Rensselaer Magazine: Enabling Change, page 2

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Physical Facilities
Changes to Rensselaer’s physical plant are staggering. In addition to the “big dig” on 15th Street where the 218,000-square-foot Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies is taking shape, new construction on the south side of the campus includes the experimental media and performing arts center, a parking garage, a boiler plant, a chiller facility, and an electric substation.

And construction of a new upperclass residence hall is planned to begin next summer.

Educating Professionals: The Hartford Connection
In the 1950s, when rapidly changing technologies in the aircraft and defense industries were creating a critical shortage of engineers and other professionals in the Greater Hartford area, Rensselaer answered a call for help from United Aircraft Corporation (now United Technologies Corporation) by establishing the Hartford Graduate Center.

In January 1997, the Hartford Graduate Center merged with Rensselaer and became a branch campus. Operating as an extension of the greater Rensselaer intellectual community, Rensselaer at Hartford and its satellite in Groton, Conn., enroll close to 2,000 students from 100 corporations in professional master’s programs — in management, engineering, and computer science — that help high-ranking professionals keep pace with the technological changes that continually transform business and industry. The Rensselaer Learning Institute reaches another 14,000 working professionals.

Through nearly four decades, Rensselaer at Hartford has served the educational needs of some 500 companies. Today, some 20 percent of all master’s degrees awarded in business administration, engineering, and science in the state of Connecticut are earned by students at Hartford.

Rensselaer also earmarked approximately $17 million in the 2002 fiscal year and another $17 million in 2003 to upgrade existing academic buildings, residence halls, the information technology infrastructure, and other facilities.

Conditions of all classrooms were reviewed by the Office of Undergraduate Education and Campus Planning and Facilities Design in the summer of 2001. At that time, 30 classrooms received general renovation; four classrooms received full laptop upgrade, and four were partially upgraded.

Public Image
Creating a presence that projects the image Rensselaer wishes to convey has included a redesigned, consistent Web presence that is rapidly extending to all levels of the “rpi.edu” domain, including Rensselaer at Hartford.

Image improvement also includes the Institute’s “real” front door, with a planned redesigned entrance to the South Campus off College Avenue.

Financial Resources
Development of a new budgeting process was an essential step in implementing The Rensselaer Plan. The new process is activity-based, rather than incremental, and requires a disciplined approach to prioritization.

Since the activities of a portfolio and their relationship to The Rensselaer Plan are the determining factor in budgets, spending will be consistent with strategy and will force the prioritization of finite resources and reserves.

New construction will be financed in part by $220 million in tax-exempt bonds from the Troy Industrial Development Authority.

And, as demonstrated elsewhere in this magazine, fund raising is at the highest level ever attained by Rensselaer. The Institute is entering the 21st century on a growing financial base.

People, Programs, Platforms

Rensselaer Magazine: December 2002
President's View	Your Mail	From the Archives	Hawk Talk	Class Notes Features

Front Page	At Rensselaer	Milestones
In Memoriam	Making a Difference	Staying Connected

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Rensselaer (ISSN 0898-1442) is published in March, June, September, and December by the Office of Marketing and Media Relations.	Opinions expressed in these pages do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors or the policies of the Institute.
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