October 1998

Campus Self-Description

Binghamton University is nationally acclaimed as a "Public Ivy"-known for the talents and scholarly contributions of its faculty, the selectivity and achievements of its students, and its value-added efficiency. We are a research institution to emulate; our world-class scholars value teaching and care about undergraduate education. While other research institutions are just beginning to respond to a national agenda to pay more attention to undergraduate education, Binghamton University is moving forward with new initiatives to build upon its historic models of best practices in doing both undergraduate and graduate education "right." Our medium size provides us with a distinct advantage. We are large enough to mount exciting research ventures, yet small enough to be a community. Research flourishes because faculty across the separate disciplines know one another both as individuals and as scholars, a circumstance that greatly facilitates multi-disciplinary efforts. Faculty can also get to know both undergraduate and graduate students.

As a consequence, faculty actively recruit students to work with them on questions that are at the forefront of their fields. Mutually beneficial interactions among graduate and undergraduate students promote learning and advance know-ledge. A university community emerges because faculty and staff come together to create co-curricular programs and support services for students that are an integral part of their educational experiences. The various divisions of the institution realize their interdependence in providing support for the educational, research and outreach missions of the institution and cooperate at a level not often found on other campuses.

Binghamton values innovation and resourcefulness. Throughout the University we strive to improve ourselves continuously. Our facilities and grounds are beautiful, inviting and highly functional. Services provided to faculty, students, parents, alumni and others delight those who contact our offices or seek our assistance. The various groups who make up this university report high levels of satisfaction with the institution and are pleased to be a part of it. Those who leave us (through graduation, retirement, for opportunities elsewhere or for other reasons) remember us fondly and continue to support us through their gifts, by promulgating our quality, by sending us students and so on. That the whole is more than the sum of its parts is a truism at Binghamton. All divisions care about the institution and take great pride in their individual roles in sustaining and enhancing its quality.

Binghamton provides undergraduate education at a level of excellence comparable to that of other outstanding public institutions (the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of California at San Diego, the University of California at Santa Barbara, the University of California at Santa Cruz, the University of Delaware, the University of Illinois-Urbana, the University of Michigan, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus, and the University of Virginia) and strong private institutions (Emory, George Washington, Tufts and Vanderbilt). Along with those institutions we enjoy similar undergraduate student selectivity, undergraduate retention and graduation rates, and pass rates on licensure exams.

Determining a set of peer institutions for the full range of what we do is much more difficult. Binghamton is small in comparison to the public research univer-sities listed above and has neither an agricultural nor a medical school, both of which generally elevate the level of resources available for graduate education and research. All of the public institutions are better funded, and Binghamton has a higher student-to-faculty ratio than any of these institutions and lower expenditures per student. One dramatic result of this situation is that California, for example, is able to offer more and higher graduate stipends than we do, 35 percent to 50 percent higher, in fact. The private universities listed above are closer in size, but most also have medical schools and have the added advantage of being much older with better-established private fundraising and, consequently, much larger endowments. These factors help explain the differences in external funding and doctoral productivity between these institutions and Binghamton. On the other hand, most smaller public institutions cannot match the quality of our undergrad-uate education. From our analyses we have found no truly comparable institutions to Binghamton when one considers both the quality of our undergraduate enterprise and the size and mix of our graduate and scholarly endeavors.

Strengthening graduate education and research is a major goal for Binghamton University. Since the size of departments and programs is heavily correlated with scholarly reputation and extramural funding, we must be realistic in setting our goals for these areas. We believe that it is realistic for Binghamton University to become a Research II institution. We already graduate a sufficient number of doctoral students to meet that criterion for being classified as a Research II insti-tution. However, we need to increase our federal extramural funding in order to meet that criterion for the classification. But our aspirations are higher than merely achieving a Research II status. Many of Binghamton's doctoral programs are already ranked higher than those in universities classified as Research II institutions. Over the years to come we intend to lead the Research II institutions by having the best scholarly reputation among them across all the various disciplines and professions we offer.

Scholarly excellence comes at a price. We believe that we can exceed the de-partmental reputations and entrepreneurial activity of departments in very good institutions in which their size is roughly comparable to ours. However, how quick-ly we can achieve our goals and at the same time sustain our superb undergraduate programs will depend upon the resources available to support both teaching and additional research activity.

Campus Demography

Binghamton University has never been an institution to rest on its laurels. We have a number of challenging goals for the future. The quality of our programs and the depth of our applicant pools support our intent to increase our enrollment to 15,000 over the next few years. This growth will involve increasing the number of students in existing programs and adding some new programs to attract students with other interests and needs. We will increase enrollments in existing programs that have traditionally been strong. We will also create new programs in emerging areas or in fields important for our campus. We foresee adding several baccalaureate concentrations and master's programs and a small number of doctoral programs, thereby developing degree programs and a research presence in new subfields and interdisciplinary areas where Binghamton sees an opportunity to have an intellectual impact. We will also further develop the range of programs in our professional schools, especially in engineering, where changes in technology create demands both for more engineers and for engineering graduates with different preparation. Adding and strengthening graduate programs is tightly coupled with our goal to become a Research II institution. These two activities create synergy. Visibility in research attracts excellent students who, in turn, bring more ideas and further stimulate research. We also know that, with rapidly changing global circumstances, all our programs will be stronger if they become more cosmopolitan and international in focus.

Binghamton is committed to building an inclusive, multicultural community that recognizes the valuable contributions of men and women in the many groups that make up this country. Over the past 10 years we have made significant progress in enrolling an increasingly diverse student body with excellent academic credentials and a wide range of experiences and perspectives (Table 1). We hope to present to our students the best of what cultures around the world have to contribute to the arts, humanities, sciences and professions. As part of this commitment, we have worked hard over the past 10 years to make Binghamton a truly diverse campus, and the demographics of our student body are reasonably reflective of the demographics of New York. We will, of course, strive to maintain that diversity, while at the same time making some adjustments to the mix of our students. In order to provide our students with greater opportunities for social and cultural enrichment, we will recruit more aggressively in areas of the state other than those where we traditionally have had our highest draw, and we will increase the proportions of out-of-state and international students at the undergraduate level. Given our commitment to enhancing our graduate and research programs, we will increase the proportion of graduate students to undergraduate students. We believe that the education of both groups will be enhanced by such a change in mix.

	1988	1998
Am. Indian/Alaskan Native	13	25
Asian or Pacific Islander	651	1,680
Black	584	609
Hispanic	455	608
White	10,430	8,696

Programmatic Mix

Undergraduate Program Distinctiveness

Binghamton's special character is defined by its ability to provide outstanding students access to the intellectual excitement and resources of a research institution, close interactions with superb faculty who value teaching and a social envi-ronment with unlimited opportunities for growth. Many other public research institutions (including sister institutions in SUNY) are trying to emulate what we have already achieved. Our success is embedded in a philosophy of experi-mentation and integration at the undergraduate level. What follows is a sampling of the best practices that comprise what is a stellar undergraduate experience at Binghamton.

Working Side by Side with Faculty in Research

Binghamton's faculty, graduate students and undergraduate students engage collectively in work at the cutting edge of knowledge. These interactions regularly result in joint presentations at professional conferences and even joint publications. The University fosters these arrangements by making money available to undergraduates to offset the costs of the research. Undergraduate students in all the schools and colleges are eligible to compete for Undergraduate Research Awards to support their work with faculty. This program is funded jointly by the Binghamton Foundation and Harpur College of Arts and Sciences. Grants are given each semester and require a brief application from the student co-signed by the sponsoring faculty member. Awards have been given to students working in all of the science and engineering departments, to students working in several of the social sciences and to students in cinema. Opportunities to work closely with faculty contribute to students' desires to continue their education beyond the baccalaureate. Four out of 10 Harpur students enrolled in an advanced degree program following graduation last year.

Similarly, Binghamton's graduate students benefit from their classroom and laboratory interactions with such talented students, from whom they can learn much about their scholarly and creative specialties and with whom they can become teachers who expect high levels of performance from their students. All parties reap intellectual and practical rewards from these multiple interactions.

Interdisciplinary Opportunities

Many years ago Binghamton created opportunities for students to pursue academic work beyond traditional majors and departments. The Innovational Projects Board, IPB as it is called, has become a cherished Harpur College institution, offering enterprising students the opportunity to create their own majors. Faculty advisers and the IPB ensure quality control and assist students in realizing the program's objectives. Several of our current majors, including psychobiology and environmental studies, began this way.

Another imaginative, flexible program at Binghamton is the philosophy, politics, and law major. This is an interdisciplinary program designed for both liberal arts and pre-law students. It directly addresses the call in "The Plan for the Future" to "increase interdisciplinary . . . collaboration in the design and implementation of innovative degree programs that contribute to defining an educational leadership position for Binghamton University." The PPL program brings together faculty in the departments of philosophy, history and political science and encourages students to take cognate courses from other areas. Begun in 1987 with a modest enrollment of 50, it has become one of the most sought-after majors in the undergraduate curriculum, with close to 500 majors.

