Strategic Progress Report - December 2019

Health Sciences

• Henry P. Becton School of Nursing and Allied Health
  • The 2019 NCLEX-RN first-time pass rate for the BSN program at both the Metropolitan and Florham campuses is 100%. All 12 graduates of the first BSN class at Florham passed the NCLEX on their first try.
  • For the MSN program, the Nurse Practitioner certification examination passing rates are as follows: Family Nurse Practitioner program-100%; Family Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program-100%, and Adult Gerontology Nurse Practitioner program-86%.
  • Data for the needs assessment for a DNP Nurse Anesthesia program is currently being collected. A survey of the Nurse Anesthesia programs in New Jersey showed only two programs: Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center Nurse Anesthesia program in Camden and Rutgers School of Nursing DNP Nurse Anesthesia program in Newark.
  • The MSN program applied to participate in a federally funded initiative to increase substance use disorder education in the Nurse Practitioner Curricula sponsored by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and the American Society of Addiction Medicine. Ten nursing schools will be chosen to participate in this grant.
  • The enrollment in the online Family Nurse Practitioner program with Wiley continues to grow.
  • Three nursing faculty members who are participating in the implementation of the STEM Study Abroad Grant attended the first planning meeting.
• School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
  • Statistics on the NAPLEX (North American Pharmacy Licensure Exam) passing rate for the School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences' Class of 2019 graduates have recently been published for the first trimester of the year. The School's students achieved a pass rate of 92.98%, which is above the national average of 90.59% and the state of New Jersey average of 89.16%.
  • Nora Lowy has joined the School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences team as program director of the Physician Assistant program, bringing with her 23 years of program director experience from Wagner College. Joining her are Dr. Michael Rota, who will serve as the School's clinical director and Alaina Signorastri, who will join as the clinical coordinator.
  • Justin Bucchio, Ph.D., has been hired as program director for the newly created Master of Social Work program, scheduled to begin in summer 2021. He joins the team in early January following a term as program director at East Tennessee State University.
  • The Dean, Assistant Deans and Physician Assistant Program Director have been actively pursuing clinical sites for its Physician Assistant program, making significant inroads at a number of new relationships that would benefit student placements across all health science programs at the University. To date, 33 new clinical affiliations have been established in principle, with contracts pending or signed.
  • The Program Director for the Occupational Therapy Doctorate program has been successfully hired following a national search. Ivelisse Lazzarini, OTD, joined the team on November 15, arriving from Monmouth University, where she served as program director following a number of successful terms as program director of several nationally recognized programs in occupational therapy.
  • Continued discussions around strategic alignment of the health sciences vision with programs and services at Atlantic Health have continued. Meetings to discuss placement for occupational therapy and physician assistant students and offerings of corporate education programs in public health have been moving forward.

International School of Hospitality and Tourism Management

• The School is renaming the BS degree to the BS in Luxury Hospitality Management, to better differentiate the program.
• The School is also requesting a degree name change from a BAIS to a BA in Hotel & Restaurant Management and a BA in Culinary Mastery, as the School moves out of Petrocelli College and in response to Community College partners' request for more specifically named degrees.
• The School is strengthening links with La Chaine des Rôtisseurs, and has negotiated one-year internships in luxury resorts and doubled its scholarship donations for 2020.
• The School has gained membership in Hotel Schools of Distinction.
• The School has begun developing courses for an online graduate program that will be offered beginning in summer 2020 (via partnership with Wiley).
• The School has signed an articulation agreement with the County College of Morris to admit students into its BS program.
• The School is consolidating delivery of courses offered to community college students by moving these courses online, instead of offering multiple sections to a very small number of students.
• The Vancouver Ministry of Education DQAB has recommended re-accreditation of ISHTM programs offered in Vancouver.
• The School is signing partnerships with two universities in China for transfer students to complete their bachelor's and master's degrees at FDU.

