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Credit: Nick Romanenko
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Over the past year, Rutgers has made important and impressive academic strides but faces fiscal challenges in the coming year, said Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Philip Furmanski in his campus address to the University Senate.
In his speech at the Jan. 20 meeting, Furmanski highlighted more than 30 major new honors and awards garnered by Rutgers faculty and students, heralded several new appointments made over the past year and updated senators on progress made in key areas of excellence for Rutgers.
Some of that progress, however, is dependent upon sustained levels of support from the state of New Jersey, which is facing a budget deficit of at least $5 billion this year.
“We have an infrastructure that badly needs to be upgraded,” Furmanski said. “The state has not had a capital improvement program for its universities since 1988. We are working with them on a capital improvements program across all our campuses.” Furmanski also noted that costs would go up in the next year because of salary increases, as well as increases in the prices of fuel, food and utilities.
In terms of federal funding, Furmanski reported good news. “Rutgers was awarded $265 million in grants and external funding ... This was an increase of 16.5 percent over the previous year, which is really a remarkable gain,” he said.
Furmanski welcomed new administrators who have taken up posts in the past year, and he said that searches are under way for deans of the School of Management and Labor Relations and Rutgers Business School-Newark and New Brunswick, as well as a new vice president for enrollment management.
“This is a new and reconfigured position, designed in accord with many of the things we’ve been discussing in relation with undergraduate education,” Furmanski said. He thanked the senate and the New Brunswick Faculty Council for their “spirited discussions” of the report of the Task Force for Undergraduate Education.
Furmanski also highlighted some of the areas of excellence in which Rutgers is positioned to be a leader. The transportation initiative has made gains, with Rutgers receiving more than $7 million from the transportation bill passed last year in the U.S. Congress. Rutgers is also collaborating with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
“Our faculty and students have worked with the Port Authority over the years in various ad hoc ways,” he said. “We now have a more organized relationship with them to do research, planning and teaching in areas like engineering, policy development and analysis, and security.”
Furmanski also emphasized progress in materials science, international studies, education, the humanities and nutrition. “There may be no topic more important to a broader public good and public health at this time than nutrition,” Furmanski said. “We’ve met with a number of faculty to begin to map out a plan for establishing nutrition as a signature program for Rutgers.”
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