On August 25, the first day of classes, I received three emails in rapid succession from the offices of our athletic conference now called USA South Athletic Conference.  Of course, each email had a “subject” line.  The subject lines read:
1. “Greensboro College Picked First in Men’s Soccer.”
2. “Greensboro College Picked First in Women’s Soccer.”
3.  “Greensboro College Picked First in Volleyball.”

    In about five minutes, I received a fourth email.  This one came from Dr. Ian Newbould, the President of N.C. Wesleyan College.  It had as its subject
            “Break Up Greensboro College.”
    His point was to remind us of the chant sports fans hear from time to time when a particular team begins winning most of their games.  And so we have heard chants of “Break up the Yankees!,” or “Break up the Celtics!” or “Break up the Packers.”  The Yankees, Celtics and Packers, of course, were teams that were on such winning streaks that the opposing teams would begin questioning whether they were playing fairly or if these teams had some unfair advantage and had become too dominant.
    It goes without saying, I really liked that email from Dr. Newbould and the message it implied.  It reminded me of a comment made by a parent of a freshman student seven years ago.  As part of the Admissions Office Open House schedule, she had attended a choral performance, a theatre skit, a men’s soccer game on back campus and then a volleyball game.  She said, “Wow, Greensboro College does not like to lose at anything.”  How right she was, and how true that sentiment remains today.
    The President of N.C. Wesleyan really is a very good friend of mine, but let’s just assume, for the sake of this report, that he gets his way and they do “break up Greensboro College.”  What would they find?

I. THE PEOPLE OF GREENSBORO COLLEGE
Students
This year our enrollment on opening day was 1302, as compared with 1258 last year. Our five-year plan projected by the Study Commission on Enrollment Services was to grow to 1300; we reached that goal in three years.   Our enrollment has increased 32 percent over the last three years. This year’s students come from 29 states and 24 nations.  The top five states in number of students are North Carolina – 937, Virginia – 65, Maryland – 55; New Jersey – 29, and Florida – 22.  The religious preferences of our students are 18 percent Methodist, 17 percent Southern Baptist and 11 percent Roman Catholic.
  It is of interest to note that 68 percent of this year’s freshman class is from North Carolina.  This is important to us because North Carolina students have been more likely to continue through the four years.   Five hundred fifty students now live on campus.  The male to female ratio of this entering class is 42 percent male and 58 percent female.  The new class of Presidential Scholars arrived with SAT averages of 1327 and an average GPA of 4.6.  The overall SAT average for the class is 1013 (up 32 points over last year) and their average GPA is 3.2. Fourteen percent of the entering class will be participating in the Honors Program.
Financial aid is the major factor in attracting students.  Ninety-eight percent of this year’s class received financial aid averaging $13,350 each (including $5,135 of institutional funds).  That is why $28 million of our $60 million campaign goal is for financial aid.  
 Another key component of a stable enrollment is the applicant pool.   I am happy to report that we increased our applicant pool by 11 percent this year, and for the first time we went over the 1000 mark on applications. This is very important to us, and we will continue to shoot for an undergraduate applicant pool in excess of 1000.  
It is always interesting to see where our students applied for admission in addition to Greensboro College.  The “competition” for our students came in this order: UNCG, East Carolina, Elon, Appalachian State, UNC-Wilmington, Guilford, High Point University, N.C. State University, UNC-Charlotte and Western Carolina University.
    I am pleased to report that impressive increases were recorded in the headcount of students in the Adult Education Program.  Overall, degree-seeking, graduate and continuing education students totaled 418 students, up from 399 last fall.  However, the number of hours taken by these adult students was down.  Our graduate programs have had an increase from 28 last fall to 73 for this fall.  These include 21 Master of Education or A plus candidates and 52 Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.  
    As for retention, we have good news to report here also.  Last year 65 percent of our freshman class returned as sophomores.  This year 70 percent of the freshman class returned as sophomores.  To put that in perspective, over the last 10 years the average has been 64 percent.  This is good not only for this year, but for at least three more years to come.  Once again you have done a very good job in this important area.
Even as we celebrate the growing numbers and applaud the statistical quality of students, we must face the reality of these numbers.  Yes, we have met the challenge of 1300 students.  The headcount is impressive, but the details of that headcount present a problem.  We do not have 1300 traditional and/or adult education students paying our traditional or our adult fees.  We have a delightful mixture of Consortium students, PAL students, Middle College students and graduate students.  They all have different fee schedules.  The problem from a budget standpoint is that we have more part-time students and fewer full-time students.  That will have budget implications for us.  We can handle it, but it will require our total effort once again.

