Annual Campus Report 2007-2008

2007-2008 OUTCOMES

The following is the summary of outcomes on key institutional metrics:

  1. OSU graduated 4,034 students with a total of 4,228 degrees. The graduating class included 3,269 baccalaureate degrees, 640 master’s degrees, 172 doctoral degrees, and 118 professional degrees in Pharmacy and Veterinary Medicine. Colleges awarding the largest number of degrees were Liberal Arts, Health and Human Sciences, Engineering, and Science. Additionally, the OSU-Cascades Campus awarded 148 baccalaureate degrees and 35 master’s degrees. Comparable figures for 2006-2007 for OSU and OSU-Cascades were 4,050 students with 4,221 degrees and 190 degrees, respectively.
  2. OSU was awarded $231 million in total extramural research funding, a $25 million increase over 2006-2007, and a $75 million increase in the last five years. The largest contributors to new grants and contracts continued to be the Colleges of Agricultural Sciences ($37.6 million), Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences ($30.4 million), Engineering ($22.9 million) and Science ($20.7 million). The largest year-to-year increase in new grants and contracts for colleges securing over $10 million were in the Colleges of Science (37%), Health and Human Sciences (33%) and Engineering (25%). The ONAMI collaboration won more than $25 million in federal and private awards, most involving academic partners and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. OSU’s expenditures from grants and contracts totaled $164.5 million. Licensing income from technology transfer efforts generated $2.5 million, the same as in 2006-2007, and there were 70 invention disclosures, compared to 54 the previous year.
  3. OSU’s new division of Outreach and Engagement continued to provide educational and outreach programs to Oregonians through the OSU Extension Service and Extended Campus (ECampus). Over 2.1 million Oregonians were engaged at some level with the OSU Extension Service. In addition, 18,869 volunteers assisted with the Extension outreach programs. The Oregon 4-H Youth Development Program reached 150,304 young people through a network of more than 5,000 adult and youth volunteers. In partnership with academic units, the OSU Extended Campus developed 77 new online courses and delivered over 51,000 student credit hours, an approximate 13% increase over the previous year, with credits per online student increasing from 4.98 to 5.28. A total of 131 students graduated via our online programs, the largest student group since the inception of ECampus.
  4. OSU had an extremely successful fundraising year as it launched the public phase of the university-wide fundraising campaign. Alumni and friends contributed $127 million during 2007-2008, compared to $77 million in 2006-2007. During this record-breaking year, we added 23 gifts of $1 million or more, including three gifts in excess of $10 million each. OSU’s total endowment now stands at $414 million.
  5. Enrollment at OSU continued the trend of the past few years, with modest year-to-year growth. Fall 2008 enrollment is projected to be 20,320, compared to 19,753 for Fall 2007. The non-resident enrollment increased by 12.8% from the previous year. Increasing international enrollment will be an important focus for us over the next few years, led by a new partnership with INTO University Partnerships, a private company that partners with Universities in order to recruit and prepare international students for undergraduate and graduate studies. The INTO OSU Center will be the first INTO center in the United States. In addition, we will continue to increase study abroad opportunities for OSU students. During the 2007-2008 academic year, 483 OSU students participated in study abroad programs, with first students to Mongolia, Scotland and Vietnam. We also developed study abroad programs with new partner universities in Australia, England, Iceland, Italy and Japan.
  6. Consistent with OSU focus to be selective in introducing new academic programs, building on and expanding existing areas of strengths, the only new degree programs developed and approved by the State Board of Higher Education were a joint graduate program (MS, MMP, and PhD) between the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Health Physics and the Oregon Health and Science University in Medical Physics, and an undergraduate program in Ecological Engineering by the Department of Biological and Ecological Engineering. The State Board of Higher Education also approved graduate certificates in Water Conflict Prevention and Transformation, Marine Resource Management, and Fisheries Management, all with an effective start date of Fall 2008.
  7. Accreditation was confirmed by the respective professional accreditation agencies for the following programs: Veterinary Medicine by the American Veterinary Medical Association, Pharmacy by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, Counseling master’s and doctoral programs by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs, Forest Operations Management by the Society of American Foresters, and Construction Engineering Management by the American Council for Construction Education.
  8. Performance of OSU students continued to be excellent in professional certification exams:
    • Engineering—96% on Fundamentals of Engineering exam (national average 77%)
    • Exercise Science—75% on national training association exam (national average 39%)
    • Nutrition—85% on American Dietetics Association exam (national average 78%)
    • Pharmacy—100% on North American Pharmacist Licensure exam (national average 92%)
    • Veterinary Medicine—93% on North American Veterinary Licensure exams (national average 92%)
    • Accounting—46% on Unified Certified Public Accounting exam (national average 29%), reported in 2006, most recent information

