Office of the Chancellor | University of Colorado at Boulder

State of the Campus Address
September 25, 2002

Institutional Achievements
As a campus, CU-Boulder has made significant strides toward meeting its goals. For example:

Faculty compensation has long been a high priority for me and the Boulder campus. Over the past several years, we have seen significant improvements annually. Since 1996, average faculty salaries for all ranks combined improved by 22 percent.

Private fundraising has never been more important for CU-Boulder. Our goal for the Campaign for Colorado, which began in July 1996, was $297 million; as of August 2002, we had raised $324 million. Priorities include direct student and faculty support, program support, capital projects, and current or ongoing support.
We are seeing positive results of our efforts to increase the number of endowed chairs on the Boulder campus. Since 1996, we have increased that number from five to 22.

Last October, we received a $35 million commitment from the Leeds family of New York to endow the CU-Boulder business school. The endowment will support academic excellence, social responsibility and diversity. To honor that gift, the school has been renamed the Leeds School of Business.
Over the past few years, I have been gratified to see improvements in faculty diversity, both in terms of faculty of color and gender, as shown by this graphic. Since 1996, faculty of color have increased by 26 percent and female faculty have increased by 16 percent.

As Chancellor, I have emphasized the importance of information technology in society for today and tomorrow. We have worked hard to create an IT environment that engages the entire campus community, especially our students. For example, the number of campus computers connected to the Internet has increased by 100 percent since 1997.

In June, construction began on a new Williams Village expansion project that will add nearly 1,000 beds by 2004. The housing project is specifically designed for upper-division students and will feature apartment-style housing and academic support facilities and services.
Improving and expanding our facilities has been a high priority for me since I was named chancellor in 1996. Examples from the last few years include: renovations of the Women’s Cottage, Ekeley Chemistry and Porter Bioscience, Old Geology, the University Memorial Center, and campus residential halls. Building construction has included the Benson Earth Sciences Building, the Humanities Building, the Discovery Learning Center, and the Imig Music Addition. Over the past three years, we also have added over 150,000 square feet of space dedicated to our expanding sponsored research activities.
In yet another example of the University’s commitment to environmental issues, the Stampede shuttle bus was launched this fall, connecting the main and east campuses with arrivals every 10 minutes. Powered by natural gas, the buses are free to CU-Boulder students, faculty and staff.
One of our priorities in undergraduate education has been the growth of academic neighborhoods, such as Residential Academic Programs and other small-group programs. The number of freshmen engaged in these types of enrichment programs has increased by 62 percent since 1996.

Institutional Achievements