletter begun in January has kept you informed about news items and major initiatives, so I do not need this morning to cover many of the year’s developments. The feedback on the newsletter—from faculty, office staff, coaches, and student leaders alike—has been gratifying. With the launch of our new marketing and communication division, under Gale Martin’s leadership, we will undoubtedly find ways to improve on this effort. But for now I will continue this newsletter, with October 1 the next edition, and invite your continued feedback and input.
 A year ago, the Flynns were being welcomed to Alvernia, Tennyson was being replaced by Dylan as the presidential bard, and my smiling face on billboards was a source of endless teasing, especially from my son and fellow presidents, one of whom expressed relief that at least I was not displayed in “the full Monty.” A year later, I hope you know how honored and enthusiastic I am to serve as your president, and I hope you share my confidence that—with creativity, commitment, and unprecedented collaboration—we will address our weaknesses, maximize our strengths, and thereby improve the quality of education for our students.
And yes, though it does seem a favorable omen that the immortal Dylan will perform tomorrow night in Reading, I will resist the temptation this morning to merge his nasal twang with my Boston accent and join Mike Pressimone in a stirring rendition of “Mr. Tambourine Man.”
Let me begin today with a few announcements and a necessarily selective status report that will bypass some topics, summarize highlights on others, and focus on a few. Following a review and update of our planning efforts, I will reflect with you, as in the inaugural address, on the meaning of academic community and ask us to consider some of the habits of mind, heart, and soul required by each of us if Alvernia is to realize our potential as an excellent learning community.
 Let me first report on the important topic of institutional identity. Accompanying the July newsletter was my summary of the discussions of March, May, and June. During late July, Sister Rosemary took the lead on a narrative conveying Alvernia’s heritage, and I synthesized the concepts from our rich discussions into brief mission and vision statements. The degree of enthusiasm for our core mission commitments and for the vision of Alvernia as a “regional Franciscan university” made this work easier, but naturally there have been multiple drafts. The entire SPC and my fellow executives provided helpful guidance, and several SPC members and other volunteers contributed invaluable wordsmithing. These framing documents for the strategic plan will be an important part of the SPC’s draft report and our September discussions, so I will forego comment today.
As the year begins, US NEWS has once again placed us in the top tier, at #27, for Comprehensive Colleges. The limitations of these ranking are well known, and many Pennsylvania schools our size are in one of the two more competitive categories of liberal arts colleges and regional universities. Still, it is helpful to view ourselves in a broad context. The most striking news is that we rank #2 in our region and #4 nationally in our category for low student indebtedness. This is good news for our students and reflects our commitment to educational access and affordability.
I am delighted to announce that, after lengthy negotiations, we now own the Upland Center and the surrounding 6.6 acres. This will provide an impressive home for our graduate and life long learning programs, including the innovative Seniors College and possible non-credit programs for corporate and non-profit executives. As announced earlier, detailed planning of the building will be part of the campus master planning process rather than an ad-hoc effort. We have set aside funds for renovations and expect work to begin in late fall or early winter. As for Angelica Park and what we hope will be a new main entrance and approach road from Rt. 10, we now hope to finalize these arrangements later this fall or early in 2007. These are arduous processes, and Doug Smith and our legal advisors have practiced patient endurance and persistence.
 The timelines for the summer projects identified in my July newsletter are holding true. The Courtside Café will reopen next week, and student leaders have begun planning the renovation of the Crusader Café as a much needed activities space. Initial library upgrades to create more contemporary working spaces for students have been completed, as has the renovation of the Italian-American Center, the latter funded once again through the generosity of Dr. Franco. The Learning and Career Centers and offices for Freshman Foundations have been successfully relocated to Bernardine Hall, and the Financial Aid, Vice President for College Life, and Provost offices will be completed by October 1. The grand opening of the new Admission Center is expected in early October. And most importantly, we have a beautiful science facility, with a dedication set for September 27.
