- University Fitness Center, Room 133
- The Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
- Friday, March 21, 2003
- 9:30 a.m.
I would like to begin by thanking Darrell Kirch and his staff for the wonderful hospitality that they have shown to all of us this week. The Hershey Medical Center brings great pride to all of us in the Penn State family, and it is always a privilege to come here and see the outstanding work that they are doing. Thank you, Darrell.
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Despite the risk of making you feel that you are experiencing deja vu, I must report yet again that Penn State's appropriation for the current year has been cut since last we met. For the fourth time in the past year and a half, we have received a cut by the state, this time another $3.2 million, bringing the total cuts to date to $29 million. I regret to report that the Governor's budget for next year proposes an additional cut on top of that of $16 million, plus $2 million more in allocations from other line items.
We certainly understand the difficult economic situation the state has been wrestling with recently and recognize that we need to do our part. But this latest reduction comes at a particularly difficult time. With only three months left in the fiscal year, it greatly exacerbates the impact of the cuts. And these cuts come on top of big increases in operating costs for everything from health insurance to utilities costs to snow removal.
We will continue to emphasize quality in our education, research and service activities. But these ongoing budget cuts make it difficult to do that without passing additional costs to students and their families. My budget hearings, which were scheduled for March 26th and April 1st, have been cancelled. The House and the Senate have moved forward without hearings to approve the Governor's initial budget. Although our budget, which is considered a non-preferred appropriation, has not been approved, it is likely to experience the same fate as the rest of the Governor's budget. The politics of this are still to play out in the weeks ahead, and we will keep you apprised.
Increasing the funding for the College of Medicine will continue to be a high priority. We will continue to make the case whenever we can on the importance of better funding for Hershey. We still rank dead last in funding for a public university. We receive less than any other public medical school in the Commonwealth, and more inexplicably for the Pennsylvania State University, we receive less state funding than any PRIVATE medical school in Pennsylvania.
Historically, we were able to operate the college off of the revenue from our hospitals and clinics. But as you all know, this is no longer possible in the current health care environment. So increased funding for the College of Medicine is a critical need that we hope the Governor and legislature will address. There is much at stake.
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On a brighter note, as the state has been taking money away from Penn State, our students have been bringing it in. This year's Dance Marathon was another smash success. Despite a poor economy and a downturn in philanthropic giving nationally; and undeterred by poor weather, this year's Dance Marathon hit the $3.6 million mark again. The proceeds go to the Four Diamonds Fund at Hershey.
As most of you know, this is the largest student-run philanthropy in the world, and it is one of the most uplifting and inspiring events that I have ever witnessed in higher education. Congratulations go to all the students involved. If you have never been to Thon, I hope you will be there next year, because it is really an amazing and uplifting experience.
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The weather this winter has presented some real challenges for Penn State. On February 17th, we were forced to cancel classes at University Park and a number of other campuses when about 2 feet of snow fell. The past several winters have been mild ones, but this year we went through our entire budget for snow removal by early February, and we have since gone through almost all of the reserve that was saved over the past 4 winters. Despite a January in which we had precipitation every single day – breaking a 100 year record – our physical plant crew has kept the campus remarkably free of ice and snow. It is a real tribute to their dedication.
The impact of the winter was not limited to any one Penn State location. Here at Hershey, the same storm that shut down the University Park campus had a huge impact. Snow removal costs and lost revenue from patients not being able to make it in amounted to more than $1 million dollars.
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The Shuttle Columbia disaster was an event that saddened all Americans. The particular sense of loss felt by those close to the space program and seven Columbia crew members has reached within the Penn State family, as several members of the University community have direct or historical ties to NASA and the shuttle program or had research and astronaut colleagues lost in the skies over Texas last month.
Some Penn Staters are on the front lines of piecing together what went wrong. NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe was a Smeal College of Business Administration faculty member and research officer from 1993-1996. He returned to Penn State last September to talk about the state of NASA and the space shuttle program. Retired U.S. Navy Admiral Harold Gehman, a 1965 Penn State graduate and distinguished alumnus, is leading the independent probe of the Columbia disaster. This is the second major federal probe led by Gehman, who previously investigated the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen in October 2000 that killed 17 sailors.
Researchers at Penn State's Milton S. Hershey Medical Center are not only lamenting the loss of Columbia and its crew, but also the loss of years of medical research that was aboard Columbia. The project, led by Chester Ray, associate professor of medicine and cellular and molecular biology in Penn State's College of Medicine, was designed to explore whether heart and other muscle tissue mass is lost, and whether blood vessel function is compromised, by space flight.
Ray, who was at Kennedy Space Center in Florida awaiting the landing of Columbia on February 1st, hoped that this project would reveal information about the body's ability to adapt to microgravity and its physiological consequences on astronauts returning to earth, with a goal of improving the health of crew members aboard shuttle missions and at the International Space Station.
The project was the latest in a long-standing research relationship between Penn State and NASA. In fiscal 2001, approximately $20 million in NASA-funded research was conducted at the University. Further, Penn State continues to serve as Pennsylvania's lead institution in the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program. The program is a national network of colleges and universities working to expand opportunities for Americans to understand and participate in NASA's aeronautics and space programs by supporting and enhancing science and engineering education, research, and outreach programs.
Others in the University community are dealing with the tragedy in a way that very few can -- as fellow astronauts. Four Penn State alumni have flown aboard the space shuttle: Paul Weitz, a 1954 alumnus who flew aboard Challenger in 1983; Guion Bluford, a 1964 alumnus who also flew aboard Challenger in 1983; and Bob Cenker, a 1970 alumnus who flew aboard Columbia in 1987.