Silberman College of Business

• Efforts to build on the success of the Silberman College Professional Development Program (PDP) continue. Silberman College of Business PDP has hosted 18 events on the Florham and Metropolitan campuses. Both undergraduate and graduate students participated in these events. Highlights include:
  • A lecture by Josh Weston, former CEO and Chairman of the Board of ADP.
  • A trip to Wall Street with stops at Refinitiv, Bloomberg (hands on training), and a closing bell at the NYSE.
  • A Silberman alumni panel discussion (each campus) on "Careers in my Major."
  • Accounting Networking and Recruiting event - over 20 firms participated.
  • Workshops on dining etiquette (each campus).
  • A site visit to HSBC headquarters in New York City where students met with senior leaders.
• Silberman College continues to engage many Fortune 500 companies who hire our students. Many of these companies have now begun to view FDU as a "core" school. Companies include Barclays Bank, HSBC, Pfizer, BASF, Novartis, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Withum, and many more. We are also building strategic partnerships with companies, such as Barclays and HSBC. Barclays has hired five of our students for full-time roles (with starting annual salaries of almost $75,000), as well as seven students as interns for summer 2020. Similarly, Silberman College has received commitments from HSBC Bank to not only open their placement pool to our graduates, but will now also sponsor the "Silberman Hall of Fame" event every year for $50,000. In addition, HSBC also hosts our students for visits in their New York City and London headquarters.
• Silberman College has formed a "Woman in Business" club on each campus. We have been successful in getting Barclays Bank to support this initiative. The mission of this club is to empower women and create opportunities. Club activities include guest speakers, site visits, mentorships and networking events.
• Preparations are well under way for a visit by a Peer Review Team (PRT) from AACSB International to affirm the maintenance of our ACCSB accreditation. The team is scheduled to visit in spring 2021. Efforts continue on various fronts to ensure that Silberman College is compliant with all of the 15 standards specified for accreditation.
• Our high school outreach efforts include "Business & Beyond" and strategic relationships with Junior Achievement and Virtual Enterprise International (VEI). We have hosted seven Business & Beyond events in the fall on both campuses and have had 58 high school students attend these events. We hosted two Junior Achievement events this fall 2019 semester, with almost 300 students attending these events on either the Florham or Metropolitan campuses. This past summer VEI hosted 25 business teachers for training on the Florham Campus for two days ("Train the Trainer"). We will host the VEI Business competition in January with almost 300 students expected to attend. In January, we will be inviting admitted students to "Dinner with the Dean" as part of a recruitment event.
• Silberman College initiatives related to fund-raising and outreach continue. The Silberman College Gala held at the New York Athletic Club on September 25 was well attended and helped raise funds for SCB programs and initiatives. Bob Zatta, SCB alumnus, Chair of the SCB Advisory Board, and member of the FDU Board of Trustees, has recently committed $250,000 towards the College.
• Silberman has engaged in a series of strategic communication efforts including social media listening, social media advertising, text messaging, and email marketing that has produced the following results:
  • Total Facebook followers (12,940-increase of 17% since 6/05/19)
  • Total Twitter followers (3,625-increase of 35% since 6/05/19)
  • Total Instagram followers (4,344-increase of 55% since 6/05/19)
  • Total LinkedIn followers (2,169-increase of 26% since 6/05/19)
  • TikTok 41 followers (new channel established)
• Efforts to offer a new MS in Accounting in Israel to members of the Orthodox Jewish community from the United States in collaboration with our partners (PCS Group) continues. Discussions have continued in the fall semester among members of a taskforce comprising senior executives to develop a new graduate degree in Financial Planning and Wealth Management. Silberman College continues to expand its recently approved sales minor to all non-business majors at FDU, especially those with aspirations to pursue a career in sales.
• Silberman College has made a concerted effort to leverage its relationships with local area companies to deliver degree programs onsite at the location of these companies and tailored to the needs of their employees. These programs are delivered using a blended delivery format with some class sessions conducted in-person while the remaining sessions feature online work. The program is being delivered at the Plainsboro, N.J., location of Integra Lifesciences (the second MBA cohort just started this fall semester). We are in an advanced stage of discussions with a large, global company located in Morristown to offer a similar program for their employees. There is also considerable interest in making our MS in Supply Chain Management program available to employees at this organization. The tentative start date for these two new programs is fall 2020.
• Faculty in the College continue to add to their portfolio of scholarship. Three Silberman College faculty (Dr. Eun-Jeong Ko, and Drs. Sorin Tuluca and Gordon Sollars) each received the New Jersey Bright Idea Award for 2019 for their scholarship (their respective papers were included in the Top 10 list of faculty publications across all business schools in the state from among 132 total submissions).

