Report of the President

Fitzgerald, now at Harvard's Divinity School, was a student speaker at Commencement.

“My time at Guilford College shaped my life in such a fundamental and dynamic way that hardly a day goes by when I don’t find myself calling upon the experiences, the knowledge and the values that the school helped to nurture in me. Guilford College provided me with more than an education; it helped me to develop confidence in the principles and purposes that define who I am. It is with this confidence that I prepare for graduate school and life beyond.”

Garrett FitzGerald ’08

 

President’s Message

What a pleasure it was to visit with three graduates in the Class of 2008 over dinner in Cambridge, Mass., this summer.   I was there to teach in the Harvard Institutes for Higher Education, as I have since 1983, and they were there to launch the next phase in their educational careers.

My dinner guests were Jacob Martin ’08 and Scott Lyman ’08, who are enrolled in the Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard, and Garrett FitzGerald ’08, who is enrolled in a master’s program at Harvard Divinity School.  The topic was the experience they had at Guilford and how it prepared them for other opportunities.

These young men are outstanding examples of the product of the Guilford education.  They represent what our Admission Office calls “outcomes”—success stories that promote the college to future students based on the educational value to be gained from the investment they and their families will make over four or five years.

Our students are part of a college community whose liberal arts focus and emphasis on personal examination depend on teaching by excellent faculty and a diverse community that inspires all members to expand their minds and embrace diversity.

In recent years, Guilford has enjoyed success in increasing the quantity of students while simultaneously improving selectivity.  We have maintained strategic goals of having small classes and being good stewards of our financial, human and environmental resources.  This is a delicate balancing act, as you can imagine.

The past year had its share of accomplishments and challenges—which I share in the following report—and the coming year is full of promise.  I greet you as we take a final look back before turning the page on a new year.

 

Learning in and out of the Classroom

Guilford’s unique educational model prizes values-based academic inquiry, encouraging the application of scholarly pursuits to real-world dilemmas. In their learning activities both in and out of the classroom, students, faculty and staff continue to rise to that task.

The Guilford Undergraduate Symposium, which is planned to be an annual event, was held for the first time in February. The symposium showcased the wide variety of quality academic research undertaken each year by students across academic disciplines. The symposium, organized by Assistant Professor of Biology Melanie Lee-Brown and Professor of Chemistry Rob Whitnell, drew wide support from faculty in every academic area.

More than 50 poster presentations, talks, exhibits and performances took place throughout the afternoon, with projects ranging from summer research studies to undergraduate theses to class assignments, including both creative and quantitative work. The event took place during the February Board of Trustees meeting and amply demonstrated the quality of teaching and learning at the college today.

Also in February, the Corporation for National and Community Service named Guilford to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll With Distinction for exemplary service efforts and service to disadvantaged youth, the highest federal recognition a school can achieve for its commitment to service-learning and civic engagement. Guilford was one of seven North Carolina institutions named to the Honor Roll With Distinction, and the only liberal arts college.

 

Re-bidding Dining Services Contract

Meriwether Godsey is providing a new dining services experience for students this fall.

This spring, at the end of a widely participative process, Guilford awarded a multi-year dining services contract to Meriwether Godsey—a Lynchburg, Va., employee-owned firm with more than 30 years of dining program experience in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia.  The transition from Sodexho, which held the contract since 1988, to the new vendor was completed in advance of the fall semester.

The college periodically re-bids contracts in order to ensure that we are getting the best services at the best prices.  The lengthy re-bid process for dining services involved the research and input of students, faculty and staff and consultation with service providers at other schools. The quality of on-campus dining options plays a large role in student recruitment and retention; many also stressed the need for a socially conscious and responsive provider.

A 16-member Dining Services Advisory Committee charged with making a recommendation on the bid was led by Jon Varnell, associate vice president of operations and facilities, and included four students. This committee followed a Request for Proposal (RFP) process in order to ensure that all bidders addressed the same issues—food service rates, interviewing current employees, facilities improvement, sustainability and continuing to provide high-quality, affordable food service to the college.

