Penn State Provost Nicholas P. Jones offered the first Provost's Report during today's (Sept. 19) Board of Trustees meeting in Dean's Hall of The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel on the University Park campus. Following is a transcript of his remarks:
Good afternoon. I’m very pleased to have the opportunity to speak with the Board on a regular basis. As the University’s chief academic officer, I look forward to highlighting some of the key issues that impact Penn State’s mission components of teaching, research and service. In my role, I see things a little differently from others you hear from on a regular basis, and so I hope my presentations will lead to further discussions beyond our meetings.
So today, to begin, I’d like to focus on what is the foundation of this institution—that is, our people: our faculty, students, staff and alumni.
Last year, when I interviewed for the provost position, in my final conversation with Rod Erickson, Rod asked me about my impressions of the university. I told him that what stood out the most was the commitment and passion of Penn State’s people. And over the last year, countless interactions have strongly reinforced that impression.
Consider our faculty.
Faculty teach about 98,000 students and are the force behind our more than $800 million in research expenditures and our consistent performance in national and international academic rankings.
This year, 253 new, talented, full-time faculty members joined Penn State. They came from around the globe, representing top universities, such as Duke, Michigan, Illinois, and MIT. To advance at Penn State, these faculty will need to excel in three areas: teaching, research and service. All three components are part of our mission and all are critical factors in the education of our students.
And our faculty is successful here. This slide shows how many faculty members successfully navigated our rigorous promotion and tenure process in the last year. In addition to our full-time, tenure-track faculty, Penn State hires faculty on part-time and fixed-term appointments, and these faculty provide outstanding service for us as well.
Penn State faculty members are well represented in terms of receiving national awards and recognitions in the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Academies. We also have academic leaders in nearly every association, industry council, editorial board and professional organization. The list is long and the recognition is well deserved.
Notably, it’s not just about Richard Alley, Masatoshi Nei and other senior faculty who are receiving international acclaim for their accomplishments. I’d like to show you a brief video about some of our faculty who are actively and passionately changing lives … of our students and others on a daily basis. Their activities go way beyond the classroom.
(Showing of a Convocation Faculty Video)
Our faculty deliver: Big time. They work side-by-side with our students and transform the way we deliver education. It’s a big part of what makes Penn State special, and of course a big reason why so many students want to come to Penn State.
And speaking of students, I’ve been impressed by the achievements of so many of these extraordinarily talented young men and women. In fact, we just learned that this year’s youngest MacArthur Fellow earned her undergraduate degree in Physics from Penn State in 2004 and was a Schreyer Scholar. Danielle Bassett is now an assistant professor of bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania where she studies how our brains learn. This is a wonderful recognition that powerfully demonstrates the strength and potential of our students.
About 4 weeks ago, we welcomed about 8,500 new first-year students to University Park and 8,600 to the Commonwealth Campuses. Here’s what we know about our new class of 2018:
-- They are academically distinguished: 304 students were selected from more than 3,000 applicants to be part of the Schreyer Honors College.
-- At University Park, 76 percent of our students attended public schools; 19 percent attended private schools; and 5 percent attended charter schools or were home schooled.
-- They’ve come to Penn State from 67 countries and every state except Mississippi, New Mexico, Wyoming, and North and South Dakota.
-- We welcomed 250 new student-athletes who will be competing in our 31 varsity sports.
Approximately 1,600 new World Campus undergraduate students also began this fall, representing all 50 states and more than 70 countries.
We are also proud of our graduate students and their contributions to our academic and research mission. And we are wondering who among them will be the MacArthur Fellows in the future.
Penn State enrolls about 8,000 graduate students in residence and 4,200 graduate students in World Campus-delivered programs, as well as about 1,000 medical and law students. Our graduate students receive graduate assistantships and prestigious fellowships, both University Graduate Fellowships, and external fellowships from the National Science Foundation, Ford Foundation, Smithsonian, and other highly competitive awards. In addition, in a typical year, about 470 postdoctoral scholars and fellows support our research enterprise. These scholars and fellows, and our doctoral students, are core partners with our faculty and research staff in generating Penn State’s considerable research accomplishments.
One thing that also struck me in my first year was seeing, first-hand, Penn State’s staff working behind the scenes, usually out of the limelight, to keep the university running smoothly. Whenever we brag about our enrollment success, our student placement rates, research enterprise, or fundraising results, you know that members of our staff are hard at work.
And our staff is incredibly loyal – the 235 retirees that we honored last May had collectively spent almost 6,500 years at the university. That’s an average of 27 years each! They’ve also done some other work that you might not have thought about.
Every year, Penn State’s Creamery produces enough ice cream for 2.5 million cones; our Bakery makes more than 6 million doughnuts and more than 15 million cookies.
Our Physical Plant staff plants about 30,000 annuals, cleans more than 742 buildings, and maintains about 35 miles of paved roads and 60 miles of paved walkways, which helps us walk off all those doughnuts and ice cream.
University Park visitation programs for prospective students welcomed more than 48,000 visitors last year. The programs involve Admissions staff, as well as college staff and faculty, student tour guides, and alumni volunteers. A tremendous coordinated effort.
Speaking of alumni, it’s no secret that we have the biggest and best Alumni Association in the world with more than 174,000 members, including many of our trustees.
Next month, we will honor 21 Penn State alumni with the title of Alumni Fellow, the highest award given by Penn State’s Alumni Association. Our alumni are active, involved, and connected to nearly 300 affiliate groups around the country and around the world. Alumni serve on advisory groups and mentoring programs at all our campuses. They are, and will always be, one of our biggest assets.
I’ve thought a lot this year about what it takes to make new students or faculty or staff, or even a new provost feel at home at a Penn State campus. It’s not just the buildings and classrooms, although those are important. It’s the people we meet, from the student tour guides to the academic advisors, servers in the cafeteria, staff assistants, and faculty. I’ve worked at other institutions and I can assure you that Penn State’s people are something to be proud of.
As you travel around our campuses and interact with Penn Staters, be sure to notice their contributions and join me in thanking them for their impact and their Penn State pride.
And now I’d be happy to take your questions as time allows.