State of the University—Reunion 2008
Daniel F. Sullivan—May 31, 2008

A warm and hearty welcome to you all to this reunion of the classes, a gathering of the clan!  There is nothing more pleasing to the eye of a St. Lawrence president than seeing you all here.

It is always a daunting thing to try to summarize the “state of the University” in just a few minutes to an audience as devoted and attentive to what goes on here as you.  Doing so here in Gunnison Chapel, of course, suggests a kind of prayerfulness to it all that probably isn’t too far wrong some days.  But the short answer is that we are thriving and full of energy from the great work we get to do with some of the nation’s most wonderful college students.  And you’ll learn more as we go along how important alumni support has been, is, and will be going forward if we are to keep our momentum and for which we are exceedingly grateful.

Our Mission
So, let me begin where we must always begin, and that is with our mission, which is “to provide an inspiring and demanding undergraduate education in the liberal arts to students selected for their seriousness of purpose and intellectual promise.”  From that mission statement flows a set of goals for our students, which include:  “breadth, depth and integration in learning,” . . . . . . .  “the cultivation of those habits of intellectual and moral self-discipline that distinguish a mature individual,” . . . . . . . fostering “in students an open, inquiring and disciplined mind, well informed through broad exposure to basic areas of knowledge; an enthusiasm for life-long learning; self-confidence and self-knowledge; a respect for differing opinions and for free discussion of those opinions; and an ability to use information logically and to evaluate alternative points of view.”   The education we seek to provide our students at St. Lawrence is education for a life, education that inspires students to be lifelong learners, education that prepares students to make a difference in a wide array of careers, education that encourages students to find meaning in what they do, and to better understand the great issues and questions that are at the center of the quest to be a learned, educated person.  To me, and to my faculty and staff colleagues, what we do with students feels like a vocation not just a job, and there are times when you just get weepy when you see what our students can do and how much they have made of the great opportunity they have been given to be here.

We at St. Lawrence and our colleagues at the other highly selective liberal arts colleges in America have always argued that this kind of education is the most practical of educations.  It is not education for a first job, but an education for just about all jobs you can think of.  And as globalization requires of all of us the ability to adapt to changing circumstances, thinking and analyzing on our feet as we go, it is the only kind of education that ensures a high probability of lifetime success.  National survey data show that parents of students getting ready to go to college, and their children, increasingly get this.
That is one reason, I believe, why applications to colleges committed to liberal education continue to increase at such a rapid pace.  Demand for liberal education in America is strong and growing, and that is good news for America’s future.

Admissions
Demand for St. Lawrence is even stronger and growing even faster than the national trend, and that is the first thing I want to say to you about the state of the University.  For those of you who want to examine later some of the statistics I’m about to present, my remarks will be posted on our web site. Last year at this time I was able to report to you that St. Lawrence had received an all-time high number of applications for the fall of 2007—4,646 of them to be exact—a 46% increase over the previous year.  We admitted 2,031, or just under 44%, down from 59% the year before, and 690 deposited, a yield of 34%. 628 was the final number who arrived to start the semester in the fall, after summer melt.  This year applications increased another 17%, to 5,418—in the top 10% of application increase percentages among our competitors—and Early Decision applicants also grew 17%, to 245, our highest number in recent memory.  With the admission of a small number of students from our wait list, our final acceptance percentage this year was 34%, for a 25 percentage point decline over three years—a remarkable change.  Students admitted through our Early Decision Program make up 33% of the new class compared to 25% last year.  Overall, our “yield”—the percentage of acceptances that have enrolled—remained steady at 34% and so we are expecting a first-year class of between 600 and 610 to be with us on campus in the fall after the loss this summer of some students who have or will be taken off wait lists at other institutions.

An indicator that I monitor very closely, of course, is our success in attracting children of alumni (we call them “chips”).  Our incoming class will have the same number of “chips” in it as last year’s all-time record on a slightly smaller base, so the percentage—about 10% of the class—is slightly up.  We monitor interest in St. Lawrence by alumni children so closely not because we assume that all children of alumni should come to St. Lawrence—though that would be interesting—but because these are applications coming from families who know us intimately.  When we are growing warts, they know that, and when we are developing more and more patches of beauty, they know that also.  If you ever see declining interest on the part of children of alumni, that is like the miner’s canary.