Board prices for the 2008-09 year will not increase above the 5-percent rate increase approved by the Board of Trustees outside the bidding process. The college will work with Meriwether Godsey to increase food choices while keeping board costs competitive with other peer institutions. Future board rate increases will depend on foods and services desired.

Throughout the process, many expressed concern that the current staff, longtime members of our community, would be lost in the transition to a new provider. While the college’s contract with Sodexho does not permit the new vendor to hire the current management team for at least a year, other dining services staff members have been given the opportunity to be interviewed and hired by Meriwether Godsey.

As part of the contract, Meriwether Godsey is funding extensive renovations to dining areas. The Grill, located in the basement of Founders Hall, was completed in August. Next summer will see remodeling of the dining hall itself.

 

Notable Philanthropic Year

Guilford is subject to the same economic pressures that are affecting philanthropic giving nationwide. Though the amount of total giving to the college in 2007-08 was slightly less than in the previous year, I am encouraged by the fact that the number of individual donors increased by more than 200. Despite the squeeze, more and more Guilfordians are moved to support the college financially, a commitment that bodes well for our long-term stability.

The college received several major gift commitments last year. Trustee emeritus Seth Macon ’40 and his wife, Hazel Monsees ’41 Macon, pledged $1.6 million toward the cost of a welcome center and offices for the advancement staff. The gift was announced at the President’s Dinner in October, along with the formation of the Macon Society, which will recognize donors with cumulative, lifetime giving of $1 million or more. Also in October, Steve James ’76 and wife Judy made a substantial gift commitment to establish endowments in support of adult student scholarships and services.

A landmark bequest from Frank Erwin Werner ’34 and his wife, Ava Roberts Werner ’33, established the college’s first fully endowed, full-tuition scholarship. The Werners’ $2.2 million gift showed remarkable vision, and will allow the college to attract the top students. The first scholarship recipient – Curt Amerson ’11 of Smithfield, N.C. – is enrolled this fall.

Other gifts enabled us to move forward on much-needed capital projects. A gift of more than $450,000 from trustee Dalton L. “Mac” McMichael Jr. and his wife, Susan, supported a scholarship fund in honor of his mother, Dorothy Ragsdale McMichael ’37, and funded the construction of new tennis courts named in her honor. A community park, also gift-funded, is being developed where four of the old tennis courts stood across from Milner Hall. This summer’s extensive renovation of Archdale Hall, made possible largely by an anonymous gift of $500,000, was recognized in the Summer 2008 edition of Landmarks, the magazine of Preservation Greensboro Inc., as “Greensboro’s first LEED-certified preservation project.”

 

Reaching out to the Community

The college was proud to host the “One Guilford” symposium in October. The event, sponsored by the News & Record of Greensboro, was one of a series of events designed to bring together community leaders for a discussion of the county’s future direction. It pleased me to personally welcome the motivated citizens gathered in Dana Auditorium that morning who were ready to examine the key issues involved in helping our region chart a course for a vibrant, strong future.

Among the speakers were the chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, Paul Gibson ’78, and News & Record editorial page editor Allen Johnson. Presentations centered on the area’s economic future, as we shift from an economy based on manufacturing to one that capitalizes on service and innovation, and how best to integrate Guilford County’s existing industries—aeronautics, furniture design and manufacture, education— into the global economy. From the lively conversation that ensued, it is clear that educational institutions such as ours are vital to the continued success of the local and regional economy. In fact, Guilford’s tradition of providing a broad-based liberal arts curriculum infused with deeply held social values is critical to creating the kind of intellectually curious, flexible and socially conscious global citizens needed in the modern economy.

The college presented other programs throughout the year that brought students and faculty to campus from around the country. October saw both the inaugural “Soy un Lider” (I am a Leader) Conference (organized by students and designed for area Latino teens wanting to learn more about how to prepare for college) and a day-long conference for professionals who work with adult learners in North Carolina and Virginia. In July, high school and college science teachers from several states attended a conference on Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning, led by faculty from the chemistry department.

Guilford also partnered with other area groups to present educational and enrichment programs to the public. Working with the Greensboro Bicentennial Commission and others, Guilford presented a talk by author Fergus Bordewich on the involvement of Quakers with the Underground Railroad. Working with area secondary schools, Guilford also hosted a college admission workshop for guidance counselors and education professionals that featured Lloyd Thacker, founder and director of the Education Conservancy and author of College Unranked: Ending the College Admissions Frenzy.