Our technology staff is steadily expanding wireless capacity, with the campus student center and residence hall lobbies close to ready. The new front page of our web site is the first step in the upgrade of our web presence. We have expanded on-line services for students and better support for the resident student network. Like other schools, we will benefit greatly from having students as well as alumni with Alvernia e-mail addresses. Our staff also continues to refine network safety and security measures.
I reported in July on summer conferences and projects, and so a brief update will suffice. At the board meeting of the Association of Franciscan Colleges and Universities (AFCU) held at the second biennial conference, Alvernia was formally approved as the host for the 2008 conference. This is a marvelous opportunity coinciding with our 50th anniversary. I have asked Provost Shirley Williams and Sister Rosemary to convene a planning group later this semester. On a related note, our diocese is sponsoring a symposium on Saturday, September 16, on Catholic Social Teaching. Several of you have mentioned you would like to learn about this essential dimension of our intellectual heritage. The costs are minimal, and my office will cover them for anyone wishing to attend. Notify Judy Bohler in my office if you are interested.
The July newsletter also contained a detailed summary of our expanded summer community engagement programs, especially the South Reading Youth Initiative. This new project was a smash success. We aim to expand this program as part of our new Center for Community Engagement. Community service is now commonplace at American colleges and universities. So the two real issues are how we make the community part of our curriculum and whether our service, as individuals and as an institution, contributes to social progress though sustained, strategic partnerships. And we might think too about how this work informs and is shaped by a commitment to diversity, a topic on which Mary Lozada’s perspective and experience will be invaluable. We have been awarded start-up funding for this undertaking and have faculty and administrators who have stepped up to provide critical leadership. This undertaking is deeply embedded within our heritage and is a cornerstone of my own emerging vision of Alvernia.
Another cornerstone of our future, I am convinced, is development and communication of our expertise on Ethics and Leadership. Several stimulating sessions last spring helped sketch a framework for a new Center, and a faculty working group of Deb Greenwald, Marc Lucht, Joan Lewis, Bongrae Seok, Mary Ellen Wells, and Donna Yarri is completing a summer report, which will be circulated for discussion in late September. I am pleased to announce that the endowment for the Batdorf Lecture in Ethics, begun last year, has topped $100K.
 This is our first such endowment and will help underwrite a modest start-up budget. The focus on Leadership is, of course, timely. Next week, the initial cohort of doctoral students will begin studies in the new Ph.D. program. We have a fine entering class of 27 students, diverse in background and professional focus, with half pursuing the education concentration and the other half in the corporate and community specialties. As we know, Dean Joan Lewis and many faculty have made this program possible; John Rochowicz, Anne Skleder, and Spence Stober are the lead faculty for the first semester courses and will get the program off to a fine start. As the mix of faculty and students indicate, this program has potential to be a model of student and faculty interdisciplinary learning.
 Finally, besides welcoming the Sisters back to their motherhouse, those who attended yesterday’s Mission Retreat enjoyed seeing the new conference center and offices for the Bernardine Congregation. The Sisters are eager to host college events, and we are fortunate to have a fine facility adjacent to campus. At the Order’s Chapter meeting, our good friend, and recent honorary degree recipient, Sister Madonna, was re-elected as General Minister. She and I will continue regularly to promise mutual prayers.
A year ago, I reviewed the improvements of the previous decade. It is an impressive record. Just as examples, think of the expansion of student residences, learning and information technology, graduate enrollments, athletic teams, honors courses, and the number of fine faculty. It is possible for those relatively new to Alvernia to take all this for granted. But that would underestimate the work of many in this room today as well as former colleagues. And it would underestimate the power of our Bernardine heritage of bold aspirations and outlandish daring.
It would also underestimate the pivotal role of enrollment growth in Alvernia’s improved quality and reputation. Here’s a helpful reminder: a decade ago, Alvernia was a small college of only 850 FT undergraduates and 1400 total students. This semester we will have about 1250 FT undergraduates, over 1500 graduate and continuing education students, and about 600 life-long learners in our Seniors College. As I mentioned last year, we are not unusual in our recent expansion but rather in our success at simultaneously increasing BOTH residential undergraduates and the number of working adults and established professionals.
