Summer News and Updates

September 13, 2005

Dear Colleagues:

Welcome to the new academic year! It is great to have everyone back on campus again. I hope your summer was restful. I know many of you were teaching or doing research during the summer months, so even if you were busy professionally, I hope the pace was more relaxed and that you are refreshed for the fall semester.

I want to extend a warm welcome to our new faculty and staff. I am delighted that you have joined our community, and I look forward to working with you.

APPOINTMENTS: I am pleased to highlight a couple of appointments that were made over the summer to leadership positions at Tufts. Robert Sternberg was named Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, succeeding Dean Susan Ernst who led the school admirably for four years and has returned to teaching in the Department of Biology. Bob Sternberg comes to us from Yale University where he was the IBM Professor of Psychology and Education in the Department of Psychology, Professor of Management in the School of Management, and Director of the Center for the Psychology of Abilities, Competencies, and Expertise (PACE Center). In 2003, he served as President of the American Psychological Association. Bob is recognized internationally for scholarship on intelligence, learning, creativity, and the diversity of human ability. He is a brilliant scholar who is passionately committed to undergraduate education and dedicated to strengthening Tufts' graduate programs. Bob joined Tufts on August 15.

Amelia "Mely" Tynan was appointed Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer. Mely most recently served as Vice Provost and Chief Information Officer at the University of Rochester, and before that held various leadership positions including Vice Provost for University Information Technology at the University of Arizona. She has served on the board of EDUCAUSE where she was Secretary and then Vice Chair. Mely has excelled at bringing academics and technology together to build a stronger educational community. Her experience is certain to bring Tufts' technology to the next level. Mely began work here yesterday, September 12.

M. Sawkat Anwer, Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, was named Interim Dean. Dean Phil Kosch, who for nine years guided the school with distinction, will take the post of Special Assistant to the Provost following a sabbatical.

We also welcome several new Executive Associate/Administrative Deans to the university. EADs bridge the academic and administrative functions and help keep our schools moving forward. Please join me in welcoming Joseph Castellana at the School of Dental Medicine, Marsha Semuels at the School of Medicine, and Scott Sahagian who came to the School of Engineering last spring.

AWARDS: Last spring, we announced several exciting faculty achievements including Andrew Camilli's selection as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Ayesha Jalal's appointment as a Carnegie Scholar, and Jane Bernstein's election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Additional good news was received during the summer, when The Gates Foundation announced through its Grand Challenges in Global Health awards a $5 million grant to Abraham "Linc" Sonenshein and colleagues for the further development of heat-stable childhood vaccines. Congratulations to all on these terrific achievements.

I also want to note a recent announcement from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), in which the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine was awarded a $15 million grant to build a state-of-the-art, regional biosafety laboratory to advance research into food and water-borne diseases of public health importance. The facility will be built in the Grafton Science Park and will house biosafety level-2 and level-3 laboratories. Tufts' research into food and water-borne diseases has taken place for many years on our Grafton campus and will continue in the new facility upon its completion.

I am pleased to report that our students (and alumni) fared exceptionally well in the Fulbright competition this year, with a record-setting 16 Tufts students and former students selected for fellowships and headed to nations as diverse as Albania, Argentina, Bangladesh, South Korea, India and Morocco, to name just a few. (A 17th Fulbright winner from Tufts declined his award in order to begin graduate school.) Our students' success is a wonderful testament to generous investment that faculty and staff make in the education of Tufts students.

OPENCOURSEWARE: In June, Tufts launched its OpenCourseWare (OCW) website. Tufts is one of a select group of institutions partnering with MIT in the initiative to make course content accessible to anyone, anywhere via the Internet. On the Tufts site, learners worldwide may sample courses in medicine, veterinary medicine, nutrition, epidemiology, infectious diseases and nutrition public policy. Soon we will add courses in dental medicine and international relations. OCW is a wonderful example of Tufts' institutional commitment to active citizenship, as we have the opportunity to extend our educational reach and empower others throughout the world so they may reach their full potential. In the first month, the site received hits from China, Australia, Uruguay and Indonesia, to name just a few places. I am delighted that The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has granted Tufts $200,000 toward OCW and that private donors have been supportive as well. Congratulations to the many individuals across our university who contributed to this successful project.