Faculty
    This section of the report must begin with the successful completion of our yearlong search for a new Vice President for Academic Affairs.  Dr. Ben Judkins is now our chief academic officer.  He brings exceptional credentials and an embracing style to this important assignment.  We look forward to the continuing development of our programs under his leadership.
    We added 10 new individuals to our full-time faculty this year.  Two positions were added in Education to support the graduate program; one new position was added in Religion and Philosophy to support Philosophy; one new person joins the English Department to support the TESOL Program; and one in Business to support Accounting.  This brings our total full-time faculty to 63 — up 40 percent from the 45 total we had in 1993.
    With the addition of new faculty this year, our full-time faculty now hold degrees from 104 different institutions.  I think this is an exceptional statistic to celebrate.  To think that opinions and perspectives from 104 different centers of higher education, with all the diversity that represents, can be brought to one small liberal arts college.  
There are other faculty laurels that distinguish our college. I am very proud that during the past year our faculty published at least 25 articles or book reviews and two books.  There may be others.  Furthermore, two of our faculty held National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships this summer, one at Yale and one at UNC-Chapel Hill.
    We are happy to welcome back to service three faculty who were away on sabbatical last year: Dr. Mari Pino del Rosario, Dr. Joti Sekon and Dr. Jane McKinney.   Likewise we wish God’s speed to three who will be away this year: Dr. Rebecca Blomgren, Dr. Randy Hunt and Dr. Ann Walter-Fromson.  
    We celebrate the promotions of Dr. Cal Bond to full professor; the promotion of Dr. Jewel Lehman to assistant professor; and the granting of continuing contract status to Dr. Adam Pennell.  

II. THE PROGRAMS OF GREENSBORO COLLEGE

Classes for the M.Ed. program began this summer, and we hosted the first TESOL symposium.  Twenty-one M.A. candidates, for whom English is not their native language, gave spectacular PowerPoint presentations on their graduate research.  We extend a special thanks to our faculty across the disciplines who worked so diligently with these students to produce an exceptional symposium.  
Only one in five North Carolinians has a college degree.  Yet, many who want and need one for personal and job satisfaction have difficulty finding programs to fit into lives.  In January we will implement the Executive Bachelor of Business Administration program.  We believe this new program will meet this critical need in the business community.
As we talk about program growth, we note the impressive growth of the vocal music program and the increase in the numbers of marching band members.  We have gone from 32 music majors to 52 music majors and at least 13 music minors. Our instrumental music majors have grown from one to 23 in the last two years.  During that same time, our marching band has grown from 16 to 49 (46 of whom are Greensboro College students).
Speaking of growth, we have had a significant increase in the number of hybrid courses and courses with electronic components.  At the moment there are 378 students in 22 classes that are online or are using the TCDI software in some capacity.  This growth is not without its problems and we will continue to address these.
An important part of our program, a portion that involves approximately one-third of our students, is intercollegiate athletics.  For the first time ever, we have three fall teams (men’s and women’s soccer and
volleyball) projected to win the conference (which also would mean NCAA tournament bids if we fulfill expectations).  Throw in cross country (men #2,
women #3) and that puts all fall sports except football (#4 of 7) in the projected upper third of our conference, by far the most positive expectation level for Pride athletics success for fall sports.  We obviously have the attention of the athletic pollsters.

III. THE PLACE(S) OF GREENSBORO COLLEGE

The Royce Reynolds Family Student Life Center
Up until this year, student activities have been held in a building that has 10,400 square feet.  Now, those activities will be conducted in a building with 70,000 square feet on 4.5 acres of land.  Furthermore, we have nine “apartments” or “cottages” to house assistant coaches who will also assist the Director of the Reynolds Center.  This moves us to a new dimension in student life.  I am happy to report that just yesterday (Sept. 8), The Greensboro Zoning Commission joined the Historic Preservation Commission in approving our zoning request to enable us to move the bookstore into The Reynolds Center.  That decision will become final when the City Council approves the recommendation.  That action should take place Oct. 8.

The Inn at Greensboro College
Have you seen The Inn at Greensboro College? Maybe you know a student who lives there and that student will invite you to see the inside of a room.  The Inn contains very nice single and double rooms, plus 10 apartment suites.  The 10 suites contain two bedrooms, a sitting room, kitchen and bath.  We also have 41 standard rooms with two people each; three handicapped rooms occupied by singles; and an additional eight single rooms.  We have 110 students living there and a waiting list for vacancies.
Also, with the addition of The Inn at Greensboro College, we no longer have to pay money to University Square to house our overflow students.  Last year we had to pay for 56 rooms and it cost us $86,725 to house our students there. The year before, we paid them $125,656.  They’ll not be getting that kind of money from us again.  
With the addition of the 240 parking spaces at Reynolds Center, our annual parking problems should be resolved.  Of course there will still be frustration when we cannot park exactly where we want.  

