Speeches

Dr. Stuart D. Cook
University Day Speech
September 19, 2000

Thank you Dr. Tama. And a special thank you to our five deans on the Newark campus for hosting this year's University Day.

It is a pleasure to have the opportunity to provide the University family with an overview on the State of the University--to update you about what has been happening in our eight schools and review the progress we have made in achieving our five strategic goals.

I'm here to tell you that we're doing well and getting better every day. This is not just the optimistic view of a University president since this year we have outside validation to back up my assessment. We have a report by reviewers from the prestigious Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.

The review team has given us very high marks, based on their assessment of a report prepared by a steering committee representing all our schools and health care units. Although the Commission will not formally adopt the report until October, I'd like to quote from the memo by the reviewers.

(Quote)The University is a prominent academic health center coping well with the multifaceted changes in resources, work force, technology and health care delivery. It is clear from the report that UMDNJ is aggressively pursuing institutional excellence through deliberate growth, strategic planning, strengthened internal and external communication, enhanced collaboration and continuous quality improvement." (End quote)

The team also commended the University for assuring its institutional integrity. First, by recognizing the pressures of a rapidly changing academic and health care environment, and second, by actively responding to the challenges by developing and implementing a five-year strategic plan.

Last year when I unveiled the plan, I said that our challenge in this environment was to have a vision of ourselves as a successful health sciences university--an institution capable of bold decision-making when circumstances require immediate and decisive action. We now have that vision and are well on the way to achieving our goals.

At this time I would like to review the strategic intent and five goals.

Our strategic intent, "The Pride of New Jersey Today, The Pride of the Nation Tomorrow" states our commitment to moving UMDNJ into the elite tier of academic institutions nationally recognized for their uniformly high caliber of scientific inquiry, innovative teaching methods and clinical expertise.

In March 1999, we established five goals that were adopted by the University's Board of Trustees. They are:

• To double research revenues
• To improve educational outcomes
• To enhance patient care and patient satisfaction
• To improve our efforts in community service and diversity
• and To build UMDNJ's reputation both statewide and nationally.

How are we doing? Based on observations of the Middle States' group, and positive reports from several other accrediting bodies during the past year, our strategic goals are right on target.

Let's take a closer look at our accomplishments over the past year.

The goal to double research funding by 2003 is on track thanks to the efforts of our deans and faculty. Let me present a few examples:

• In Academic Year 2000, federal grant funding increased by an impressive 16 per cent.
  
  
• We now have four University Professors whom you heard about earlier in the program: Jerrold Ellner, Jeffrey Merrill, Kathy Widom and StephenVatner
  
• We established four new endowed professorships--one in multiple sclerosis, two in child health, and one in cancer and will bring four more endowed chairs to the trustees for approval in the near future--in hematology, innovative teaching, surgery and neurosurgery
  
• Last week we held a topping off ceremony for the International Center for Public Health in Newark, which will bring together 250 scientists from the Public Health Research Institute and UMDNJ to form a world-class infectious disease research institute
  
• The Board of Trustees approved a $356 million Universitywide capital construction plan. Within the next few months, we will break ground for exciting projects on the Newark, Piscataway and Stratford campuses
  
• We increased stipends for students enrolled in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and expanded financial support for post-doctoral fellows
  

Each of our eight schools is also developing an individual strategic plan to support and complement the University's plan.

For example:

• Our three medical schools have committed to aggressively recruiting highly regarded researchers to their faculty



• The dental school is developing a new dental research center



• The school of health related professions is developing a center for alternative and complementary medicine



• The nursing school is applying for more federally funded graduate traineeships, and



• The school of public health is seeking opportunities for collaborative research across the state

With Universitywide programs now in place and the commitment of our schools to action plans that support research growth, I am fully confidant that when I stand before you next year, our progress will be even more impressive.

Before I present our accomplishments related to educational excellence, I again quote from the Middle States' report:

(Quote)"We see truly remarkable accomplishments as a result of the University's high quality education programs. Impressive student outcomes are reflected in retention and graduation data, excellent performance on regional and national examinations, and recruitment and placement of students in Graduate Medical Education."End quote)

The Middle States' review team also commended the University for its on-going efforts to reshape the scope and size of its curriculum, and for making changes that address current and future work force requirements and changing health care practices.

