President presents FY 2008 operating budget to lawmakers

5:34 p.m., Feb. 14, 2007--Funding for several innovative scientific, technological, agricultural and community initiatives led the list of budget requests made by UD President David P. Roselle to state lawmakers on Tuesday, Feb. 13.

Roselle's comments were made during his presentation of UD's fiscal year (FY) 2008 state operating budget to members of the Joint Finance Committee of the Delaware General Assembly in Dover.

In his opening remarks, Roselle highlighted UD achievements during the past 17 years and urged lawmakers to strengthen the strong partnership between the state and UD that helped make these achievements possible.

“As I formally speak with you for the last time as president of the University of Delaware, I want to take a few moments to review with you some of the University's significant accomplishments during the past 17 years and the ways in which the University and the state have strengthened their partnership during that time in service to the citizens of Delaware and the region,” Roselle said.

Roselle said that UD accomplishments and growth during the past 17 years include:

An operating budget that grew from $286.9 million in FY 1990 to $667.5 million in FY 2006, a 133 percent increase;
An increase in the number of full-time faculty from 911 in 1990 to 1,116 in 2006, including 108 named professorships;
A near doubling of freshman applications for admission to the present total of approximately 22,500; and
A modest increase in undergraduate enrollment from 14,546 in 1990 to 15,742 in 2006, while the average SAT scores of the entering freshmen class increased from 1137 in 1990 to 1205 in 2006.

“The improved academic preparedness has resulted in gains and retention and graduation rates that rank UD among the best in the nation among public institutions,” Roselle said. “The University's African-American graduation rate is nearly twice the national average.”
Roselle also noted that UD and the state Department of Education and K-12 school officials throughout Delaware are working together to ensure that graduates from the state's high schools are thoroughly prepared for the rigors of academic study at UD.

“This fall we announced the Commitment to Delawareans, a program of prescribed study in English, mathematics, natural and physical sciences, social studies, social studies and foreign languages for an academic career at UD,” Roselle said. “The Commitment to Delawareans complements a host of educational reforms in the state, including Vision 2015. This sets a standard that says if you do this, you will get into UD.”

Roselle also noted that about 87 percent of all Delawareans who apply to UD are offered admission, with 67 percent being admitted to the Newark campus, while 26 percent are admitted to the Associate in Arts Program.

Currently, more than 600 students are matriculating in the Associate in Arts Program, and more than 90 percent of the program's initial graduates are continuing their education as juniors on the UD's Newark campus, Roselle said.

“The Associate in Arts Program is a unique partnership between the University and Delaware Technical and Community College that enables students who have reasons for not coming to Newark to come later,” Roselle said. “The University very much appreciates the support of the General Assembly in making this program a success.”

The University also has experienced a 272 percent increase in externally funded contracts and grants, from $39.8 million in 1990, to $147.9 million in 2006, while philanthropic support for UD continues to be robust, Roselle said.

“The now-concluded Campaign for Delaware raised $431 million, and our endowment now exceeds $1.3 billion,” Roselle said. “Annual income from the endowment is approximately 5 percent of the principal. What the endowment means is that students at UD, as well as Delaware legislators, receive approximately $60 million of educational value for which they do not pay.”

While overall state support for UD has increased 74 percent from $66.5 million in FY 1990 to $115.9 million in FY 2006 (an average of 3.3 percent annually since 1990), the state's proportion of the total UD operating budget has declined from 23 percent to 17 percent during that time, Roselle said.

Successful UD-state partnerships

Roselle said that tangible examples of the success of UD's partnership with the state include:

The University's Biotechnology Institute, which has enabled Delaware to successfully compete for National Science Foundation and other external funds targeted at the state's research capacity, competitiveness and workforce development;
K-12 initiatives, including the Laboratory Preschool, the College School, the Early Learning Center, the Delaware Center for Teacher Education, the Mathematics and Science Education Resource Center and the Delaware Academy for School Leadership;
The Poultry Diagnostic Laboratory, which helped Delaware and adjoining states to avoid a major outbreak of avian influenza and has become one of the cornerstones of agribusiness in the state; and
University outreach activity through special lines funding in the Colleges of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Human Services, Education and Public Policy, including Cooperative Extension, local government and research assistance, the Center for Community Development and the Urban Agent Program.

