The University of Delaware has made tremendous progress in the last decade, improvements which you can see for yourself as you join us on a virtual tour of campus. We will start at south campus then work our way north, traveling both through place and time.

As we begin the tour 10 years ago, there is no Bob Carpenter Sports/Convocation Center and no cheering Blue Hen Fever student section at varsity basketball games. There is no Rullo Stadium to provide first-rate artificial turf facilities for the field hockey and lacrosse teams. There are no lights, and, consequently, no night football games, in Delaware Stadium.

On the adjacent campus of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Townsend Hall is sorely in need of renovations and there is no Allen Biotechnology Laboratory to conduct the important research so vital to the region's poultry industry.

There is a glimmer of what is to come as the University's new first family, President David P. Roselle and his wife, Louise, see to it that bright blue and gold banners are placed along South College Avenue, waving in a new era of accomplishment, prosperity and spirit.

The banners sport the interlocking UD logo that instantly identifies the institution and can be found on flags, clothing, stationery, student shuttle buses--even on affinity credit cards and special license plates issued to alumni and friends.

Passing over the railroad tracks en route to central campus, our virtual tour group is joined by four relative newcomers to campus--YoUDee, the Fightin' Blue Hen mascot; its sibling, Baby Blue, who hatched in 1999; a Blue Hen Ambassador, part of an energetic student team that introduces prospective students and their parents to the University; and a member of the Arrival Survival Team, a group of hard-working volunteers drawn from among students, staff and alumni who help freshmen move into their residence halls each fall.

Our stroll takes us to South College Avenue, along a beautiful red brick walkway. We pass Morris Library, the flagship of a nationally recognized University Library program that houses more than 2.4 million volumes and more than 3 million microforms and is wired for Internet access by researchers on campus and throughout the world.

Farther along, adjacent to Hullihen Hall, we find a newly constructed garden park that features a wide variety of unusual trees and plantings. It is part of a campus-wide beautification program that includes small parks, new benches and a unique study of the solar system with planets placed about campus according to their relative positions in space.

We cross over South College Avenue using the attractively reconstructed pedestrian walkway, then continue along to the Colonnade, past a newly constructed fountain, through the renovated Purnell Hall and on into the magnificent wood-trimmed lobby of MBNA America Hall. There, they show us a case study room that is fully equipped with high-tech teaching aids. All classrooms on the campus are now wired and feature such state-of-the-art instructional technology.

Following a short break under the bright neon lights in the food court of Trabant University Center, a second student union designed to serve the growing needs of a growing campus, our guides lead us to student residence halls equipped with workout areas and computer laboratories and inform us that UD has a one-to-one "port to pillow" ratio--that is, one Internet connection for every student on campus. A cable TV system also is in place.

Next, we move to the heart of campus, the University Mall, where construction is under way on a stately addition to P.S. du Pont Hall and where renovations have provided Memorial Hall an airy look, modern facilities and a basement corridor in which all can now stand tall. We enter majestic Gore Hall, where faculty members plug students in to a host of discovery learning opportunities and where students can connect laptop computers into desktop outlets.

If these visual impressions have not been convincing, consider the statistical evidence.

The University of Delaware's standing in the annual U.S. News and World Report ranking of the nation's institutions of higher education has climbed to 24th among state-supported colleges and universities. And, UD is aiming higher, determined to reach the top 50 among all colleges and universities, according to Roselle.

UD has a well-earned reputation as The Technology University and was second in the nation in a recent Yahoo! Internet Life rankings of the nation's "Most Wired Colleges."

The Campaign for Delaware, the first comprehensive fund-raising effort in the history of the institution, has surpassed its five-year goal of $225 million in half that time. As of May 2001, the Campaign had reached $258 million and was climbing.

Annual giving has jumped from $12.5 million in 1990 to more than $45 million in the last fiscal year. UD's endowments are nearly at the $1 billion mark.

In addition, sponsored funding for research, teaching and outreach has reached a record $107 million in expenditures.

Moreover, the quality of the students UD is attracting as a result of the improved campus environment has risen dramatically.