The fourth, James Pawelczyk, is a 1985 graduate degree recipient and current assistant professor of kinesiology and physiology at Penn State. Pawelczyk flew aboard Columbia on STS-90 in 1998, and was in training for his mission as many of the seven Columbia crew members lost last month were just entering the astronaut corps.
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Another world event impacting Penn State is the situation in Iraq. As the United States has mobilized thousands of troops for fighting in the Middle East, approximately 300 members of the University community – students, faculty and staff – have been called to active duty by their respective military units. We expect that number to rise further in the weeks ahead. I think it is important for Trustees to know that the University stands ready to assist and support these troops who require leaves of absence from Penn State for U.S. military service.
The University has policies in place that will protect the status of students and employees. Our flexibility in these situations is an important contribution that we can make not only to our men and women in uniform, but to the nation.
Students who are called to duty receive a full refund of tuition for the semester in which they must withdraw, and when they are discharged from active duty, they are eligible for "military re-enrollment" to the University, assuring the student direct access to the same major and location as was assigned at the time of withdrawal. Students are allowed to advance register for courses at the time of re-enrollment.
The University instituted a policy after September 11th that is intended to provide some financial assistance to affected faculty and staff who are called to active duty. A $500 stipend per month for up to 18 months during military leave from Penn State is now provided to help employees and their families offset the cut in pay incurred during their active duty service.
It is our hope and prayer that all of our students, faculty and staff who have been called to duty in the Middle East will return safely.
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Penn State faculty continue to make important research contributions. To give you just a small sampling of recent achievements of our faculty:
Data gathered by Penn State engineers in a volunteer effort at the World Trade Center tragedy suggests that simple, inexpensive microphones dropped into the rubble of a collapsed building may prove to be a great aid to search and rescue teams despite ground level noise.
Since the Penn State team made their measurements, they have developed small wireless microphones in hardened packages that can be thrown into areas too dangerous for people to enter. They basically embed the microphones into a baseball, which can then be tossed into the rubble to listen.
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Penn State faculty also played an important role in the recently completed effort to sequence the mouse genome. Penn State geneticists, computer scientists and statisticians were major contributors to the Mouse Genome Sequencing Consortium. Much of the effort relied on software written by Penn State computer scientist Webb Miller. The computation for the project was performed by a network of roughly 1,000 computers at the University of California at Santa Cruz. It is hoped that this work will help scientists discover how the human genetic code works.
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I am pleased to note that another Penn State Faculty member has been elected to a national academy. Mary Jane Irwin, distinguished professor of computer science and engineering, has been named a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Irwin was cited for her contributions to VLSI architecture and automated design, which have helped shape the field of modern computer architecture. VLSI is the acronym for Very Large Scale Integration, which is a term that tries to capture the number of devices integrated on a silicon chip. These can now be in the millions of transistors. It is one of the most important areas in the technology field.
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We often talk at Penn State about the role that we play in assisting business and stimulating the economy. The Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program, or PENNTAP, is a great example of that.
Clients of PENNTAP reported 715 jobs created or retained and $17 million in economic benefits received throughout the Commonwealth in calendar year 2002. The program provided an overall total of 770 cases of technical assistance last year to 670 Pennsylvania businesses in all 67 counties. Economic benefits included cost savings, sales, and capital investments. Nearly half of the businesses served and 70 percent of the economic benefits reported were in counties designated by the U.S. Economic Development Administration as economically distressed.
This is yet another example of one of the many ways the Penn State is making life better for people across the entire Commonwealth.
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A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to testify before the House Judiciary Committee looking into the issue of illegal file sharing over the internet. This is a very important issue for higher education and I am pleased to report that Penn State is taking a leading role nationally in addressing it. I would be pleased to share a copy of my testimony with any of you who might be interested.
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I have very good news to report on the athletic front. The Lady Lions basketball team won the Big Ten regular season championship earlier this month when they beat Wisconsin before more than 10,000 people at the Jordan Center. This is the fourth time that the Lady Lions have won the title since they began league play in 1992-93. The Lady Lions open at home in the Jordan Center in the NCAA tournament this Saturday against Holy Cross. This is Penn State's 5th consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament and the team's 19th overall appearance since 1982. Congratulations to Rene Portland and her team on another great year.
Penn State's men's hockey team has once again won the national title. The Penn State Icers won their fourth straight American Collegiate Hockey Association National Championship earlier this month in Athens, Ohio. Congratulations to coach Joe Battista who seems to be building a dynasty on the ice for Penn State.
At Penn State we are very proud of the academic accomplishments of our student- athletes, so I am pleased to report that almost 400 Penn State student-athletes posted a grade point average of 3.0 or higher, for a record setting academic performance during the 2002 Fall semester.
For the sixth consecutive year, Penn State led all Big Ten institutions in academic all-conference honorees, with 209 selections in 2001-02. And Penn State's graduation rate for student athletes of 82 percent was tied with Virginia with for the highest of any Division I public institution, and was tied for eighth best nationally among all Division I institutions.
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I want to conclude my remarks by joining with Ed and all the other trustees in offering my sincere condolences to Ted Junker. Barbara was a great friend to everyone in the Penn State family, and she will be deeply missed by all of us.
The memorial service in Erie made it very clear how many lives Barbara had touched, and how beloved she was in her community. Ted, we all feel blessed to have known her. You and your family are in our thoughts and prayers.
That concludes my report. I would be happy to answer your questions.
