May 27, 2014

Admissions, fundraising success highlight May Board of Trustees meeting

Admissions, fundraising success highlight May Board of Trustees meeting

Reports on admissions successes and an increase in gifts to Lewis & Clark highlighted the Board of Trustees meeting on May 9. Trustees also welcomed the newest board member, Paula Hayes BA ’92; elected two new trustees; and heard presentations by the CAS professors recently named winners of the Lorey Lokey Faculty Excellence Awards.

At the meeting of the Academic Affairs/Campus Life committee, President Barry Glassner updated trustees on the admissions picture. Deposits from CAS admitted students are up nearly 20 percent compared to this point a year ago. Of the new enrollees, 23 percent are students of color—up from 19 percent last year. The new class maintains the strong academic credentials of last year’s and other recent classes.

Although the admissions cycles are yet to conclude for the law school and graduate school, there are positive signs from both. Enrollment is rebounding for the Teacher Education Program as school districts begin hiring new teachers. While law applications are down again nationally and at Lewis & Clark, deposits to the law school are keeping pace with last year’s numbers, and yield rates are especially high among the most qualified students.

The Academic Affairs Committee also heard presentations by each of the Lokey Excellence Award winners—Professor of Biology Kellar Autumn, Professor of Philosophy Rebecca Copenhaver, and Associate Professor of Music Katherine FitzGibbon.

Good news in fundraising took center stage at the meeting of the Institutional Advancement Committee. Vice President Hal Abrams reported that, through March 31, Lewis & Clark has raised $8 million, up from $7 million at the same point a year ago. The institution is on track to meet the goal of $1.9 million for annual giving and to exceed the goal for major gifts. Abrams also reported that staff, with the help of trustees and volunteers, have continued to increase outreach to potential supporters of Lewis & Clark.

Joining the board for her first meeting was Paula Hayes, founder and owner of Hue Noir, a Beaverton-based cosmetics company specializing in products for women of color. (For more on Hayes, see this Lewis & Clark Chronicle feature on entrepreneurial alumni.)

Hayes will soon be joined by two new trustees. The board has elected Heidi Hu BS ’85 and Tony Abena BS ’86 to memberships that begin with the new academic year. Hu is a community volunteer and a private investor retired from Transamerica Investment Management. Abena is the chief operating officer of Deloitte Investments, an internal start-up division within Deloitte LLP.

President Glassner offered tributes to Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Tuajuanda Jordan and Dean of the Law School Robert Klonoff, who are both stepping down. Jordan has been named the seventh president of St. Mary’s College of Maryland and begins her tenure there July 1; Klonoff, after a year’s sabbatical, will join the law school faculty to pursue teaching and research.

The board compressed its meeting time to allow members to attend the College of Arts and Sciences’ Honors Convocation. Many trustees stayed for the school’s 141st Commencement, which took place on May 10.

In other meeting highlights:
  • Mark Duntley, dean of religious and spiritual life, reported on the myriad ways he and his staff tend to students’ religious and spiritual needs.
  • Trustees approved a resolution affirming the use of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in evaluating investment opportunities for the endowment and calling on the College’s investment managers to include these factors in their analytical processes.
  • CIO Adam Buchwald and Associate Professor of Law Juliet Stumpf presented on uses of technology in classroom instruction at Lewis & Clark.