When we recognize that only a tiny percentage of college-bound youth seek small colleges, with most preferring places of 3,000 or more undergraduates; when we remember that academic quality is directly linked to the breadth and depth of academic offerings and so to expanded numbers of faculty; when we acknowledge that funding for salaries and programs, even at larger and wealthier schools, are dependent on growth in enrollment and/or tuition; when we recall our mission-driven commitment to educational access and affordability for low and moderate income students, then the significance of Alvernia’s enrollment growth is abundantly clear—for our recent progress and for our continued improvement.
 Last year, our enrollment growth reflected continued increases in adult learners, especially in our graduate program, but we fell short of our freshman goal. This fall we anticipate 800 graduate and almost 700 continuing education students. Freshman enrollment is up from 280 to 300, and we are on track for record enrollment across the three divisions for the 2006-07 academic year.
The professional expertise we sought regarding the strategic use of financial aid has reaped benefits; we have lowered the discount rate while increasing the number of students by 10%. We also are benefiting from advice on best practices on recruiting. We have made it a goal to model first-rate working environments and service practices in our admissions and financial aid offices, working towards a standard of recruiting efforts that are interwoven seamlessly. Admissions, financial aid, registration, and student billing services for new students must be better connected, and enrollment management must be integrated with the academic area and indeed the entire institution.
Over the next two years we will implement a new direction for enrollment management. Paralleling the launch of an integrated marketing program will be an integrated enrollment management effort to connect undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education efforts. National searches will seek a vice president to lead this division and a dean or director of undergraduate admission who will be responsible, along with Dean Joan Lewis, for the recruitment of new students.
Kate Emery, who will serve this year as Dean of Admissions before returning to the faculty and resuming her doctoral studies, deserves our appreciation for loyal service. We are also fortunate that John McCloskey will serve as Interim Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management. John strongly supports the need to hire an experienced enrollment professional, and is not a candidate for the permanent position, but his experience and leadership ability will be invaluable during this transition.
New leadership and new staff are in place in Institutional Advancement, many improvements have been implemented, and preparation for our first comprehensive fundraising campaign has been accelerated. Integrated marketing is underway. Regional alumni chapters are being planned, and the new alumni council envisions contributions in admissions, mentoring, career networking, and fundraising. Total giving to Alvernia this past year increased about 80% from $860K the previous year to just over $1.5 million, and the endowment climbed past $13 million. The number of alumni donors and their level of contributions grew by 10%. Many faculty and staff also contribute annually, and as I know from past experience, schools that can boast of widespread participation by campus folks make a far more compelling case for external support. The Hearst Grant and Batdorf Endowment represent notable progress and are prime examples of how faculty can help support advancement efforts. A major gifts program has been established, and the Board is in the process of clarifying and extending its own leadership role in philanthropy. Yet as with enrollment, let me not understate our challenges or the additional progress necessary for us in these two critical areas.
Our fundraising history has led us to rely on long-term debt and on the operating budget to finance necessary capital improvements. Judge Hall, the new science facility, and the Upland building are essential building blocks of our future but have necessitated a significant increase in our long-term debt to about $31 million. These projects are wise investments and, given interest rates, the financial strategy has been prudent.
Yet high debt, like a small endowment, limits flexibility as we go forward, and increased interest payments are a burden for our operating budget. Even with increased fundraising, we will be an even more cash-strapped institution. That is why aggressively seeking federal and state funding will become a top priority. And why we need trustees, alumni, and friends to provide cash gifts in the upcoming campaign as well as deferred commitments, such as through bequests and insurance policies.
