The University of Delaware traces its origin to a free school opened in 1743 by a Presbyterian minister, Francis Alison. The first class was a most remarkable one, possibly the most distinguished in terms of the later achievements of its members, taken as a whole, of any class in any school in America. Some became distinguished statesmen–governors, congressmen, doctors, merchants and scholars of reputation. Signers of the Declaration of Independence included George Read, Thomas McKean and James Smith, and Read also signed the Constitution.
A major event in the modern life of the University of Delaware occurred on Oct. 2 when UD President David P. Roselle announced the first comprehensive capital campaign in the institution’s 255-year history.
With an overall goal of $225 million, the five-year campaign has specific goals in support of the University’s seven colleges, the library and intercollegiate athletics: $50 million for student support, $35 million for faculty support, $40 million for academic program support, $50 million in capital support and $50 million in expendable gifts to the University.
"Recognizing that a state university raises most of its funds within the state’s boundaries, UD’s capital campaign, on a per capita basis, is the largest ever by a public university," Roselle said at the kickoff event held in the Bob Carpenter Sports/Convocation Center, which was magically transformed for the night by intimate candle lighting, lush plantings and giant white orbs suspended from the ceiling.
Four hundred of the University’s best friends and most generous supporters attended the black-tie affair, which featured a videotape that celebrates UD’s rich heritage and accomplishments and a surprise visit by the Marching Band, cheerleaders and YoUDee, the Fightin’ Blue Hen mascot, dressed for the evening in a size 68 long tux.
By early December, $67.2 million had been raised from alumni foundations, corporations and many other friends. Roselle said he has been "encouraged and gratified by the response to date."
Leading The Campaign for Delaware are four national co-chairs, all members of the UD Board of Trustees whom Roselle described as "very special friends of the University." They are
In addition to the national committee, there are nine campaign steering committees–one for each of the seven colleges and one each for the library and for athletics.
"The five-year campaign isn’t only about dollars and cents," Roselle said. "It’s really about how such support will provide added ability to improve our University for generations of students to come."
Roselle said the vision for the University of Delaware in the year 2003, to be made possible by the Campaign for Delaware, includes:
"At the heart of all our efforts is the important task of preparing and producing tomorrow’s leaders," Roselle said Oct. 2. "We want to prepare students for their first jobs–as well as their third and fourth careers."
At the gala, Roselle stressed that members of the University community have worked diligently throughout the 1990s to position the University for this campaign.
"Building on its 255-year heritage, UD has emerged in the 1990s as one of the nation’s brightest stars among institutions of higher learning," he said.
"On the threshold of the new millennium, we have positioned the University of Delaware so that our successors will be able to achieve an even greater level of preeminence in the 21st century. The future of the University of Delaware is, indeed, a brilliant one."
When Roselle arrived at the University of Delaware in 1990, he said he found a faculty and staff eager to set about getting UD’s house in order.
The priorities that were established for the institution then have guided the University’s administration since, bringing major strides in:
"The University’s house is in order," Roselle said Oct. 2. "In fact, we have made tremendous progress on all of these areas over the past eight years. Let me assure you: The University of Delaware is taking care of business.
"By the turn of the century, we will have completed 22 major, new facilities, at a cost of approximately $150 million. We also will have overcome nearly $250 million worth of deferred maintenance problems. Our investment in the University’s physical plant during the 1990s will total approximately $400 million, or about 40 percent of the replacement value of our campus at the beginning of this decade," Roselle said.
Since 1990, he said, the faculty increased grant support, and gifts to the University nearly tripled.
Moreover, "University-sponsored support for student scholarships has more than doubled. Scholarships for our students will continue to be a very high priority issue. We want good students at the University of Delaware, and we want no deserving students to be disqualified by reason of inability to afford education," Roselle said.
The University’s commitment to a technological transformation and a stronger focus on students has created a learning environment capable of producing two Rhodes scholars within the past several years.
The complete technological makeover at UD required reengineering every office, every laboratory, every library and every student space on five different campuses. Throughout that process, technology was viewed as a utility that should be as accessible, simple and easy as flipping a light switch–available everywhere and free to the end user: Students, faculty and staff whose programs and projects require these new resources.
"The results have been worth the effort," Roselle said, "The technological transformation has exceeded even our most optimistic predictions, dramatically enhancing recruitment of both students and faculty and making possible the reduction of administrative costs."
Roselle noted that the Campaign for Delaware is "an opportunity for us to celebrate where we’ve been, where we are and where we can and want to be and, importantly, to celebrate the University’s good fortune in having wonderful friends."
There is much good news to share. For example, Roselle was invited in the fall to speak in England to a consortium of universities there interested in reducing administrative costs. In their research, they identified the University of Delaware as the institution of higher education in the world that has done the most effective job of reducing administrative costs using technology.
Other indicators of success are equally telling. For example, a survey conducted by UCLA shows that UD faculty members have higher morale than typical. Participation in the national Student Satisfaction Survey indicates that current UD students like their experience much more than was earlier the case and much more than students elsewhere like their experiences at their institutions.
The University’s faculty also has gained a strong and well-deserved national reputation for excellence in teaching. With consistent support from administrators, a handful of pioneering UD educators began several years ago to transform undergraduate education on our campus.
By any measure, they have succeeded. For example, when the much-publicized Carnegie Foundation report was released early in 1998, it included harsh criticism for many of the country’s 125 major research institutions–but not for UD. Indeed, UD was among only five institutions that the Carnegie Foundation report commended for "making research-based learning the standard."
Within the past two years, the campuswide effort to improve undergraduate education has also been recognized twice by the National Science Foundation–in the form of two, large grants and the selection of UD as one of the 10 elite institutions demonstrating "bold leadership" in the classroom.
These major accomplishments reinforce Delaware’s standing as one of the nation’s best teaching and learning universities, well deserving of its recent ranking as one of the nation’s top 25 publicly assisted universities.
Another indicator of the University’s rising reputation can be seen in recent college guides. For example, the Princeton Review calls the results of efforts to develop an electronic campus "impressive," describes the faculty as "enthusiastic" and "very accessible," and calls UD "absolutely the most gorgeous campus anywhere." The Fiske Guide to Colleges begins its commentary on UD by stating, "If you’re looking for an all-American, traditional college experience, take a gander at the University of Delaware. The school, founded in 1743, has all that the traditional college portrait entails: solid academics, rowdy athletic traditions, beauty and all." The Fiske Guide applies the adjective "outstanding" both to the University Honors Program and to the faculty. Barron’s Best Buys in College Education calls the UD faculty "great," praises the University’s "blue-chip facilities" that "match the quality of instruction," and cites the University’s "low-cost, usable education."
"We appreciate the compliments and the recognitions that the University has recently received," Roselle said. "We view them as indicators that we are poised to achieve the next level of greatness–a level perhaps unimaginable to our founder, Francis Alison, and the first 10 young men who entered his classroom in the 18th century."
After premiering the special Campaign for Delaware video, Roselle concluded his remarks Oct. 2 by echoing the words of the Rev. Alison, as featured in the video: "For unto whomsoever much is given, much shall be required."
"Those words from our first teacher will, we hope, give you something to think and talk about in the days ahead," Roselle said. "Remember what a rich legacy the University of Delaware has.
If you ever doubted it, consider this:
Two direct descendants of George Read, from Dr. Alison’s first class, are currently undergraduates at Delaware."