Binghamton's Languages Across the Curriculum has received two FIPSE grants, including a SUNY dissemination grant, in the mid-1990s. It is now integrated into the Binghamton curriculum and provides a nationally recognized model for other institutions. The program has involved 30 faculty whose mode of teaching has been "internationalized" in more than 40 different courses. In addition, by using international graduate students as language resource specialists in regular classes, the program achieves two goals at once: it enriches learning in the target course with readings in up to 10 foreign languages, and it successfully conveys the message that the expertise our international students possess is a precious resource. This program has served more than 2,000 students, whose participation is noted on their University transcripts. Under our leadership, other SUNY campuses are being assisted in their efforts to mount similar programs on their campuses.

Binghamton's Science Across the Curriculum (SxC) program was the recipi- ent of a three-year, $200,000 National Science Foundation Grant in 1996. With academic year 1998-99, the program is being institutionalized. Highly popular, the program enjoys widespread faculty support; nearly 10 percent of the faculty contribute to it. SxC has a two-fold objective: to increase scientific and mathematical literacy among nonscience and science students, and to broaden the perspectives of students by introducing the moral, ethical and philosophical issues that proceed from science and technology. World-renowned figures in science have been brought to campus and have repeatedly addressed standing-room-only audiences. The success of the program may be judged by NSF's request that we assist SUNY Oswego in establishing its new SxC program.

To develop special expertise and depth in two fields has become the widely recognized goal of many students pursuing double majors. For many of these students the double major culminates in a special capstone independent study project that allows them to research issues linking these two fields in significant ways. Many of these capstone projects have become honors theses that have brought special recognition to these students.

A three-two program between the School of Management and Harpur College of Arts and Sciences allows students to graduate with degrees from both units in a period of five years. Engineering and computer science students can internationalize their programs and develop special language and culture skills by enrolling in dual degree programs in engineering/computer science and German. This double concentration typically requires them to follow a special curriculum, to study abroad at a technical university and to complete an internship abroad.

Living-Learning Environment

Four residential colleges comprise Binghamton University's on-campus housing system. Each of these colleges has a distinctive character, set of traditions and yearly programs that foster a sense of place and deep loyalty in residents. Traditions are sustained as some students choose to return to the residential college of their freshman year for their sophomore, junior and senior years. Such strong identification with a residential college comes from students' significant involvement in the governance of a college and in the development of programs provided therein. Faculty masters form the key to the development of engaging living-learning situations. Built on the Oxford model, the Faculty Masters program is one of the oldest and most distinctive programs in the SUNY system. Faculty masters are dedicated to promoting the integration of student learning with experiences beyond the classroom. They provide leadership in stimulating close personal interactions among students, themselves and the faculty and staff collegiate fellows who are affiliated with each of the residential colleges. The fellows number 65 and play important roles in the academic programming in the residential colleges. In addition to their other duties, the faculty masters offer important insights to both the residential directors in each college and to the professional Residential Life staff about how in-class experiences for students combine with out-of-class experiences to foster student development in its cognitive as well as its social, personal and ethical dimensions. Finally, these residential communities become the center for other significant learning experiences. For example, language tables, study groups and practice sessions are facilitated within these units. Students are also encouraged to invite faculty to lunch or to dinner for informal conversation.

Close relationships among faculty and students are further fostered by our Mentoring Program. Faculty and staff volunteer to mentor a small group of entering freshmen, providing incoming students with support for the transition to college work, wise counsel in exploring educational opportunities and a single point of reference for information about how to get things done in the University. Working closely with the vice provost for undergraduate studies, the faculty masters coordinate the Mentoring Program that enrolls well over 100 mentors and almost50 percent of the freshman class each year. These several programs all serve to enhance the personal contacts between student and faculty and to provide an advising and support system to Binghamton students.

Internationalization

The University's Plan for the Future (1996) calls for the development of "course offerings . . . that emphasize an interdependent world"-in particular, programs that provide "a significant international education experience" and that provide opportunities for students to "develop and increase proficiency in foreign languages" (p.7). Binghamton's flourishing Office of International Education is meeting this mission need in dramatic ways. Since 1995, Binghamton's study abroad programs have increased from six to 30, and the number of students who will study abroad by the time they graduate has risen from 6 percent to nearly 20 percent (almost 400 students per year). This percentage, we understand, is the highest of any SUNY university center and the highest in the system.

Our strategic plan includes a goal that we will "provide appropriate international education experiences (study or research abroad, field work, internships) to students in every academic program with the aim that 25 percent of Binghamton graduates will have had a significant international experience as part of their edu-cation." As one way to accomplish this goal, we are beginning a new venture in international education, linking General Education and study abroad. Students in the professional schools, who in the past were barred from study abroad by the need to complete General Education courses on the one hand and requirements of their program on the other, can now take General Education courses abroad and can make the study abroad experience count as Global Interdependencies. Such flexibility contributes extensively to the internationalization of the cur-riculum.

To encourage and reward students for developing the language skills they will require in an increasingly interdependent world, the University has developed an International Studies Certificate Program. The equivalent of a minor, the certificate is intended for students in any school or major and requires study of a foreign language beyond the elementary level as well as cross-cultural coursework, which can be satisfied in part by participation in our award-winning Languages Across the Curriculum program. The goal of the certificate program is to assist students in acquiring skill in a second or third language "at least to the level of being able to initiate friendly, technical, [or] professional conversation." And because "the bridge between cultures must increasingly be established within national boundaries, it is also possible to focus on a multicultural setting within the United States." Put into place in 1995, the certificate program enrolls increasing numbers of students each year.

Developing superior language proficiency has many facets. At Binghamton, heritage students constitute a major component of our foreign language, literature and culture programs. Recognizing our responsibility to develop high levels of bi-lingual skills required for professional purposes, the University places great emphasis on increasing language skills both in English and in their heritage languages. For example, many of these students need the ability to use the formal registers and cultural nuances of the language and to develop greater familiarity with cultural norms themselves.

Finally, enrollment of international students at Binghamton is another important way to internationalize the educational experience for other students on this campus. For the fall 1998 semester, Binghamton enrolled 257 new international students, a 28 percent increase over last fall's entering class, which had been the largest up to that time. A total of 704 international students from 88 countries enrolled this fall. Binghamton's Office of International Student and Scholar Services helps promote international educational exchange by facilitating the admission, enrollment and retention of students from other countries. Through its programs and services, ISSS works individually and with other offices on campus as well as off-campus organizations to nurture and develop the growth of an international community at Binghamton. Through their presence on campus, international students provide a qualitatively different educational environment for all students and, by doing so, enrich the campus community and enhance student learning.

Experiential Education

Binghamton understands that different students learn differently, and it has sought to facilitate student access to nontraditional modes of learning. Moreover, students usually benefit from guided experiences that enable them to observe the fit between what they are learning in the classroom and the problems that need attention in industry, government, education and community service settings. In order to provide easier access for students to information about the wide variety of internship, service-learning and community service opportunities available, Binghamton established an Office of Experiential Education and hired a coor-dinator for it as a part of the Career Development Center. Binghamton currently supports 46 distinctive programs across or within departments and units. Through our extensive programs of internships and seminars, 1,214 students were enrolled in fall 1997 and spring 1998. Since one role of the coordinator is to facilitate faculty efforts in establishing experiential learning opportunities, we expect these numbers to increase.

For students who believe they are headed for careers in either law or medicine, Binghamton University provides opportunities to observe these professions first-hand. Junior and senior pre-law students may apply to participate in a public inter-est law internship sponsored through Harpur College. This eight-week, stipended internship places a student in, for example, the Department of Environmental Conservation in New York City, where the student obtains valuable experience before entering law school. Pre-medical students can "shadow" local physicians who also mentor these students and facilitate their learning about the practice of medicine.

Student Support Services

Binghamton University has achieved a remarkable level of integration of its curricular and extracurricular programs, which characterizes the campus as one that fully supports students in their quest for a memorable and meaningful undergraduate experience. We have already discussed the long-standing Faculty Masters and Faculty and Staff Fellows programs as integral to the development of an engaging living-learning environment for students. In addition to remembering the faculty whom they say had a significant impact on their lives, our alumni often report that their experiences in one or more of the collegiate communities were impor-tant to their learning and to their enjoyment of this campus. The more recently implemented Mentors Program (also discussed earlier) is an attempt to facilitate a student's taking charge of his or her own education and becoming an independent learner.

The programs above involve both faculty and staff. The divisions of Academic Affairs and Student Affairs are jointly responsible for the success of these programs. The kind of cooperation highlighted in these programs also characterizes the sup-port services provided students in the Division of Student Affairs. One such example is the Career Development Center, which is described below.

Binghamton students have high professional aspirations. For example, in 1997, 60 percent of our entering freshmen cited the professional success of our graduates as a significant reason they chose Binghamton, and over 90 percent planned on attending graduate school. But data indicate that simultaneously many of our stu-dents lack social and intellectual self-confidence and career direction. To facilitate the development required for them to achieve professionally, our Career Development Center collaborates with faculty, alumni and students. For example, collaboration with faculty through the NSF-funded Science Across the Curriculum grant results in alumni returning to campus to speak about their careers. Cooperation between CDC and the Office of Alumni and Parent Relations results in the New York City Career Metro Fair and career panels. They also collaborate with the offices of the pre-law and pre-med advisers and various academic departments to create events that bring alumni and students together to discuss professional issues. Each spring, along with other professions, about 50 graduates spend an afternoon at our Career Day. As a result of funding through the President's Innovation Fund, the Office of Alumni and Parent Relations and the Career Development Center also co-sponsor our Alumni Career Network, which enables students to search a database of 1,200 graduate volunteers willing to discuss professional issues.

