In his first state of the University address to faculty and staff, President Edward M. Hundert reviewed some of the major accomplishments of the past year, assessed the University's current situation-including several challenges-and gave his thoughts on how the campus community can move forward in the coming year.

photo by Mike Sands President Edward M. Hundert gives the State of the University address to faculty in Strosacker Auditorium. He also spoke to staff.

Among the challenges the new president hopes to address are issues of academic quality, including admission, enrollment and research; finances; faculty numbers; and student life.

"As an institution, we are judged as much by our weakest programs as by our strongest, and we must address these issues if we are to become a leader among the world's great centers of learning," Hundert told nearly 100 faculty members Oct. 1 and about 200 staff members Oct. 2.

"We need to focus on the difference between good-even very good-programs and those that are truly outstanding and channel our efforts and resources into achieving the latter," he continued.

Measures of academic quality are inherently tied to national rankings, Hundert said. CWRU's undergraduate programs did move up one position in the U.S. News & World Report rankings this year, but, overall, the University's doctorate programs do not appear among the leading graduate schools.

Also, the number of domestic applicants CWRU's graduate schools admit continues to be low, according to the president.

"That is a major issue for us as a research university aspiring to great things," he said.

Despite its overall ranking in undergraduate programs, CWRU lags behind its peer institutions in areas including number of applications, acceptance rates and retention.

In addition to improving undergraduate recruitment, Hundert said he also would like the University to focus on attracting new faculty, particularly women and minorities in disciplines where they are underrepresented.

Financially, Hundert told faculty and staff CWRU needs to examine its dependence on financial aid to recruit students; increase stipends for graduate students; and invest in its infrastructure, especially University libraries and research programs. On the research side, the president said the University's declining number of proposals sent to granting agencies is of particular concern.

"As daunting as these challenges are," he said, "it's a pleasure to say that the University brings strong fundamental qualities to the task of planning its future."

According to the president, these qualities include notable academic programs in many areas; good administrative leadership; loyal alumni; dedicated trustees; and "wonderful" students, faculty and staff.

Hundert also mentioned CWRU's location in University Circle as one of the fundamentals, but student life remains an area that needs attention. He noted that the "New CWRU" initiative started in the past year has already started addressing this issue.

"The momentum of last year's activities in so many areas has provided a valuable boost to the start of this new administration," he said.

Hundert ended his address again referring to the six topics he introduced in his convocation address. The president said he would like the campus community to discuss these topics over the next few months with the discourse leading to a vision for the future of the University.

"The way to achieve this future we want involves decisive action based on clear priorities, which is why I'm spending so much time on what our vision should be," Hundert said. "We have to focus on those outstanding programs we already have, develop more such outstanding programs and do a much better job of marketing widely all of these activities and the exciting vision that is already taking shape in discussions throughout this fall term across campus."