New council will serve as high-level advisory group
BY RANDY FITZGERALD
Senior Writer, University Communications
How can we make Richmond a first-choice university for its first choices? If the University suddenly received $200 million, how should it be allocated?
Those were the kinds of questions with which a new organization at the University grappled at its inaugural meeting on campus Sept. 29–30.
The Richmond Council, 178 members strong, brings together the talents of trustees, alumni, staff, faculty, students, parents and University friends.
The council, consisting of leaders both from on- and off-campus organizations, was created to “inform, engage and energize the University’s institutional leadership and to help shape our direction and priorities as we work collectively to advance the University of Richmond among the world’s best educational institutions,” according to President Bill Cooper.
The council met in conjunction with regular meetings of the University’s Board of Trustees and the Richmond Alumni Association executive committee. All active members of those two bodies are also members of the council.
Additional membership comes from leaders of other University volunteer groups, faculty and staff representatives (including the University’s senior administrators), leaders of student groups (including student government organizations) and at-large members.
In welcoming the council to campus, Gerri Leder, W’78, the group’s chairperson, said members represented “some of Richmond’s finest minds and talents.”
According to Cooper, “A critical component of the council’s work is learning about current University developments and providing counsel on emerging issues important to the University community and higher education at large.”
As part of that mandate, Cooper gave the new group some homework prior to the meeting: read the book The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman, which probes the complex global developments of the 21st century that have given us a connected world. Council members discussed how those developments are affecting higher education in general and Richmond in particular.
Cooper also engaged the council in discussions about Richmond’s bright future. He said Richmond is “one of the few great developing universities in the country.” Recently, in its first time ever as a member of U.S. News & World Report’s’ National Liberal Arts category, Richmond placed a strong 34th. Looking forward, Cooper said that the focus will continue to be on attracting better and better students and building a stronger and stronger alumni base.
That’s why Cooper presented the group with the first question—how to make Richmond a first-choice school for its first choices. How do we attract, in other words, the students all schools desire, the faculty and staff all schools covet?
Brainstorming sessions addressed those questions. One group said students should have “an integrative experience that lasts throughout student and alumni years, with special emphasis on career development and networking.” Several groups suggested increased diversity as key, one member explaining it as “attracting and recruiting more students, faculty and staff of different ethnicities, economic statuses and experiences.”
On what should the University spend a $200 million windfall? Ideas included more scholarships, offering merit-based grants to students with distinctive talents and expanding need-based aid for international students; establishing a K-12 “lab school” with connections to the University; and developing a broad-reaching alumni interviewing program to enhance undergraduate admissions.
According to Dave Johnson, vice president for advancement, evaluations of the inaugural meeting suggested that “people felt an overwhelming positive response.” Sample comments included “I truly enjoyed this experience. It was a great way to bring a variety of members of the Richmond community together to work on a common goal”; and “Having the opportunity to reflect about the future of UR with such a diverse group is really wonderful.”
Cooper agreed with their assessment and remarked, “I am grateful for the thoughtful efforts of the Richmond Council. This group will help us hone our understanding of Richmond’s greatest needs and opportunities as we prepare to embark on the creation of our next strategic plan.”
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