Students also learn how they can influence their own destinies by working on events with CDC. For example, one student solicited volunteers and another helped create the Alumni Career Network database. In addition, our Graduate School Fair, which this year hosted representatives from more than 100 graduate schools interested in Binghamton candidates, is co-sponsored with the Student Association. The Employer Fair, attended by almost 100 organizations interested in Binghamton candidates, is co-sponsored by CDC and our co-ed business frater-nity. CDC also relies on a peer assistant team to carry out many activities within the center. These cooperative projects with students enable CDC to provide more effective services while coaching students on their organizational, public speaking and problem-solving skills. These collaborative activities also help faculty to recognize students' career concerns, which may not be visible in the classroom.

Binghamton has mounted an initiative to provide "seamless," high-quality services to students from the first time they inquire about this institution to their enrollment in their first-semester courses. The offices of Admissions, Financial Aid, Orientation, Housing, Registration and Advising are working together to make this happen with the assistance of the University's Center for Quality. Over several semesters the group has identified problems for students in various processes and made significant improvements in those processes. Technological innovations are used wherever possible. For example, our locally developed current registration system is "state of the art" and allows students to add and drop courses in real time on-line. DARS, a degree audit package available on-line, enables students to deter-mine remaining degree requirements within their current major or to assess trans-ferability of course credits should they wish to change their major to another field. We have recently purchased an integrated software package to bring more flexible and powerful information management to other offices working with students. The implementation of that software as part of continuing discussions about quality service (named the Pegasus Project) should increase the ability of these offices to provide services to students in a timely and satisfying manner.

The Computing Center follows a strategic plan that seeks to promote the best uses of technology in support of student learning. The residence halls are fully wired for both voice and data. The Computing Center hires students to help other students get their computers linked to the campus backbone within days of moving into their rooms. For students without computers of their own, the center maintains geographically distributed computer pods with all the tools students need for their coursework, for using the library on-line resources, for access to information on the Internet and for developing their own home pages. Students have easy access to administrative information that affects them, such as class schedules and financial aid information. A Technology Training Center supports faculty in learning about tools available for use in their classrooms and for adoption of other learning strategies (E-mail lists, technology-facilitated group projects, and so on). The Educational Communications Center supports faculty in using the multi-media classrooms, helping them to understand the capabilities of the hardware and troubleshooting problems when they arise during actual classes.

As part of our commitment to access, the Services for Students with Disabilities Office assures that students with personally challenging circumstances are not barred from the quality education that characterizes Binghamton University. This office provides problem-solving counseling and direct assistance to individuals with disabilities and works with other offices on campus to remove barriers and provide accommodations to these talented and motivated students.

Graduate Program and Scholarly Distinctiveness

One of Binghamton's goals over the past eight years has been to expand doctoral education, and thereby to make substantive contributions to knowledge through the work of faculty in all our academic units. Faculty actively engaged in scholarship prefer institutions where there are opportunities to work with doctoral stu-dents. Our ability to attract the very best faculty in each of our schools and colleges depends upon our having doctoral degree programs in each of those units. We also know that our undergraduate students benefit enormously from their interactions with faculty and graduate students who are engaged in advanced research. Our strategy has been, however, not to try to cover all specializations within academic fields, but rather to achieve synergy and critical mass by pursuing a strategy of focusing our doctoral efforts within a discipline or profession.

Binghamton's graduate programs are characterized uniformly by close mentoring relationships between faculty and students at both the master's and doctoral levels. Faculty in our graduate professional programs also reach out to their colleagues in industrial, educational, health, governmental and social service settings in order to bring them into discussions with students about excellence in professional practice and research into significant problems. Our disciplinary and professional faculty develop strong programs that they continually evaluate in order to make them even better. The programs discussed below are merely illustrative of how our strategies to focus upon certain subspecializations within disciplines and to promote interdisciplinary activity result in excellence and distinction in research and graduate education.

Creative Writing

The English Department at Binghamton offers a distinctive program leading to a PhD in English with a creative dissertation. Students may submit manuscripts of poetry, fiction, essays or a combination of these genres. They receive strong traditional preparation in the fields and genres of English and American literature, and thus are uniquely well qualified to take positions teaching both English and creative writing in departments across the country. This program has attracted very strong students from some of the most prestigious MFA programs in the country, and it contributes richness and variety to the graduate student body in the English, General Literature, and Rhetoric Department.

Development Anthropology

Faculty and graduate students in this area of anthropology assess and undertake critical analyses of social, cultural and economic development and underdevelopment in the nations of the world. These scholars focus upon the areas of economic growth, environmental sustainability, human rights and cultural pluralism as key indicators of national change and of the direction that future change is likely to take, all within the context of increasing globalization, increasing interdependencies and increasing demands upon the global environment. The collective expertise of Binghamton's anthropology faculty makes development anthropology an area of particular strength, and the additional resource of the Institute for Development Anthropology offers faculty and graduate students alike professional opportunities for development planning and praxis.

Electronics Packaging and the Integrated Electronics Engineering Center

This interdisciplinary program based in the Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science includes faculty from all four engineering departments and from the chemistry, geology and physics departments in Harpur College of Arts and Sciences. It provides students and faculty with opportunities for close collaboration with industrial partners and federal/state sponsors so that they may work on applied research issues. This area has been designated a Center for Advanced Technology by the State of New York.

Global Cultural Studies

The Institute of Global Cultural Studies takes as its focus the study of culture and cultural influences in the contemporary world at the global, regional and local levels through the examination of such factors as ethnicity, race, gender, religion, philosophy, language, myth and ideology. The institute engages in four principal areas of activity-research, mass media educational programs, teaching and pub-lications-as the means by which it shares with the widest possible audience the fruits of its endeavors. The institute also sponsors conferences, seminars and work-shops, and has close collaborative links with a number of institutions both in the U.S. and overseas.

Master of Music in Opera

Long considered the pride of the graduate program in music, the MM in Opera offers gifted young singers the careful vocal training and practical stage experience necessary for success in this elite field. The program stresses opera performance, including theatrical skills and language studies, and students take leading, featured and supported roles in fully staged performances. The department's unique col-laboration with the regional Tri-Cities Opera has provided students with first- class training and superior performing opportunities, and many have gone on to successful careers on the national and international operatic stage.

Materials and Materials Chemistry and the Institute for Materials Research

The Chemistry Department offers degree programs with an emphasis in mat-erials at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and the Physics Department has emphasized materials as its particular research focus. Through the Institute for Materials Research, faculty in these departments collaborate with colleagues in geology and in engineering in this interdisciplinary area, and undergraduate stu-dents conduct research with these faculty that leads to honors theses. In fact, Binghamton has been the coordinator of the National Science Foundation undergraduate training program in materials chemistry for the past five years.

Neurobehavioral Psychology and the Center for Developmental Psychobiology

This interdisciplinary program based in psychology offers degree programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. An internationally recognized group of researchers collaborates in integrating basic animal-oriented research with more clinically oriented research to help further the understanding of the ontogeny of adaptive behavior. One particularly timely area under investigation is the effect of a mother's drug use during pregnancy on the subsequent development of the child.

Primary and Rural Health Care

Faculty in nursing and related fields focus on understanding better the factors that influence the health of rural populations, a research area particularly appro-priate to the Southern Tier of New York. Several projects have immediate clinical impact. For example, faculty have made important discoveries in how to retard the functional losses associated with Alzheimer's disease, thereby improving the lives of both patients and their families. Others are learning about the profound effects of lead poisoning from home and environmental sources and are developing much- needed prevention programs. Others have investigated the health risk behaviors of rural teens and have begun a project (TeenNet) to address their identified needs. Other basic research includes investigating the spread of contagious diseases in isolated, rural populations and the influence of job and marital stress on cardio-vascular health. All of these projects integrate research and clinical practice and involve both graduate and undergraduate students.

Systems Science and the Center for Intelligent Systems

This interdisciplinary program works to understand complex systems through the development of intelligent systems; that is, man-made systems that are capable of achieving complex tasks in a human manner. Faculty from engineering, psychology, cognitive science and geology confront challenging, multidisciplinary problems that are of immediate impact in industry (intelligent manufacturing), medi-cine (mammogram interpretation) and government agencies (unmanned helicopters for hazardous rescue missions).

Topology

An offshoot of geometry, topology studies the properties that objects retain when deformed. Applications of this area of study are important not just to geome-try, however, but also even more generally to the discipline of mathematics itself. Binghamton has attracted world-class topologists to its Department of Mathematical Sciences, two of them internationally known distinguished professors who are acclaimed for their discoveries and innovations in the field. Topology attracts among the finest of Binghamton's undergraduate and graduate students.

Translation Research and Instruction Program

The Translation Research and Instruction Program offers a graduate certificate in translation based on coursework in literary and nonliterary translation, linguistics and language history. This unique program has an international reputation and draws its professional advisory council from distinguished scholars all over the world, as well as from Binghamton's faculty. The program is known for its measure of student translation proficiency (the Binghamton Evaluation Scale for Translation), which assesses students' abilities as translators. The Center for Research in Translation and this program form an important part of Binghamton's internationalization of its curriculum.

