Welcome to the Fall 2019 Semester
Dear Brooklyn College community,
I hope you had a great summer. Welcome to the fall semester!
As many of you know, last spring, Brooklyn College obtained accreditation for the first time from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business for our Murray Koppelman School of Business. The AACSB accredits only the top 5 percent of business schools in the country, and some firms will only hire graduates of AACSB-accredited institutions, so this is a big win for our students.
Since that time, Brooklyn College has been on an extraordinary roll, and I want to share with you a few of the things that make us proud.
A lot happened over the summer. First, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education reaccredited the college without reservation, which is a prerequisite for our students to obtain federal financial aid.
Second, we finalized work on the first year of the Brooklyn College Strategic Plan 2018–2023. Based on a Middle States recommendation, we added key performance indicators and issued a streamlined Strategic Plan 2.0 focused on five goals: 1) Enhance our academic excellence; 2) Increase undergraduate, master's, and doctoral students' success; 3) Educate students for fulfilling work and leadership in their communities; 4) Develop a nimble, responsive, and efficient structure to serve our students and carry out our mission; and 5) Enhance our reputation for academic excellence and upward mobility. As our first-year Strategic Plan Report Card indicates, we have made considerable progress.
Third, just this month, Money ranked Brooklyn College the 35th Best College in the United States for quality and affordability! It noted: "Brooklyn College—with its classically designed campus, low tuition, and national academic reputation—is sometimes called the 'poor man's Harvard.' The school boasts a rich mix of nationalities, income levels, and languages in its 18,000-person student body. Brooklyn College excels at helping students advance up the socioeconomic ladder."
We added that outstanding ranking to a spate of recent recognition for excellence. U.S. News & World Report ranks Brooklyn College as having the #1 Most Diverse Student Body among regional universities in the Northeast. It also ranks the college as being the #19 Best Public School and as having the #12 Best Undergraduate Teaching in the Northeast.
Finally, our fundraising results have been very strong. We raised $9.9 million last year, a 47 percent increase over the prior year and 186 percent over the year before that. We also aligned fundraising with our strategic priorities. Specifically, we raised almost $3 million in new support for degree completion grants, which will provide targeted financial assistance over a number of years for students who have lost or exhausted their financial aid.
This fall, 12 brilliant new faculty members will add to our stellar teaching ranks. In the coming year, our faculty, staff, and administrators will work together to carry out our Strategic Plan with a focus on supporting our students.
I hope you have a great fall semester, and I look forward to seeing you.