    Pre-medical students from OSU had another exceptional year, with a 76% acceptance rate. Students were admitted to medical school at OHSU, and to programs all over the country, including Harvard, Penn State, Ohio State, among several others. OSU students seeking to enter dental school were successful 60% of the time, as compared to 35% nationally.

  9. Many of our programs and faculty were recognized for excellence by our academic community. The college and division annual reports posted http://leadership.oregonstate.edu/provost/0708/unit-plans detail those achievements. Listed below is a sampling of those achievements.
    1. Science Watch magazine in 2007 cited the College of Agricultural Sciences as first among the top 100 federally funded U.S. universities in agricultural sciences for citation impact of published research in the field.
    2. A November 2007 report in the Chronicle of Higher Education ranked OSU among the top ten schools in eight of the disciplines measured, more than any other Oregon institution. The survey ranked OSU’s Wildlife Science program number one in the nation for conservation biology research productivity and the Fisheries Science program number two nationally.
    3. The USDA National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program for Bio-based Materials and Products is making 8 awards out of 88 proposals submitted for consideration for FY08. Three of the eight awards, totaling over $1.2 million, are awarded to faculty in the Department of Wood Science and Engineering.
    4. University Advancement received seven awards from CASE District VIII, including 3 Grand Gold and 2 national CASE Circle of Excellence awards.
    5. Faculty recognition was led by Jim Carrington, Director of the Center of Genome Research and Biocomputing and Professor in Botany and Plant Pathology, with his induction as a fellow in the National Academy of Sciences for his pioneering work on small RNAs. Other notable honorees included: Dawn Wright (Department of Geology), U.S. Professor of the Year for the State of Oregon by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching—Council for Advancement and Support of Education; Jane Lubchenco (Department of Zoology), the Zayed International Prize for the Environment in Dubai; Kevin Ahern (Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics), Medical Research Foundation Mentor Award; Mark Abbott (College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences), appointed as vice chair to the Oregon Global Warming Commission established by Oregon Legislature in 2007.
    6. The Office of Community and Diversity received the Committed to Diversity Award from Minority Access, Inc., for working to expand minority involvement in education, employment, and research.
    7. Library Scholars Archives at OSU, a digital repository for the scholarly work of the OSU community, ranked 4th in the United States, and 18th worldwide.

The university metrics and college metrics are posted at http://leadership.oregonstate.edu/strategicplan/. Also posted at this web site is the 2007-2008 Strategic Plan Implementation Update; some key aspects are discussed below.

REVIEW OF THE 2007-2008 AGENDA

In my 2006-2007 campus report, I shared the 2006-2007 agenda that included a number of continuing activities including continuing redirection of base budget funds to Liberal Arts, Science, Health and Human Sciences, and Business; restoring faculty compensation to competitive levels; renovation of university classrooms and research space; transitioning of graduate admission function from the Office of Admissions to the Graduate School; refining the community and diversity agenda; and enhancing policies and processes around budget, space and information technology issues. Other more specific activities included:

  1. A more deliberative plan to identify strategic priorities across the five thematic areas.
  2. An assessment of and re-engineering of University’s business function to improve the quality and delivery and cost effectiveness of those services.
  3. Enhancing the student engagement agenda.
  4. Strengthening programs and enrollment at the OSU-Cascades Campus.

The activities in the 2007-2008 agenda are discussed below, organized around the three ever-arching goals of the Strategic Plan.

Goal 1: Outstanding Academic Programs

As noted in the 2007-2008 Outcomes, OSU had a phenomenal year in total extramural research funding, with new grants and contracts totaling $231 million. Licensing income from technology transfer activities generated $2.5 million and faculty were awarded 70 invention disclosures. The one area within the research enterprise that needs improvement is industry-based funding. As a percentage of the total research portfolio, revenue from industry awards is significantly smaller than for our aspirational peers. To increase our industry-based awards, the assessment phase of a plan for increasing OSU-corporate partnerships was completed.