U.S., Women's and Labor History

A group of highly productive scholars, including two distinguished professors, in the intersecting fields of United States, women's and labor history has put Binghamton University's History Department on the national and international map. Research accomplished in these areas has attracted not only major grants, including Ford and NEH funding, to the campus, but also a remarkable graduate student body to work with faculty of international distinction.

World Historical Systems

The graduate program in sociology at Binghamton has a unique focus on historical sociology. This important sociological specialization has been virtually defined for the international scholarly community by work done over more than two decades at Binghamton by a dynamic group of researchers. The international emphasis of the program attracts graduate students and visiting scholars from all over the world. In the February 1998 Graduate School Rankings issue of U.S. News & World Report, Binghamton's program in historical sociology was ranked 10th in the nation.

Priorities for Program Building

Binghamton's long-range plan calls for developing a small number of new doc-toral programs and carefully chosen professional master's programs in areas comple-mentary to current faculty interests and expertise. Choices in graduate education will also be influenced by assessments of demonstrated needs within the State of New York and by judgments about what will be most attractive to prospective students. For example, the doctoral program in rural health nursing is in the final stages of review and we anticipate approval very soon. The following programs, currently in various stages of development, might be possible additions to our curriculum: chemical engineering, an ESL specialization within the master of arts in teaching, physical therapy, reactivating the doctoral program in Spanish, and a stand-alone social work program. Faculty as forward-looking and creative as those at Binghamton will certainly want to develop new interdisciplinary programs or certificates that respond to changes in research and scholarship.3 Thus, this list of programs envisioned is not intended to be exhaustive, nor have all the processes of studying feasibility and getting full campus support been completed for any of the programs named above. These programs do make sense for Binghamton; all address state needs; all would leverage current faculty strengths.

At the undergraduate level we will monitor enrollment growth carefully to ensure not only that student quality remains high, but also that the campus itself is able to provide the level of academic quality and related student services that is our hallmark. One of the significant strengths to be found at Binghamton is the depth of our applicant pool and our ability to grow while at the same time maintaining our historic levels of student quality. Most of the increase at the undergraduate level will come in our existing programs. But given the dynamic nature of this institution and an ever-changing intellectual world, we would also anticipate adding new programs. New baccalaureate degree designations and certificate programs at the undergraduate level would most likely arise in one of two ways. First, in the past Binghamton has sought a new degree designation after observing a developing tendency for a number of students to put together very similar com-binations of courses within the framework of the Innovational Projects Board. Secondly, proposals for new programs also arise when faculty who work together across academic units see a need for a new interdisciplinary program to capture the excitement of the changing intellectual spectrum. Both processes build upon the expertise of current faculty who continually seek new intellectual frontiers that result in their offering new courses to students. In short, it is the synergy between advancing scholarship and valuing teaching that characterizes Binghamton's approach to undergraduate program development.

Implications for Faculty Hiring and University Facilities

Mounting entirely new programs will require hiring faculty qualified to design and implement new curricula. All of the proposed programs will build upon strengths of our faculty. The Resource Allocation Methodology recognizes enrollments as a significant component for campus funding. Since we have reached an agreement with System Administration to grow, we assume that we will receive appropriate funding for that growth as specified in the model. These monies will be used to hire the necessary faculty as well as for supporting services.

Binghamton's physical facilities plan includes a new engineering building. We need more instructional space for growing engineering enrollments. We also need more research space for engineering faculty who have been rapidly increasing their extramural funding. We need to move forward our curricular planning to coordinate with our facilities planning. Physical therapy requires particular laboratory configurations. We are currently exploring a number of options for securing such space.

Community College Issues

One of the greatest strengths of the State University of New York is its un-paralleled curricular richness. Students can find in it academic programs ranging from the most traditional to the vocational to offerings addressing the pursuit of lifelong learning at institutions ranging from research-based universities to community colleges. The underlying commitment of these institutions is to offer access to all those who can benefit from the programs found in each. The key element in this is collaboration-all the units of the State University working together, within the bounds of their stated missions, to create learning environments for qualified students. And because of the system's breadth, students have opportunities, through the network of articulation agreements, to move seamlessly from two-year insti-tutions to four-year institutions should they choose to pursue their studies. Binghamton, for example, has articulation agreements with the majority of the State's community colleges as well as with a number of other insti-tutions. Given the wide range of programs and missions within SUNY, as well as the relative ease of movement for students, we believe that two- and four-year institutions should respect one another's differences and should not seek to overlap their degree offerings.

Undergraduate Education

Teaching

Providing excellence in undergraduate education begins with a firm commitment to excellence in teaching. Binghamton faculty share a rich tradition that expects that faculty will devote themselves to adding value to students' learning. Coupled with this attention to providing quality instruction is a recognition that curricula must be both sound and current. Faculty in the respective schools and colleges continually revise the nature of the requirements and expectations they have for students as the nature of the disciplines and professions and the needs of the state and nation evolve. Faculty make teaching prowess a criterion for hiring and for promotion. The provost asks faculty to reflect upon their teaching each year as a section of their annual faculty report. The University provides support for faculty in the continuous development of their teaching and rewards good teaching with increases in salary. As a result, alumni speak highly of faculty with whom they have had the good fortune to study. We will maintain this competitive advantage.

Selectivity, Competition and Access

Binghamton University routinely recruits and admits an entering freshman class that is within the "most selective" category, a level we will maintain as we pursue a planned enrollment increase at the undergraduate level. Admitting highly quali-fied students and providing them with an engaging living/learning environment and challenging classes contributes to our enviable retention and graduation rates.

We recruit throughout the state and our entering class is made up of students from most of the state's 62 counties; the fall 1998 class has students from 55 of those counties. Thus, we provide access to New Yorkers to an education equal to that of private institutions at an affordable cost. At the same time we are recruiting more aggressively out of state, and fully intend to increase the number of students coming from other states and countries, since drawing students from a wider geographic radius enriches the quality of the undergraduate experience for all.

We know that many of our in-state applicants apply simultaneously to Binghamton and to the best private universities (for example, Brown, Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania). Some of these students enroll at Binghamton, but our information about numbers of dual applications and actual enrollments is fragmentary. We do not have all the information we need to determine our true competitors, a term that suggests that, among those students who apply to two institutions, about half eventually enroll in one institution and about half will enroll in the competing institution. Because the private institutions are our major competitors, we do not have access to information about dual applications and eventual enrollments. Our nearest competitor within SUNY for students is Geneseo. We have insufficient information to determine our competitors for out-of-state students.

Binghamton also offers acclaimed programs that provide access for talented and promising students who come from backgrounds that are economically and educationally disadvantaged: the Educational Opportunity Program, the Alliance for Minority Participation in Engineering, and the Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program. These programs provide additional tutorial and support services to ensure that these students will succeed as they progress through the regular curriculum. Graduation rates for students in these programs are the highest in SUNY and exceed the graduation rates for all undergraduate students (not just those in special programs) in the nation's public institutions of higher education.

General Education

Binghamton's General Education Program was implemented in 1996. One of its distinctive features is that it applies to all first-year students, whether enrolled in Harpur College of Arts and Sciences or in one of the professional schools, Decker School of Nursing, School of Education and Human Development, School of Management or Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science. More than just a set of requirements, it is a holistic philosophy that addresses the key areas of learning and experience necessary for students as they move to take their places in society and the world of work. As The Student Guide to General Education explains, General Education aims to inculcate "a lifelong love of learning that inspires curio-sity and creativity and instills confidence in one's ability to master new knowledge and to grow from experience." It also seeks to enlarge our "appreciation of and capacity for effective personal expression" and to enhance our "understanding of and respect for people, from which spring the values of compassion, tolerance and civic responsibility. "4

In particular Binghamton holds that the following domains of general education are critical for a citizen of this democracy:

• Language and Communication: "Both in the professions and the workplace, the exchange of ideas is predicated upon proficiency in communication, particularly written expression." [One course, in which students compose multiple papers, with attention to instruction in writing and to revision.]
• Global Vision: "The complexity of the modern world demands that students attain a heightened awareness of the plurality of cultures that have contributed to the making of the United States and, secondly, of the interdependence of the cultures of the world." [Two courses, one in Global Interdependencies examining two broad regions of the world and their interconnectedness, and one in Pluralism in the United States, in which at least three of the following five ethnic groups are treated-Native Americans, African Americans, Latino Americans, Asian Americans and European Americans.]
• Scientific and Quantitative Reasoning: "Students need to have an under- standing of the methods of investigation typical of the natural sciences and must be able to make individual observations and quantitative measurements in a hands-on environment. " Similarly, in mathematics, students "ought to have the experience of discovery through the use of logic and reasoning, [achieved by] the study of mathematical methods and reasoning." [Two courses, one in Science with a hands-on laboratory, one in Mathematics/Reasoning.]
• Aesthetic Perspective: "Through aesthetic experience, students gain an expanded sense of culture, a greater appreciation of the diverse ways in which human beings express themselves and deeper insight into the role of the imagination in the creative process." [One course in the Humanities or Fine Arts.]
• Physical Activity/Wellness: "Exercise, body awareness and wellness are essential components of a healthy and productive life-style. The dictum we follow is 'a sound mind in a sound body.'" Two credits, combining the study of wellness with physical activity.]

