Mary Schantz February 2nd, 2009
Dear Colleagues,
I write to update you on the status of the College’s contingency plans for dealing with the most severe, widespread economic downturn since at least the 1940s.
Colleges across America are grappling with this challenge, from Stanford University, which has announced plans to cut its operating budget by $120 million - 15 percent -over the next two years, to Middlebury College, which aims to trim 100 staff positions in the same period. Though it is impossible to predict the future direction of the global economy, I am grateful to say that at this point it does not appear as though The College of Wooster will need to undertake the more draconian steps that have so deeply shaken many of our peer institutions. While we currently forecast some reduction in revenues next year, our position is sufficiently solid and stable that we believe we can take comparatively modest measures to steward the College through this turbulent period.
From the moment we began developing our contingency plans last fall, our first priorities have been to protect the integrity of our core academic mission and to help students whose families are facing financial hardship remain at the College. To that end, in November we announced the Ruth W. and A. Morris Williams Jr. Emergency Student Aid Fund, which provides loans - half of which convert to an outright grant upon graduation - for students whose families have exhausted all other sources of aid. We also encouraged families to sign up for our monthly payment plan mid-year for the first time.
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Mary Schantz January 14th, 2009
Colleagues,
It gives me great pleasure to announce the appointment of Laurie Stickelmaier as Wooster’s next Vice President for Finance and Business.
Please see the following:
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Grant Cornwell
President
The College of Wooster
Mary Schantz December 8th, 2008
TO: All Faculty, Staff & Students
FROM: Grant H. Cornwell
SUBJECT: Contingency Planning in Turbulent Economic Times: An Update
The drumbeat of bad economic news has been pretty relentless the past few months, with each new day providing fresh evidence of the spreading impact of the global economic downturn.
Wooster is not immune to the buffeting of these economic forces, but compared with many of our peers, we are well positioned to weather the storm. We have very modest amounts of debt on our balance sheet and are unimpeded by the liquidity problems that have bedeviled some colleges. Our endowment investment strategy was engineered to hold up well in just this kind of market downturn. The endowment has suffered losses, but not of the magnitude experienced by many other colleges. We ended last fiscal year with a balanced budget and are on track to do so again this year.
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Mary Schantz October 28th, 2008
October 28, 2008
Dear Fellow Scots:
On Saturday, the College’s Board of Trustees held their fall meeting, following a very full schedule of committee work on Thursday and Friday, as well as a celebration of the formal dedication of Gault Manor on Friday evening. In this report, I will share with you, as I did with the Board on Saturday, updates on our strategic priorities, but now more than ever these need to be situated in the context of the larger economy.
My view is that The College of Wooster is very favorably positioned, not simply to weather the storm, but to emerge from it in a stronger position. I have been talking with colleagues and experts across the country. One analyst put it this way: “The organizations that will come out ahead are those that have the following characteristics: (1) modest debt on their balance sheets; (2) relatively unimpeded by constraints on liquidity; (3) a diversified, conservative and protective investment posture; (4) a high quality, differentiated product in their markets; (5) a clear vision of their core mission; and (6) bold and confident leadership.”
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Mary Schantz October 28th, 2008
Dear Faculty and Staff:
I invite you to join me on Tuesday, October 28, at 11:00 a.m. in the Gault Recital Hall of Scheide Music Center, for the first of what I hope will become a regular series of campus open forums following meetings of the College’s Board of Trustees.
Tuesday’s forum will be an opportunity to discuss important actions taken by the Board, updates on the College’s strategic priorities, and how we are preparing for the possible impacts of the global economic crisis on The College of Wooster.
I hope to see you there.
Regards,
Grant Cornwell
HOURLY STAFF TIMECARD INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE OPEN FORUM
Hourly staff need to indicate the “in” and “out” times on their time cards for the time spent at the Open Forum on Tuesday, October 28. Next to “Other” on the hand-written time cards and at the bottom of the punch clock time cards, hourly staff need to indicate the time spent up to one hour at this event.