In highlighting the success of these initiatives, Roselle said that he hoped that the partnership between UD and the state would continue to strengthen and grow in the future.

“The state is a significant stakeholder in the University of Delaware, and your continued support enables us to more fully serve the citizens of Delaware,” Roselle said. “Just as we welcome your support, we also welcome your understanding and appreciation that the University has worked hard and successfully to fund and implement programs that are important to Delaware's businesses, schools, government and learners of all ages.”

FY 2008 budget requests

Topping the budget request list is $1 million for minor capital improvements and equipment at UD. The sum represents previously appropriated funds to UD's operating budget in fiscal years 2003 and 2004 that were cut from the budget without subsequent restoration in FY 2006, Roselle said.

“These funds are critical to ongoing renovation of academic space at the University and are an integral part of our overall facilities planning,” Roselle said. “Failure to restore these funds places an undue burden on a University that has been more than responsive in using its own resources to assist the state through difficult economic times.”

Roselle also noted that UD has spent $7 for each dollar appropriated by lawmakers, something no other entity in the state or the country has achieved.

“I want to point out that this request for $1 million for our Operating Budget represents a portion of the funds that I will request in the capital budget for renovations and remodeling,” Roselle said. “It matters not to us whether the funds are restored to the operating or the capital budget, so long as they are restored.”

Additional requests for operating budget increases include:

$220,100 over the amount recommended by the governor to fund personnel and operating costs for the University's Delaware Biotechnology Institute;
$100,000 for software licensing (UD currently spends more than $1.1 million annually for maintenance of applications and operating systems software licenses that support administrative computing, with an additional $425,000 for teaching, learning and network security software licenses);
$100,000 to cover costs associated with increased demands for tests for avian influenza, as well as other diseases that adversely impact the state's poultry industry;
$135,000 for the Agricultural Experiment Station, to support a research associate and two graduate students to expand the program in suburban biodiversity in Delaware; and
$137,000 for Cooperative Extension to fund an agriculture agent to work with agronomic crops and livestock producers in southern New Castle county.

Delaware Excellence in Science and Engineering Program

Roselle said UD also is seeking $1.225 million in funding over the next two fiscal years for a new initiative, the Delaware Excellence in Science and Engineering Program.

The new initiative would represent the third of five areas identified by the State Science and Technology Council for investment of intellectual and financial capital, Roselle said. The state and UD partnered on two of these five priorities last year, with the Avian Biosciences Center (agriculture) and the Center for Translational Cancer Research (human health).

The $1.225 million request encompasses the three remaining areas--complex environmental systems, alternative energy and nanotechnology--and would support four faculty lines, scholarships, graduate stipends, undergraduate internships, infrastructure and equipment renewal, Roselle said.

The requested funds will support the newly created Center for Critical Zone Research, which examines the complex interactions among rock, soil, water, air and living organisms that have a profound impact upon environmental quality and health, Roselle said.

In acknowledging that fully funding this initiative may not be possible for FY 2008, he said that funding in the amounts of $500,000 for FY 2008 and $725,000 for FY 2009 are essential to initiating the implementation of the Delaware Excellence in Science and Engineering Program.

“The University has a nationally recognized program of fuel cells and their application to transportation in the area of alternative energy, as well as an established program of research in the area of nanotechnology in our Department of Materials Science and Engineering,” Roselle said. “The requested funds will enable UD to expand and enhance its work in the alternative energy and nanotechnology domains, while growing its efforts in the Center for Critical Zone Research.”

After his presentation, Roselle received congratulations from several members of the Joint Finance Committee for his stewardship of the University during the past 17 years.

“We thank your for all you have done for the University and the state,” Sen. Nancy Cook, said. “We also wish you the best of luck. Your accomplishments are obvious to all of us and to the rest of the General Assembly.”

Article by Jerry Rhodes
Photo by Kathy Atkinson

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