Binghamton firmly believes that all student experiences contribute to making a sixth domain that both transcends and incorporates the others-Identity. While no course can teach it, students are, as a part of General Education, introduced to the notion that they should reflect upon their total experience at Binghamton and actively pursue connections and interrelationships among the ideas they encounter in courses, in invited lectures, in the workshops and learning activities sponsored by Student Affairs and in internships and other venues for experiential learning. Students are encouraged to work with their mentors, to "take control" of their own education and to reflect upon the kind of person and responsible citizen they are and then would wish to become.

Further integrating General Education with holistic planning and student development, Binghamton created in 1995 a Faculty/Professional Staff Mentoring Program, as mentioned above, that takes all freshman students who express an interest in participating. Each year, more than 100 mentors assist students in creating integrated plans of study that build upon areas of strength and open new possibilities for future learning and growth. Nearly 50 percent of each entering class has joined the mentoring program since it was introduced.

A new, integrative aspect of undergraduate education still under development will further strengthen our undergraduate programs. Students need to integrate and synthesize the skills they have acquired in General Education. They need to use effectively the computer technologies of the current generation. More and more, employers expect that our graduates will know how to work collaboratively and creatively in the workplace. Binghamton has received a FIPSE grant to support implementation of a series of courses designed to hone these capabilities. Over the next few years, Binghamton will experiment with several capstone courses in which up to 100 students will work collaboratively in groups of 8 to 10 with a single faculty member on a variety of projects designed to achieve these goals. We expect that this approach will serve as a model for other institutions.

Binghamton faculty are creative in their approaches to undergraduate education and constantly seek ways to enhance the learning and enrich the lives of undergraduate students. We will continue to provide incentives and rewards to faculty and to staff to design innovative programs such as those described above that give a Binghamton undergraduate education its special character.

Teacher Preparation

Binghamton University provides outstanding teacher preparation. We believe that K-12 students need teachers with both breadth and depth of academic prepa-ration coupled with a sound understanding of and practice in pedagogy. Therefore, all of our pre-service students in both elementary and secondary education must hold a BA or BS degree in an arts and sciences area before they can gain admission to our master's programs. Our education program has the most selective admissions standards of any in the state. Moreover, students seeking 7-12 certification (Binghamton's Secondary Education MAT program is the oldest in New York, having begun in 1967) are reviewed both by the School of Education and Human Development and the master's program in Harpur College of Arts and Sciences in the appropriate disciplinary area. Master of arts in teaching (MAT) students are held to the same high standards as the MA students and consistently perform at this level. Admissions is open both to the traditional recent baccalaureate graduate and to the returning adult student who has chosen to make a career change. Our graduate-only programs are way ahead of national and state trends. Only recently have the Holmes Group and the New York State Education Department recommended that all teacher preparation occur at the graduate level.

Our students receive excellent preparation for their careers in teaching. We admit students in cohort groups in order to maximize their learning from one another. All students are supervised in the field by full-time faculty; we hire few to no adjuncts. The 40-credit MAT program in secondary education requires training in pedagogy and curriculum development (20 credits), as well as continuing study in an arts and sciences instructional area at the graduate level (20 credits). The elementary education program is not merely a collection of courses, but rather a well-developed program with the philosophy that teachers must be active participants in their schools and in their communities.

Binghamton has the only education program in the Southern Tier and one of the few in SUNY to offer preparation (both pre- and in-service) in special education. Our Reading Language Arts program provides rigorous academic study and supervised field experiences in literacy education as preparation for teachers who wish to assume leadership roles as certified reading specialists or to become more effective K-12 classroom teachers who hold reading certification. With the in-creased mainstreaming of students with special needs in public schools, we will need to expand our new joint program in elementary education and special edu-cation that prepares graduates for both teaching certificates. Given the needs of families in the state of New York, we believe Binghamton can make a significant contribution to public schools by developing an MAT in English as a Second Language. New State Education Department requirements incorporate more educational technology and urban education into programs, and we will spend much of the next year strengthening those areas of our curriculum.

We anticipate a continuing demand for our graduates in all of our education concentrations. Each December the University conducts a mail survey of all edu-cation graduates from the previous academic year. The placement rate has regularly been well over 90 percent, and this year we anticipate it will be 100 percent. Schools have been calling us continually to inquire about the availability of our graduates, but apparently all who are actually seeking jobs have already been hired.

Graduate and Professional Education

Binghamton's graduate programs have grown out of a strong commitment to excellent undergraduate education. Over the years, the University has developed graduate programs in selected areas of study after establishing a strong reputation in those disciplines. As described in a prior section, several specialized graduate programs have earned the University nationwide recognition for innovative program development.

To capitalize on its diverse strengths, Binghamton University has fostered inter-disciplinary collaboration in its graduate programs through organized research centers and cross-disciplinary activities. A graduate student in chemistry, for example, has access to the resources of the Materials Research Center and to co-operating faculty from engineering, physics, chemistry, geology and biology. Simi-larly, the Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies brings together grad-uate students and researchers who are doing innovative work in a wide range of disciplines. This cross-fertilization of ideas expands the educational horizons and research opportunities for our graduate students.

Graduate students at Binghamton University work closely with outstanding faculty members who have distinguished themselves through research grants, pub-lished works and national awards. Our faculty represent a wide range of backgrounds and ideas, contributing to an open, dynamic and supportive campus en-vironment. While it has established a national reputation as a research university, Binghamton retains many of the qualities of a smaller school, providing graduate students with the opportunity to forge close working and mentoring relationships with faculty as they build their individualized study and research projects.

Binghamton University prepares graduate students to meet the needs of the colleges and universities nationwide that seek both skilled researchers and excellent teachers. One of the first universities in the nation to offer a Certificate in College Teaching, Binghamton awards the certificate to graduates whose teaching has been guided by faculty mentors in the same discipline. To complete the certi-ficate, participants attend University-wide and departmental teaching activities, develop a teaching philosophy and submit a portfolio of materials related to their teaching experience. Each department or discipline provides teaching guidance for its students, and the University also provides a three-day orientation for teaching assistants, Teaching Alliance gatherings for informal discussion of issues in teaching several times a year, and biannual Teaching Events where faculty and graduate TAs present innovative approaches to teaching. These forms of support for teaching provide strong preparation for graduate students as they prepare to undertake teaching positions.

One clear measure of the excellent quality of Binghamton University's programs is the success of its graduates. Doctoral graduates have been hired in tenure-track teaching positions at Rochester Institute of Technology, the University of Maryland, Colgate University, the University of New Hampshire, the University of North Carolina, Johns Hopkins University, Brown University, the University of Illinois and the University of Pittsburgh. Others have opted for postdoctoral pos-itions at the National Science Foundation, Argonne National Labs, Princeton University and the Mayo Clinic. Those seeking careers outside academia have obtained positions in government and private industry at such organizations as the Fox Chase Cancer Center, NASA, AT&T, the Goddard Space Institute, IBM, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, SUN Microsystems and Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals. Binghamton's commitment to excellence in graduate education is further reflected in the achievements of graduates from its newest program. Two individuals have completed the doctorate in management. Both went to good positions; both have had their dissertations published in leading journals.

Graduate professional education at Binghamton University combines excellence in classroom instruction with opportunities to hone skills in order to become ac-complished practitioners. Therefore, graduates of Binghamton's master's programs are eagerly sought by employers. For example, the high regard for our students who receive MAT degrees is noted above.

The master's and post-master's programs in the Decker School of Nursing pre-pare graduates for advanced practice nursing in family, community health or geron-tological nursing. Students are able to choose preparation as a nurse practitioner, nurse educator, clinical nurse specialist or nurse administrator. The faculty is com-mitted to preparing graduates for practice in rural medically underserved settings. Community health and family nurse practitioner graduates are prepared for practice in primary care settings. These emphases are most appropriate for Binghamton since the campus is located in a rural area. These programs contribute significantly to meeting a state need for more health practitioners to serve in rural communities. Fifty-eight percent of the graduates of May 1998 were employed in rural settings. Many gerontological nursing graduates are employed in primary health care settings such as skilled nursing facilities and physicians' offices. Over a three-year period, 90 to 95 percent of spring graduates were employed within a few months of graduation.

Master's enrollments in engineering and computer science are growing. One reason stems from having a well-designed curriculum that fosters integration of basic theory with sound practical experiences. For example, since the inception of the Strategic Partnership for Industrial Resurgence program at Binghamton, 127 master's students have been involved in industrially based projects. Upon graduation students' participation and experiences in such projects make them very attractive to potential industrial employers. Watson School graduates fill another state need for well-prepared engineers for technology and information-based companies so important to the state's economy. Eighty-five to 90 percent of Watson students go into industry following graduation. The other 10 to 15 percent go on for doctoral education.

Competition for Faculty and Students

Binghamton competes for graduate students with nationally ranked Research I and II institutions in its leading programs. Prospective students tell graduate direc-tors that they are choosing among Binghamton and Pennsylvania State University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Students who have completed master's degrees at Binghamton have gone on to doctoral programs at Emory, Virginia, Rutgers, Berkeley and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and have received full funding. Binghamton has enrolled new graduate students who finished undergraduate degree programs at Yale, UCLA, Harvard, Bard College, Dartmouth and Johns Hopkins.

Binghamton recruits most of its faculty from premier Research I institutions, and competes with those same institutions in hiring faculty. Binghamton faculty have completed degrees at Berkeley, Oxford, the University of Michigan, Harvard, Cornell, Yale, Syracuse, Northwestern and Columbia. Binghamton competes against all the major research universities for its sponsored research funds. Most research funding is not restricted to particular classes of universities, so our faculty compete against the best in the United States.

