Transforming Undergraduate Education at Rutgers–New Brunswick/Piscataway

July 18, 2005

Members of the Rutgers Community:

No topic in higher education today is more important than undergraduate education. At Rutgers, our responsibility for educating New Jersey's most promising young men and women is at the core of our mission, and our prestige is grounded in the quality of the undergraduate experience we provide. Just as Harvard, Michigan, and other institutions across the country have recently done, Rutgers is grappling with how to ensure our undergraduates full access to the unique opportunities and outstanding faculty that are integral to a major research university.

As we do so, we recognize that all Rutgers campuses, colleges, and schools provide an excellent education. But too often in New Brunswick/Piscataway, the very best efforts of our students, faculty, and staff are hampered by systems that unnecessarily complicate the delivery of academic programs and services. Many of these difficulties are the unintended consequences of a major reorganization in 1980. Although that reorganization resulted in many improvements and led to Rutgers' admission to the prestigious Association of American Universities, it never adequately resolved the relationship between the residential colleges and the faculty in New Brunswick/Piscataway. It is time for us as a community to address this unfinished business and ensure equal access to high-quality programs for all our undergraduates.

In April 2004, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Philip Furmanski and I convened the Task Force on Undergraduate Education in New Brunswick/Piscataway to help our undergraduates fully seize the opportunities available at Rutgers. Headed by Professor Barry Qualls and composed of faculty, students, and staff, the task force was charged with creating "a more satisfying, more coherent, less frustrating, less confusing, and more rational academic environment for all students." Task force members consulted with hundreds of individuals and examined best practices at peer institutions. They spent countless hours in thoughtful deliberation, and their efforts deserve our sincerest thanks.

The task force's extensive, forward-thinking report is now complete and ready for review. It deals with a wide array of issues vital to undergraduate education at Rutgers-New Brunswick/Piscataway, among them admissions and recruitment, the curriculum, campus facilities, student life, and the academic structure. The report proposes a bold vision for a unified Rutgers College of Arts and Sciences that removes educational roadblocks for students, deepens faculty engagement in campus academic life, and enriches the learning experience for all New Brunswick/Piscataway undergraduates. These and other significant and far-reaching proposals demand our serious consideration.

The release of the report this week marks the beginning of an extended period of consideration and community dialogue. After all Rutgers constituencies have had an opportunity to review the report and make suggestions, I will move ahead with recommendations for action.

The task force report, along with background material, is available at http://ur.rutgers.edu/Transform_RU. The report also will be a major topic of my Annual Address to the University Community on September 16 and the subject of forums scheduled for September and October on the Busch, College Avenue, Cook, Douglass, and Livingston campuses. For a listing of these forums, and a form for submitting written comments, please see the task force web site.

This discussion presents an exciting and important opportunity to shape and improve the education of future generations of Rutgers students. Rutgers' history has shown that bold steps can reap significant results and propel the university to the next level of distinction. Please join me in the coming months as we examine the report of the Task Force on Undergraduate Education and consider ways for Rutgers' New Brunswick/Piscataway campus to achieve its goal of providing a truly outstanding undergraduate education for all our students.

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