In fact, the strategic plans of our schools encourage the on-going evaluation and improvement of their educational programs. For example:

• Robert Wood Johnson Medical School is increasing funding for curriculum development
  
• New Jersey Medical School is developing an Objective Structured Clinical Examination Program
  
• The School of Osteopathic Medicine is improving the cultural competency component of its curriculum
  
• New Jersey Dental School is implementing a totally electronic curriculum
  
• The School of Health Related Professions is increasing the number of distance-learning degree programs it offers
  

The University's actions to support the educational excellence goal are highlighted today by the 12 faculty members who have become the first members of our Master Educators Guild. When I announced the creation of this program during my inaugural speech, I shared with you the results of a National Science Foundation survey of leading scientists who were asked what they felt was the most important factor in their education.

The answer was almost uniformly the opportunity to work closely with a great and inspiring teacher.

The 12 faculty members selected as our first Master Educators exhibit the highest standards of educational excellence and have a true gift for teaching.

Other awards have been established by the University in the past to recognize academic excellence, but the Master Educator designation is the only award in which the selection process includes formal input from students, faculty peers and administrators. In addition, the Master Educators will have a unique role within the University. They will serve as a resource for evaluating curriculum, be provided funds to carry out educational research, become mentors to junior faculty to make them more effective teachers, and serve as a crucible for testing innovative educational concepts. They will be the University's guides to achieving educational excellence.

And to reinforce our commitment to quality education, the fall issue of Health State will highlight our Master Educators and innovative academic programs at our eight schools.

But a University is more than bricks and mortar or outstanding teachers. An exciting educational environment also requires the presence of intelligent, hard-working and curious students. Fortunately, UMDNJ is blessed by having a large and diverse group of outstanding students. Our new annual report, whose theme is academic excellence, identifies a handful of those exceptional students who represent a cross section from all of our schools.

Finally, to support academic excellence during this academic year, we are undertaking a major initiative to increase funding for our University Libraries, which provide the critical resources necessary for scholarly endeavors.

Now I turn to our activities in the clinical care arena. The University and its affiliated hospitals continue to provide the highest quality care to the citizens of New Jersey. In fact, there is now growing evidence that the best patient care emanates from hospitals which are truly major academic health centers. This opinion is supported by a study published in the September 13 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association, which shows that Medicare patients admitted to major teaching hospitals for treatment following a heart attack received better care, based on four indicators, and a lower mortality rate, than patients admitted to minor teaching or non-teaching hospitals.

The care we give is provided not only to those covered by private insurance, but also to the less fortunate members of our society who have no insurance at all and have no place else to turn. For example, University Hospital is the largest provider of charity care in the State of New Jersey.

The Chandler Health Care Center in New Brunswick also provides health care to a large portion of the un-and-underinsured in Central Jersey.

But in the current managed care environment, it is not enough to provide high quality care to all our citizens. We must also remain financially solvent. In this regard, I note that the Middle States report cites the University for its ongoing initiatives to enhance market place competitiveness. I would like to cite just a few examples of this:

• A prototype for the Centers of Excellence concept has been approved by the deans of our medical and dental schools and submitted to the Board of Trustees. These will offer the opportunity for every man, woman and child in New Jersey to have access to University-sponsored world-class clinical programs no matter where they live in the state

• University Behavioral HealthCare generated $5.2 million more in revenues than expenses last year while providing mental health access to more than 500,000 citizens in New Jersey

• University Health Plans, the University's managed care company, has had its most successful year since it was established in 1994 and is a major insurer of Medicaid patients throughout the state
  

• University Hospital, which faced a projected deficit of $29 million for FY 2000, closed the year with a deficit that is anticipated to be only $8 million
  

This was accomplished through a focused effort by many people at University Hospital and I commend them for the long hours and hard work they invested in stabilizing and turning around the hospital's financial situation without sacrificing our ability to provide the highest quality health care.