So this is all very good news, as is the news about class quality.  As you know, St. Lawrence has been “standardized test optional” for three years.  This year the percentage of enrolled first-year students who submitted test scores increased to 60% from 55% last year, and the mean score for enrolled students grew to 1820 from 1793 last year (recall that now there are three tests with a maximum score of 2400).  Very significantly, the percentage of first-year students ranking in the top 10% of their high school class increased to 45% from 35% a year ago—a very exciting change because high school academic performance remains the single best predictor of academic performance in college.  The percentage of incoming students intending to major in natural science or mathematics grew to 29% from 26% last year, and the percentage intending to major in the social sciences grew to 24% from 21% last year.  These increases occurred primarily because the percentage of incoming students undecided about a major continued to decline—to 22% this year from 37% two years ago.

Some other key statistics in which I know you will be interested include an improved gender balance this year compared to last.  Recall that last year the percentage of men in the first-year class dropped unexpectedly to 39%.  We are back up to 45%.  Students from North Country high schools will again make up about 16% of the class—a very steady percentage over the years.  The percentage of the incoming class that self-identified as a U. S. student of color declined to 9% from 10% last year, but the number of students who did not report a racial status jumped to 155 from 84 last year.  Researchers speculate that more and more students of color, including especially mixed-race students, are not self-identifying for a variety of reasons.  International students make up almost 6% of the class, up from 5% last year.  From an overall diversity standpoint, we believe this year’s incoming class will be more diverse than last year if our assumption about under-self-identification by U. S. students of color is correct.

In summary, demand for St. Lawrence is at an all-time high and continues to grow, and the students who enroll increasingly stay until graduation.  That is good news indeed!

Resources
At the same time, it takes resources—human, financial, and physical—to provide an excellent liberal education to students.  The most successful teaching and learning environments at any level are those that engage students actively in the learning process.  That means getting students into close interaction with faculty and with each other, because the peer effects on learning in a college environment are large and important.  It means having faculty and staff who are motivated to do the much harder work that providing an engaged learning environment entails, and so they need recognition and support, and they need to be compensated fairly and competitively.  It means designing and maintaining physical environments that nourish and facilitate engaged learning.  We now have almost two million square feet of physical plant at St. Lawrence and have been able to invest $190 million in new construction and renovation over the last decade to improve it for teaching and learning.  Johnson Hall of Science is the latest, most magnificent example, and this summer we begin Phase 1 renovations of Bewkes Hall and Phase 3a renovations of Griffiths—about $8 million in construction investment.

All of this takes a level of financial resources per student that is significant.  But think about this issue with me very carefully for a few moments.  If you change the ratio you are monitoring from resources per student to resources and expenditures per graduate, all of a sudden selective liberal arts colleges with high graduation rates look very efficient and cost-effective.  If you calculate not what it costs to have a student at St. Lawrence for a year—and I mean “cost” here, not the average comprehensive fee students pay after financial aid—but what it costs per graduate, and compare institutions with high graduation rates and those with low graduation rates, the costs become very similar and sometimes even less for selective liberal arts colleges.  A few years ago the 6-year graduation rate at the University of Minnesota’s College of Arts and Sciences was below 20%.  It is 80% at St. Lawrence.  St. Lawrence would have to cost almost four times as much per student before that low-tuition public university would equal our cost per graduate, and we are a long way from that.

Except for those institutions with enormous wealth to spend on students, highly selective liberal arts colleges with high graduation rates are among the least costly institutions in America per graduate, even if you don’t take into account the opportunity costs for students and families from time delays in achieving the level of earnings graduates ultimately achieve when they complete their degrees.  None of what I’m saying, of course, is meant to minimize the strain on family finances caused by paying for college—we know families are challenged to afford our tuition and we work hard to keep costs under control at the same time as we work to be sure that coming to St. Lawrence is worth it.  I’m making an argument about total institutional expenditures per graduate that is easily lost in the often loud discussions being held in America just now about rising tuitions.  Americans are smart micro-economists.  I believe at some level many people get the point I’m making.

Nonetheless, in the relentless pursuit of improvements in the experiences of our students and in their educational outcomes, having adequate resources is critical.  How well we invest our growing endowment, and how willing our stakeholders are to invest in us with their charitable gifts, makes all the difference.

Here too we have good news to report on the state of the University.  Current endowment market value is about $255 million, about the same as last year because our Board Investment Committee’s asset allocation strategy tries to limit downside risk.  So our endowment has not been as negatively affected as other investments in the current recession, and it will provide $13 million in income for the operating budget next year.

