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The Board of Trustees unanimously passed a historic resolution on May 22 authorizing the university to begin implementing the 10-year vision articulated by President Daniel Mark Fogel in February 2003 and a strategic financial plan underlying it.

The plan we have adopted today is a map that will carry us forward to our goal of building what is already a great institution into a world-class research university, said Fogel. Building the financial strength to achieve that kind of excellence, so UVM is highly attractive to students and faculty from around the country and the world, is the best way to serve Vermont and Vermonters.

The strategic financial plan calls for $475 million in capital investments and proposes adding nearly 2,000 undergraduate and more than 700 graduate students to the university by 2013. The resolution supports the plan in principle, while requiring board approval for each of the proposed capital projects and setting a schedule and process for monitoring the plan as it unfolds.

While the board had enthusiastically supported the presidents vision in May 2003, it had also asked the administration to undertake a feasibility study of the financial assumptions behind it.

The results of the feasibility study, conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, were presented on May 21.

PwC concluded that the plan was financially feasible.

With the right project management, its definitely achievable, said Michael McGuire of PwC. Its a bold plan, but I think its needed.

When the board passed the resolution a year ago asking for a feasibility study, said board chair James C. Pizzagalli, we didnt imagine it would be this comprehensive and in-depth. It would have been possible to deliver a much less comprehensive plan. Id like to commend President Fogel and his team for delivering what we asked for and more.

This is one of the most exciting times in my seven years on the board, said Martha Heath, vice chair of the board. To take the vision and make a strategic financial plan from it as we move forward just feels wonderful.

In concluding that the plan was feasible, the PwC study analyzed factors ranging from the student growth proposal to the construction of a proposed $70 million student commons to the addition of new facilities on and off campus supporting research in the life sciences and agriculture.

Maintaining the status quo the baseline scenario projection in the strategic financial plan shows results in significant revenue shortfalls, beginning in fiscal year 2009. The growth scenario underlying the vision, on the other hand, shows a strong upward financial trajectory that creates significant annual surpluses.

McGuire stressed that strong management is essential to the plans success, due to its aggressiveness and complexity, but said the UVM team was up to the challenge.

The administration has a great understanding of the plan, he said.

Facilities and Technologies Committee

The committee passed a resolution authorizing implementation of an Enterprise Resource Planning system for the university. The initiative, which will cost approximately $26 million, will update and integrate the universitys technology for managing areas such as finance, human resources, and sponsored projects, among others. Once in place, the ERP system will save the university approximately $6.3 million annually, Michael Gower, vice president for finance and administration, told the board.

Gower and Mara Saule, dean of libraries and information science, described the outdated and fragmented systems in place across campus. They emphasized the particular need for a new system now, as the university moves forward with the vision and must be able to closely and comprehensively monitor progress. This is fundamentally going to change the way the university operates, Gower said.

Design and analysis work on the ERP will begin this summer with vendor PeopleSoft, beginning on what Gower called an aggressive but achievable timeline for implementation. Plans are to launch the human resources/payroll, business planning, budget planning, and capital planning aspects of the ERP on Jan. 1, 2006, with other aspects such as finance, sponsored projects, and procurement following on July 1, 2006.

In other business:

• Trustees approved the creation of a new Admissions Welcome Center through the renovation and expansion of the former carriage house adjacent to the Admissions Office at 194 South Prospect Street. Admissions Director Don Honeman described the project as being essential to address the current lack of adequate space to handle more than 20,000 visitors per year. Work on the $1.4 million project will begin this summer with a completion date targeted for January 2005.
• Trustees approved a $6.1 million increase (from $47 million to $53.1 million) in the budget for the new Residential Learning Center on the University Heights site. A number of costs, including the expense of LEED certification and dramatic increases in steel prices, have driven the budget increase.
• Thomas Gustafson, vice president for student and campus life, and Hank Colker of WTW Architects updated trustees on the planning and design process for the new University Commons. They said that the goal of breaking ground on the project next year with a projected fall 2007 opening remains very realistic. The full $70 million project will likely go before the trustees for a final vote of approval at the boards September meetings.

Academic and Student Programs Committee

A total of 11,368 applications for the 2004/2005 academic year have been received nearly a 10 percent increase over last year and the second highest number in UVM history reported Lauck Parke, vice president for undergraduate education. To date 2,119 first year-first time students have made deposits for the fall semester, exceeding the targeted goal of 2,020 members for the incoming class, though not all of those who have made deposits will attend. Among the prospective fall class are a record number of 160 ALANA students. Just under 30 percent of incoming first-year students are Vermonters, though Parke noted that transfer students will boost that number.

In other business:

• John Bramley, senior vice president and provost, reported an upward trend in the number of students receiving financial aid. For fiscal year 2004, 79 percent of Vermont students and 66 percent of out-of-state students received financial aid in the form of grants, scholarships and/or loans, Bramley said.
• Research grants and contracts awarded to university constituents between January 1 to March 31 totaled $22,592,473, as reported by Frances Carr, vice president of research and dean of graduate studies.
• Trustees also approved new majors, including a major in athletic training education leading to a bachelor of science degree in the College of Education and Social Services and a bachelor of science degree in early childhood special education.

Diversity Committee

The group created a subcommittee to begin work on redefining its goals. "We need a strong and commonly held mission so we can go out to the board as a whole and the university," said Trustee Thomas Little. Members also agreed to hold a workshop addressing diversity before the September trustees meeting.

Health Education Committee

John Evans, dean of the College of Medicine, presented an update regarding the college's work in preparation for its accreditation site survey visit by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education on April 3-6, 2005. The colleges last site visit for accreditation was in 1997, at which point the college received a full seven-year accreditation decision. The college's goal is to achieve similar results this time around.

In other business:

• Betty Rambur, dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, presented the results of a research literature review that examined the potential effect of Vermont's healthcare professional shortage (especially nurses) on patient safety and survival. The study also focused on how the curriculum and programs available within the college are designed to produce graduates who can improve the quality of healthcare in the state.

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