Our fourth goal defines our commitment to diversity and community service. Diversity has always been a major focus of UMDNJ, and over the years, we have received many national accolades for our success in building and maintaining a diverse student body that attempts to reflect the population composition of our state.

In this academic year, to attract more outstanding disadvantaged students to our University, we are increasing scholarship support by $500,000, which represents a 20 per cent increase over our present scholarship funding. We are able to do this through the generous assistance of the Foundation of UMDNJ.

Some of our other efforts on behalf of service to the community include:

• Serving as institutional chair of the newly created Governor's Council on Autism, whose purpose is to oversee and fund research initiatives related to this devastating childhood disorder

• The creation of the Black Infant Mortality Task Force whose purpose is to draw upon researchers from all our schools to help find answers to this serious public health problem

• The hosting of three Health Care summits that addressed racial and ethnic disparities in health care delivery

Our fifth goal states our commitment to enhancing the University's image both statewide and nationally. We have evidence that this is happening at the statewide level.

Based on the results of the UMDNJ/Eagleton poll we conducted last spring to measure public opinion of UMDNJ, I am pleased to report that our name recognition keeps growing. And we will continue to monitor this growth by carrying out a similar poll annually. We will also poll our internal constituencies to give students, staff, alumni, and faculty the opportunity to evaluate the University.

Our public relations effort is also directed nationally. Research 2000, our newest publication, is sent to 12,000 scientists, academic leaders and pharmaceutical company executives throughout the United States. In addition, earlier this year, we retained Hill and Knowlton, one of the top public relations firms in the country, to increase our national visibility regarding the quality of research being done at UMDNJ.

I hope you have also noticed our new University logo which we have unveiled today.

It symbolizes the rededication of the University to excellence and it expresses the essence of our very complex mission with three simple icons: a book connoting the importance of education, a flask symbolizing our world-class research; a caduceus representing the commitment of our faculty and students to the healing arts.

Today, I would also like to pay special tribute to Michael Bassoff, who was introduced to you last year as the new president of the Foundation of UMDNJ. Since then, many of you have been impressed, as I have, by his energy and boundless enthusiasm. He is making extraordinary improvements in the organization of the Foundation and the scope of its activities. This in turn will enable the Foundation to provide even greater support to our schools as we strive to meet current and future challenges.

Mr. Bassoff, his board chairman Roger Fine, vice president of Johnson & Johnson and a trustee of the University, and all the members of the Foundation board have been very supportive of our five strategic goals and have made a serious commitment to provide significant financial support for our scholarship program, our construction program and our research endeavors.

Today I am also announcing a new University initiative to support our institutional commitment to excellence. The University Quality Council is establishing two awards that will be given annually.

First, the Excellence in Process Improvement Award, which carries a $10,000 stipend, will be given to the unit judged as having made the most significant process improvement at the school, department or business unit level.

Second, the University Award for Process Innovation will recognize the application of unique solutions to problems that result in new performance benchmarks. This award carries a $5,000 stipend. You will hear more about these programs in the near future. The winners of the awards will be announced at University Day next year.

Now that you've heard about some of our achievements since we last gathered last University day, I hope you agree that we've had a very good year...thanks to the creativity, commitment and hard work of all of you--faculty, students and staff. And I'd like to add a special note of appreciation to Isabel Miranda and our Board of Trustees for taking their responsibility as stewards of the public good so seriously while also providing me and my administration with timely, well-thought out counsel and on-going support.

We have our work cut out for us during this new academic year if we want to maintain our commitment to excellence in the fast-paced, highly competitive environment in which we operate. It's clear to me that our strategic intent and five goals provide a clear road for building the institutional excellence that has been UMDNJ's hallmark since its inception 30 years ago.

As the new academic year begins, I want to wish you well and hope your year is filled with great productivity and multiple occasions for feeling proud of being a member of the University family.

As you leave this program today, you will each receive a lapel pin bearing our new logo. Wear it with pride and remember that your efforts count every day as we continue on our path to excellence in research, education, healing and community service. Thank you for being here today and thank you for your continual efforts on behalf of the University.

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