Highlights from the Board of Trustees meetings, May 22-23, and Commencement Weekend, May 22-24.
CONTENTS:
1. ADMISSIONS ON TARGET
2. SUMMER JOBS IN BOBS
3. APRIL 12 INCIDENT REPORT DISCUSSED
4. INVESTMENTS REBALANCED
5. FUNDRAISING FUTURES
6. DIAMOND ELECTED CHAIR, UCHIDA VICE CHAIR
7. PROMOTION AND TENURE TRACKS
8. CAMPUS CULTURE REPORT DUE
9. SPEAKERS EMPHASIZE GLOBAL PROBLEMS
10. SENIOR CLASS SPEAKER ON NPR
11. PROVOCATIVE PEARLS FROM HDRS
12. BACCALAUREATE CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC
13. THE NEW EMERITI
14. NEW TRUSTEES AND OVERSEERS
15. MOOSECELLANEOUS COMMENCEMENTS
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1. ADMISSIONS ON TARGET
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The final size of the incoming class always remains elusive until school actually begins, but admissions numbers show Colby on track to hit enrollment targets, with improved numbers for ALANA students (74), a good percentage of Maine students (13.5 percent), and 22 Davis-UWC scholars in the mix, Parker Beverage (admissions) reported. Applications were down just 6.5 percent from last year’s all-time high, which compares favorably in NESCAC and similar pools. Stats show 18 African Americans expected in the Class of ’13 (up from eight in the Class of 2012). Numbers reported to trustees showed 498 first-year students coming in the fall along with six transfers. Another 46 midyear admits will arrive on campus in January. Taking summer melt into account, that’s very close to the target of 495 first-years, nine transfers, and 36 midyears.
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2. SUMMER JOBS IN BOBS
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A $450,000 renovation project will overhaul the first and second floors of the Roberts Building this summer, moving the Smith-Hurd-Robins meeting spaces downstairs and relocating the Computer Science Department to the second floor. The project will be completed for the opening of school this fall. The project’s domino effects will include bringing the now-scattered Math Department together in the Mudd Building. Also underway is a $400,000 project to repair exterior stairs outside Lovejoy.
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3. APRIL 12 INCIDENT REPORT DISCUSSED
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In executive session the board discussed a report on the April 12 incident in which two Colby students were arrested. The report’s author, Boston attorney Ralph Martin, framed his findings and recommendations for the board and answered questions. The administration will follow up on the recommendations and will update the board over the summer. At his forum for staff and faculty May 28, President Bro Adams promised a response to be released (and put online) in June.
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4. INVESTMENTS REBALANCED
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After an “interesting and intense” year, the board’s Investment Committee has made good progress in efforts to rebalance its portfolio. David Pulver ’63, chair of the committee, said Colby has sold a number of investments, ultimately reducing commitments to those “highly unfunded partnerships” by $32 million and easing cash pressures for at least the next 24 months. The endowment had moved marginally higher since April 30. Colby will next report on its total endowment after it receives June 30, audited numbers.
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5. FUNDRAISING FUTURES
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The Reaching the World campaign is reaching the home stretch. With 13 months to go, the campaign has commitments of $330 million in and another $40 million yet to raise to reach the $370-million goal by June 30, 2010. The Colby Fund—annual donations that are spent in the current-year budget—is gearing up for a final push to meet its $4.9-million fiscal-year goal by June 30. The original goal was scaled back by $500,000 as the global financial crisis made fundraising increasingly challenging, and this year’s spending was adjusted earlier in the year to reflect that change.
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6. DIAMOND ELECTED CHAIR, UCHIDA VICE CHAIR
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Trustees elected Robert E. Diamond ’73 chair for 2009-10 and Richard Y. Uchida ’79 vice chair. Each is serving in his role for the first time. Diamond and outgoing chair Joe Boulos ’68 will co-chair a special summer retreat of the Board of Trustees.
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7. PROMOTION AND TENURE TRACKS
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The board voted to promote Michael Burke (English) to full professor and approved hiring Bénédicte Mauguière with tenure as a full professor in French. Mauguière, an expert on Francophone peoples in North America, is currently a member of the faculty of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Other tenure-track appointments were Andrew Hanssen as associate professor of economics, and Jonathan McCoy as assistant professor of physics.
