President Richard L. McCormick used his Annual Address to the Rutgers Community this year to announce an anonymous donation of $13 million that will go primarily toward building a facility on Livingston Campus for the Rutgers Business School–Newark and New Brunswick.

The gift is the largest ever received in Rutgers history, and will help realize the vision of the Livingston Campus as a center for professional education, encompassing Rutgers’ strong programs in business, education, social work, and management and labor relations. “It will also give Livingston a distinct identity ... that relates to its history of leadership and social justice,” McCormick said.

 McCormick’s speech was titled “A Place Called Rutgers,” and its themes spoke to the dreams and ambitions of a university recognized by its peers for excellence, the history and future expectations of one of the country’s oldest higher learning institutions, and the challenges of the school in the face of reduced public financial support. The address took place September 19 at the Rutgers Student Center in New Brunswick, during this year’s first session of the University Senate.

 McCormick addressed concerns raised in the media about the financial transparency of Rutgers’ intercollegiate athletics program, and announced the upcoming appointment of a deputy director of finance and administration for athletics. The president also remained committed that the Rutgers Stadium expansion project would “remain within its established budget and on time, even if it means we have to make adjustments to the original plan.”

Even in light of rave reviews from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, the university continues to learn about how best to deliver an excellent experience in undergraduate education. Vice President Barry Qualls, McCormick said, is undertaking an extensive analysis “through which we are learning about problems, as well as unintended consequences,” McCormick said.

The coming year will see an increased focus in scholarship on nutrition, including development of the New Jersey Institute for Food, Nutrition, and Health, McCormick said. Rutgers faculty are well positioned to pool their expertise to answer pressing problems, such as poor childhood health. Programs in food science, genetics and behavioral science, nursing, pharmacy, agriculture, public policy, and educational outreach hold the potential for scholarship that can affect communities in New Jersey and across the nation.

“By building on our existing strengths, Rutgers will chiefly accomplish two things: Nutrition research that is scientifically among the best in the world, and the delivery of educational and outreach programs that move what is learned from the laboratory into daily application,” McCormick said.

The occasion provided an opportunity to celebrate diversity at Rutgers: the university just admitted its most diverse class of first-year students, with more than half identifying themselves as nonwhite, and making several faculty hires as part of the President’s Council on Institutional Diversity and Equity. Two separate cluster hires – in the area of urban entrepreneurship in Newark and in Caribbean studies in New Brunswick – have increased the numbers of minority faculty at Rutgers.

The Rutgers Center for Race and Ethnicity, established last year, continues in the Rutgers tradition of research and policy on diversity. And in December, Rutgers will become a locus of discussion on the topic of diversity, hosting the national conference on the Future of Diversity and Opportunity in Higher Education.

In Newark and Camden, Rutgers is focused on building partnerships in its host cities. Faculty and staff at Rutgers–Camden are working to develop a strategic plan for Rutgers’ engagement with the city of Camden. In Newark, the School of Public Affairs and Administration is providing executive education at City Hall and the Center for Urban Entrepreneurship is working with the city to help minority-owned small businesses.

Key capital projects across the Rutgers campuses help enhance a sense of place at the university. In addition to several new buildings and renovation projects on academic and recreational space, the university is investing $75 million on much needed deferred maintenance projects, including major classroom improvements on all three campuses.

To address budget shortfalls left by cuts in state funding, Rutgers is embarking on an approximately $1 billion capital campaign. It will seek out endowed professorships to attract the best researchers, academic program support, and scholarship assistance for students.

“Becoming truly great,” McCormick said, “requires us to venture beyond the funding streams we have relied on in the past. We can and must control our own destiny by undertaking a comprehensive, multipronged effort to expand Rutgers’ resources.” One important source of alternative funding, McCormick said, are revenue-generating academic programs that draw on Rutgers’ teaching excellence and reach people with changing educational needs.

Following his address, the president took questions from the audience for 45 minutes, answering questions and addressing concerns on parking, athletics, labor relations, veterans and higher education, New Brunswick city politics, and campus safety.

To view the video of the speech, read the text or listen to the audio, click here.