During the course of the decade gone by, UD produced three Rhodes Scholars and saw two alumni named back-to-back MacArthur Fellows.

In the just completed academic year, UD students achieved a rare triple, with students winning yet another Rhodes Scholarship, a Mitchell Scholarship and a Truman Scholarship.

The Class of 2004 entered as the most able in history. Applications rose to a record 18,000, an increase of more than 4,000 over the previous mark. Only 49 percent of the applicants, a sizable decrease from years past, were offered admission.

The first freshman class of the century is made up of 3,188 students, and they have higher average SAT scores, higher high school grade point averages and higher class rankings than ever before.

The improvements have not occurred by happenstance. Rather, they are the result of a vision expressed by Roselle early in his presidency. As part of that vision, he set forth five key goals to guide the administration of UD:

As a result, UD now is poised to take its place among the nation's finest institutions of higher education.

"I see a new spirit and optimism in the University community," agrees Daniel Rich, dean of the College of Human Services, Education and Public Policy. "A decade ago, conversations around campus often focused on how the University could better fulfill its potential and how it could gain broader recognition for the quality and value of its academic programs. We have now emerged as a more highly valued, distinctive asset in our state and region, and we are recognized far beyond the campus as a top-ranked national public university."

Rich adds that UD is a leader in higher educational innovation, citing its work at the forefront "in problem-based, discovery learning and undergraduate research, in the application of new technologies for instruction, in the forging of new public and community service partnerships, in the pursuit of new domains of interdisciplinary research and development and in the ways that universities should organize and operate
to meet the demands of the 21st century.

"The campus, whose beauty has been so enriched by new facilities, has become a more dynamic and exciting environment for learning and scholarship," Rich says. "The spirit and optimism of the members of the University community is a reflection of their pride in being part of this special place, as well as an expression of their expectation that the best is yet to come."

Discussing key improvements during the decade gone by, UD Board of Trustees Chairman Howard E. Cosgrove says the University "has kept pace with, and in many ways anticipated, the requirements of a world-class center of higher learning. Its faculty are motivated with appropriate compensation and provided with the working environment and support facilities necessary to perform their tasks. Evidence of all this is visible in the rate at which
the University is attracting more and more of the best and brightest students in Delaware and the surrounding region."

Progress has not come at the expense of tradition, Cosgrove adds. He says UD "has changed while retaining the unique qualities that have served it over the past generations. It has kept its strengths and built upon them. Its strengths continue to include an outstanding faculty and providing an opportunity to every Delaware student who has the potential to succeed at the University.

"What has changed most, perhaps, is the physical appearance of the University," he says. "The addition of new technology and new facilities has helped move the University of Delaware into the 21st century. A result of its foundations of quality educational opportunities and its adoption of new technology and new facilities is the recognition that the University of Delaware is receiving as one of the outstanding institutions of higher education in the country."

With emphasis, Cosgrove says he senses an invigorated sense of spirit among members of the UD family. The numerous academic awards and professional recognition conferred on our scholars--students and faculty alike--contribute to the school's reputation, he says. Another indication of that spirit, he says, was the recognition the Blue Hen basketball teams garnered last year.

"The University's national reputation is growing," Cosgrove says. "Its College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and its College of Marine Studies reflect the unique nature of the region and have long contributed to the University of Delaware's national reputation for excellence. The strengthening of these core areas of study, as well as the growing concentration on biotechnology and information technology, show the University is well-positioned for growth and excellence into the future."

Cosgrove attributes many of the gains made during the 1990s to the work of the University's president. "The University of Delaware has been very fortunate to have the leadership of Dr. David Roselle in the past decade," he says. "He has certainly demonstrated that he and Louise were the right team to select to help the University of Delaware continue its progress."

Cosgrove says the president "had a clear set of basic priorities around ensuring that the faculty had competitive compensation and the appropriate support for scholarly pursuits.

"By all measures," Cosgrove says, "we have made tremendous progress in this area. President Roselle had a priority of improving the living and learning environment of the institution, and anyone who looks at the physical plant, the technology and the infrastructure will see the outstanding accomplishments reached in a comparatively short period. The number of scholarships and the level of student assistance has grown tremendously under Dr. Roselle's guidance.