 It is also why we will need to continue to rely on our annual budget as a source for renovations, technology upgrades, and improvements from the new campus master plan. Ongoing excellent budget stewardship by all of us and effective oversight by the vice presidents will continue to be essential. On that note, while our budget continues to be negatively affected by enrollment fluctuations, the current year incorporates the final step in achieving an institutional contribution of 10% to our retirement funds. This improvement is timely given that Alvernia, like all of American society, faces unpleasant realities regarding spiraling health care costs.
Financial oversight is the most prominent part of trustees’ fiduciary responsibility, but board duties also extend to other areas. Our Board Audit Committee has recently completed a thorough review of all compliance procedures. While the Sarbanes-Oxley (or SOX) Act applies only to publicly traded companies, it is a “best practice” to apply SOX principles to private colleges. Alvernia already had key elements in place, such as the existence of an independent committee, and we are also implementing expanded audit procedures, an independent ethics violation program, and trustee oversight of all compliance reports. Alvernia once again received an unqualified, clean audit opinion, an important endorsement of our business and financial administration.
Educational quality is too broad a topic for this occasion. The summaries of the “listening sessions” and identity sessions provide the SPC and all of us a full agenda of academic improvements in order to do better by our students. Let me today remind us that our graduation rate—the percentage of students who complete their undergraduate degree in four or more years--is an important indicator of educational quality. We need improvement in this regard. And all of us—faculty, staff, and administration—must commit to this effort. Today, I am asking Shirley Williams and Sister Margaret, in the first of what will be many important partnerships between their divisions, to conduct a focused study of this topic and then discuss results and determine actions with deans, chairs, directors, faculty and student leaders.
 Let me turn to what will be an exciting and challenging year. Early this summer, I described it to the Board as a year of “institutional integration.” Following good work by many good people, the Board will act on my recommendations for revised mission and vision statements, a new strategic plan, a campus facilities master plan, and a plan for our first comprehensive fundraising campaign. We must knit these separate efforts closely together. Strategic planning must address external trends and realities, not simply internal campus issues. It requires focus on major goals to enable an organization to position itself far more positively—in quality, reputation, and financial viability—guided by the organization’s mission and especially its vision for the future. The best planning forces choices, the setting of priorities of relative importance and urgency.
Last year on this occasion, I noted we had many choices of what we could be and do, but we couldn’t be or do everything. Mick Jagger is in this regard a surprising source of wisdom and advice: “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need.” This process will be daunting, yet invigorating, for the SPC, as our campus-wide group, for me as your president, for the Board, and for all of us.
Perhaps as we anticipate the important work ahead, a few observations on process and timelines will be helpful. As you may recall, the SPC is charged to recommend 4-7 priorities, 12-15 specific goals, and appropriate performance indicators that will help evaluate our progress. Our vision for this plan must be long-term—out ten years beyond our 50th anniversary—but the major goals must focus on the next five years. Similarly, like all campus facilities master plans, ours will include elements that might not be realized for ten to twenty years but also projects to be accomplished in the near- and intermediate-term. Five years is a short time, and we must stretch ourselves to achieve as much as possible while being realistic about the time and costs involved.
 There are obviously many important issues not appropriate for inclusion in a strategic plan. That is why I also have charged both the SPC and the Campus Master Planners to include appendices to their reports which list the many good ideas and tactical goals which inevitably arise during an inclusive planning process. New initiatives such as staff leadership development, preparation for our 50th anniversary celebration, a campus and external communication plan, improvements in student recruiting and advancement, some academic issues identified recently by department chairs, Tim Blessing, and Shirley Williams require attention even if they are not strategic initiatives.
As announced earlier, I have designated September 11-15 and November 6-10 as periods where the work of the strategic plan and the campus facilities master plan will be presented and discussed. In September, all will be asked to attend several sessions, with multiple options available from early morning through evening. A schedule will be sent well in advance. My thanks to student, faculty, and administrative leaders for eliminating other meetings those weeks so that we can concentrate our attention and participate fully.