OSU continued to be extremely selective in introducing new degree programs, focusing on programs that align with its strategic mission and build on existing strengths. During the 2007-2008 academic year, two new programs were developed and approved by the State Board of Higher Education: BS program in Ecological Engineering, and MS, MMP and PhD in Medical Physics, the latter being a joint program with the Oregon Health and Science University.

A comprehensive review of graduate programs in economics was conducted. The outcome was a decision to establish a Graduate Program in Applied Economics that builds on faculty strengths in a number of colleges. A curriculum proposal to establish the program will be processed during the 2008-2009 academic year.

The faculty introduced a number of certificate programs to address the continuing education needs of professionals. These included graduate certificates in Water Conflict Prevention and Transformation, Marine Resources Management, and Fisheries Management, as well as an undergraduate certificate in Religion and Culture. The University Outreach and Engagement Division introduced a Master Gardener on-line basic training course that has been very well received by the community served by the OSU Extension Service.

The administrative units in the Colleges of Business and Forestry were reorganized to better align with opportunities, develop better synergy among programs, and to achieve administrative efficiencies.

The six strategic initiatives that were identified for a total of $1.8 million in funding in FY05 (computational and genome biology, ecosystem informatics, healthy aging, rural studies, subsurface biosphere, and water and watersheds) enter the last year (2008-2009) of central support to build faculty and program capacity. Almost all of the faculty hiring had been completed by Spring 2007. During the 2007-2008 academic year, activities focused on the following: increasing graduate student enrollment, curriculum innovation, expansion/renewal of focused physical and information infrastructure, preparation and competing for external grant funding, and engagement with external partners and stakeholders. The 2007-2008 reports for the six initiatives are posted at http://leadership.oregonstate.edu/strategic-plan/strategic-initiatives.

Looking to the future, growth in research and educational opportunities will depend on our ability to refine our focus in selected areas and build faculty capacity in order to give OSU a competitive edge nationally and internationally in those areas. As a first step in this process, faculty teams within each of the five thematic areas identified opportunities for future growth. A summary of this effort is provided in an appendix at the end of this report. This work will be an important input in the strategic plan update (see 2008-2009 agenda later in this report) and in establishing priorities for strategic investment for the future.

Our work to improve laboratory animal research facilities continued. A plan has also been developed to upgrade electron microscopy facilities. Occasional prolonged power outages have negatively impacted research, particularly in Cordley and Weniger halls. Facilities Services provided backups to address this issue in the short term, and plans are being developed to address the longer term issue.

As part of The Campaign for OSU, gifts and funds have been secured for two buildings that will significantly enhance our learning and research environment: the LPI/Science building and the Student Success Center. A long-term lease agreement was completed with the Hewlett-Packard Company for Building 11 on the HP Campus. The additional space, to be renovated over the next couple of years, will substantially enhance our capabilities for ONAMI research that generated over $25 million in new research revenues during 2007-2008.

We have been participating, along with other OUS institutions and with OHSU, in the Portland Initiative of the State Board of Higher Education. The focus is to potentially build a Life Sciences Collaborative Center on South Waterfront, and a sustainability center in Portland. The Life Sciences Collaborative Center building will include the clinical component of our Pharmacy program, multi-institutional research collaborations in health sciences (e.g., the Oregon Translational Research and Drug Discovery Institute – OTRADI), and a good manufacturing procedures (GMP) pharmaceutical dosage form production facility.

The OSU-Cascades Campus worked to update its strategic plan, a process that will be completed in fall 2008. The Division of University Outreach and Engagement has also completed a draft strategic plan that builds on the recommendations of the President’s Commission on Outreach and Engagement. This plan too will be finalized in fall 2008.

Goal 2: Teaching and Learning Environment

To support the core teaching mission of the University, we continued the budget reallocation process by allocating an additional $1.25 million to the Colleges of Liberal Arts, Science, Business, and Health and Human Sciences. Coupled with the $2.5 million distributed to the four colleges in 2006-2007, 50% of the $7.5 million of continuing funds to be reallocated to these four colleges have now been distributed.

The University Council for Student Engagement and Success, tasked to develop an action plan for improving student engagement and success, recommended a plan involving five activities. These are also summarized in the appendix at the end of this report. Subsequent discussion with faculty and academic advisors suggest that the two activities that have the potential for highest impact on first-year retention rate are an engaged first-year experience and increased capacity in key foundation courses. We will initiate an implementation plan in Fall 2008.