 

Campus Visitors

Senator Clinton held a rally on campus in May.

Once again, the college welcomed a number of speakers whose talks explored their various worldviews and experiences—writers, scholars, politicians and even a few Hollywood stars. Though the Bryan Series is most noted by the public, other more intimate events, some organized by student groups or academic departments, also contribute to a campus atmosphere of vibrant discussion. Some of the year’s notable guests were:

• Daniel Wallace, who spoke at opening convocation. Wallace’s novel Big Fish was last summer’s first-year student common read.
• Award-winning actors Kathleen Turner, Jane Seymour and Louis Gossett Jr., who opened the Bryan Series in September with a panel discussion on volunteer leadership. Internationally acclaimed author Isabel Allende spoke in November, followed by former U.S. Rep. J.C. Watts in February and Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward in April.
• Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), who staged a rally in support of her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination on May 2, days before North Carolina’s primary election. Approximately 1,000 attended the rally in Ragan-Brown Field House.
• Noted author and professor Eliot Engel, who spoke about short-story writer (and Greensboro native) O. Henry on April 1.
• Julianne Malveaux, the new president of Bennett College, who discussed developments in black economic history.
• Herman Boone, the high school football coach immortalized in the film “Remember the Titans,” who spoke as part of the observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
• Friends Center’s programs brought to campus many distinguished Quaker and non-Quaker visitors, including Carrie Newcomer, Scott Russell Sanders, Phillip Gulley and J. Brent Bill, who performed at Quakerpalooza; Betty and Noel Paul Stookey, Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Heather Brutz, who took part in Religious Emphasis Week; and Ann Riggs, the associate general secretary for Faith & Order with the National Council of Churches USA. In addition, Joe Volk, the executive director of the Friends Committee on National Legislation, spoke as part of the James G. Fleming Lecture Series.

 

Reorganization of IT&S

More than one administrative division was re-shaped over the last year in an effort to provide more thorough, yet efficient, services. Most notable was the overhaul of the Office of Information and Technology Services, whose resources are now better capable of meeting the college’s strategic objectives.

Kyle Johnson, hired in November as director of IT&S and chief technology officer, realigned the 14-person IT&S staff into five areas of expertise: enterprise applications, infrastructure, user services, instructional technology and project management.

• Enterprise applications will support the college’s large scale IT systems for activities such as e-mail/calendaring, human resources & payroll, advancement, finance, student information and class scheduling. Charlie White ’66 is serving as director of enterprise applications.
• The infrastructure group will provide support for the college’s wired and wireless networks, the telephone and cable TV systems, servers, computer systems and disaster recovery activities. Eddie Asad is serving as director of infrastructure.
• User services will provide technology support (including media services) for community members, support and planning for the general computer labs, training for new members of the community and management of the Help Desk. Teresa Sanford is the acting director of user services.
• The instructional technology area will provide planning and support for all aspects of faculty use of technology, both inside and outside the classroom. This will include planning and support of the college’s classroom technology, learning management system and discipline-specific lab spaces. Elizabeth Ermis is continuing in her role as instructional technologist.
• The project management area will provide a new function within IT&S, assisting administrative areas in articulating their needs, guiding research of technology solutions and acting as the primary coordinator for all large-scale technology collaborations at the college. Sonya Mitchell-Duffy moved into a new role in IT&S as project manager while continuing to support departmental Banner users.

Other developments occurring in the college’s five divisions are summarized here:

 

Academic Affairs: Focus on the Faculty

Following national searches in 2007-08, the college hired 11 new tenure-track faculty members, bringing the total number of tenure track faculty to an all time high of 103. There were 95 tenure track faculty members the previous year. Five of the new tenure track faculty are new to the college; the remaining six had previously served in temporary full-time positions.

Since four of the new tenure track faculty members are foreign nationals, Guilford’s tenure track faculty has a significantly greater international presence. Currently, 10 tenure-track faculty members are citizens of countries other than the United States, including China, India, Japan, Jordan, Lebanon, Kenya, Panama and Spain. An additional member of the faculty, who is a naturalized U.S. citizen, is a native of Cuba.