Because Alvernia is long overdue for a comprehensive fundraising effort, we must move with dispatch to identify funding priorities. Yet to be successful we must have a coherent strategic vision not a mere wish list of projects. Our Board is both legitimately impatient to begin a campaign and yet insistent that we clarify Alvernia’s identity, articulate a vision, and establish priorities. The Board also understands and shares my commitment to a fully inclusive planning process. Accordingly, to ensure adequate time for the SPC and me to consult widely and for the Board to provide feedback and direction, I am extending our planning timeline.
Both the SPC and the Campus Master planners will present advanced drafts of plans during the second planning week of November 6-10 and, following suitable revisions, will present final drafts by December 1 for my review and for subsequent consideration by the Board at its planning retreat in mid-December. The deadline for the revised final documents has now been extended from December 15 to February 15. I will then submit these documents, along with my recommendations, for final review by the appropriate Board committees, with the full Board taking action on the strategic, facilities, and campaign plans at its March meeting.
Facilities, funds, curriculum and programs, even strategic plans take their meaning only in the hands of good people. Each of you could cite a litany of examples of individual contributions, recognized and unsung, from Alvernia’s staff and faculty. I think this week of the many faculty, staff, and now Senior Mentors involved in orientation and the first-year experience. (By the way, having hosted Paul Loeb on my former campus when he was a unknown first-time author, I applaud the use and choice of his book.)
Besides appreciation to these and other colleagues, we should feel pride in our notable achievements. The number of faculty completing doctorates this past year is impressive, with other colleagues making progress on their course work or dissertations. I would be remiss not to single out Karen Thacker who completed her dissertation with customary good cheer and extraordinary efficiency, while serving as dean and contributing in many special ways to Alvernia. Students throughout the institution won national recognition, notably in English and Business honors societies and competitions. Alumna Judge Linda Ludgate and Sister Pacelli enjoyed regional recognition as Berks County Women of Distinction, and Coach Kevin Calabria was inducted into the County Hall of Fame for a distinguished career including over 300 wins. Jerry Vigna was chosen Vice President of the prestigious Catholic Theological Society, and Dolores Bertoti was feted as one of the handful of outstanding freshman educators and advocates by the National Center. Citing just a few examples—and there are many more—reflects the range of our accomplishments.
 A similar comment applies to faculty scholarly and professional achievements. As someone who as a full-time faculty member taught four classes per semester, I know the difficulties of sustaining a regular, productive scholarly and creative agenda, while ensuring a high level of teaching and an extensive record of institutional service. It is a challenge faced by faculty in the majority of small and mid-sized schools. In that light, we should be proud of and inspired by having six book authors in the same year: Marc DiPaolo, John Kissinger, Ana Ruiz, Bongrae Seok, Judy Warchal, and Donna Yarri. There are, of course, other venues for scholarship and creative work; many of us will find them better suited for our research interests or talents. But besides rejoicing in the success of colleagues, we should feel challenged and encouraged by their achievements.
Two awards bestowed on Alvernia, as we begin the academic year, confirm that we have a special place in this community. As many of you know, yesterday we received the Silver Award from the United Way in recognition of our generous annual support. Over the weekend, at a major community event, I was asked admiringly by a prominent community leader how Alvernia managed to be so successful. I responded that our mission-driven commitment to service and social responsibility was widely shared and embedded within our culture. This generosity of spirit and commitment to personal and social transformation will also be honored next month when Alvernia receives the Guardian Award from Mary’s Shelter and Mary’s Home. Two of our students, one the first alumna of our scholarship program, will provide testimonials at the dinner. Our support of these courageous women represents the practice of the best in Catholic Social Teaching and is a shining example of how, at our best, Alvernia walks the talk.