Susie Brubaker-Cole was hired as the Associate Provost for Academic Success and Engagement to provide leadership, coordination and facilitation in implementing the engagement agenda, and track the impact of activities on retention and success outcomes. We had a failed search for the position of Associate Provost for International Programs, and have reopened the search, with an Interim Associate Provost in place.

Work to improve student engagement also continued in many academic units. In particular, the College of Health and Human Sciences introduced a pilot program for its first year students to better connect them with research and to more fully engage them socially and culturally.

With the signing of the degree partnership program agreement with Clackamas Community College, OSU now has degree partnership programs with all 17 Oregon community colleges.

OSU started the Bridge to Success program that combines private scholarship resources with state and federal student aid o provide support to students with financial hardship. The program will provide awards to 2,900 students attending OSU in Fall 2008, with each student qualifying for full tuition and fees.

We continued the classroom renovation plan, completing renovations in Strand Agriculture hall and starting renovations of classrooms in Weniger hall.

The Graduate School hired an Assistant Dean to lead the transition of graduate admission functions from the Office of Admissions to the Graduate School, a process that will be completed in 2008-2009.

Goal 3: Resources

Overall, the 2007-2008 financial management of the University was strong. The University ended the fiscal year with an Education and General (E&G) fund balance of $37.2 million, 14.1% of the initial E&G budget. Corresponding numbers for the Statewide Public Services (SWPS) were $11.2 million and 14.9%. For the E&G budget, the fund balance increased by 50.6% from the previous year, and for the SWPS, by 62.9%. Two reasons, in particular, accounted for this increase. As Oregon’s economy slowed in the later part of the fiscal year, there was an increased concern that the legislature may not fully release the salary package, necessitating OSU to self-fund at least a portion of the increase. Additionally, many units deferred renovating research space and equipment to the following year since 2008-2009 will be the base year for federally approved cost recovery rate on research grants.

A 4% faculty compensation package was implemented in January 2008. We will continue to meet our commitment to bring faculty salaries to competitive levels in 2008-2009, the second year of the current biennium.

As noted earlier, an additional $1.25 million was provided to the Colleges of Liberal Arts, Science, Business, and Health and Human Sciences, as part of rebasing their budgets, and $1.8 million in support of the six initiatives continued.

The University started a 3-year process to re-engineer its business services, moving most of the work in human resources and business affairs to seven regional business centers, each serving a set of colleges and academic support units. The first business center involving the Colleges of Health and Human Sciences, Pharmacy, and Veterinary Medicine became operational in August 2008.

The public phase of The Campaign for OSU was launched in October 2008. As noted earlier, 2007-2008 was an extremely successful fundraising year for OSU. We raised $127 million in 2007-2008, $50 million more than the previous year, with most participating units benefiting from the success.

Other Major Activities

The Colleges of Liberal Arts and Science evaluated the idea of merging the two colleges. After input from faculty, staff and administrators of the two colleges, it was decided that there would be no substantial benefit from such a merger.

Donna Champeau was hired as the Director of the new Office of Women’s Advancement and Gender Equity. The WAGE Office will focus on climate for women on campus and the work-life balance for our community.

The University engaged Lipman Hearne to assess perceptions of OSU among opinion leaders in the state and nationally, and has initiated work to develop an integrated marketing communications plan that will be completed in 2008-2009.

The University Budget Committee, University Space Committee and the University IT Committee worked on developing policy guidelines to address a number of systemic issues and opportunities, as well as evaluating and resolving specific conflicts and requests. The reports from these committees are posted at http://leadership.oregonstate.edu/provost/univerity-committee. Some of the key outcomes included guidelines for funding interdisciplinary programs, space allocation/reallocation, and new IT investments, as well as an IT roadmap for the future.

Summary of 2007-2008 Outcomes

As you will note from the preceding description of activities and initiatives, we continue to do remarkably well, leveraging our limited state resources to the fullest. And this report does not include much of the work done in academic and support units! Our success in providing education to about 20,000 students, in our creative and scholarship work, in our engagement and outreach activities, and in private fundraising is only made possible by the dedication, commitment, and hard work of our faculty and staff, unit and college/division administrators, the University’s collaborative culture, and our successful partnerships with the OSU Foundation and the Alumni Association.