Research

Priorities for Promoting Increased Activity and Distinction in Research

We interpret the question posed to mean "how are we going to increase sponsored research activity" and, thereby, increase distinction in those fields where funding is available. For that reason, we will not discuss a wide range of important scholarly endeavors carried on by Binghamton faculty that are not currently nor likely will be supported by extramural funding. We do note that Binghamton University has achieved distinction in a number of these areas. For example, this institution has an established reputation for scholarly work of faculty in the hu-manities. Binghamton will continue to support scholarly inquiry in all academic areas, not just those where funding is available. Breadth of inquiry is vital to the intellectual richness of any campus.

Over the past 10 years Binghamton has shown an impressive growth in sponsored research activity-going from $8,732,465 to $16,886,596. We are well on our way toward becoming a Research II institution, another of our major goals. Our strategy is to combine investments in individual faculty with a targeted focus on selected areas of research with faculty working on related topics. Binghamton has chosen to build additional research strength in the following areas: health systems, advanced materials, information systems and the environment. This will complement our current foci in development psychobiology and primary and preventative health; electronics packaging and materials science; fuzzy logic and information identification; and archaeology and river basins, respectively. In addition, Binghamton is giving high priority to seeking funds for research in learning and teaching, building on its established strengths in undergraduate education. As noted previously, external support was obtained to develop Languages Across the Curriculum and Science Across the Curriculum programs.

Infrastructure Support for Research at Binghamton

The priority areas of research at Binghamton are supported by Organized Research Centers. These centers receive some initial seed funding, plus some ongoing infrastructure support. The campus also aggressively seeks out external funding for equipment and renovation, as well as opportunities for bridge building with industry. Some examples include the Technology Product Analysis Facility and the Strategic Partnership for Industrial Resurgence, which have received federal support as well as support from New York State.

New faculty receive start-up funds for equipment and supplies, with the largest amounts being targeted at the high priority areas. A training session in "Performing Research and Writing Grants" is held for all new faculty prior to their first semester on staff. All Binghamton faculty are supported by program officers in the Research Office, who assist them in locating funding sources, in writing grant proposals and in handling financial and reporting tasks, all structured so that faculty can have "one-stop shopping" for their research needs. The Research Office also provides search systems such as "The Community of Science" for the campus community.

Specialized Mission Components

Binghamton University recognizes its responsibility as a public research univer-sity to use its knowledge and expertise for the public good. Service and outreach are important components of our mission. Furthermore, these are not tangential aspects of our mission but are closely linked to the traditional mission components-teaching and research. The synergies among teaching, research and service foster two-way exchanges between the University, industry, government and other societal organizations, thereby enriching both the intellectual environment on campus and the potential usefulness of the results of our inquiry.

Binghamton University is located in the high-tech corridor of the Southern Tier of New York, home to several divisions of IBM, two divisions of Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Universal Instruments, Raymond Corporation, Binghamton Simulation and other high-tech companies. Employees from these companies generate a strong demand for graduate education from the Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science and the School of Management. These demands have continued to grow steadily. Our students also intern at these companies, allowing them to gain useful industrial experience before their graduation. Substantial collaborations also exist between these companies and the engineering and management schools in the form of industry-sponsored research projects run by individual faculty and the sharing of University research through memberships in research consortiums. In effect, the University provides substantial basic research and development for these companies enabling the creation of new or improved products (and/or processes) that enhance the company's competitiveness. This healthy synergy between profes-sionals at Binghamton University and high-tech industries has direct benefits on the success of these companies, and thereby on both the local and the state econo-mies. Making readily available quality professional graduate education also gives local companies a competitive edge. For example, the School of Management has developed an on-site Executive MBA program for Lockheed Martin that allows its employees to get an MBA in 21 months with released time from work. Lockheed Martin has used this program to attract new engineers to the firm at a time when business is growing very rapidly.

Binghamton's continuing education and other kinds of non-credit-bearing outreach activities allow us to link the new knowledge we create and our teaching expertise with needs of the state's residents. This outreach component allows us to bring the unique elements of the university's intellectual and physical resources to the larger community, thereby contributing to economic growth, individual effec-tiveness and the quality of life. We offer professional development programs that strengthen the knowledge and skills of working adults, educational programs that improve the competitive position of the state's business and industry, and Lyceum programs for older adults. We also offer a number of other specific outreach acti-vities already mentioned, i.e., the Strategic Partnership for Industrial Resurgence, the Technology Product Analysis Facility, the Public Archeology Facility, the Children's Center and the Alzheimer's Clinic. In the area of workforce and eco-nomic development, the University sponsors the Small Business Development Center, a Winter College for Workforce Development and the Trade Adjustment Assistance Center. It also participates in the Alliance for Manufacturing Competitiveness with several other SUNY community colleges, four-year colleges and technical colleges.

It is important to consider continuing education and outreach components as essential elements in the university's mission. New federal legislation, such as the Hope Scholarship and Lifetime Learning Tax Credit, recognizes and lends credibility to the value of lifelong continuous learning. One way to acknowledge the role of continuing education in SUNY would be by authorizing FTE credit for noncredit enrollments through the RAM funding formula. Supporting scholarships and fund-ing for part-time students would be further evidence of SUNY's recognition of the importance of this group of students.

Academic Standards

Academic Program Quality

Graduate-level programs are assessed in several ways. First, the State Education Department Doctoral Review Program reviews all doctoral programs every five years. All of Binghamton's programs in science and mathematics, the humanities and the social sciences were reviewed in the first five-year cycle, culminating in 1997, and all the reviews resulted in reaccreditation. All of the engineering doctoral programs were reviewed as part of the same statewide review.

Second, both graduate and undergraduate programs are regularly assessed as part of accreditation or reaccreditation procedures by national bodies. Programs offered within the Decker School of Nursing were just recently evaluated by site visitors from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. The evaluators do not make the final recommendation on reaccreditation, but their exit report to the faculty noted that all standards had been well exceeded. Our programs in psychology have met the standards set by the American Psychological Association, those in music by the National Association of Schools of Music, and those in computer science by the Computer Science Accreditation Board. Binghamton University has taken a leadership role in the national movement to improve accreditation processes while maintaining the important role of accreditors in assuring quality. This institution has initiated a project whereby the Middle States Association, the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business and the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology will collaborate on a single accrediting effort in 1999-2000. We anticipate this experiment to provide input to further national discussions on how accrediting will be done in the future.

Third, graduate and undergraduate programs are assessed together as part of an on-going campus initiative. Guidelines for the formative evaluation of aca-demic units were recently updated, and three major programs are preparing self-assessments as a first step in this procedure, which will culminate in their evaluation by outside examiners.

Fourth, whenever we undertake an educational initiative we build in a strong evaluation component. This assures that we will carry forward programs that make a real difference. One illustration of our efforts comes from our Languages Across the Curriculum (LxC) program described above. Since 1991 the LxC has been administering end-of-term assessment surveys to all students and to the language resource specialists who lead LxC's many study groups (sometimes as many as 33 different groups in a dozen different languages in 10 or more courses in Harpur and in the School of Management). Not only has the program published the results of these assessments, but it has provided a model to the growing national Languages Across the Curriculum movement, which is using a revised version of the LxC assessment instrument in a 33-campus, FIPSE-funded, multi-consortial project organized by the American Council on Education. Binghamton is participating as one of the eight consortium "hubs." LxC has also recently embarked upon a longitudinal assessment of Binghamton alumni by means of a mail survey to LxC participants, nonparticipants and a control group of alumni who graduated before LxC existed. Preliminary results of this work have already been presented at one national professional conference, and more presentations and a publication are in preparation.

Assessing Undergraduate Student Learning

Assessment of student learning is an ongoing activity in every academic unit at Binghamton University. And because each of the units embraced a concept rather than a form, each has felt free to develop the assessment method that most effec-tively provides information, answers questions and promotes changes responsive to student input. Following is an overview of the various assessment techniques used within the schools.

The departments in the largest of the academic units, Harpur College of Arts and Sciences, seem to have independently hit upon questionnaires as being the most effective way to garner information from students about their experiences and the perceived effectiveness of their academic programs. The departments survey their majors in a variety of ways-some taking class time to have the surveys completed, some mailing them to majors, and others, using the electronic mode, E-mailing them. Some also survey recent graduates to get information on the applicability of their academic programs to the world of work. Several use targeted random interviews, either in person or by phone, as an adjunct to the written input. In addition to the surveys, some departments also gather focus groups of students for discussions of their experiences, academic and otherwise, as majors. Some of the smaller departments are able to garner information solely through such focus groups. Other departments elicit responses to questions both at the point of declaring a major and at graduation to assess students' experiences. Another method employed by a growing number of departments is transcript analysis, in which a random sample of majors' transcripts is scanned to discern patterns of success, time through the program and possible programmatic bottlenecks. Each major in studio art assembles a portfolio of his/her creative work and also presents one piece in the annual Student Show. Music majors present a student recital as the "capstone" to their time in the program. Language majors take national proficiency exams to assess their individual competencies and for the department to assess how well it is preparing its graduates.