School of Public and Global Affairs

• The School was awarded a grant from the State of New Jersey for $250,000 to begin programming in the city of Newark.
• The FDU Poll in partnership with the Rothman Institute reported to the media the results of the first Small Business Poll.
• The School partnered with the policy think tank Garden State Initiative for a joint study of New Jersey residents' intentions to move out-of-state due to the high taxes and cost-of-living. The report, released to the media, was carried by dozens of outlets.
• The School released to the media results of the first phase of its study of New Jersey residents' perceptions of residential and school segregation in their communities. The report was carried by the Philadelphia Inquirer among many.
• PSEG indicated it will award the School a $30,000 grant to continue its research on residential and school segregation in New Jersey.
• The FDU Poll Director and the Director of the Eagleton Poll at Rutgers University jointly presented research at Princeton University on their combined effort of mix-mode data collection.
• The National Endowment for the Humanities tapped our Poll in a cooperative agreement with the American Historical Association, to conduct a national survey of Americans to assess perceptions of and engagement with history. The award is $140,000.
• This School welcomed a new cohort of MPA students at Valley Hospital and a new cohort of MPA students at the NYNJ Port Authority at JFK Airport.

School of the Arts

• The School of the Arts Advisory Board expanded to 15 members, including five new members - each charged with expanding financial resources for the School. Notable new members from outside the FDU community include: Broadway actor, entrepreneur, and great-grandson of Col. Fairleigh S. Dickinson David Turner; film/theater producers David S. and Jenny Stone; and area arts philanthropist Gil Zweig.
• The design process for the new animation lab is progressing towards a grand opening in August 2020 under the supervision of NK Architects. It will include high-end state-of-the-art finishes and technology such as 3D printing, virtual reality capabilities and a glass entryway with a digital showcase to achieve a "wow factor" for prospective and current students.
• In collaboration with the School of Pharmacy & Health Sciences, a new project called "Health & the Arts" has been conceived in order to attract major sponsors and position FDU as a thought leader in this area. We will examine a pressing global health topic in a new, innovative and profoundly relevant manner - through the arts. University Advancement is assisting to identify and solicit sponsors for a unique conference to be held on campus upon funding.
• School of the Arts and New Jersey Ballet (NJB) launched a new partnership to support emerging and professional artists through educational and professional opportunities. FDU's dance curriculum will be immediately enhanced through classes led by NJB staff at their new state-of-the-art facility at 7-9 Vreeland Road in Florham Park. NJB company members seeking additional educational opportunities, may matriculate at FDU. The collaboration will also include cross-promotion in marketing efforts and co-branded special events.
• WAMFest was held on October 4. Our theme, LatinX ConeXiones, contributed to a local effort to engage diverse audiences with partner, Morris Arts. Highlights included a captivating appearance and VIP reception with three-time Tony Award-winner, Kennedy Center honoree and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Chita Rivera.
• Film students support local charities as part of the curriculum and the Women's Association at Morristown Medical Center benefited this holiday season through FDU's creation of an in-house video project (Calling All Kids) to comfort their youngest patients.

University Advancement

• Commitments to the capital campaign now total $66.5 million.
• Krys Doerfler donated $200,000 to the Ronald Doerfler Scholarship Fund.
• Russ Reardon, alumnus, has committed $100,000 for the Fund for FDU.
• Audrey Frey, alumnus, has included the University in her estate plan for $500,000.
• The University is scheduled to receive $2 million from the estate of John Giovatto.

