Our 125th anniversary year was one of celebrations, transitions, and successes, including a few successful struggles. Although not without setbacks, the 2000-2001 academic year sums to an unequivocally good year as we do our annual reckoning. In the longer sweep of time, it will surely stand as a memorable year in the history of the College. I am deeply grateful for the many contributions that produced a record of which we can all be proud. Celebrating the 125th and the Campaign When we set out several years ago to envision how we might mark our 125th anniversary, we knew we wanted to celebrate Wellesley's extraordinary success and recommit to the underlying values that have sustained a resilient institution through ups and downs. We wanted to create a moment in which the College community would experience ourselves striding with purpose and confidence into a new century, as strong and sure as we've ever been, ready to face new challenges. I believe we accomplished that goal, with help from literally every division and department of the College, and many generous volunteers. We opened the year with a special convocation followed by a carnival and fireworks display to which thousands of our neighbors came. Then the Alumnae Association sponsored "A Day to Make a Difference," a Saturday on which hundreds of alumnae fanned out into communities--here in Boston and around the world--to volunteer time in support of community-building efforts and to honor our motto of service. Through the year, various departments and divisions sponsored panels, symposia, and performances touching many facets of our history and our future. We produced a special anniversary issue of Wellesley magazine and a scholarly book on the history of the landscape, written by three of our art history faculty. We displayed exhibitions and photo essays across the campus, and in cyberspace, and an anniversary web page featured a "person of the week." Colorful banners on the lamp posts withstood a harsh winter, after we learned to fasten them to deter agile memento seekers. And, at an April symposium featuring more than 50 distinguished alumnae panelists, moderated by faculty and students, we enjoyed an unforgettable 24-hour reconnection with our graduates and their life stories. A rare joint appearance by two of our luminaries--the nation's first woman Secretary of State and the first First Lady to be elected to the U.S. Senate--filled our largest indoor space and provided many in attendance with a memory that will not soon fade. The extensive positive publicity we garnered from these anniversary activities more than compensated for an unflattering article that vexed us earlier in the year. Also, we celebrated the public launch of our ambitious comprehensive campaign with large and festive events on campus (in October) and in New York (in April), brought to a crescendo with a video of the launch of our first astronaut into outer space. These campaign events were well attended and much appreciated. Spirits were high and participants were proud of the College and excited to be part of its future, which was our goal. We are well positioned for the campaign now, with a strong volunteer leadership team and an excellent professional staff. We expect to reach the $220-million mark we set for June 30, 2001 and, four years hence, to bring our campaign to successful completion, despite the unsettling volatility in the stock markets this year. Accomplishments in the Academic Realm The Office of the Dean of the College shouldered an especially heavy load of work this year reviewing faculty for reappointment, promotion, and merit awards. Nevertheless, we made good progress in the academic area advancing major priorities of the campaign. We still have work to do refining and focusing a few of the established campaign goals in the academic area. Meanwhile, the first major building project funded through the campaign, the Pendleton renovation, was completed this year with extraordinary forbearance and good will from those who were dislocated in the process. The transformation of Pendleton East has enhanced opportunities for cooperative programming in the social sciences and has sparked a new spirit of collaboration among faculty and students who occupy that inspiring new space. We strengthened our administrative structures for Wintersession offerings abroad, as well as for internship and service learning opportunities. These have been areas of emphasis and growth for us in recent years, much to the satisfaction of our students. We bolstered our support for study abroad this year, too, but have decisions still to make about how we organize and staff that function, which cuts across the academic and student life divisions. Resignations of key staff in the quantitative reasoning (QR) program at the beginning of the year delayed plans we had in that area, but a new director is now in place and ready to revise the core course and participate with the Office of Institutional Research (OIR) in an assessment of how well we have implemented the QR requirement. We have been short-handed in OIR too, and are searching to fill a vital vacancy there. Collaborative discussions with Brandeis University have been especially encouraging this year, and our several Mellon Foundation projects have provided food for thought, with our faculty often playing leadership roles in discussions that are opening new collaborative possibilities that should serve us, and our students, well. Excellent work by the Faculty Benefits Committee persuaded us of the need to improve the faculty mortgage program, which we did, to cushion the impact of rising real estate costs in and around the town of Wellesley. It has become increasingly clear, however, that this is but a temporary solution to a developing problem that is going to require more thorough study. Administrative Reorganization As a result of much thought and discussion over the past several years, we have been implementing a reorganization and succession plan for the administration and finance areas. The new Administration and Planning Division is developing a systematic plan for sequencing and carrying out the many capital projects that will be enabled by the campaign. The goal is to provide the framework we need to keep our largest vision of the future in view, even as we remain confident that we are leaving no critical issues unanticipated in our campaign planning. The division is also revising its approach to setting priorities for major maintenance projects; for managing the physical plant department and tracking its projects; and for managing staff performance