Busy Session for Board of Trustees

The Ithaca College Board of Trustees had plenty to discuss during its February meeting in New York City (see "President’s Corner"). The facilities master plan, the budget, and a new College-wide strategic marketing initiative were approved, and several faculty members were granted tenure and promotion (see box).

The master plan --- developed by Boston-based consulting firm Sasaki Associates with feedback from the trustees, the Facilities Planning Committee, and members of the College community --- features new housing space; expanded facilities and space for academic programs, student services, student housing, and administrative offices; a field house; and the relocation of some campus roadways and parking lots. The new plan, says vice president for business and administrative affairs Thomas Salm, will "bring a better sense of ‘community’ to the many components that make up the College, taking advantage of the natural environment and creating new open spaces."

New housing space has already been secured. A critical student housing shortage prompted the College to enter into a long-term lease at the nearby College Circle Apartments, making the complex an on-campus housing site. This gains the College 324 beds for the 2002–3 school year; another few hundred will be added by the site developer for occupancy by IC students next year. And an "annex" --- a temporary office building near Park Hall --- has been occupied by several administrative offices, easing the space crunch in Job Hall and West Tower. The College will continue to assess the factors of need and resources as it puts the facilities master plan into action in the coming months and years, and the ICQ will do an in-depth feature on it in the near future.

Over the past year the College had undergone a strategic marketing assessment with the idea of gaining Ithaca broader recognition. Under the leadership of vice president for institutional advancement Shelley Semmler, helped by Philadelphia-based consulting firm Steege/Thomson Communications, a committee was set up to analyze the College’s marketing needs and make recommendations about communications from the College to all of its audiences, from potential students to neighbors to alumni. The committee included faculty, staff, administrators, and two trustees who are professionals in the public relations and marketing fields --- David Stewart ’67 and Harold "Bud" Garrity ’68. "Putting together the plan was a great group effort," says Semmler. "The whole committee understood the need to better communicate the College’s rising academic prestige and the quality of residential life here. David and Bud were especially helpful because they combined knowledge of Ithaca College with professional marketing experience." The board approved the group’s recommendations, which among other things will transform the Office of College Relations and the Office of Public Information into an all-encompassing Office of Marketing Communications. Media relations, publications, Web content, and sports information will be part of the new department, which will be headed by an executive director reporting to Semmler. The marketing plan will be shared with the campus as details are worked out.

The board also approved the 2002–3 budget, which includes raising tuition to $21,102, a 4.96 percent increase. Standard room and board charges, at $8,960, bring the total cost of attending to $30,062. The increase, as President Williams wrote in her letter to students’ parents announcing the change, reflects the College’s continued commitment to enhancing and sustaining academic programs and support services. That includes investing in new faculty and staff positions, expanding the business school, addressing diversity in the curriculum, and improving technology and facilities. Williams also noted that the new tuition rate is among the lowest in a group of 20 regional private colleges and universities with which IC generally compares itself --- and is low even when compared to those institutions’ 2001–2 charges.