Other Important Strategic Initiatives

• Restructuring across the New Jersey Campuses
  • Meetings have continued across the Florham and Metropolitan campuses with faculty and staff in the current Becton and University colleges to reach consensus on common curricula for majors, to be in place for fall 2020.
  • Ana Fontoura was hired into the new University Librarian position and is working to unify library operations across the campuses.
• Revitalizing the Metropolitan Campus
  • Following a very successful event in April 2019, we have scheduled to host City of Science again at the Metropolitan Campus on March 21, 2020. We expect over 1,000 visitors, mostly high school students, to participate in STEM-related activities.
• Other
  • We coordinated and collaborated across the institution leading to a second year of a record six-year graduation rate, with an increase again, of three points, resulting in a final rate of 57%.
  • We advanced the institution in the US News & World Report ranking from 62 to 56 Northeast Regional, of which graduation rates are the most heavily weighted variable.
  • We launched the first and most comprehensive marketing campaign, resulting in a new brand promise and the Make Your Mark campaign, which are evident in new viewbooks and other recruitment collateral, such as newspaper ads including the New York Times special educational sections, digital billboards, Newark Airport and digital advertisements on the internet as well as one person's car. Our application volume is very strong this year.
  • We completed, with partners in finance and academics, in the graduate tuition study, of which the results and recommendations will be presented to the Board of Trustees.
  • We launched, with partners in finance and academics, as well as an outside expert, a tuition study group which is examining the structure of undergraduate pricing and promotion.
  • We refined the undergraduate recruitment and application processing operation, leading to a significant increase in application volume.
  • We established a full-time staff member at Bergen Community College tasked specifically with recruiting and advising transfer students, expanding our visibility on campus and forging new partnerships between the institutions. Application volume is up and several academic departments have visited BCC.
  • We forged strong new relationships with the ministers of tourism in the Caribbean which has led to us being promoted as a new academic resource and partner in Jamaica, through its government, as well as being asked to brand two major international tourism conferences, which will create a very significant and positive impact due to visibility and new partnerships designed to enable us to provide training to residents of the island nations through our ISHTM.
  • We established international recruitment offices in China and India. Through a partnership with academics, we recommended additional academic major offerings be designed which are in great demand internationally.
  • We conducted a fly-in for high school counselors from choice schools in Florida and Illinois, exposing them to the two New Jersey campuses, as well as activities in New York City, which was very well received.
  • We established a part-time admissions recruiter in Florida who is already generating applications.
  • We scheduled a trip for nearly a dozen high school administrators and guidance counselors to Wroxton, to expose them to our programs at that campus, so that they become ambassadors to their student bodies for us.
  • We developed a communication plan to the leaders of our US News & World Report peer institutions (Master's Northeast Region) who vote on quality and innovation, which affects our rankings. Communication is being delivered via LinkedIn, Twitter, direct mail and email to the president, provosts, and enrollment leaders.
  • We committed for a second year to the Honorary Commander program of the USAF, and to the Joint Force Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Expeditionary Operations School. We have spent time with the colonel who leads it as well as the superintendent and various leaders of the school, and we participated in actual training programs. FDU is becoming a visible and strong partner with the military. The school at the base graduates over 30,000 students annually from a variety of programs and we are working to incorporate FDU into their educational programs.
  • We passed a Veteran's Administration audit and a financial aid audit without significant findings.
  • We launched a new database management and communication tool in the International Student Scholars office to improve certification, data management, and communicating with students.
  • We established a pan-university working group charged with examining all policies affecting student services to ensure that the policies are relevant and do not negatively impact students, that we have adequate policies, and that we modify those policies that are out of compliance or in need of change. Recommendations are due January 31, 2020.
  • We developed a new "Finish in Four" campaign to be launched shortly, encouraging students through a variety of avenues to register for the appropriate courses each semester that will enable them to graduate in four years, boosting our graduation rates and reducing overall student expense and debt.