Binghamton's professional schools have mounted equally strong evaluation ef-forts. The Decker School of Nursing, in large part because of the historical assess-ment practices associated with accreditation through the National League for Nursing, and now with the appearance of the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, has a very well developed and ongoing set of assessment practices. These take the form of surveys of program effectiveness directed to all upper-level students, who are fully engaged in the nursing curriculum, and surveys of recent nursing graduates. One important assessment measure used by the Decker School is the pass rate of its students on the NCLEX-RN exam (currently 98.8 percent as opposed to a national rate of 87.8 percent and a state rate of 84.3 percent). In ad-dition, the faculty of the school have discussions aimed at responding to the infor-mation provided by students. In recent years, the School of Management developed a well-rounded program of student assessment that included a substantial survey instrument that provided considerable insight into students' experience, academic and otherwise. The survey results were tabulated annually and acted upon by the faculty. This past year, because of the school's impending reaccreditation by the AACSB, it chose to administer a student satisfaction survey instrument developed by the Educational Benchmarking Institute, a firm that has been working in co-operation with the AACSB and its constituent schools. In addition, the school continually monitors enrollment patterns and declarations of academic interest in order to make necessary changes in programmatic structure.

The School of Education and Human Development has employed its upper-level "capstone course," Human Development 400, as its assessment vehicle. This course groups together all human development majors and provides a most practical venue for gathering information about students' programs and experiences and for assessing the effectiveness of the curriculum in preparing students for their chosen careers. In addition, the school does regular alumni assessments in order to gauge the needs of the workplace in relation to the preparation of students. As indicated earlier, we offer no teacher preparation programs for undergraduate students.

The Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science uses a variety of methods to assess its students and their achievements. Activities associated with accreditation provide considerable information through examining samples of student work and transcript analyses. Like nursing students, engineering students take a professional exam, "Fundamentals of Engineering," the results of which the school uses as it considers its curricular comprehensiveness; 100 percent of Watson's students passed the most recent exam for which results are available. The Watson School also administers an annual Student Quality of Life Survey, compiling the results and comparing them from year to year to discern the effectiveness of cur-ricular and programmatic changes. The school also requires a "capstone" seminar course of every engineering student in which student teams undertake integrative projects-designing equipment for the school's laboratories or for application in local firms, or solving unique industrial problems. These projects call upon every aspect of students' preparation over their four years and offer the supervising faculty an unparalleled opportunity to assess not only academic preparation but also the ability to work as a contributing member of a team.

Finally, we look carefully each year at how our graduates do in finding place-ments, either in jobs or graduate and professional institutions. Binghamton students do very well. They are evaluated as having the talents and skills employers or grad-uate and professional programs want. From a survey we conducted in spring 1997, placement results for spring 1996 baccalaureate recipients are as follows:

Unit Study	Full-Time Empl.	Part-Time Empl.	Part-Time	Study
Arts & Sci	40.5%	6.9%	59.1%	16.8%
Ed/Human Dev	14.9%	17.9%	63.6%	19.7%
Engineering	7.1%	12.5%	93.0%	5.3%
Management	5.7%	5.7%	91.1%	4.9%
Nursing	9.5%	14.3%	59.5%	30.9%

Maintaining Standards

Academic standards are and have been paramount at Binghamton, a fact widely noted in the various college guides and national rankings. We are generally consid-ered the strongest undergraduate campus within the state university system; indeed, our programs are competitive with the strongest national programs. Binghamton is among the most selective universities nationally, with very high admissions stan-dards and intense competition for freshman seats (17,084 applications for 1,970 spaces). The caliber of our student body combined with our research-active faculty makes for an intellectual mix that in and of itself promotes high academic standards. Thus, our recruitment strategies and evaluation efforts noted above are directed toward en-suring that this high level of intellectual accomplishment continues.

Intercampus Collaboration

Binghamton University's special niche within the SUNY system is its laudable integration of excellence in undergraduate education with cutting edge research endeavors and graduate education. We provide a "Public Ivy" experience for the very best students of the State of New York. To accomplish this goal we have chosen to base our undergraduate programs on a strong liberal arts foundation. We have been highly focused in our choice of professional program offerings. As a result, many students who choose a professional baccalaureate program will seek entrance to programs on other campuses. Collectively we complement one another by the breadth of what the State University of New York as a system then has to offer potential students residing in New York state.

At the same time, this University fosters innovative collaborative programs with other institutions within the State University of New York. Bridges Across the Baccalaureate is a $300,000 Department of Health and Human Services grant awarded to Binghamton University to achieve the following goals: (1) to identify underrepresented minority students in science at Monroe Community College, Westchester Community College and Rockland Community College; (2) to pro-vide a six-week summer session at Binghamton for these students; and (3) to help these students with a special science skills course once enrolled at Binghamton.

Binghamton also was a key leader in the development of several collaborative programs designed to increase the number of primary care physicians practicing in rural areas of New York.The first of these is the Rural Primary Care Recruitment Program. This forms an educational ladder linking the completion of an associate degree from Broome Community College, Corning Community College, Delhi College, SUNY Cobleskill or SUNY College of Agriculture and Technology at Morrisville with upper division completion of a baccalaureate degree from Binghamton. The program's students gain entrance to medical school at the SUNY Health Science Center-Syracuse College of Medicine. The other two collaborative programs are joint between Binghamton University and SUNY Health Science Center-Syracuse College of Medicine. Underrepresented minority or economically disadvantaged students or students living in rural areas, are admitted simultaneously to both institutions. In all three programs students' experiences while enrolled at Binghamton include opportunities to work with primary care physicians.

The Watson School of Engineering has forged good cooperative arrangements with its counterpart schools at Buffalo and Stony Brook. The three deans of en-gineering meet on a regular basis and coordinate a number of their programs and activities. EngiNet, the distance learning facility maintained by the three engineering schools, provides for the interchange of graduate courses, thereby providing an enrichment of graduate curricula as well as educational opportunities for stu-dents who cannot relocate or commute to any of the three campuses. Another manifestation of the cooperation among the engineering schools is the SPIR pro-gram. This "engineering extension" activity makes available to New York state firms the facilities and expertise of the engineering schools with the goal of en-hancing business success. Finally, the Watson School is working with several of the SUNY community colleges in a program to disseminate engineering education methods and materials developed in projects funded by the National Science Foundation.

The provosts of the university centers have fostered collaboration among doc-toral granting departments that show a willingness to share their courses, seminars and lectures using electronic technology. More concerted discussion among the faculty of these campuses might enable all of us to capitalize further on our respec-tive strengths. Departments at each of the centers are relatively small compared to those in larger state universities. Since reputation is correlated to size, we are all at a disadvantage nationally. Perhaps there are ways for us to work out models that would enable us to benefit from one another's breadth while enhancing our respective, separate foci and identities. CUNY's Graduate School competes favor-ably in several disciplines because it can point to having a faculty of considerable size drawn from the many separate city campuses. But the separate identities of those campuses are lost. A CUNY model can't be imposed on SUNY campuses. Since research and graduate education are driven by faculty, it is the faculty who must come together to carve out cooperative arrangements. The leadership of Binghamton University is willing to promote further discussion of such colla-boration.

Binghamton University has been a leader in intercampus collaboration for several years. President DeFleur initiated the conversations with the presidents of Cortland, Environmental Science and Forestry, and Health Science Center at Syracuse that resulted in the creation of the "I-81 Consortium." Through this consortium, the four campuses, using distance technologies, have been able to offer courses to students that would not otherwise be available. This capability has meant that campuses can avoid duplicating faculty in some specialty areas. Campuses have also shared nonacademic resources such as personnel, student affairs, fundraising expertise, joint purchasing and joint services in emergency situations in the areas of public safety and physical plant. Counterparts in Student Affairs have made workshops and training programs available to their colleagues.

Provost Swain brought the chief academic officers at the university centers together in the first year of budget reductions to explore ways to cooperate and to leverage resources. Their discussions over the past several years have led to several experiments in sharing courses, lectures and workshops at the graduate level in different disciplines, again by means of distance technologies. The provosts at Cornell, ESF and the health science centers have been invited to join focused discussions to increase collaboration in research and economic development of benefit both to the state and to SUNY. These contacts among the academic officers are very fruitful, but, in the end, faculty must be responsible for sharing courses and other instructional resources.

Vice President for Administration Michael Scullard has been instrumental in promoting discussions of system-wide administrative services of benefit to more than just the Binghamton campus. As the business officers' liaison to the Construction Fund, he provides both information and perspective that facilitates the sys-tem's efforts to provide facilities that support the missions of the various campuses. His was an early, continuing and influential voice in the several years of discussions within the system about developing a new allocation methodology. Most recently, he has stimulated consideration of a SUNY-wide purchase and implementation of information and decision-support systems offered through Oracle and Exeter companies.

Vice President for External Affairs Tom Kelly has been an active member of the Chief Advancement Officers Committee working with Mr. Steffey on plans for en-hancing the visibility and reputation of SUNY as a whole. Recently members of our External Affairs staff led sessions and presented at the SUNY Council for University Affairs and Development.

Vice President for Student Affairs Rodger Summers has provided leadership within SUNY on a number of matters that affect students. He has been secretary of the council and a member of the Executive Board of Chief Student Affairs Administrators. He co-chaired the Task Force on Post-Secondary Education and Disabilities, and he has served as the liaison to the statewide EOP Council of Directors and to State-wide Services for Students with Disabilities Council.