across the administration through the "Valuing Work @ Wellesley" initiative. In addition, we have moved the campus center another step toward reality. We spent a good part of the fall selecting an architect and a site for the center; both were approved by the Board in January. Campus committees have now been named to oversee the design process, which will begin this coming fall. On advice of the architect, we have extended the overall timetable and expect to dedicate the campus center at the end of the campaign. In the second part of the reorganization, we welcomed a new Vice President for Finance and Treasurer in November. Her extensive experience, and her equanimity, were quickly put to the test as she rose to a series of challenges including the staffing of the investment office, a deficit in the current year's budget (FY01), and a large gap between revenues and requested expenditures in the budget for the year ahead (FY02). The Budget Advisory Committee was especially effective this year in identifying sources of disequilibrium in the budget, working to address them, and calling for ongoing vigilance in the face of structural pressures that will continue to grow. The third element in this reorganization was a special three-year assignment for the former Vice President of Finance and Administration. The Paintshop Pond clean-up consumed an inordinate amount of time, attention, and money throughout the year, but we feel we made more headway towards a tolerable long-term solution than we had made in over 30 years of frustrating and expensive work on what has seemed an intractable problem. The Information Services Division is quite far along now in a multiple-year reorganization that is bearing fruit. Across the IS division, we are seeing evidence of increased collaboration, improved communication, and enhanced service. New growth opportunities have been created for key members of the division, and the newly- established IS Advisory Committee is providing valuable advice. We continue to maintain a strong position in our application of technology to learning and teaching, to library services, and to administrative operations because the structures we created have strengthened our ability to integrate new technologies quickly and to take advantage of the new capabilities they offer. Student Life We've had another highly satisfactory admissions year, with an applicant pool within about one percent of the size of last year's pool and a yield rate (47%) several points better than we have seen for several years. The Class of 2005 looks promising in all respects. An extremely generous open-ended commitment by Kathryn Davis's son, Shelby, to underwrite the financial aid needs of students we admit from United World College campuses around the world has enabled us to enroll 13 highly-qualified international students we otherwise would not have had the resources to bring to Wellesley. Although still in transition, the Student Life Division has had a better year than those in recent memory. A new associate dean, together with a new director of residential life, have begun to create a more collaborative work environment in that department and to build a more cohesive team. The ongoing work of supporting a residential learning community has been handled effectively, efficiently, and responsibly by student leaders, heads of house, and members of the central staff working in respectful partnerships with each other and with other members of the faculty and staff. The absence of serious "crises" in the residence halls this year is silent testimony to that good work. The Task Force on Student Life worked diligently through the fall and winter to make sense of some of the tensions that have surrounded Student Life these past three years. Their report identifies many complex issues that have been long-standing concerns and makes a number of concrete recommendations that should move the College forward. We owe the task force members a debt of gratitude for stepping into a difficult breach. In addition, this year's College Government leaders provided especially creative and inclusive leadership in cabinet, in senate, and across the campus. Challenges on the Road Ahead We know we have work still to do in student life, and the upsurge in student activism across the country this year suggests that we may find ourselves doing that work while also struggling to understand and respond responsibly to protean "grievances and demands" from students, not unlike those presented to us this spring. I feel that we handled that situation as well as we were able, but it was distracting, exhausting, and at times frustrating for all involved. Certainly, the context of protest is not the one we would choose in which to take up vital discussions with students about how we can strengthen the College. But, as I often say, activism that springs from genuine concern for the common good is far preferable to apathy. Wellesley is strong in part because generations of students have cared enough about the College to channel their intelligence and passion into its constant renewal. In every area of the College, I believe we are going to have to become more adept at managing demands for resources from constituencies feeling undervalued relative to others appearing more privileged from one perspective or another. It can be difficult to accept that such a wealthy institution cannot simply supply all groups with all the resources they want and feel they need and deserve. When the answer is no, it is experienced, often, as a personal affront. And yet we must find better ways to manage the escalation in our costs, especially as higher education faces harder times ahead. We are among the fortunate few institutions that are buffered by strong endowments from the most direct and immediate impacts of economic vicissitudes. But the very successes we have had the pleasure of celebrating this year deflect us from confronting the crucial fact that there are limits to our growth. That said, it is obvious that in the years ahead we will rely, more than ever, on the reflective, flexible, and resourceful participation in the affairs of this community that have made Wellesley College the decent and just institution it is and aspires always to be. We are fortunate in the number of faculty, staff, and students who can be counted on to care deeply about the future of the College and to invest their time and energy in engaging in a probing search for the common good. Thanks so much for your contributions to an exceptionally good year for Wellesley.
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