With an additional 27 temporary full-time faculty members being hired for the fall of 2008, the college now employs 130 full-time faculty. The temporary full-time ranks are also more international with the addition of Doris Essah, a visiting assistant professor who is a citizen of Ghana. She will be teaching African history on a full-time basis. In addition to the faculty being more international, the percentage of full-time faculty with terminal degrees has increased from 75 percent in fall 2007 to 81 percent for fall 2008.

 

Advancement: Building the Foundation of a Campaign

After more than a year directed toward engaging the passions and interests of alumni, Guilford is ready to put to work the valuable insights collected in conversations, focus groups and surveys which measured attitudes toward the college, its programs and students. These perceptions – from alumni and friends from across the nation – are vital in our building of the case for support in the comprehensive campaign approved by the Board of Trustees at its meeting last October. The online alumni networking portal, GuilfordConnections.com, will encourage this productive dialogue to continue and allow alumni to more easily reach out to one another.

Much of the advancement division’s energy in 2007-08 was directed at laying the groundwork for the campaign, working with consultants Campbell & Co., of Chicago, Ill., to ensure best practices and standards. One of the first tasks was to perform a philanthropic market study, followed by a readiness assessment review of prospect and donor inventory. This research determined that the campaign goal was both feasible and necessary in order to position Guilford for future growth. The greatest portion will go to strengthen the college’s endowment and for student scholarships.  Other funds will be used for priority capital projects such as renovations to Founders Hall and the construction of a dedicated wellness and fitness center for students.

The members of the Campaign Steering Committee have embraced the campaign’s success as a means of adding value and significant depth to the Guilford experience. Led by Chair Joseph Bryan Jr. ’60, they will work in tandem with me, Office of Advancement staff and the Board of Trustees.

We look forward to the announcement of the campaign’s public phase in 2010. Between now and then, we will focus on securing commitments essential to ensuring the success of the campaign effort while strengthening endowment and the entire educational experience. 

 

Campus Life: Improving Student Services

In an effort to better serve the needs of students and improve student persistence, the Campus Life area was reorganized in the past year. Efforts in student retention and persistence are focused on students who come to us with challenges that may prove detrimental to their success at Guilford. Identifying these students early and providing appropriate support will be key in ensuring their success and ultimately their graduation.

Dean of Students Aaron Fetrow now reports directly to the president, allowing more direct communication between students and the President’s Office.  Jennifer Agor was promoted to associate dean, where she has responsibility over residence life, and will also continue in her role as the director of new student programs (orientation). Associate Dean Bill Woodward transitioned from supervision of orientation into judicial affairs. Former area coordinators Susanna Young and Sandy Bowles stepped into new roles – Young is now director of residence life and Bowles is director of student judicial affairs.

The two area coordinator positions were replaced with three new full-time hall director/first year mentors, who will supervise the resident advisor staff. These individuals will live in the first-year student residence halls and focus primarily on the success of first-year students. In particular, they will each work with 15 students who have been admitted conditionally as part of a program to provide extra support to the students who appear least likely to succeed at Guilford (due to prior academic performance or judicial issues). The students are accepted under the conditions that they check in weekly with their assigned hall director/mentor, earn no judicial violations and meet certain academic expectations.

As another means to improve student persistence, Guilford added a full-time counselor, Libby Inman. Inman had previously worked in student counseling on a part-time basis, and had great success with students.

 

Enrollment: Balancing Enrollment and Tuition Discounting

This fall, Guilford expected to enroll the fourth-largest traditional class in its history, with more than 400 students for the fifth consecutive year.  The college increased its enrollment each of the past seven years while facing increased competition for both traditional and adult students. However, rather than rest complacently, Guilford is preparing for the challenging nation-wide enrollment trends looming over the horizon.

For instance, as recently as six years ago Guilford’s main competitors for students were other independent private colleges. Today, of the 10 schools with the most cross-applications with Guilford, seven are public universities. Our competitors on the local, regional and national levels have invested heavily in facilities and student activities. Today’s student expects more amenities on campus; The Strategic Plan for Guilford College 2005-2010 has supported a series of facility improvements.

