Dear Colleagues:

Welcome to a new academic year. I hope that at some point over the summer you had the opportunity to refresh and renew; that you were able to spend time with those close to you, to pause and reflect on what you have accomplished and to peek ahead at the opportunities still waiting. The 2008-09 academic year presented unprecedented challenges for all of us. Yet against the backdrop of the global decline in financial markets much was achieved that speaks to the vitality and viability of this excellent university. We remain, for example, a school of choice for scores of students, an excellent place to work, and a center of transformative research and teaching.

The specifics are heartening. Oxford College saw its largest applicant pool ever, while Emory College enrolled an all-time high (1,310). As important, the freshman class of 2013 is one of the most diverse and academically talented classes ever admitted. Those students join a student body that excels in the classroom and in serving the community. Student engagement earned the university the national President's Higher Education Community Service Award. And attention to other dimensions of building a viable community at the university resulted in Emory once again being listed as a top place to work by US News and World Report, in its assessment of "America's Best Colleges."

While this recognition is gratifying, we all know that the true measure of a university is revealed in the work of its faculty, staff and students, and this is an ongoing source of pride for all of us. Our faculty, students and staff continue to garner awards and accolades. As a consequence of the hard work of many, we competed for a record number of grants and contracts. Total awards logged through August 31st reached $484,250,353, an increase of $73 million over last year. President Jim Wagner and Professor of Neurology Mahlon R. DeLong, at the same time, were elected as fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Professor of Psychiatry Helen Mayberg and new School of Nursing Dean Linda McCauley earned election to the Institute of Medicine. At the international, national and local levels hundreds of our colleagues earned recognition for their scholarship, teaching and service. Scores received prizes for their articles or books; others, because of the significance of their work, became editors or associate editors of the leading publications in their fields. A listing of the range of awards and honors claimed by members of our community will be posted on the Provost website. I hope that over the course of the next few months you join me in extending a word of congratulations to your colleagues. Their good efforts redound to the benefit of us all.

Our challenge moving forward is to maintain the momentum we have achieved as we make the move from excellence to eminence while creatively adjusting to new economic and social realities. Even as the economy is showing signs of improvement, we know that we have entered a new era for American higher education. The compact between the American public and colleges and universities is frayed at minimum and perhaps broken in many instances. Many rail against tuition hikes, inefficiency, wasteful practices, ineffective instruction and dated modes of delivery. Although we can say Emory is beyond such complaint, we cannot escape broader societal critique entirely. Nor can we escape the fact that our traditional business model needs overhauling. Many of our schools are heavily tuition dependent but it is not clear we can increase tuition as we have the last decade or two. The decline in our endowment and its overall revenue, the increased demand for financial assistance by our students and our decision to address the impact of budget reductions over the next two years means a completely different material reality. At this moment we must plan, absent new forms of revenue, for a base budget reduction of nearly $60 million between now and fiscal year 2011-12.

I want to express my deepest gratitude to the scores of you who not only embraced the need to help rethink what we have long done but made yourselves available to work on possible solutions. It is a new reality for us all and it is critical that we continue to work together to move Emory boldly forward by making courageous and oftentimes difficult decisions. Here's a summary of some of the activity over the summer:

• This summer all schools, colleges and administrative units assembled groups to envision life at Emory with reduced resources. Schools and colleges were given a resource envelope for the next three years and told to report by October 1, 2009 how they would grow, cut and reinvest given reexamined strategic priorities. All administrative units have been creating plans assuming 3, 5 and 10% permanent budget reductions and will be submitting their plans to accommodate those reductions by October 1 as well.


• As promised, I have created a Provost Faculty Advisory Committee, comprised of Faculty Council members and faculty at-large. The members of that committee can be found at: http:// www.emory.edu/PROVOST/. This committee will have three significant tasks: (1) Assisting me to assess and consider recommendations submitted by each of the schools and units, with attention to both boldness and the common good; (2) Identifying new ideas and areas of possibility that will ensure Emory's leadership position; and (3) Creating an outline of next steps related to economic reframing. I want to thank these faculty members for serving the campus in this important undertaking.

Like all units, the Provost Office and the units that report to me (under the broader rubric of the Office of the Provost) have been engaged in the same process of considering how we will manage with permanent budget reductions. As we have moved into the new academic year, some personnel reductions have already occurred, some hiring decisions have been deferred and some individuals' hours have been reduced. At present we have permanently eliminated two positions with provost in the title, one part-time and temporary and one full-time. Professor Nadine Kaslow deserves special thanks for assiduously revising the Faculty Handbook; she now returns to her full-time role in the School of Medicine. As activity has declined we have reduced the hours of two other positions and we are looking at restructuring several other positions. Our plans continue to evolve and will be submitted by October 1 with other units' plans. There is no doubt that as a result of our collective university exercises and the implementation of our plans, we can all continue to expect that some areas will shrink in order to allow strategic growth in others. Unfortunately, this will mean that some valued friends in our community may either assume new roles within Emory or move elsewhere for new opportunities. It is essential that we all recognize that these decisions are not a reflection of the quality of the work of these individuals, but emerge from the realities of contracting budgets.

Strategic plan leaders, in collaboration with the Ways and Means Committee and other University partners, have completed a comprehensive update of the strategic plan. That review included an assessment of impact, resources, alignment and sustainability, and a review of the original plans and accomplishments for the past three years. As a result, earlier this summer $30 million in fu'ding was cut from the strategic plan budget, resulting since last fall in a total $60 million reduction from the original allocation of $260 million. The strategic plan update will be formally introduced during President Jim Wagner's State of the University address on Sept. 22, and in a special Emory Report insert published in the Sept. 28 edition.

As always, our primary work will center on teaching and research. To that end we will continue improvements of our research infrastructure, commitment to ethical research practices, and work to minimize, to the degree possible, the burdens shouldered by you as regulatory requirements expand. As you may recall, last semester, in partnership with Campus Life and the four undergraduate schools, we convened a series of dialogues with approximately 1000 Emory undergraduates. We are currently analyzing the information gathered to generate a roadmap for future improvements to the Emory undergraduate experience.

The coming year will also be a year of reflection and transition. Three major units will undergo scheduled external reviews - the Goizueta Business School, Oxford College and the Michael C. Carlos Museum. Meanwhile, Robert Paul enters his last year as Dean of Emory College. I want to publicly thank Bobby for his many years of committed leadership and service to the college and university. A search advisory committee has worked through the summer to select the search consulting firm, Storbeck/Pimentel, and several campus forums have been and will be held this fall to gather input from faculty, students and staff to help shape the search. The search is being chaired by Dean Lisa Tedesco and co-chaired by Professor Michael Giles. I hope you will use every opportunity to provide input to the search consultant and committee. We hope to bring finalists to campus in the winter and to have a new dean in place by the start of the next academic year.

Undoubtedly, the year ahead will be one of continued change and challenge as we take bold steps toward greater eminence in education, scholarship and service to our community. Difficult though that change may be, it is critical for our collective future. It is my hope to visit every school and college this year. During periods of change and creativity there is no substitute for direct conversation and communication. Until that happens I know I can count on you all to bring your most creative solutions to the table, to insist that each cut and each investment that is made advances the university, propels us from excellence to eminence, and secures our ability to always provide a truly uncommon education for those aspiring to shape the world.

Thank you for all that you have done and continue to do to make this a truly extraordinary scholarly community. Welcome to the 2009-10 academic year.

Sincerely,

Earl Lewis
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs