University of Virginia Library

REPORT BY THE PRESIDENT

The Rector asked the President to give his customary report.

Summary of the General Assembly Session

The President reported briefly on the current Session of the General Assembly, excluding the Budget process which is not yet resolved. Legislation was approved – and signed by the Governor – which will exempt the Medical Center from centralized information technology and telecommunications procurement, planning, and oversight. Another bill which passed both Houses and has been approved by the Governor expands eligibility for health insurance to part-time employees under certain conditions. Still another bill gives state institutions of higher learning the option of adding faculty members to boards of visitors. The charter legislation proposed by the University, the College of William and Mary and Virginia Tech was carried over by both houses until the 2005 Session.

In general, the President said, there was a recognition that the long-term economic welfare of the state depends on having an educated workforce.

Graduate School Rankings

The President reported on the U.S. News and World Report graduate school rankings, which were released on April 2nd. Four schools ranked in the top 25:

• Law (9th, the same as last year)
• Darden (12th, down from 11th)
• Curry (20th, up from 21st)
• Medicine (25th, up from 27th and thus among the top 25 medical schools for the first time)

The rankings for graduate architecture schools were not updated this year, although the School of Architecture ranked 6th in the country in the most recent ratings.

Gifts and Grants

The President reported that private giving to the University and its related foundations stood at $113million for the current fiscal year through February 29, 2004. If the extraordinary gift of over $110million from the Harrison estate last year is excluded from the reckoning, the base rate of the University’s fundraising this fiscal year has increased by 30% over the same period last year.

He noted that the College, the School of Engineering, the School of Architecture, the Jefferson Scholars Foundation, the Curry School, the UVa Fund and the College at Wise report substantial increases in giving this fiscal year.

Turning to specific gifts, he reported an anonymous gift of $6million in pledge payments for the Arena Project, for the Environmental Sciences Building Fund, and to the Darden School Foundation for the Batten Entrepreneurial Leadership and Capital Campaign – Phase II. Mr. Daniel M. Meyers, a friend of the University from Massachusetts, gave $5.54million to the Curry School to be used towards the construction of a new building. Mr. Albert Small, an alumnus and a former Member of the Board of Visitors, gave a $2million gift-in-kind to the University Library; the gift is a 10% undivided interest in a first edition of the first printing of the Declaration of Independence. An anonymous donor has made a $2million pledge payment for the Carr’s Hill Arts Grounds.

Among new pledges are $12.5million to the Medical School to support construction of a Medical Education Building; $1.2million from the John M. Olin Foundation to the Law School Foundation for the John M. Olin Program in Law & Economics; and a $1million pledge to the College Foundation, for unrestricted use, from Mr. Terrence D. Daniels of Greenwood.