"Another of the undeniable impacts that David and Louise Roselle have made has been in their warm and gracious hospitality to all members of the University of Delaware community," Cosgrove adds. "They have opened their home to all, from students and faculty at the University to the people of Delaware. They have been active in the Delaware community and are part of us. In addition to being a tremendously positive influence on the University of Delaware, they have been a real asset to the state of Delaware."

"I have watched this institution evolve from a relatively small, regional university of variable quality to a substantive, nationally recognized university of high quality," says Dean Carolyn A. Thoroughgood of the College of Marine Studies, who entered UD as a freshman in 1961 and joined its faculty in 1968. "In the last decade, there is no question that the leadership of the University has been central in fostering so many positive changes. The University has made substantial strides in fulfilling its potential, and it is exciting to contemplate the changes for the next 10 years, considering our current trajectory.

"It gives me great pride to be an alumna of the University of Delaware and great satisfaction to be part of the ever-increasing academic stature of the University of Delaware," she says.

Thoroughgood says it is evident "the most recent decade has been committed to achieving excellence in the learning and living environments for all students at the University of Delaware." The most visible evidence of this commitment is found in the vast improvements to the physical plant and infrastructure supporting the educational enterprise. "For existing academic and administrative buildings and dormitories, this has meant major renovation, modernization and attention to years of deferred maintenance," she says.

Thoroughgood also notes the importance of the "beautification of the campus, with landscaping and brick paths designed to provide congregating points for faculty and student dialog.

"The infrastructure, particularly in the area of information technology and networking, has been upgraded to such a level that the University of Delaware is a recognized national leader," she says.

"All of this attention to the physical plant would have little impact if there had not also been a comparable commitment to the quality of what goes on in these buildings--the academic and intellectual environment," Thoroughgood says. "Strategies for hiring and retaining the best faculty and for recruiting the best students have been implemented, including providing adequate financial resources to improve faculty compensation and to increase the number of student scholarships. Academic reform has been undertaken to strengthen the educational experiences for students, selected colleges were merged into new colleges fostering stronger academic programs and special courses have been developed for freshmen. In addition, opportunities for discovery-oriented learning for undergraduates have been expanded."

She adds that University-wide research underpinning quality graduate programs and research experiences for undergraduates increase at an accelerated rate, promoted in part by the new Delaware Biotechnology Institute.

Thoroughgood also cites UD's "aggressive campaign to address its 'party school' image of the 1980s and the positive outcomes that have already been achieved."

She also praises the Campaign for Delaware, the University's first comprehensive development campaign, which was launched to provide further resources to support the overall academic enterprise. "Its success to date provides evidence of the respect this University now commands among many different constituencies," she says.

"The improvements the University has made over the last decade have really been exponential in about every area," says R. Thorpe Moeckel, AS '79, who serves as vice president of UD's Alumni Association, which now serves more than 115,000 (as of May 2001) alumni.

"The campus has undergone significant improvements in terms of its facilities. I can't think of any building on campus that is substandard in any way," Moeckel says. "And, in terms of the academic programs, it is pretty obvious when you look at the selectivity numbers that we've made huge strides in that area."

Alumni Association President Charlotte Waterbury Brown, CHEP '81, relates a story she says is representative of what can be heard from members of all UD alumni classes. "A friend has a son who is a freshman at the University this year," Brown says. "She told me that when she sees the developments at the University, and the increased stature that has meant, it makes her happier than ever she went to UD. She has a new-found appreciation for the institution."

At the heart of the improvements lies the University's focus on students, faculty and the living and learning environment.

"We are providing an environment that helps support the academic enterprise," says Executive Vice President David E. Hollowell. "We are making sure we have good facilities, strong students and adequate compensation to attract and retain top-notch faculty. If we can provide an environment where that can flourish, good things will happen."

