Summer News and Updates

September 8, 2006

Dear Colleagues:

It is hard to believe that the 2006-2007 academic year has already begun. I hope your summer was refreshing and that you are eager to begin the semester. If you are a new faculty or staff member in our community, I extend a warm welcome and look forward to meeting you soon.

My thanks go to everyone who contributed to the success of our Commencement in May. The enthusiastic participation of so many faculty and staff, along with the excellent planning done by our Commencement Committee and departments across the university resulted in a joyful celebration of our students. And we dodged the storms! We had the only dry commencement of Boston's major universities. I had uniformly positive feedback from parents, alumni, graduates and many of you who participated in the ceremony. Thank you for recognizing our newest alumni in such a warm and memorable way.

I am pleased to note several appointments that occurred over the summer. Dr. Deborah Kochevar became dean of the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine on August 1. Debbie came to Tufts from Texas A&M University's College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, where she was associate dean for Professional Programs and holder of the Wiley Chair of Veterinary Medical Education. She was professor of veterinary physiology and pharmacology at the College of Veterinary Medicine, with a joint appointment in medical physiology. Debbie served as acting dean of the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine in 2004 and 2005. She brings to the Cummings School great passion for the educational and scholarly mission of veterinary medicine. Her experience includes outstanding national leadership, such as the presidency of the American College of Veterinary Clinical Pharmacology and editorial board work for the American Journal of Veterinary Research. She is also involved in the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). We are delighted to welcome Debbie Kochevar to Tufts' leadership team. My thanks go to Sawkat Anwer for his outstanding service this past year as interim dean of the Cummings School.

I also want to congratulate Andrew McClellan, associate professor of art history, who was appointed dean of academic affairs in the School of Arts and Sciences, and Lynne Pepall, professor of economics, who recently was named interim dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Andrew and Lynne are both outstanding teachers and scholars. I am grateful to each for their willingness to serve the school.

Debra Weinstein, M.D., an American Council on Education Fellow, will spend the year at Tufts working closely with me, Provost Jamshed Bharucha and Vice President Brian Lee. Debbie is on the faculty at Harvard Medical School and is also Vice President for graduate medical education at Partners HealthCare Systems. The ACE Fellows program is the premier leadership development program in higher education. I look forward to the contributions Debbie will make to Tufts as she hones her expertise in university management.

FACILITIES: This summer saw an extraordinary amount of construction, renovation and refurbishment among our campus facilities. The work was particularly intense on the Medford/Somerville campus, where several significant projects really took shape. I want to thank everyone whose work and routines were interrupted by the construction. The inconvenience will be greatly outweighed by the benefits of our new and updated facilities. Let me share some highlights with you.

On the Medford/Somerville campus, we concluded the construction of Sophia Gordon Hall, our first new residence hall since South was built in 1991. Thirty suites for seniors feature a kitchen, bath, living room and either four or six private bedrooms. In addition, a multipurpose room for 150 people will accommodate academic and social programming. Sophia Gordon Hall has the distinction of being Tufts' most environmentally friendly building, built to LEED standards. Its completion was celebrated in a festive dedication on September 6.

We made tremendous progress on our new music building. Construction is on schedule for occupancy in January 2007. The facility includes offices, classrooms, a 300-seat recital hall and music library. In a related project, the basement of Cohen Auditorium was completely renovated, with all new practice rooms and music teaching spaces ready for use this semester. A re-designed entrance to Aidekman will provide a welcome sense of arrival for visitors to the Balch Arena Theater and galleries. Nearby, Jackson Gym is sporting a new dance studio/lab for the dance program.

Tufts' boathouse on the Malden River in Medford opened to much delight. Besides being the first exclusive home for Tufts' crew teams, the 10,000 square foot facility features a multipurpose function space and deck with fantastic river views.

The Fletcher School is in its final phase of a multi-year project to more efficiently use interior space for additional classrooms and offices. An elevator was installed in Mugar Hall, and behind the exterior drapes are new windows and repaired masonry. Work will continue through December, necessitating continued one-way traffic on Packard Avenue.

A new 137-space garage for students was completed on the lower campus, with tennis and basketball courts built on top. We expect to receive the necessary operating license allowing for the garage's use in mid-September.

Construction began on the former Dame School on George Street in Medford. This project is slated to run through July 2007 and will include a complete overhaul of the building to provide offices for University Advancement and University Relations. Nearby, program planning has begun for 51 Winthrop (the former Sacred Heart Church) and 58 Winthrop (the former Catholic Center). 51 Winthrop will be converted to multipurpose function space for academic use, conferences, alumni functions, etc. 58 Winthrop will become an interfaith center with offices for our Catholic, Muslim and Protestant chaplains and multipurpose space for religious and other campus programming. BOLOCO - an "inspired burritos," wraps and salad venue - will open in October on Boston Avenue at the former Jay's Deli site. The building was put on the market after Jay's closed and was acquired by Walnut Hill Properties.

In addition, numerous lab and classroom renovations were completed, as were deferred maintenance and energy-related projects. While not as glamorous as new construction, this work is essential to maintaining the beauty and functionality of our campus facilities.

On the Boston campus, research labs in South Cove and the M&V Building were renovated, and the Sackler and Dental buildings underwent roof and electrical infrastructure work. The Dental School is engaged in planning to possibly add a four-story addition to the Dental tower. An analysis of the existing structure is being done to determine whether the building can carry the proposed load. Also in Boston, a master planning process is nearing completion. Led by Dean Lonnie Norris, the committee is exploring immediate opportunities to create a sense of identity and arrival on the campus to enhance community, and longer-term options for the re-use of the Jaharis parking lot and parcel R-1.

