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As
we wind our way toward the end of another hot New Orleans summer, our
minds naturally turn to the upcoming fall semester and the excitement
of another academic year. It’s also a good time, however, to talk
about what has been going on since my last letter in February.
First,
if you are nearby enough to have visited the Tulane University campus recently,
you will no doubt have noticed the unmistakable signs of growth. As part
of a 10-year master capital
improvement plan for the uptown campus, work has recently begun on an expansion
to the A. B. Freeman School of Business, and plans are under way for a major
expansion of the University Center and revitalization of our residential
housing. These three major projects follow upon a number of new construction
and renovation projects undertaken over the past several years, including
the renovation and restoration of the old Arts & Sciences Building (now
Robert C. Cudd Hall) and Alcee Fortier Hall, renovations to Stanley Thomas
Hall and the Civil Engineering Building (now Walter E. Blessey Hall), and
construction of the beautiful new Merryl and Sam Israel Jr. Environmental
Sciences Building. On April 19, ground was broken for Goldring/Woldenberg Hall II, a new building to house graduate programs and several specialized centers for the business school. Enrollment at the A. B. Freeman School of Business has increased 57 percent in the last six years. More students, plus an increasing number of programs, had forced the school into spreading classes around campus. The new
60,000-square-foot facility, which is being built adjacent to Goldring/Woldenberg
Hall on McAlister Drive, will feature a 130-seat lecture hall, four 65-seat
case method-style MBA classrooms, and a state-of-the-art information systems
and technology laboratory. We’re expecting to complete construction
in fall 2003.
The University
Center is, of course, the hub of campus activities, and those of you who
attended classes on the uptown campus since the current building was constructed
some 30 years ago no doubt remember it well and fondly. The building has
become too small and outdated to meet our current needs, however, and
we are currently in the process of relocating organizations and offices
in the UC to other spots on- and off-campus. In fiscal year 2004, we plan
to close the UC for 24 months while a $37 million project gets under way
to renovate the current facility and expand the space by 40,000 square
feet. In exchange for a short-term inconvenience, we’ll get a wonderful
facility that offers not only more office and meeting space but also such
amenities as a restaurant that will offer full-service dining during some
parts of the year. Likewise, this year we will begin a multi-year project
to renovate and expand our undergraduate residential
community. We will begin with the construction of two new residence halls
and subsequently renovate other residences as the new construction is
completed. As our
physical facilities continue to grow and improve, we have not lost sight
of the real reason for our being: education and research. I’m proud
to say that our total sponsored research awards have continued to mushroom.
After slight declines in total sponsored research awards in FY 97–98
and FY 98–99, we showed an 11.8 percent increase in FY 99–00
and an impressive 26.2 percent increase for FY 00–01. Another increase
in total sponsored research dollars is anticipated when we tally the numbers
for FY 01–02. Though
Tulane still has a way to go before we’re firmly in the very upper
echelon of universities in terms of research and development expenditures,
we are currently among the top 30 private universities. Just a
few of the recent grants Tulane researchers have received, and the promise
this work holds to improve lives and solve major problems in our society
and our world, show why I find this growth so important and so exciting. •
Tulane researchers recently received a $2.5 million grant from NASA to help
develop high-performance, high-temperature materials to construct re-entry
shields, astronaut suits, fuel tanks, computer chips, aircraft wings, sensors
and other items needed for space flight. The materials will be created from
highly specialized polymers developed by the Tulane Institute for Macromolecular
Engineering and Science, which is composed of 16 engineering and science
faculty members from various Tulane departments. •
As part of President Bush’s plan to establish a defense system against
ballistic missile attacks, Tulane has received a $2.46 million grant from
the Department of Defense to develop technology that will help detect, track
and destroy enemy missiles that threaten the United States. With the funds,
Tulane researchers and their colleagues from Xavier University will establish
the Tulane Missile Defense Project, which will bring in the expertise of
computer scientists, electrical engineers, mechanical engineers and mathematicians. •
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has granted $4.2
million over the next five years to fund an effort by Tulane and LSU researchers
to evaluate treatments for HIV-positive children and reduce the rate of
mother-to-infant transmission of the virus that causes AIDS. This money
is part of a $36 million grant made nationwide to the Pediatric AIDS Clinical
Trials Group, which includes the Tulane-LSU Pediatric AIDS Clinical Unit.
• The National
Institutes of Health has awarded a five-year, $14.3 million grant to the
General Clinical Research Center, a collaborative effort of Tulane, LSU
and Charity Hospital that conducts clinical trials of the latest drugs and
medical treatments. The center currently has more than 100 research studies
under way. •
Finally, the state has awarded the Tulane/Xavier Center for Substance Abuse
a $2.8 million grant to research the brain processes that underlie addiction
to opiates such as heroin and morphine. Through this, the group of researchers
from Tulane, Xavier and LSU led by Tulane neuroscience program head Richard
Harlan, hope to develop new treatment methods to battle drug dependency. I’m
sure you’ll all agree with me that research projects such as these
are truly thrilling, and their presence at Tulane enhances not only our
faculty and our standing as a research institution, but also our students,
who benefit by being exposed to and taught by research faculty members at
the top of their fields. Most important, these projects hold the promise
of contributing to the well-being of our community and society. Speaking
of faculty, I continue to be in awe of the accomplishments of our faculty
at Tulane, across all disciplines and in all arenas. Many of you are already
aware that, among private research universities, the Tulane faculty is
ranked in the top 30 nationally in terms of membership in national academies
and receipt of faculty awards. Among
the faculty members honored over the past few months have been the following.
• Biomedical engineering
faculty member David A. Rice received the 2001 George Washington Award
from the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, that prestigious organization’s
highest honor. The foundation recognized Rice for the innovative design
class he has taught at Tulane for the past 15 years, which taps into his
students’ inventive talents to meet the needs of local disabled
people who have specific problems gaining mobility or greater independence. • Tulane researcher
Cheryl Nickerson in July received the 2001 Presidential Early Career Award
from President George W. Bush in a White House ceremony. Nickerson, who
is being honored for her research showing that salmonella, a common cause
of food poisoning, is more potent in a weightless environment, was originally
scheduled to receive the honor last fall but the ceremony was postponed
in the aftermath of Sept. 11.
• Jonathan Riley,
an associate professor in philosophy and the Murphy Institute of Political
Economy at Tulane, is one of only 40 scholars worldwide to receive a 2002–2003
fellowship to study at the National Humanities Center. • Russian studies
professor William Craft Brumfield recently became one of the few non-Russians
elected to the prestigious State Russian Academy of Architecture and Construction
Sciences, that country’s leading organization dedicated to architectural
history, design and construction. • Anthropology
professor Victoria Bricker was elected to the American Philosophical Society,
an organization founded by Benjamin Franklin and counting Thomas Jefferson
among its presidents. It recognizes achievements in science, letters and
the arts. Please join me in
congratulating these faculty members and take pride in the
tremendous accomplishments of our faculty as a whole. Finally, as I write this letter, we once again
expect to have the most academically qualified incoming undergraduate class
in the history of the university. We look forward to officially greeting
them at the end of August. Enjoy what remains of the summer and until
next time,
Sincerely,
Scott S. Cowen |
