Dear alumni and friends

September 23, 2002

The new academic year is under way at U.Va. In my class, and as we pass on the brick sidewalks every day, I see countless students invigorated by the intellectual journey they are following here in the College. Thanks to you, their academic experience is as rich as ever.

Last May I wrote to alert you to the precarious position we faced as a result of the $3.2 million budget cut imposed on the College by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Our frustration at being unable to fill faculty vacancies or to fully fund our operating budgets was tempered by your response to our plight.

Through the contributions of many private donors, combined with gifts from the U.Va. Alumni Association, members of the College Foundation Board of Trustees, and the Seven Society, we were able to offer a full complement of classes this fall. My intent was to shield the students from the brunt of this budget cut, and we did. So on their behalf, I say thank you for stepping in when the state was unable to do so.

Despite the Commonwealth's continually worsening financial situation and the prospect of a new round of deeper cuts, I'm pleased to tell you that U.Va.'s reputation remains strong. This fall's entering class is outstanding. Of the 3,044 first-year students who accepted admissions offers, a slightly higher proportion than last year were in the top 10 percent of their high school class (84 percent compared with 81 percent). Mean scores in the math and combined SATs were up slightly while the verbal scores were the same.

There's more good news. In a study published this year, a higher education historian at Penn State put U.Va. second only to Berkeley among public universities in the percentage of undergraduate "super students" who enroll. Super students, in this analysis, are those who scored 700 or better on at least one part of the SAT--students who have considerable choice among schools. And in terms of the total number of super students enrolled, we're twelfth among public and private universities.

Common courses

To strengthen the breadth and cross-disciplinary coordination in our undergraduate curriculum, this year we are launching our first "common courses." This new type of course puts two or more star faculty members from different departments in front of several hundred students, first- through fourth-years, to wrestle with some of the thornier issues we face as a culture--disease, environmental degradation, war, or genetic manipulation, for example.

Our first two common courses were developed in conjunction with U.Va.'s new Institute for Practical Ethics. Twenty-first-Century Choices: War, Justice, and Human Rights, is being taught by Jim Childress, Religious Studies, and Michael Smith, Politics, this semester. Environmental Challenges and Decisions by Childress, Thomas Smith of Environmental Sciences, and Mark White of Commerce begins in the spring.

Later, we'll offer a second type of common course that focuses on a major mode of academic inquiry: How to Think Like an Artist, How to Think Like a Scientist, World Literatures, World Societies, and the like. We want every College student to experience at least one of each type of common course while at U.Va.

Along with new programs, we continue planning for new buildings that will benefit the arts, sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Many are targeted to be recipients of funds from a proposed General Obligation Bond Act that Virginia voters will address in November. The bond monies, limited to capital projects, would enable us to move forward with our long-term plans despite the short-term crunch on operating funds.

Meeting so many of you during the past twelve months has been among my most rewarding activities as Dean. At the two dozen alumni gatherings around the country and at the June reunions here in Charlottesville, I heard again and again how profoundly this place has affected your lives. I'll be on the road a lot again this year, and I hope to hear more of those stories and to share with you my aspirations for making your school even better.

Yours sincerely,
Edward L. Ayers,
Hugh P. Kelly Professor of History,
Dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences

For additional information, click on the links button under the dean's photo at the top of the page.