Price Complex
    The bureaucratic maze one must traverse when buying property from a state institution is very … interesting.  I think we will soon have completed the tiring and exasperating processes required.  GTCC will continue to lease the primary school building while they complete the construction of their new campus up highway #29 in the northeast section of the county.  We will have complete use of the grounds and thus will be more comfortable in spending money on preparation and upkeep of those grounds since they will be our own.  We have not done the space planning there yet.  That will ultimately be the site for all our outdoor sports and recreational activities.
 
Faculty Resource Center
The Faculty Resource Center will be located in the three basement  offices of Main Building currently occupied by coaches, who will move to either Reynolds, the old Student Center or Hanes Gymnasium.  One room in the Faculty Resource Center will be a self-serve technology area with equipment to help train faculty in using TCDI software, a new program to prevent and detect plagiarism, among other things.
A second room will be used for print resources, to include such things as pedagogical materials, teaching journals, conference announcements, faculty forms, etc.  Such a space will help disseminate information and research as well as decrease the need for duplication of materials.  
Finally, the largest of the three rooms will be converted into a small classroom and/or seminar room for faculty.  This will also be used for some of the training on the hardware and software to be located there.

The Means to These Ends
All the things we have talked have a price tag.  The “B” word always comes up.  The total operating budget of the college last year was $21.5 million.  You all know the tensions we experienced as a result of the stock market’s failure to perform.  The good news and the end of that story is that we took in $30,000 more than we spent.  Thanks to each of you for our 10th consecutive year in the black.  Our budget for this year is up 6 percent — $22.8 million.  Budget controls begin again.  And that’s all I have to say about that!
    The Campaign for Greensboro College: A Promise to Keep continues to move out to other people and other locations.  So far we have kicked off campaigns in nine cities.  In the next few days we will hold kick-off events in Wilmington and Roanoke.  Everywhere I go as we talk about this campaign and what it will do for us, I tell the people what you, the faculty and staff, have done for the college.  I tell them that you have fully met your goal of $300,000.  (You may remember that at the opening faculty meeting, I reported that we were approximately $2,000 short of meeting the faculty/staff goal.  Following that meeting, one of you came forward with the balance required to put us over that goal.)  As of  Sept. 5, the total pledged to the campaign is $51,828,000.
    In addition to the Campaign for Greensboro College our annual College Fund continues.  In fiscal year, 2002-2003, the College Fund had record gifts of $660,614.  It is necessary to run both campaigns simultaneously, and we will continue to do so.  

