Board Acts to Transform Undergraduate Education

March 10, 2006

Members of the Rutgers University Community:

I am pleased to report that today the Rutgers Board of Governors voted to ratify my proposals for restructuring undergraduate education in New Brunswick/Piscataway.

The Board's action authorizes establishment of a single School of Arts and Sciences for all arts and sciences students in New Brunswick/Piscataway, with unified admissions standards, general education criteria, and graduation requirements, beginning with new students entering in fall 2007; the renaming of Cook College as the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences; and the creation of the Douglass Residential College on the Douglass campus. The Board also endorsed my recommendations for ensuring all New Brunswick/Piscataway undergraduate students equal access to a full array of programs and services on every campus no matter where they live.

It is deeply gratifying to have the Board of Governors' support of recommendations that bear the imprint of an extraordinary university conversation about undergraduate education at our New Brunswick/Piscataway campus, and I am grateful to everyone who contributed to the process over the past two years. I am confident that these changes will dramatically improve students' educational experience by re-engaging faculty in undergraduate life and by helping all our students take full advantage of the rich resources of a great public research university.

Please visit http://urwebsrv.rutgers.edu/medrel/viewArticle.html?ArticleID=5025 to view the news release regarding the Board of Governors' vote.

Time is of the essence in putting these changes into effect. In the coming days I will be in communication with you again regarding implementation. I hope I can count on the university community's help to make these substantive and much-needed improvements to undergraduate education at Rutgers.

Richard L. McCormick
President
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey