Key Appointments for Implementing the Transformation

March 16, 2006

Members of the Rutgers University Community:

Now the hard work begins. The next couple of years on the New Brunswick/Piscataway campus will be full of steep challenges—and ultimately great rewards for Rutgers students—as we implement the recommendations for undergraduate education that were recently approved by the Board of Governors.

First and foremost, it will be critically important that Rutgers be served by a Vice President for Undergraduate Education who has extensive knowledge and understanding of the university and a deep commitment to undergraduates.

Given the urgency of this effort, I have asked Professor Barry Qualls to serve as interim Vice President for Undergraduate Education at least through the implementation process. I know of no one who has the vision, insight, and dedication to undergraduate education that Professor Qualls has demonstrated throughout his career at Rutgers and especially during his tireless leadership as chair of the Task Force on Undergraduate Education.

In addition, I have made three other appointments to ensure timely and successful implementation:

• Professor Michael Beals will serve as Director of Implementation and Chair of the Steering Committee on Implementation. Professor Beals, who co-chaired the Task Force on Undergraduate Education's working group on structure, is uniquely qualified to organize and oversee the more than one dozen implementation subcommittees that will be formed.
   
• Professor Cheryl Wall will serve as Vice Chair of the Steering Committee on Implementation. Professor Wall is one of Rutgers' finest scholars, former chair of the Department of English, and co-principal investigator on the Ford Foundation grant, "Reaffirming Action: Designs for Diversity in Higher Education."
   
• Professor Lea Stewart of the School of Communication, Information and Library Studies, will chair the Committee on Nontraditional Students, which will make recommendations for addressing the special circumstances and challenges faced by our nontraditional-age students. Professor Stewart served on the Task Force as a member of the working groups on curriculum and structure.
   

These individuals will provide invaluable experience, insight, and commitment, and I thank them for taking these leadership roles.

In making these leadership announcements, I want to make clear that wide participation in implementation, especially by those who serve our students most directly, is critical to the success of this plan. As one of our first steps, on March 29 Executive Vice President Phil Furmanski and Vice President Greg Blimling will be meeting with Student Affairs staff, whose expertise will contribute significantly to our work.

Very soon you will hear more about the implementation process, including the full membership of the Steering Committee and leadership of key subcommittees that will deal with the vast range of issues involved in making such a substantial transformation. We will forge a process that is open, accessible, and thoughtful as we meet the aggressive timetable we have set: recruiting, admitting, and enrolling the first new students in the School of Arts and Sciences by fall 2007.

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