ADVANCEMENT: I am pleased to announce that Tufts had another extraordinarily successful year in fundraising, with overall achievement totaling $103 million in fiscal 2005. This is the second (consecutive) year in which fundraising achievement at Tufts surpassed the $100 million mark. Included in the total is the exceptional $25 million gift we announced yesterday from Pierre and Pamela Omidyar, A88, J89, Trustee and University College advisory board member respectively. Annual Fund gifts for the year brought nearly $12.9 million to the schools and divisions at Tufts, representing a 12 percent increase over last year's giving. The Tufts Fund for Arts, Sciences and Engineering reached a record $6.722 million representing a 20 percent increase over fiscal 2004. I congratulate our university development and advancement staff for all of their efforts which have contributed to this success, and I look forward to more good news on the fundraising front in the months ahead. I also wish to thank the many generous friends and organizations who have contributed to this year's success. Their support underwrites scholarships, faculty development, research, enhancements to student life, and physical improvements to our campus. I am proud that our own Tufts faculty and staff, through the Tufts Community Appeal, contributed more than $70,000 toward student financial aid this past year. Thank you for your truly thoughtful support for our students.

FACILITIES: It was quite a summer for construction, renovation and maintenance. The most dramatic work is still visible on the Medford/Somerville campus, where cranes (not of the avian variety) have taken up residence. Construction of Sophia Gordon Hall, a student residence featuring 126 beds in 30 suites, plus a multipurpose room with seating for 150, is well underway, with the structural steel topped off and masonry work ready to begin. I am proud to note that this building is being designed in accordance with LEEDS certification, and will be the most energy efficient building on campus. Across Talbot Avenue, construction of our new music building also is proceeding apace. The music building will have a 300-seat recital hall of broadcast quality, classrooms, faculty offices and a music library. Additional work in Cohen Auditorium will complement this project. Both Sophia Gordon Hall and the music building are scheduled to be completed in the fall semester, 2006, in August and December respectively.

The Fletcher School's renovations continued with the final phase of a 2-year project to completely renovate the interior of Mugar, Goddard and Cabot. Work this summer resulted in additional classrooms and offices through a more efficient lay-out and a new front entrance on Fletcher Walk. Additionally, the Cabot Intercultural Center's exterior is benefiting from phase one of a multi-million dollar makeover including repair/replacement of the exterior masonry and new windows. This is an extensive, ongoing project scheduled to conclude in December 2006.

A new parking garage is being built on the south Medford/Somerville campus to replace the parking lost due to the construction of the new music building. The one level garage provides 137 spaces between South Hall and Baronian Field House. It is an innovative project, in that the tennis and basketball courts previously located on site will be re-built on top of the garage, which is only partially underground. The garage and recreational facilities should be completed in March.

A new boathouse for our crew teams is being built on the Malden River in Medford. This project includes boat bays, storage racks, a viewing deck, a training room, and locker rooms. For the first time in our history, our crew teams will have their own boat house. For the past several years they have been rowing out of a tent on the Malden River, and previously they rowed out of the Harvard boat house.

West Hall underwent a stunning restoration, bringing the building's exterior to its original appearance circa 1880. Please take a look if you have the chance. The Mayer Campus Center also received significant exterior work including a new roof. Animal housing in Barnum/Dana was improved based on AAALAC guidance. New lab casework and mechanical systems were built in the chemistry and biology departments. The Hodgdon Good-to-Go site received a number of improvements, and a number of electrical, tel/data, and water projects were completed over the summer. While not so glamorous, these infrastructure projects are important to the efficient operation of the campus.