Gifts to St. Lawrence also remain strong and inspiring.  Campaign Momentum St. Lawrence is now over $134 million toward its $200 million goal; the trustees have already exceeded their $50 million goal by almost $12 million and their gifts are still growing; and we have a good shot between now and June 30 at exceeding last year’s all-time record cash giving total of $22.9 million.  Reunion giving results we will see in a moment will give us a clue about our chances.  St. Lawrence alumni are the best.  This is tough, complicated work, and you lift our spirits every day with your incredible generosity.

What You Think The State of the University Is
Having said all of this it turns out that this year we actually know something about what you think the “state of the University” is.  As you may know—because well over 200 of you here at this reunion completed the survey—this year the University and your Alumni Council have been surveying alumni to learn more about how you see the St. Lawrence of today.  Overall, more than 3,100 alumni completed the survey on line.

I won’t give you a full report now because our analysis is only beginning, but here are just a few highlights:

• One survey question asks:  “Based on what you currently know about St. Lawrence, how would you rate each of some 20 aspects of the University?”  In general, your overall ratings of the University are very high, but you rate most highly campus facilities, level and quality of student-faculty interactions, campus atmosphere, liberal arts focus, study abroad programs, quality of the faculty and quality of the students.  That your highest ratings have to do with elements of our core liberal education mission is enormously gratifying.  You even rate the quality of the administration as high as your ratings of faculty and students!  Who would have thunk that?
• Your lowest rankings have to do with how well, as alumni, you feel we are supporting you with career networking opportunities, informal alumni support systems, and post-graduation support for your career development.  We will want to learn more about that.
• Interestingly, on the aspects of the University where you give us your highest ratings, there is not much difference in how you rate us as a function of how long it has been since your last visit to campus.  We want to understand that better as well.  Hopefully, it means that our communications with you through published media and our website are working for you.

Again, all at the University are very grateful to those who provided their feedback to us by completing this survey.  I’m sure we’ll be sharing fuller analyses of the results with alumni in a variety of venues.

Strategic Issues Going Forward
So what are some of our strategic issues and challenges going forward?  I’d like to mention three.

• Maintaining momentum through the presidential transition.  The first is maintaining our momentum in all critical areas through the upcoming presidential transition a year from now.  To do that we have to continue an appropriate level of investment in the things that make us both effective in pursuit of our mission and competitive in the admissions marketplace without taking unreasonable risks.  I believe we are poised to do this, and there is much open and thoughtful communication going on all over campus and with the Board of Trustees.  We are all on the same page and have, I think, planned an appropriate balance. 
• Sustainability.  The second issue is sustainability.  St. Lawrence’s geographic location means we are more vulnerable to what is happening to world energy prices than many other colleges and universities.  At the same time, that very same location, including the low population density in the North Country, gives us special opportunities to restructure our approach to energy production and use.  Members of my staff, in conversation also with faculty members who have expertise in this area and outside consultants, have been studying options for heating and new co-generation capability involving local, renewable fuel sources for well over a year.  It is urgent that we get to a much more sustainable University energy strategy, and I want to report here that it is a very high priority on campus and within the Board of Trustees.  I have elaborated on what we are doing in my next post-board-meeting letter, which will go out in a few days.  I’d love your feedback.
• Study abroad.  The third issue is study abroad.  We know that study abroad experiences are among the most high-impact things our students can do in furtherance of the kind of liberal education to which St. Lawrence is committed, and given a future of increasing global interdependence the study abroad opportunities we provide our students will only become more and more important.  It has long been a goal of ours to allow an increased percentage of our students the opportunity to study abroad.   Presently, some 40-45% of our students do so.

However, as the number of applications for admission to St. Lawrence has grown, so has the demand for study abroad opportunities—more than 80% of incoming students now say they want to study abroad, at least partially a reflection of the increase in the level of academic accomplishment and community-minded/global awareness demonstrated by the students who are now selecting St. Lawrence as their college of choice.  The only limiting factor is our capacity—administratively and financially—to offer more opportunities.

At the same time, of course, the cost of overseas travel is increasing fast, the global political climate is constantly changing and the physical risks associated with travel and study abroad have increased, especially in some of the areas of the world about which we would most like our students to learn.  We are in the beginning stages of an extensive review and study of all of this with the goal of developing new and more flexible kinds of study abroad experiences for our students.  All I can say at this point is “stay tuned,” and we will report out to you as we figure out where we’re headed. 

That, I think, is at least one way to look at the state of the University.  We’re doing very well; we’re certainly not perfect; we think we have a powerful impact on our students; and the complexity of our challenges seems constantly to be increasing.  I suppose none of us would want it any other way.  Thank you!

St. Lawrence University Catalog, 2006-07, 5.