IV. THE FUTURE OF GREENSBORO COLLEGE

So what?  I hope you are asking.  How does all this data relate to the mission of Greensboro College?  How does it lead us on to the next step of being Greensboro College?  What is the next step?  Why have we taken the steps we have taken?  I am glad you are asking these questions.  Let’s go back to the Vision Statement.  It says, “With classic, applied and innovative programs which reflect the core values of the Judeo-Christian tradition, Greensboro College will be among America’s selective liberal arts colleges.”
    There is one primary factor in realizing that vision.  Money.  Not surprised are you?  Money comes in three forms: student fees, endowment income, gifts and grants.  The first leg of the revenue triangle is student fees.  Students must be attracted here and retained here if we are to have the requisite cash flow to conduct the core programs of the College.  As we seek to realize our vision for the College, we have to begin with the last phrase in that Statement.  It talks about “selectivity,” which means the selection of students.
I have said on numerous occasions that I do not yearn for Greensboro College to have a large enrollment.  My guiding principle is I want us to remain as small as possible and be economically sound.  We establish our budget and the income side of that budget reflects student fees.  We have to meet those projections or make cuts in the budget.  That is an issue we will face this year.  Last year the issue was the endowment’s lack of performance.
    But for our purposes here, let us focus on student fees and look at the budget through the eyes of the vision statement which calls for us to “be selective” as a college.  That means we have to attract and retain students.  It is that simple … attract and retain.  The complicating factor comes in the details.  We have to attract and retain not only fee-paying students, but students with stronger and stronger academic records.  How do we attract students?
    It is obvious that several new academic programs have helped attract new students.  This year alone, the Middle College has added 51 students to the headcount and graduate programs have added 73 students.  The Executive Bachelor’s Program is expected to add 25 students.  But as I pointed out earlier, headcount is not always a good indicator of fiscal issues.
Personal interest programs have the ability to attract students.  The marching band along with women’s swim and softball teams attracted a whole new segment of the population.  Football alone brought in more than 100 students even in that first year five years ago.  These students would not have considered Greensboro College had we not initiated those programs.
    The first facility “attraction” into which we put our time and money was the Huggins Performance Center.  That building was first because it is the facility that brought most visitors to the campus.  Public school students, the North Carolina Historic Book Club members and supporters of  theatre and music — if they came to Greensboro College they went to Odell Building.  That is the first chance we have to make a good impression.  There is a vast difference between Odell Auditorium and Huggins Performance Center.  
    Our second focus was on The Art and Science Building.  Remember that name for the Proctors?  Proctor Hall gave us an impressive academic facility to showcase classroom activity.  Furthermore, its completion very definitely signaled the improvement in our retention of students.  The Cowan Humanities Building, the Jones Library and West Residence Hall must now be our next targets.
   Student life involves a great deal more than classrooms and dining halls. Students also expect to enjoy themselves and interact with others.  As quaint and charming as was The Stu, it just did not compete for the attention of students who were considering us along with other colleges and universities in this area.  We acquired and transformed the old Central YMCA, and now we do compete.  The addition of the Royce Reynolds Family Student Life Center allows us to compete very effectively in this area.
So too will the addition of the old Price School Complex.  Consider now the three aspects of the Greensboro College campus.  This main campus is the academic and residential center of the college.  The Reynolds Center is the student activities and indoor sports campus, and Price will be the outdoor recreation and sports campus.
    Now the big question.  Has all this moved us closer to the vision statement to “… be among America’s selective liberal arts colleges”? To be selective means you select from a pool the students you want.  To do this, a college has to be in a position to deny admission to students that are not as strong as the ones you want to admit.  Thus we have to generate a larger pool of applicants.     This year, for the first time, we had more than 1000 applications for admissions – 1015, to be exact.  We accepted 737 of those applicants, 72 percent.  The previous year we accepted 76 percent of all applicants; and the year before that we accepted 77 percent We accepted fewer applicants, but have a larger and stronger class.  Is that  becoming selective?
    Want more proof?  I hope so.  This year we denied admission to 78 applicants – 8 percent of our applicant pool.  Last year we denied admissions to 35 students, only 3 percent of our applicants. Is that becoming selective?
    When we launched the Presidential Scholar program I used what Dr. George Cheatham assures me is an old, old Latin proverb. It says, “A rising tide lifts all ships.”  I believe Dr. Cheatham, and I certainly believe in the wisdom of that comment.  This year’s Presidential Scholars have SAT averages of 1327.  So what about the rest of the ships?  Our overall SAT average has grown from 981 last year to 1013 this year; that’s 32 points.  How high should the tide rise?  I am confident the best range for Greensboro College SATs for the next few years is between 1000 and 1100.  We can compete for students in that range.  We are not yet ready to compete for an entire class of students with SAT averages above 1200.  Has the money our benefactors put into the Presidential Scholars program been worthwhile?  I think they all believe it has been.
   We are attracting more students to help pay the bills.  We are more selective in admitting students and thus the overall academic ability of our students is improving.  Are we moving in the direction of being “among America’s selective liberal arts colleges”?
    We are making progress on the last portion of our vision statement — being “among America’s selective liberal arts colleges” portion of the statement.  And in fact, we have to be successful there before we can deal with the rest of the statement.  Let us look now at how we are doing with the first part of the statement: “classic, applied and innovative programs.”
    By “classic” I mean the classic definition of the liberal arts.  We all understand the value of the classic liberal arts.  Dr. George Cheatham recently sent us a statement from a publication that succinctly listed several values of residential liberal arts colleges.  It noted, “Liberal arts college alumni have strong personal values, and place importance on a range of activities: contributing to the community, participating in organizations that help disadvantaged members of society, promoting racial equality or other social justice issues, using their best skills and abilities, and having the freedom to consider moral and ethical aspects of decisions.”  These are truly important values to all of us.  
    But let’s go further and consider the “applied” and “innovative” adjectives that are to describe our programs.  Those programs give a raison d’etre for programs such as those initiated or merely encouraged by Village 401 and our community service activities.  This belief is why we encourage our faculty and staff to become active participants in civic clubs and organizations.  This is why we seek to bring business and professional people from the community to the campus and to our classrooms.  That is why we establish partnerships with Guilford County Schools.

Conclusion

    If they “break up Greensboro College” what will they find?  They will find people who are determined to succeed at every undertaking.  They will find a program that blends the best traditions of the classics with the needs and opportunities of the 21st century.  They will find a place that is attractive to behold and sufficient to house a community of people who need residential, educational and recreational facilities.  “Break up Greensboro College,” if you dare!