Les Koepplin's Retirement

April 19, 2004

Members of the Rutgers Faculty and Staff:

Les Koepplin, Director of Federal Relations, has announced his decision to retire from Rutgers; his last day in this position, which he has held for 25 years, will be June 30, 2004.

When Les started at Rutgers, the university was not a member of the Association of American Universities, it had no Washington office, and our federal support included $10 million in research and $20 million in student aid.  During his tenure, Les has been a staunch advocate for Rutgers at the federal level. One indicator of his success is the fact that our federal support now totals $350 million annually, an amount that now exceeds our state appropriation.

Les also has been very active on programs of national interest to higher education.  He brought Rutgers into a leadership role on a number of legislative issues ranging from the establishment of the University Research Initiative in the Department of Defense to the creation of the Direct Student Loan Program.  He has served in a variety of national leadership positions, including visiting senior staff member at the Association of American Universities (AAU).  Les has provided us with a legacy on which we hope to continue to build.  We wish him well in his retirement.

I am pleased to announce that, effective July 1, 2004, Francine Newsome Pfeiffer will assume the Director of Federal Relations position. Francine, who graduated from Rutgers College, has developed an outstanding working relationship with the New Jersey Congressional delegation and staff and with our faculty, students, and staff.  In her 8 years in our Washington office, she has regularly held national leadership positions including serving this past year as chair of the AAU working group on education. Last year she earned an Outstanding Achievement Award from the National Association of State and Land-Grant Colleges for her work to advance the university government relations field.  Please join me in welcoming her to this new position.

Francine will continue to report to me while maintaining a close working relationship with Executive Vice President Phil Furmanski in developing our federal agenda of student aid, research, and agriculture support.

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