Much of our agenda, however, is a “journey”, requiring renewed focus and follow-up work from one year to the next to sustain excellence in some parts of our mission and improve in others to get the next higher level of outcomes.

2008-2009 AGENDA

In describing our progress on the 2007-2008 agenda, I have outlined continued or additional work in many areas. This includes: continuing redirection of base budget funds to Liberal Arts, Science, Business, and Health and Human Sciences; continuing implementation of faculty salary compensation package; renovating university classroom and research facilities; implementing targeted activities for improving student engagement and success; continuing with the business re-engineering process; better aligning the community and diversity agenda across the University; completing strategic plans for the OSU-Cascades Campus and the Division of Outreach and Engagement; and continuing development of OSU’s role in the Portland Initiative of the State Board of Higher Education and other state-level signature programs.

In addition, I would like to highlight the following targeted initiatives for 2008-2009:

  • University’s Strategic Plan: The University’s strategic plan was adopted in 2004 and included goals for 2008. Building upon an assessment of progress made towards those goals, we will define the next phase of the strategic planning process, including key opportunities that arise for OSU to distinguish itself as a leading land-grant university and goals and associated metrics and targets we should aim for by 2013.
  • INTO OSU: Ensure that the INTO OSU partnership is successfully launched, fully develop the pathway programs and student services model for this partnership, and define and formalize the budget model for revenue distribution within the University for students transitioning into OSU degree programs after the pathway year.
  • Integrated Marketing and Communications Plan: Complete the development of the University’s integrated marketing communications plan and expedite its implementation.
  • Capital Campaign: Coming off an extremely successful fundraising year, we would like to ensure that we maximize OSU fundraising potential in the open phase of the capital campaign, launch the scholarship initiative to complete the $100 million scholarship goal by the end of the 2009 calendar year, and complete fundraising for renovating the Native American Cultural Center.
  • NCAA Review: The NCAA review of OSU’s Athletics Department is underway, with the self-study due in spring 2009 and a site visit scheduled for the following fall.

SUGGESTED AREAS FOR INVESTMENT FROM THE THEMATIC AREAS AND THE UCSEE

ARTS AND SCIENCES

  1. Environmental Leadership: Link scientific understanding of Earth’s environmental and ecological systems with humanistic powers of reflection and communication with the objective of preparing leaders who can help humankind to focus on a more sustainable future.
  2. Computation and Modeling: Multidisciplinary enterprise focused on mathematical modeling and computation to provide a core foundation for students and programs in modeling and computation that promises to impact research in the sciences and engineering.
  3. Public Policy: Integrate groundbreaking science into emerging policies, practices and understandings of the world that will impact and influence the course of Oregon, the nation, and the world, with a new Ph.D. Program in Public Policy at the core of the initiative.
  4. Re-imagining undergraduate education: Re-imagine undergraduate experience with re-thinking how 21st century students can learn to become strong citizens, productive employees, and healthy community members.

HEALTH SCIENCES

  1. Microbes and Risk Factors for Chronic Diseases: Enhance research focus on microbes and risk factors for chronic diseases and develop innovative, interdisciplinary graduate programs in the area.
  2. College of Public Health and Human Sciences: As part of a larger effort to establish a world class system of public health in Oregon, create a College of Public Health and Human Sciences at OSU.

EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE

  1. Earth System Science Undergraduate Program: Building on the existing strengths in atmospheric science, ecology, oceanography, solid earth science, watersheds, and related policy and management approaches to natural resources and sustainability, establish an baccalaureate degree program in Earth System Science.
  2. Enhance Earth System Research: Develop a structure to enhance development of collaborative, integrating projects.

NATURAL RESOURCES

  1. Sustainable Eco- and Earth Systems: In collaboration with Earth Systems, develop an institutional framework and foundation for interdisciplinary research in sustainable eco- and earth systems that would put OSU at the forefront of research in this area.

OPTIMIZING INNOVATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

  1. Establish focal point for innovation and establish new ideas to impact.

STUDENT ENGAGEMENT AND SUCCESS (recommendations from UCSEE)

  1. Establish U-Engage: Through a new first-year course, U-Engage, enable students to explore and understand what it means to be part of a research university and engage in vital academic, social and cultural activities.
  2. Reduce backlog in key bac-core classes, particularly mathematics and writing.
  3. Address critical incidents and enhance student support programs.
  4. Strengthen career counseling to help students to connect sooner with potential careers.
  5. Expand transition programs.