Strategic Progress Report - June 2019
Health Sciences
- Henry P. Becton School of Nursing and Allied Health
- The Nursing program at the Florham Campus graduated its first classes of BSN and MSN students on May 21, 2019. There were 12 BSN and 4 MSN graduates.
- A needs assessment for an MSN in Nurse Anesthesia program will be completed in fall 2019. A committee of the graduate faculty will be working on a proposal to offer this Advanced Nursing Practice track following completion of the needs assessment.
- The BS in Health Studies program continues to grow at both the Metropolitan and Florham campuses and is also serving as a feeder for the BSN program. Four BS in Health Studies students will be transferring to Nursing in fall 2019.
- A needs assessment for a PhD program in Nursing is currently underway.
- School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
- For the second time in three years, the School was selected by NJBiz Magazine as the #1 Best Place to Work in New Jersey.
- The School has hired Bojana Beric-Stojcic as its Master of Public Health program director. Bojana joined the team in late April and has begun to work with The Learning House to build the program curriculum, establish the parameters for the program, and to work with the accrediting body toward Council for Education in Public Health Accreditation following the graduation of the first class.
- In late April, the School's leadership team attended a multi-day workshop on Physician Assistant Program accreditation, hosted by the Accreditation Review Council for Physician Assistant Studies (ARC-PA). During that time, the accrediting body provided insight into the challenges, issues and opportunities facing new physician assistant programs as they develop through the accreditation review cycle.
- The School's Search and Screen Committee has begun bringing in finalists for its Physician Assistant and Occupational Therapy program directors, with offers expected to be made to candidates this summer, ahead of the timelines for accreditation delineated by the respective accrediting bodies.
- On September 25-26, 2019, the School will play host to the national meeting of the Industry Pharmacists Organization. Our student-led chapter will coordinate events as a national pool of industry leaders, fellows and students come to campus for a two-day meeting and learning event.
- During the week of June 5, Dean Michael Avaltroni will be an invited guest on the United States Health and Human Services Administration Panel Discussions around pharmacy, drug pricing, opioid addiction, and other pressing issues in healthcare today.
- The website HealthGrad.com, a clearinghouse for recruiting of health science program students, evaluated schools around the nation to find Doctor of Pharmacy degree programs that provide an exceptional education at a reasonable price. This list was created to help potential students find objective information about each program and bring recognition to top quality programs. The FDU School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences was selected as a best value for the northeast among private institutions. The link to this list can be found at:
https://www.healthgrad.com/medical/best-value-lowest-cost-acpe-accredited-pharmd-programs-by-region-for-2019-20/.
International School of Hospitality and Tourism Management
- A development company has provided a pro forma for building and financing a limited (quasi-full) service hotel with hard costs of $36 million, soft costs of $4 million, and closing and financing costs of ~$2.6 million - all in $42.6 million. We now need to review the pro forma and discuss prospective agreements and funding models with the trustee leadership.
- We have identified a new school director who is expected to join us in August 2019.
Silberman College of Business
- The College continues its practice of exciting students about careers in business and yielding applicants at a very high rate. Silberman's fall 2019 deposit numbers as of May 20, 2019, were approximately 90% of all declared business admits. During this past academic year, the College had 189 students attend Business and Beyond events on campus, and 572 high school students attended at least one Silberman outreach event (e.g., the Virtual Enterprise International regional meeting). In addition, Silberman staff went to trade shows attended by high school students and conducted 29 high school visits in total. Silberman also had 19 Professional Development Program (PDP) events on campus this past year that were attended by 677 undergraduate students. Fifty-nine firms came to campus or hosted Silberman staff at their site for recruiting events. Firms included Barclays, HSBC, RB, Pfizer, BD and BounceX, to name a few.
- Silberman fundraising remains strong. Annual recurring fundraising, separate from the Hall of Fame event this past fall, should raise approximately $250,000 per year. Moreover, since July 2014, Silberman has raised $3,633,892 in cash and commitments.
- 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 (11,058 - increase of 8,316 since 4/30/18)
- Total Twitter followers (2,680 - increase of 2,363 since 4/30/18)
- Total Instagram followers (2,800 - increase of 1,965 since 4/30/18)
- Total LinkedIn followers (1,723 - increase of 829 since 4/30/18)
- Silberman is pursuing a new MS in Accounting in Israel with its partners in Lakewood and Montvale, N.J., as well as working on a new MS in Wealth Management and a potential dual degree MS in Accounting with IESEG, its partner in France. In addition, Silberman has developed a new sales minor and is working toward adding new minors in real estate and insurance during the upcoming academic year.
