Dear Friends,

	Gary Gold
	Town Meeting Hosted by President Jackson "The Way Forward: Resoluteness in Tough Times" Wednesday, April 2 2 :30-4:30 p.m. Room 308 of the Darrin Communications Center Note Time change

These are extraordinary times for our country and for American higher education. As the economy continues to struggle, and as international conflicts loom, some major colleges and universities are retrenching and scaling back to remain financially sound.

In this atmosphere of uncertainty, the Rensselaer Board of Trustees expressed its continuing confidence in the future of the Institute at its February meeting by passing the budget for academic and fiscal year 2003-2004. The Board’s action stands as an endorsement of the Institute’s bold and exciting plans for the coming years, bolstered by the focused, disciplined, and ambitious performance plans presented by Rensselaer’s schools and administrative divisions. Indeed, our disciplined planning and budgeting has allowed us to reach many of the goals of The Rensselaer Plan in a short period of time.

Other universities are seeing declines in endowments and gifts that impact their operating budgets. Stanford, Duke, and Dartmouth, for example, have announced combinations of salary freezes, hiring freezes, and budget cuts to maintain financial equilibrium.

Rensselaer, meanwhile, is forging ahead with its plans for growth. The Trustees are resolved that we must continue to invest in Rensselaer and in The Rensselaer Plan. We will continue to renew and add to the faculty, especially in the constellations and in the institutional thrust areas of biotechnology and information technology. We will provide merit increases for our faculty and staff, and we will implement “employer of choice” faculty and staff compensation initiatives. We will implement priority initiatives across the schools and divisions. We will advance the South Campus development projects. We will meet and expand our commitment to the renovation of residence halls and to other capital and deferred maintenance projects. (Please see the following budget summary for more details on our plans.)

The 2003-2004 budget is a solid investment in Rensselaer as a research and learning leader in the 21st century. The budget also is an investment in all of our futures, as Rensselaer graduates and faculty researchers continue to develop the innovations that will make our world safer, more secure, and more prosperous. This budget is another step toward realizing that future.

Sincerely,

Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D.
President