May 2, 2005

President Witt Addresses Faculty and Staff at Spring Meeting

UA President Robert E. Witt spoke to faculty and staff at the annual spring meeting on April 25. Following are highlights from his remarks. For more complete excerpts, please go to http://president.ua.edu.

Dr. Robert E. Witt addressing the recent spring meeting

UA President Dr. Robert E. Witt addresses UA faculty and staff at the recent spring meeting. (photo: Laura Shill)

Growth with quality: The cornerstone of our vision for the future is to become a university of choice for the best and brightest. This year that vision became a reality. Last fall, 3,364 freshmen enrolled at UA, up nine percent over the previous year. These freshmen averaged in the top 20 percent nationally on the ACT and carried an average high school GPA of 3.4. The inaugural class of the Honors College enrolled 557 freshmen who averaged in the top five percent on the ACT and had high school GPAs averaging over 3.8. The University of Alabama CAN grow with quality.

Enrollment growth: Last fall we had a record number of applications — 9,200. To date, that number stands at 10,400 for fall 2005. We are aggressively advertising, promoting and communicating our academic strength. I’m confident that in the years ahead, we’ll see not only enrollment growth, but growth in the quality of our student body.

Faculty and staff salaries: Last fall we took a significant step forward in terms of reaching the SUG (Southern Universities Group) 50th percentile. I am optimistic that this fall we’ll have a faculty and staff merit raise pool comparable to the one we had last fall. If we do, we will reach the 50th percentile next fall in almost all our colleges and schools, and then we will begin to push very aggressively for the 75th percentile.

Faculty recruiting: We have made several excellent additions to our faculty for next fall. I’m confident many of the pending offers will be accepted and we will go into the coming academic year substantially strengthened in our faculty ranks.

Facilities: The amount of construction currently in process is exceptional. Now under construction are the Child Development Research Building, the new Student Health Center and three new residence halls. We have broken ground on two additional residence halls and a new dining facility. Other planned facilities include a chemistry lab building, and buildings for nursing and biology. Senator Richard Shelby has committed to two additional facilities, both to support engineering and science.

Research: An integral part of our vision for the future is to become a tier-1 research university. During the last year, we substantially strengthened the research environment at the University — strengthening our grants and contracts office, providing better support for faculty and identifying an increase in funding for start-up costs to facilitate recruiting research faculty. Next fall, a scholarship program for graduate research assistants appointed against external grants and contracts will be implemented, covering the difference between instate and out-of-state tuition fees and making it possible for faculty to attract and employ more graduate students.

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