At the Cummings School, construction of a small animal clinic in Walpole was completed and an addition is being built at the Large Animal Hospital on campus for a new MRI unit. The university is in the final phase of land acquisition for a new ambulatory clinic in Woodstock. The most substantial project in Grafton is the planning for the new regional biosafety laboratory which is being supported by a $15 million NIH grant. The Cummings School is home to one of the nation's leading research programs in zoonotic diseases (diseases transmissible from animals to people) and in food and waterborne diseases. The new biosafety laboratory will allow Tufts researchers to build upon the work they have been doing for nearly 30 years to improve human and animal health through better detection, prevention, and treatment of infectious diseases. The facility also will serve as a regional resource for other New England scientists conducting similar research of public health importance.

VISUAL IDENTITY: You may have noticed the new Tufts banners at the base of Memorial Steps and other entry points to the Medford/Somerville campus, as well as a fresh look on many of our publications and websites, and on the Tufts merchandise in our bookstores. I hope you like what you are seeing.

The new Tufts wordmark stems from a concerted, yearlong effort - first, to articulate what makes the university a truly distinctive place, and then to craft a visual identity and communications materials that reflect our distinctiveness. As an institution, Tufts is unique in its focus on developing new leaders for a changing world and on tackling important global challenges in a collaborative way. Tufts' new wordmark is equally bold.

Our new visual identity system includes guidelines for laying out the Tufts University and school names in a consistent manner as well as recommended colors and typefaces. Over the past few months and continuing this fall, our communications team is meeting with representatives from all the schools and divisions to introduce the new visual identity system, to solicit your ideas on how we can implement it most effectively, and to answer your questions. I encourage you to visit http://universityrelations.tufts.edu/visualidentity to learn more.

PRINT PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM: Earlier this summer we launched the Tufts Print Partnership Program, through which the university anticipates significant savings related to print publications. I encourage all members of the community to actively support the program, as the volume of jobs fielded through our 10 strategically selected partners will determine our savings. The benefit to your department's budget is immediate and direct. Some departments that have placed orders with our 10 preferred vendors have achieved savings of 20 percent due to our newly negotiated rates. More information is available on the Inside Tufts website, under postservice, or from staff in the Publications and Purchasing divisions.

FUNDRAISING: I am pleased to announce that Tufts set a new record for fundraising achievement in Fiscal Year 2006 with gifts totaling $218 million. Remarkably, $208 million of our total achievement came in the form of cash, returning immediate benefits to the university. The funds raised this year more than doubled last year's achievement. The university's Advancement division did a terrific job with our donors and friends and deserves congratulations.

Many alumni and friends made transformative gifts for strategic priorities such as financial aid, faculty career development, and active citizenship. Our success reflects the generosity of many, but special thanks go to Pierre and Pamela Omidyar for their extraordinary $100 million gift announced last November - which actually yielded $104.2 million once all of the donated shares of eBay stock were liquidated. The Omidyars' gift created the Omidyar-Tufts Microfinance Fund, established a loan forgiveness program for students who pursue careers in public service and a funded intern program in public service, and supported financial aid and faculty development. Jonathan Tisch made a landmark $40 million gift to name the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service, which was celebrated in May. Throughout the year, many others showed strong support for Tufts. Annual giving to all schools and divisions reached nearly $13.5 million in FY2006, marking a 4 percent increase over the previous year. The number of donors who made annual fund gifts increased by more than 1400.

Between June and now, several significant gifts were received, including: an endowed graduate fellowship in literacy and core support for the Center for Reading and Language Research in the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development; undergraduate scholarships at the Tisch College, the School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering; fellowships in the School of Arts and Sciences; a professorship in metabolism and obesity at the School of Medicine; and two bequests in support of the medical school.

In addition, the W. M. Keck Foundation awarded Tufts $1.5 million to support infectious disease research at the School of Medicine, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gave a total of $1.025 million to Tufts for a newborn vaccination program at the medical school (through Arizona State University) and an impact assessment of humanitarian assistance conducted by the Feinstein International Famine Center at the Friedman School.

Clearly we had a great year, and I am confident that our donors will continue to see the value of investing in our faculty and students. Jamshed Bharucha, Brian Lee and I will be meeting with constituents across the university this fall as we prepare for the public launch of Tufts' capital campaign. I look forward to discussing with you the campaign priorities which emerged from your thoughtful strategic planning as well as the ways in which our community can help ensure the campaign's success.

SAVE THE DATES: Several terrific programs await us in the fall semester. On Saturday, September 9, the annual open house at the Cummings School will take place in Grafton, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The semi-annual Richard E. Snyder Presidential Lecture is scheduled for Tuesday, September 26 at 4:00 p.m. in the ASEAN Auditorium. This semester's speaker is Shelby Steele, a highly regarded sociologist and scholar of race relations and multiculturalism in the United States. The fourth annual Community Day on the Medford/Somerville campus will be held on Sunday, October 1, on the academic quad from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mark your calendars for these popular events.

I look forward to another energizing and outstanding year at Tufts, and thank each of you for contributing so substantially to Tufts' success. We have a wonderful community and an exciting year ahead of us. It is an honor to work with you to advance the mission of our great university.

Best regards,
Larry

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Lawrence S. Bacow
President
Tufts University
Ballou Hall
Medford, MA 02155
617-627-3300

Please reply to bacow@tufts.edu