I write today to update you on our recent activities and thank you for your hard work during this challenging year.
We have moved forward with our Building a Stronger Roosevelt initiative. The most difficult part for me — connected to the imperative of reducing our deficit — was the reduction of our workforce by about 10 percent. That phase of our initiative has now been completed. This was necessitated by the loss of 1,400 students since 2014 — a loss in tuition revenue that we could not continue to manage without also reducing our workforce.
We started by eliminating vacant positions, offering early retirement and consolidating staff responsibilities, but these were still not enough to compensate for the loss in tuition revenue. We therefore also had to make the very difficult decision to eliminate filled positions and to notify certain faculty that they would not be reappointed after the expiration of their current contracts. We will be a smaller, leaner and more effective University that is better able to respond to the rapidly changing environment of higher education.
We have reduced costs by implementing office and college restructuring, and leveraging real estate holdings. I’m happy to report that University Center is in the process of being sold and that the Gage Building is now for sale. The latter sale will mean that faculty and programs now in Gage will return to the Auditorium and Wabash buildings later this summer and fall. The Schaumburg Campus is also under assessment, and we remain committed to having a presence in Schaumburg and offering high quality programs there.
We have also recently announced two key appointments. Dr. Asghar Sabbaghi has been named Dean of the Heller College of Business. Sabbaghi brings more than 20 years of leadership experience in business education, most recently serving as dean at Saint Xavier University’s Graham School of Management in Chicago. Also, veteran real estate executive Collete English Dixon has been appointed executive director of the Marshall Bennett Institute and chair of real estate in the Heller College of Business, where she will implement a five-year plan to expand the institute’s programs and funding.
Finally, here’s good news regarding enrollment and retention: Enrollment for the summer session is 20 percent higher than last year, and retention of full-time first-year students — according to preliminary numbers — is running ahead of last year by an amazing 14 percent. Thank you for all your efforts in this regard.
Don’t forget to mark your calendars for the second American Dream Reconsidered Conference — beginning on Sept. 11. Featured speakers include Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, political analysts David Axelrod and Bill Kristol, and other terrific participants who will address issues of economics, health care, immigration, the humanities and more. To register and get more information visit roosevelt.edu/americandream — note that tickets for Judge Ginsburg’s event in the Auditorium Theatre are available now to the Roosevelt community at the Auditorium Theatre box office, and go on sale to the general public on July 28.