 We can never go wrong by focusing on our students, even as we recognize the necessary balance between questioning their preconceptions, meeting their needs, challenging them with rigorous expectations, and fostering their growth as learners and as people. At a time in which nationally we have a far older and far more racially diverse population seeking a college education, high school graduates with technological savvy and high consumerist expectations, and students of all ages working multiple jobs, higher education must offer instruction that is engaging, flexible, service oriented, outcome oriented, and competitively priced. These changing demographics are one of several reasons why responsiveness to multiple learning styles, new learning environments, and technologically assisted instruction are now mainstream. We educate for a future in which people will change careers (not just jobs) six or seven times. Self-directed, life-long learning is a necessity not a cliché and, in my view, provides a compelling case for liberal arts education. The demands on faculty and administrators’ time and responsibilities will continue to change and require all but the elite institutions to be responsive to best practices and not parochial in their approaches. When compared to deeply entrenched colleges, and larger, bureaucratic universities, Alvernia’s heritage and entrepreneurial spirit position us well.
Whether reflecting on Alvernia’s historical evolution, its dramatic transformation since the mid-90s, or anticipating the future beyond our upcoming anniversary, we must remember we a very young institution. We have options long since lost to other schools. But systems, processes, and professional standards commonplace for decades, even longer, at many colleges are new for us. We are experiencing growing pains, partly from rapid growth and continuous improvement, but partly because our institution, our academic community, our campus culture are changing in ways often hard to understand or articulate. And this is occurring while broader social and global changes have created a volatile environment for higher education. Recall that eerie Buffalo Springfield song—or at least the initial line—“Something’s happening here, what it is ain’t exactly clear.”
 Actually, the extraordinary level of engagement and insight in last year’s discussions confirms the commitment of this academic community to actively engage in shaping our future. Fellow presidents are envious when I remark on the quality and quantity of faculty participation in last spring’s identity discussions. Several senior faculty told me that these sessions were the most open, candid, and productive in their experience. Many spoke optimistically about clarifying what is now a blurred, confused identity and strengthening collaboration toward a shared quest for academic excellence.
To do this, we must listen even more and even better: as the Benedictines like to say, “to listen with the ear of your heart.” Multiple ideas bring better solutions and avoid that timeless definition of insanity: doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. We must also get more comfortable with and more honest about disagreement. I recall a wonderful meeting last year in which colleagues repeatedly prefaced comments with apologies for their disagreement. In another session, a respected faculty member commented—wisely, I suspected—that at times we blame insufficient clarity and poor communication to avoid facing disagreements. Two faculty leaders separately commented to me this summer that faculty needed to learn how to argue passionately and then adjourn for a drink together rather than letting differences simmer or become divisive. Genuine collegiality means engaging professional differences directly but with respect and charity. As several of you observed last spring, as Alvernia evolves and improves, there will naturally be differences of opinion and so we all must be willing at times to agree to disagree.
All academic communities believe, correctly no doubt, that communication and trust can be improved. The President and other executive officers bear special responsibility in this regard. But so, too, do faculty and student leaders; chairs, deans, and others with leadership responsibility; office staff and committee members. Longtime members must be open to new perspectives; newcomers must be respectful of longtime customs and aware that past experience shapes current perceptions. An excellent academic community champions exploration and troubling introspection, never complacency and self-satisfaction and easy answers. Santayana is surely right that those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it, but as someone who has taught and written on historical memory, I would caution that an equal danger arises if we allow past experience and history to trap and constrain us from imagining and working together to shape a better future.
 Whether or not we use the term, “new American college,” to describe Alvernia, we are in fact a hybrid, peculiarly democratic type of institution that combines appealing characteristics of the small college and the large university. From my remarks last December and in the inaugural address, you know I believe that Alvernia must build a far more connected, coherent education for all students and that we need what the SPC has prophetically called “institutional integration.” We need intentional interconnections across our curriculum and programs, in our deliberative and decision-making processes, and in our services and business practices. We must connect classroom, campus, and community and intentionally link theory, practice, and reflection. And we must realize the promise and possibility of being Franciscan.
This morning, I ask you to join me in recommitting our best efforts on behalf of our students, now and in the years to come. Thank you.
Updated:
October 5, 2006
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