Hollowell says UD has spent nearly $400 million on new and renovated facilities in last decade. Twenty-two major new buildings have been constructed since 1990, and those include the Bob Carpenter Sports/Convocation Center, Lammot du Pont Laboratory, Colburn Laboratory and Gore and MBNA America halls. In addition, a new facility for the MBNA Career Services Center, offices and an adjacent parking garage next to the Perkins Student Center on Academy Street were completed in the spring.

The University has been recognized nationally for overcoming deferred facilities maintenance problems through the course of the 1990s and for putting in place a program to ensure that all its buildings are kept up to date. Major renovations have been made to almost all academic buildings and to almost all residence hall buildings. Currently, work is proceeding on a major addition and renovation of P.S. du Pont Hall on the Mall, home of the College of Engineering, and renovation of Wolf Hall, which houses the departments of Biological Sciences and Psychology. By fall 2003, all residence halls will have sprinklers.

Supporting UD classroom buildings, laboratories and residence halls is an impressive technology infrastructure, and Hollowell says the University has taken a leadership role in technology services for students, faculty and staff.

"We've looked at technology as being a tool, and we've invested in that," he says.

Today, prospective UD students can learn all they need to know about the institution through its acclaimed web site. They can even visit the campus online through a virtual tour that earned a four-star rating from CampusTour.com. And, if students like what they see, they can apply for admission online.

Once on campus, they are provided a free e-mail address, a free computer hook-up and a host of services. They can keep in close contact with professors through e-mail and can go online to register for courses and advising, to check grades, to conduct library research, even to purchase books and accessories from the UD Bookstore.

"We are a leader in electronic access, and we are nationally recognized for the things we do in that area," Hollowell says, adding UD is not about to rest on its considerable laurels in that field. "Our work is always evolving as we find creative ways to do things, particularly on the web."

Students, he says, have taken notice of the various improvements to the services provided them--from the impressive technological upgrades to better meals, as contracted through a professional food services company, Aramark--and "all indicators are up" in the ACT Student Satisfaction Survey, a national survey in which UD participates.

At the same time, UD has made a commitment to pay competitive salaries to its faculty so "we can recruit good people, and we can retain good people," Hollowell says.

In addition, the University has made a concerted effort to increase the number of endowed named professorships to attract top experts in a variety of fields. The number has risen from less than 10 to more than 60, and among the recent additions are two professors with national reputations--Charles Elson, who has been named the Edgar S. Woolard Jr. Chair in Corporate Governance in the College of Business and Economics, and Leland Ware, who has been named the Louis L. Redding Chair for the Study of Law and Public Policy in the College of Human Services, Education and Public Policy.

The University also is working to increase the amount of scholarship and fellowship aid available to students, ensuring that UD will be able to attract the most talented young people and that it will be able to provide a superior education to students who might not otherwise be able to afford it. The number of University-sponsored scholarships has nearly quadrupled since 1990.

Scholarships are an area in which the UD Alumni Association has taken a leadership role, in large part through an affinity credit card agreement with MBNA America that provides the organization more than $200,000 per year. "With the assets, we have established the Alumni Scholarship Program," Moeckel says. "We awarded two scholarships in 1999, both one-half tuition grants for four years. We hope to grow the Alumni Scholarships into an even larger program."

Today's UD students are provided an enriched educational experience, with emphasis on discovery learning. That encompasses a variety of programs, including internships; study abroad, which the University pioneered in the early 20th century; problem-based learning, in which students work in teams to develop answers to interesting questions and complex problems; and undergraduate research, in which UD has taken a place in the forefront.

All University departments are involved in undergraduate research, as are 70 percent of all faculty members. There are 10 corporate partners and three foundation partners, and the program won recognition from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in a 1998 report, "Reinventing Undergraduate Education: A Blueprint for America's Research Universities."

Roselle says he is pleased with the progress of the last decade and is looking forward to even greater things in the decade ahead.

"In the past 10 years, the combination of outstanding faculty research and teaching, a high quality of student life and learning and the respect of industry and graduate schools for our students has earned us a well-deserved reputation for excellence," Roselle says. "Add to that an ideal location on the East Coast and the almost pristine physical beauty of the campus, and we are on track for ever greater accomplishments."