At issue for the college is the amount of the annual operating budget devoted to student aid and therefore unavailable for capital expenses. Almost 90 percent of merit-based aid does not come from endowed funds—that’s roughly $10 million projected for FY2009 out of a $14.8 million college funded financial aid commitment.  Another $2.3 million of the $14.8 million in need-based scholarships is also unfunded, in that it too comes from current revenues. 

For every dollar that Guilford receives in tuition and fees, the college pays back 40 cents in financial aid. This 40-percent tuition discount rate is slightly below the national average for colleges of our size; keeping the rate at or below 40 percent while building the diverse community we desire is an ongoing challenge and may not be sustainable given current Strategic Plan goals and the above-referenced national demographic trends.

To put the numbers in perspective: if Guilford’s unfunded financial aid (both merit and need-based) were fully endowed, funded by the typical 5-percent annual draw, the endowment would need to be $250 million. That’s an endowed four times the size of Guilford’s overall endowment just to fund the scholarships that are currently paid for out of yearly revenue sources.

For prospective college students and their parents, price sensitivity is at an all-time high. If Guilford is to continue to attract the top students, we must improve our ability to offer competitive awards without negatively impacting other operating expenses. Endowed merit awards (such as the new full-tuition Werner Scholarships) will help make that possible.

 

Finance and Administration:  Committing to Sustainability

Jim Dees (pictured third from right) was named sustainability coordinator succeeding Kim Yarbray '05, who is now serving as leadership for social change coordinator.

In the first full school year since Guilford signed the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment, the college began the meticulous work of determining our current carbon footprint. With this “control” in place, we will be better able to evaluate our progress in reducing the campus’s energy consumption and carbon output.

The Greenhouse Gases Inventory was completed in April and involved what new Sustainability Coordinator Jim Dees describes as “the creation of an entire accounting system for carbon emissions.” An online survey of faculty, staff and students determined the average distance that the Guilford community travels to campus and other transportation habits. Almost 85 percent of major campus buildings are individually metered, allowing detailed analysis of their energy usage.

At present, Guilford’s utility costs (including water, gas, electric, storm water and sewer) are about $1.50 per square foot; the goal is to reduce costs to the $1-to-$1.25 range. Our utility expenses remained constant over the last five years, despite record heat and drought conditions, dramatic rises in energy costs and increases in both square footage and campus population. Electricity and gas account for the largest amount of the campus’s carbon emissions, with transportation second on the list.

Thanks to the installation of devices such as waterless urinals, low-flow shower heads, dual-flush toilets and aerated faucets, Guilford conserved an estimated one million gallons of water last year. (Each waterless urinal alone saves 48,000 gallons of water per year.) When last year’s drought reached its critical stages, Guilford was already prepared with systems to reduce consumption without an interruption in services.

Guilford also laid out new policies to take effect even before the two-year ACUPCC planning process is complete. For instance, all new campus construction over 5,000 square feet will be built to at least the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED silver standard or its equivalent. Additionally, Guilford adopted an energy-efficient purchasing policy which requires the selection of Energy Star-certified products in all areas for which such ratings exist.

 

Conclusion

I’ll end by sharing the closing remarks to 2008 graduates from invited commencement speaker and trustee emeritus Bruce Stewart ’61, who expects to retire within the year from his post as head of school at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C.  Bruce cherishes his long-standing relationship with Guilford and reflects the spirit of the college.

He said, “You have the values of this blessed place in the very fabric of your soul, and I am confident that as you leave this community you will live in such a spirit of civility, care and service that you will inevitably bring America back to its fullest and dearest sense of promise, a land unequivocally dedicated to liberty, justice and opportunity for all. Go forward today in good humor and good faith, and take profound pride in your accomplishments and promise. And please remember the extraordinary admonition of Horace Mann, the founding spirit behind free, public and universal education in America:  ‘Be ashamed to die until you have achieved some great victory for humanity.’”

Thanks, Bruce, and thanks to all who share the college’s vision to make a positive difference on our world.

My best regards,

Kent John Chabotar

President

Professor of Political Science

Sept. 25, 2008