U. endowment, budget plans on table for Trustees meeting

Penn's endowment figures are down for the first half of the Fiscal Year 2003 but have surpassed the University's benchmark and seem to be improving, according to a report that will be discussed by the University Board of Trustees on Friday. "The [figures] are down, as is the entire world," University President Judith Rodin said. "But this is only halfway -- this is the report through December. "We are way above our benchmark, however," Rodin added. "So our [investment] strategy seems to be working." According to Rodin, the monthly reports she has seen show that the endowment numbers will improve. "The January numbers actually look much better," she said. The endowment is one of many issues on the agenda for the Board of Trustees' annual winter meeting, which will begin Thursday morning. Additionally, the trustees will listen to discussions of the strategic plan, which will be presented completely and formally in June, according to University Secretary Leslie Kruhly. "We are having part of a continuing set of presentations on the strategic plan as they go forward at Penn and Penn Med," Kruhly said. The University has 80 trustees, both active and emeritus. According to Kruhly, the weather has not prevented most from attending this week's meetings -- 50 are expected to be present on Thursday and Friday. Thursday morning will include individual meetings of Facilities and Campus Planning as well as the Ad Hoc Committee on Diversity. "The facilities committee is going to hear a report on the progress on the high rises," Rodin said. "They will see the first plans with regard to form for the bioengineering building... and other facilities projects will be reviewed. "The diversity committee is going to talk about the challenges to affirmative action, among other things," she added. Since the diversity committee is not a standing trustee committee with student liaisons, various student representatives have been appointed to discuss the issue of diversity with the members of the committee. The Neighborhood Initiatives, Audit and Compliance, and Budget and Finance committees will also meet on Thursday. On Friday, the full board, joined by former trustees, will meet at the Inn at Penn at 11 a.m. for the stated meeting. Rodin, Board of Trustees Chairman James Riepe, Provost Robert Barchi, Howard Marks of the Trustee Investment Committee and other committee representatives will deliver brief reports. At the stated meeting, the trustees are scheduled to authorize a number of resolutions by the Budget and Finance Committee, including the approval of $26 million for the Harrison College House renovation project, over $5 million for improvements on Annenberg Plaza, renovations of classrooms in the Annenberg School for Communication and $1.5 million for Steinberg-Dietrich Hall renovations. The Board of Trustees will also approve appointments, including the new slate of the Board of Managers to the Wistar Institute. Tomorrow evening, the new trustees will meet for an orientation. "We try to only bring in new trustees once a year, something that we have instituted since I've been president," Rodin said. "A class of trustees receives orientation together, to make sure that people can hit the ground running." Previously, trustees were brought in one by one throughout the year, which, according to Rodin, was not conducive to an efficient discussion. "You could feel it," she said. "They really weren't up to speed, and the issues are continuous, and so [bringing in new trustees once a year] is very effective." The Board of Trustees -- the University's main governing body -- holds full meetings in the fall, winter and spring and four separate meetings of the Budget and Finance Committee and Executive Committee throughout the year.

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