School of Public and Global Affairs
- In addition to fall and winter off-campus cohorts, the School has added new summer cohorts in Jersey City and Neptune, N.J.
- The School expects to have its first cohort from Valley Hospital begin in September 2019.
- The FDU Poll conducted surveys in tandem with Rutgers University. Rutgers used online samples at the same time FDU used telephone samples and live interviews. Samples were combined and joint press releases were issued on a variety of topics.
- The FDU Poll in partnership with the Rothman Institute and the NJCPA began constructing a robust Small Business Panel to measure the attitudes and policy preferences of New Jersey's crucial but often-overlooked small business sector.
- The School has secured a pass to the U.N. grounds that allows the School's new recruiter unfettered access to the United Nations.
- Beginning in fall 2019, the School will offer a new Executive MPA. This program is distinctive by aiming at mid-career public and non-profit managers, giving them advanced standing in the program based on their post-baccalaureate training and experience.
- In the works are important expansions of the MPA, including extending the MPA to Wroxton and Vancouver and partnering with Regents University to offer the MPA in London.
School of the Arts
- The search for a new director of the School has been completed. More than 60 applications were received from around the country, twelve telephone interviews conducted, and three finalists were invited to campus. The Search Committee unanimously supported the candidacy of Todd Rosen, formerly Director of Development for the America-Israel Cultural Foundation and, prior to that, Managing Director of the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey. Todd began his position with FDU on May 20.
- The next facilities project for the School has been identified. The well-worn Animation Lab will be updated to a state-of-the-art facility. Outside funding will completely support this project, which will be completed no later than the summer of 2020.
- The BA in Theater was named 16th among the top 25 such programs in the nation by OnStage Blog.
- Our Animation program was named #1 in New Jersey for the second year in a row by Animation Review.
- Graphic Design, Studio Arts, Music, Film, and Animation each held their end-of-year events celebrating the work of our students. Each of these events drew big audiences and put on display the high quality of our programs and students. The Theater program's final two productions of the season, The Full Monty and Steel Magnolias, were both first-rate productions and received strong audience support.
University Advancement
- Total commitments to One University Many Dreams through May 30, 2019, are nearly $65 million.
- The University has been notified of a $250,000 commitment from the Hearst Foundations for the Metropolitan Campus Center and EOF Scholarships.
- The 42 hours of giving program secured more than $25,000 and nearly 300 new donors.
- Cash contributions received by the University through April 30, 2019, are $6,229,733 compared to $4,274,513 on April 30, 2018.
- Charter Day, honoring trustee Art Sukel, has commitments through June 1 of more than $500,000.
Other Important Strategic Initiatives
- Restructuring Across the New Jersey Campuses
- Discipline-specific working groups of faculty from the two New Jersey campuses have been meeting to develop common curricula. In May 2019, a joint meeting of the CEPC's from Becton and University College was held to review those curricula that had been developed to that point and were ready to go forward. A single curriculum for each of the undergraduate programs in psychology, chemistry and literature were reviewed and approved. In addition, the curriculum for biology was reviewed and returned for minor changes.
- The University Faculty Senate ad-hoc committee has been working with the University Provost to make a number of changes to the Faculty Handbook. Good progress has been made and recommendations will be brought to the faculty for approval in the fall, and then to the Board of Trustees.
- The new unified teaching schedule will roll out in August 2019 on both New Jersey campuses.
- We are on schedule for the new structure consisting of a merged College of Arts and Sciences across the two New Jersey campuses and stand-alone professional schools to begin in fall 2020.
- We are in the final stages of hiring a University Librarian who will oversee libraries across all four campuses and unify activities across the New Jersey campuses.
- Revitalizing the Metropolitan Campus
- FDU hosted "City of Science," in partnership with the World Science Festival, on April 27 in the Rothman Center. This brought over 1,000 visitors to the campus - mostly high school students and their families. FDU faculty and staff were very engaged and many visitors took tours of the science and engineering labs. Some visitors stated they had not visited FDU previously but will now consider the University as they complete high school and prepare for college.
- The Sustainability Task Force has created the following working groups: Academic Programs & Research, Community Engagement & Social Issues, Facilities & Operations, and Sustainable Living on Campus. We held a forum to discuss potential projects - faculty, staff and students from both New Jersey campuses and from Vancouver participated. Sustainability will be a major focus in the new Campus Center building on the Metropolitan Campus
- Other
- We have created an FDU "Women in Science" group comprised of female faculty in STEM from both New Jersey campuses. We are planning events for the coming academic year. Students will participate in the activities.
- We continue to streamline recruitment and retention processes with The Learning House, train FDU faculty in best practices, and develop new online programs to launch in partnership with them.