The Libraries at Binghamton actively support the SUNY Open Access program. This state program was established to provide access for all SUNY students and faculty to the total resources of the system's libraries merely by presenting a SUNY ID. Last year Binghamton loaned 5,500 items through this program, primarily to students and faculty at Broome Community College, SUNY Cortland and SUNY Oneonta. Binghamton also gives priority to interlibrary loan requests from other SUNY libraries. When distance learning partnerships form among or between SUNY institutions, the Libraries collaborate in supporting the programs. Two examples are the programs in the Watson School with Buffalo and with Stony Brook, and the social work program offered through the School of Education and Human Development and SUNY Albany. Binghamton, along with the other uni-versity centers, developed and continues to support Empire Express, which uses computer technologies to speed delivery of information resources located on one campus to faculty and students on all four campuses. The director of libraries, Eleanor Heishman, participates in SUNY information delivery and library pro-grams through her representation of the university centers on the Library Auto-mation Steering Group. She is a member of the SUNY Connect Action Group, which is planning for the development and implementation of a program that will strengthen system cooperation by building on the wealth of resources and expertise among the libraries and by leveraging these resources for the benefit of the whole system.

Binghamton shares what it learns from experimenting in undergraduate educa-tion with other SUNY campuses. For example, since its kick-off videoconference in February 1996 and continuing through the 1998-99 academic year, the Binghamton-led, FIPSE-funded Languages Across the Curriculum (LxC) Select dissemination project brings together all four of SUNY's University Centers plus three Colleges (including Cortland and Oswego, which are in Binghamton's region) 1) to devise and implement a Languages Across the Curriculum program at each campus; 2) to establish and assess the criteria by which each campus would decide whether to continue these programs after the grant funds are exhausted; and 3) to develop learning materials and instructional modules for shared use. The LxC Select consortium has mounted half a dozen videoconferences to showcase the ef-forts of faculty on various campuses. It has published a collection of 14 essays by consortium faculty describing how they have incorporated the use of languages into courses in business, communication studies, environmental studies, history, liter-ature and political science. The program also has obtained additional grant support for the development of Web-based and other multimedia materials (from SUNY's Office of Educational Technology to the Cortland and Oswego campuses) and for the use of distance-learning technology for the sharing of instructional resources (through the consortium's participation in a national ACE-organized FIPSE Lan-guages Across the Curriculum project that has created an additional six LxC Select-style consortia including 26 campuses across the country).

General Issues

Challenges for Binghamton University

Binghamton is both young and relatively small compared to most doctoral research universities. As the authors of the book containing the National Research Council rankings note, size is highly correlated with reputation. So, we would argue, is longevity. The more faculty one has or has had, the more areas there are in which the campus is published and recognized. The more students a campus graduates, the more the campus becomes known for the quality of its undergrad-uate and graduate programs and research. Our relative youth means that our high-quality programs and outstanding accomplishments are just not as well known as is warranted. The number of and the early stages of career advancement of our graduates present challenges for fundraising that institutions with more and older graduates do not face. Therefore, we will often come up short if the quantitative comparisons for Binghamton are based on total figures rather than on a normalized transformation that accounts for differences in size and longevity.

Binghamton's tradition and culture value both significant scholarship and engaged undergraduate teaching, which constitutes its strength and may paradoxically render us somewhat vulnerable as well. Time is a zero-sum game. Faculty everywhere must balance the demands of their teaching with the demands of their scholarship. We are proud that our teaching productivity is very respectable. But we are cognizant that this also may reduce somewhat the overall numbers of publications of our faculty. Simplistic comparisons based on volume or any other single measure cannot capture the special character of Binghamton. One must evaluate us, not by what we do in separate areas, but on how our divisions and activities come together as a coherent enterprise that meets the needs of students for a quality education, the needs of the disciplines and professions for significant scholarship, and the needs of the state and nation for new knowledge, prepared citizens and economic development.

Binghamton faces challenges because salaries and ancillary support for faculty and staff have fallen significantly below those of our competitors. Our faculty are being raided by other institutions for salaries that are often 35-40 percent higher than what we are able to offer. At the same time, competing institutions provide greater support for faculty travel and have more support staff to help faculty with their teaching and research. Binghamton's startup packages for new faculty are not competitive and we have insufficient resources to meet the needs of faculty for better equipment and facilities after they have been with us for 7-10 years. Recently we have also lost several excellent staff members and members of skilled trades to positions elsewhere for salaries we simply cannot afford to match. With the economy on the upturn in the region, we anticipate difficulties in filling critical positions for some faculty positions in engineering and management as well as computer programmers and electricians, among others.

The campus has continually reinvested in keeping our laboratories and computer infrastructure up to date. We have put funds into these areas, but not at the level that is needed. In addition, the costs of library serials for all the professions and disciplines continue to spiral, and while Binghamton has protected its library budget to the extent that it could, journals have been canceled nonetheless. We hope that the system will not penalize campuses who have reallocated funds for these purposes. There have been times when the system has secured funds to help only those campuses that are the furthest behind.

Nationally, many institutions have significantly augmented graduate stipends. We find that students who would like to study with our faculty are simply unable to pass up offers that are 30-40 percent higher than ours. Many of these students acknowledge that our programs are superior to others to which they have applied, but the economic hardship of trying to support themselves on our stipend levels is just too harsh. We need the help of the system to lobby for substantial increases in graduate student funding. Mere 3-4 percent increases will not turn this situation around.

Binghamton accepts the Board of Trustees' entrepreneurial challenge that each campus increase and diversify its sources of revenue. We aggressively seek other sources of support in order to accomplish our objectives. Over the past four years, we have secured funds for an endowed chair, and have obtained a planned gift that will create two more endowed chairs in the future. Since President DeFleur's arrival on campus, annual alumni giving has increased by more than 350 percent, and total annual giving by about 400 percent. Binghamton's endowment has increased by approximately 400 percent during these years, making it among the largest two or three endowments in the state university system. Still, we recognize that this is only the beginning of generating funds to improve our margin of excellence. Currently, we are in the nucleus building phase of Binghamton's first comprehensive gifts campaign and are working hard on securing gifts that will enable us to set ambitious goals for the public portion of the campaign.

Impact of SUNY and State Policies

Treating students enrolled in summer programs differently from those enrolled in the fall and spring semesters is a disincentive to developing professional graduate programs that meet the needs of industry, government and social service agencies. Summer enrollments do not count toward campus AAFTE targets. Not being able to collect state support for students enrolled in this semester discourages campuses from developing year-round programs for companies and organizations that would enhance the skills and competencies of their employees.

Binghamton, at times, is frustrated by system policies of "one size fits all." We would like even greater flexibility for this campus in how programs are reviewed and projects moved forward. We believe Binghamton has demonstrated our com-mitment to excellence, efficiency and effectiveness and that this should be recog-nized in some policies. Two examples are: we should not be required to justify salary recommendations above the maxima, and we are distinctly disadvantaged by the common approach for student recruitment materials describing SUNY campuses. Students apply to Binghamton because of what Binghamton has to offer. Common recruitment materials don't enable any campus to tell its own story about what makes it special. Moreover, the Admissions Processing Center slows our efforts to make timely and personalized contacts with potential students.

We seek system help in gaining increased flexibility for campuses to define job classifications and hiring criteria. The mechanism for filling CSEA positions puts Binghamton at a distinct disadvantage. Being required to pull from statewide lists is especially difficult for us, as few are willing to relocate given the relatively low salaries paid to those in civil service classifications. It takes considerable time to go through those on the list from elsewhere, as one by one they decline to move to Binghamton. If there are any individuals on the list from the surrounding region at the start of the hiring process, those individuals often find positions in other organizations before we can reach them.

The processes of bidding for construction and other jobs should be streamlined. For example, if we are to attract the best students at both graduate and undergrad-uate levels, we need to be able to produce high-quality focused recruitment mat-erials on short notice. This is impossible with the bidding process for any four-color publication. By the time the bidding and award process is complete, we have lost recruitment opportunities.

Conclusion

Binghamton's achievements belie our age. Our success after only 52 years can be attributed to our advantageous size and to our culture, which values excellence in all endeavors and fosters a "can do" attitude. We are known nationally as a campus that manages its resources efficiently and effectively. Faculty, staff and administrators have been able to work together across all areas of the University to make this institution more competitive. We measure our success in numerous ways: the quality of our entering students; retention and graduation rates for undergraduate students; licensure pass rates and placement of our professional students; time to degree and placement of our graduate students; scholarly publications and creative productions for our faculty; expressed levels of satisfaction with the institution among students, faculty and staff. We also achieve on NACUBO benchmarks for facilities and services; fiscal integrity; and dollars returned on investment in development. As outlined in previous sections, we do very, very well on all counts. Binghamton enrolls bright, capable students who graduate in impressive numbers who do well on national exams and who succeed in their subsequent positions. Our faculty are individuals of international stature who advance knowledge and share their experience and wisdom with both graduate and undergraduate students. The services and programs provided by the Division of Student Affairs are outstanding and are integral to the quality of the total educational experience of all of our students. Our physical facilities and grounds are in excellent condition and contribute to the quality of our programs. Library, computer and information resources for the campus look to the needs of the future and provide high-quality services in the present. As we grow, we will continue to invest in all areas of the institution in order to maintain our reputation for quality, excellence and creativity.