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8. CAMPUS CULTURE REPORT DUE
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The Campus Culture Working Group, which met throughout the academic year to examine how overuse of alcohol affects student life and achievement at Colby, will issue a discussion draft of its report early in the first semester, including recommendations for alcohol policy changes. A final report and recommendations are expected for the October meeting of the Board of Trustees. The campus community—and others—will have opportunities to discuss the recommendations before they are implemented, Student Affairs Committee Chair M. Jane Powers ’86 told the board.
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9. SPEAKERS EMPHASIZE GLOBAL PROBLEMS
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Greg (Three Cups of Tea) Mortenson and senior class speaker Qiamuddin Amiry ’09 of Kabul, Afghanistan, spoke May 24, and the Class of 2009, 509 strong, received diplomas from President Bro Adams as showers fell on an unusually large crowd on the quad. Qiam’s speech went from humorous (“I’m very succinct in Urdu, but I’m guessing that five minutes of speech in Urdu would be even less welcomed than ten minutes in English”) to poignant (what separates him from suicide bombers in Afghanistan). Full commencement coverage, including audio and video recordings, is online:
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10. SENIOR CLASS SPEAKER ON NPR
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Qiamuddin Amiry '09, who joked about his own loquacity on Sunday, was talking again Monday—this time, on NPR's Morning Edition. "Only a few years ago, he was weaving carpets in Kabul to help his family. ... Now he helps bring more Afghan students to America, like Sikandar Ahmadi," the NPR site says. Listen online.
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11. PROVOCATIVE PEARLS FROM HDRS
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Vice President Dick Cheney’s assertion that President Obama’s counterterrorism policies put America at greater risk were wrong, Jack Goldsmith III, LL.D.’09 said at the honorary degree dinner May 23. A Harvard law professor much in the news last week, he said, “I think [Cheney] was wrong because, in fact, President Obama has not rejected the Bush administration counterterrorism policies.” Hear remarks online from Goldsmith, astronomer Margaret Geller, Sc.D. ’09, Tom’s of Maine founders Kate LL.D. ’09 and Tom Chappell LL.D.’09, and Board of Trustees Chair Joe Boulos ’68, LL.D. ’09.
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12. BACCALAUREATE CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC
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The Class of 2009 leaves Colby during a recession that's been called the worst since the Great Depression. "I won’t insult your considerable intelligence by telling you not to worry about these circumstances, and that everything will be all right," said Bro Adams in his baccalaureate address to seniors May 23. But, he added, he is optimistic because graduates have the critical thinking skills and the specialized study they need to succeed. Transcript and video are online.
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13. THE NEW EMERITI
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Three faculty members and five trustees completed terms on commencement day and were named to emerita/us status by the board. New emeriti faculty are Jane M. Moss, the Robert E. Diamond Professor of Women’s Studies and professor of French; Sheila M. McCarthy, associate professor of Russian; and Clifford E. Reid, Charles A. Dana Professor of Economics. New emeriti trustees are Susan Comeau ’63, William Goldfarb ’68, Timothy Hussey ’78, David Pulver ’63, and Richard Schmaltz ’62.
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14. NEW TRUSTEES AND OVERSEERS
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The board voted Saturday to elect University of Chicago Booth School of Business Dean Edward Snyder ’75, Huffington Post Chief Executive Betsy Lake Morgan ’90, and Atlas Capital Management principal and founding partner Harry Krensky ’85 to terms as corporate trustees. Dilan Siritunga ’92 and Robert Hoopes ’89 were previously selected by the Alumni Council as new alumni trustees. Robert, a former overseer and president of Colby’s Alumni Council, is president of VOX Global Mandate in Washington, D.C. Dilan is managing director of Atticus Capital LLC. ... The board elected five new overseers: Edward Marchetti ’60, founder of Office Environments of New England; Graham Powis ’90, managing director of Lazard Freres; Jamie O’Neil ’83, partner of Cooke & Bieler investment counseling services; political forecaster Amy Walter ’91; and Betsy Kies Raftery ’98, a director of the Oaklawn Foundation.
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15. MOOSECELLANEOUS COMMENCEMENTS
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At Thomas College’s graduation, May 17, our own Nicole A. Veilleux (dean of students office) was the class speaker representing evening students, graduating summa cum laude with the highest GPA of all undergraduates. ... Woo hoo! ... Commencement at Kennebec Valley Community College, May 16, featured keynote speaker Earl H. Smith. Colby’s historian and emeritus dean is chair of the KVCC Foundation.