On the Boston campus, the Sackler Library 5th Floor stacks/carrels were reconfigured based on student input, and we added data wiring and made other upgrades. We also made investments in the M&V DLAM, in the final phase of a two-year project to renovate and expand lab animal housing. In October, we will have established new mechanical/electrical systems, interior finishes, and other services in accordance with AAALAC requirements. Also in M&V, a new electrical infrastructure as instituted. At 35 Kneeland Street, we made improvements in the roof, masonry, parapet, and windows. The funds for renovation for 35 Kneeland will come back to us in time through an arrangement with Tufts-New England Medical Center.

On the Grafton campus, we made significant repairs and improvements to the Large Animal Hospital.

In addition, many smaller projects were completed. We are deeply committed to maintaining and enhancing Tufts' physical plant, and work this summer attests to that commitment. Through our master planning process on the Medford/Somerville campus, and through a recently instituted process for the Boston campus, we will continue to consider creative and wise use of our facilities and land.

UPCOMING LECTURES: On September 27, Tufts will welcome Salman Rushdie as the Fall 2005 guest speaker for the Richard E. Snyder Presidential Lecture Series. The lecture will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Cohen Auditorium, and ticket information is forthcoming. The popular Snyder Lecture Series enters its second year and responds to a recommendation from the Task Force on the Undergraduate Experience to enhance the intellectual climate on campus outside of the classroom. Made possible through the generosity of alumnus Richard E. Snyder A55, former Chairman and CEO of Simon & Schuster, the series brings prominent public figures to campus to present provocative and perhaps controversial points of view on issues of national and international importance.

On November 15, Tufts Hillel will celebrate the inaugural presentation in the Merrin Distinguished Lecture Series, established by a gift from Tufts Trustee Seth Merrin A82 and his wife Anne. Paul Rusesabagina, manager of the Hotel Rwanda, will speak about his experience sheltering more than 1000 people during the 100 days when extremists were massacring thousands of Tutsi and moderate Hutu tribe members. Hillel will show the film 'Hotel Rwanda' prior to Mr. Rusesabagina's visit. Please watch the university calendar and Hillel website for details about the movie showing and lecture. It is wonderful to include the new Merrin Lecture Series among the opportunities available to our community for intellectual growth.

ACCREDITATION: The Tufts University Police Department is congratulated for its recent accreditation by the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission. Only 18 police departments in the Commonwealth have received this recognition. Tufts Police demonstrated compliance in more than 300 standards for organization and operational procedures to meet the commission's requirements for accreditation.

COMMUNITY SPIRIT: One year ago, we opened the Tower Caf? on the Medford/Somerville campus and invited faculty to enjoy a coffee or soda with students on the house. For newcomers, by way of explanation, the Task Force on the Undergraduate Experience recommended the addition of informal meeting places on campus, and the university embraced this suggestion. We created the Tower Caf?, and I am happy to report that it is a booming success. Nearly 84,000 transactions occurred last year. Traffic into Tisch Library increased by almost 40,000 visitors. Thanks to your feedback, we have eliminated the coupon system and initiated a running tab for faculty meeting with students. Hopefully this change will make it even easier for you to enjoy time with your students outside of the classroom.

Please mark your calendars for the third annual Community Day on the Medford/Somerville campus, Sunday, October 2, 2005. Once again, faculty, staff and students will offer entertaining and educational activities for our neighbors and other friends. Community Day has contributed substantially to the excellent relationship Tufts has fostered with the Cities of Medford and Somerville in recent years. Our community relations are as strong as they have ever been. Please come and greet our neighbors, enjoy lunch and show our community pride.

I would like to conclude by thanking all of you, once again, for your compassion toward the victims of Hurricane Katrina. We now have more than 40 Tulane guest students attending classes at Tufts for the fall semester. Other relief efforts are taking place across our campuses. Thank you for helping with such generous spirit.

Our university is alive with activity. Thank you for all that you contribute to Tufts' vitality, and best wishes for a great 2005-2006 academic year. I look forward to working with you.

Sincerely,
Lawrence S. Bacow
President