President's Report Masthead
March 31, 2013

State of the University address

State of the University
Jonathan Cohen
President Harvey Stenger addresses the campus.

President Harvey Stenger, the vice presidents and the director of athletics presented the State of the University to the campus in January.

Provost Donald Nieman spoke about the growth in enrollment for both undergraduate and graduate students, as well as the addition of 34 net new faculty for the 2012-2013 academic year. He said 51 searches are underway for 2013-14.

The division’s goals for the coming year include:

Enhancing the undergraduate experience by:
    • recruiting even better-prepared students
    • lowering the student-to-faculty ratio
    • expanding undergraduate research
    • enhancing the intellectual life of the residential communities

Increasing Binghamton’s strength and reputation as a research university by developing transdisciplinary areas of excellence across the disciplines and cluster hiring in:
    • smart energy
    • healthcare
    • citizenship, rights and cultural belonging
    • material and visual worlds
    • sustainable communities

Increasing graduate enrollment and the strength and visibility of graduate programs through:
    • Graduate Growth initiative designed to increase enrollment in career-oriented master’s programs
    • Provost’s Doctoral Fellowships designed to recruit the best and brightest PhD candidates
    • more GAs to support research and teaching

Conducting a study on the academic desirability and financial feasibility of creating a pharmacy school, which Nieman said is one way to potentially make “a great University even stronger.”

“I believe that pharmacy is an especially promising area for Binghamton University,” he said. “We have not made the commitment to a pharmacy school. We have only made the commitment to study if it is right for Binghamton.”

There are several reasons why a pharmacy school could be a good investment for Binghamton, Nieman said, adding that it would allow the University to increase its graduate enrollment with additional high-caliber students.

“By creating a doctoral-granting, research-oriented pharmacy school, it would allow us to enhance our research strengths in the life sciences and form productive collaborations with programs we have in behavioral neuroscience, biomedical engineering, biomedical anthropology, chemistry and nursing, among others,” he said.

Nieman appointed a faculty committee including Associate Professor of Psychology Terrence Deak (chair), Professor of Chemistry Susan Bane, Assistant Professor of Bioengineering Amber Doiron, Professor of Nursing and Anthropology Gary James, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Karin Sauer and Interim Dean of the Graduate School Susan Strehle to study the academic merits of a pharmacy school. The committee has requested feedback from the campus. The Office of Institutional Research and Assessment will examine the financial feasibility.