"This is a very good time to be at the University of Vermont. And I would simply point to the enormous positive momentum that this university has developed in the quality of the student body, the diversity of the student body, the programmatic richness that we've been building at UVM, soaring faculty scholarship, creative activity and research. We have really established UVM in the past few years as one of the nation's premier small research universities with the feel and the opportunities of a liberal arts school. And I really don't know of another school that bring those resources together in the way we do."
"There's been a transformation of the university generally speaking. And what do I meant by that. Sure it's been the physical campus in part. We are building state of the art life science instructional laboratories as I speak. We've added a state of the art new student center. Wonderful new residence halls. By the way, all of these buildings are LEED certified. In fact, the student union and the new residence halls are certified at the Gold Level by the US Green Building Council. So that's a matter of great pride for us. But a lot of this momentum is the programmatic transformation of the university. Real richness and opportunity for undergraduate research with world class faculty. Service learning opportunities. A new Honors College that has not simply charged up the intellectual life of the students in the Honors College, but has really made a difference in the intellectual culture of the entire student body. Faculty feel it and students feel it. And it's really a kick that transformation of the life of the mind of students on the campus working with great faculty. That's what UVM is about."
"UVM is not unaffected by the global financial crisis. but not to the significant degree that we're seeing at many other, perhaps most other, colleges and universities. We still are seeing the vast majority of our classes are small, we expect to maintain our lead among institutions in the nation in being at the top of lists in the institutions with class sections of 19 or fewer students, particularly among our public peers. We're keeping some of our capital projects going, even though we've slowed down the pace of investment. So, new state of the art life science lab are in construction even today, and we are beefing up by millions and milions of dollars our financial aid investments to keep UVM accessible for diverse and diversely talented students who are drawn to this university. "
"UVM is an extraordinary value for students from the point of view of intellectual development, academic development, career development, personal development. You know I've rarely known UVM kids who weren't happy and rewarded in their experiences here. And those rewards go beyond the classroom into co-curricular life, of course. But some of them are measurable with real metrics. Business Week ranked us in the top 40 in the nation among several thousand four year colleges and universities for the mid-career earning of our students our graduates who only have undergraduate degrees. These weren't the kids with law degrees or medical degrees. These were the kids with a bachelors degree from UVM among the top 40 universities in the nation in mid-career earring. So that's one measure of value. The Wall St. Journal did a study a few years ago where they ranked us among the top 20 public universities in placing our students in the top medicine, law, and business schools in the nation. So our kids are very well prepared for success in life, whether in the workplace, or in graduate and professional studies. They tend to be leaders in their fields. And we are building more and more value for them every day. For instance we are building a very strong writing in the disciplines program, so students beyond freshman English are going to learn to be excellent communicators in discipline-appropriate ways in the fields they're majoring in. And this is what sets apart the leaders of the future for those who are followers. It's the ability to communicate to speak and write well to take the lead with the good ideas you've built the foundation for here at UVM. I think the value is unquestionable of the UVM education. And it's very high and it's not just Business Week and the Wall Street Journal, whether it's the top 50 publics in US News or Kiplinger's Personal Finance rankings of the top 100 values in public higher education, you will find UVM there and you'll find UVM rising. "
Last modified March 20 2009 03:40 PM
