Photos by Andrew Shurtleff

Rector Jack Ackerly (center) and three other Board members complete their terms Feb. 28.

February 4, 2003

From Staff Reports

In a flurry of activity last week, the University’s Board of Visitors raised a student housing fee, authorized issuing $200 million in bonds in March for new projects and debt refinancing, and heard a plea for more funds for graduate students.

The board’s deliberations during its meeting Jan. 31-Feb. 1 spanned a range of issues, from discussing the health of the Medical Center to approving a new master’s degree in public health.

In asking the board to increase the Housing Division’s facilities improvement fee by $150, Yoke San Reynolds, vice president for finance, pointed out that the average double room rate at U.Va. is $2,451, well below both the average of $3,050 among Virginia’s public institutions and $3,631 among peer institutions nationally.s

With the increase, the average double room rate will go up next academic year to $2,711, a hike of 10.6 percent. The administration anticipates $150 increases over each of the next four fiscal years to pay for major housing repairs, replacement and renovations, with particular emphasis on the Alderman Road houses, which serve mostly first-year students.

The increase, which is expected to provide about $900,000 toward the facilities reserves, is part of a housing renovation and replacement plan that could cost $150 million to $200 million over the next 15-20 years.

Board member Elizabeth Twohy expressed concern that a plan to replace Alderman Road housing might displace first-year students, and she asked that University officials make sure all first-year students get housing over the coming years. Leonard Sandridge, executive vice president and chief operating officer, explained that the plan calls for replacing housing "in an orderly fashion."

"There is no intent to suggest we’re abandoning our commitment to first-year students," he said.

The Finance Committee’s recommendation to issue $200 million in bonds includes $115 million for seven new projects and $85 million to refinance debt. The projects range from $32.1 million for the multipurpose arena to $5 million for the Cancer Center renovation. The package also includes $32 million for the hospital expansion and $15.2 million each for School of Medicine Fontaine Research Building and the Emmet Street parking garage.

Last meeting for rector, others

The meeting was the last for the current rector, John P. "Jack" Ackerly III, and the board passed resolutions commending him and three other members whose terms expire Feb. 28: Elizabeth Twohy, T. Keister Greer and Elsie Goodwyn Holland.

Board members also decided to shorten the rector’s term from four years to two and to create a new position, vice rector, to ensure an orderly change of leadership. The vice rector would serve on the Executive Committee and automatically succeed the rector.

The changes must go through the General Assembly, where little controversy is expected since U.Va. is the only public institution of higher education in the state that provides a four-year term for its rector.

The board deferred discussing tuition, which had been on the agenda, because "the state situation is uncertain," Sandridge said. Board member William H. Goodwin Jr., chairman of the Finance Committee, invited members to share their thoughts with him or Sandridge because several tuition scenarios are possible. Tuition is expected to be on the board’s agenda at its next meeting in April.

Plea for graduate student funds

Faculty Senate President Michael J. Smith asked the board’s education committee for graduate student funding.

"Graduate programs are key to the success of the whole University, but we are handicapped by funding," Smith said.

Graduate students assist professors with research and teaching, he said, and the quality of graduate students affects faculty recruiting.

The University competes nationwide for top graduate students, Smith said, and it is getting only one or two of every 10 interviewed. He said in some cases U.Va is beaten by lesser schools that offer more generous packages.

"This is a problem that is not going away," he said. "We need a long-term solution."

The graduate student problem had been eased by providing health coverage, but Smith said more needs to be done.

"We can’t have a great University without having great graduate students," Smith said.

Vice President and Provost Gene Block reported 12 retirements and resignations at the College of Arts & Sciences in 2002, a five-year low. There were 59 departures over the entire University in 2002, also a five-year low.

As tenured and tenure-track faculty have increased slightly over the past several years, from 524 in 1999 to 533 in 2002, the number of undergraduates has climbed steadily to 16,079, creating a student-faculty ratio of 15.9-to-1. Block said U.Va. is still competitive with other public universities.

Block said with the increase in students, the faculty has had to do more with less. Budget efforts have focused on saving jobs, but supplies, equipment and travel budgets have been cut. This hampers faculty development and research promotion, he said, which takes its toll on faculty morale.

The board also created a Masters of Public Health, a new degree program to be established in the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. Graduates will receive a professional degree that focuses on health law and ethics as well as a core curriculum mixed with practical experience. The degree program has been approved by the faculty of the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and the Faculty Senate. It will now be forwarded to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia for its approval.

In other matters, the building and grounds committee approved a historical marker honoring author Edgar Allan Poe, who lived at No. 13 West Range, took classes in ancient and modern languages during his lone term at the University and belonged to the Jefferson Literary Society. He left after accumulating gambling debts.

Medical Center status report

The Medical Center’s revenues are up while its costs have been held to budget levels.
The center received $263.1 million in revenues in the first five months of the fiscal year, exceeding its budget target by $10.6 million. At the same time, expenses stayed at the budgeted $243.7 million, Chief Financial Officer Larry Fitzgerald told the Medical Center Operations Board on Thursday.

The Medical Center is on target to reduce expenses by $28 million through cost control and personnel reduction. Salaries and benefits, which account for 46 percent of expenses, are running $800,000 below budget. The hospital has reduced its payroll by 181 full-time equivalencies, including 68 employees who were put into a reassignment program, said R. Edward Howell, vice president and chief executive officer. Of these, 61 were assigned to other duties, six resigned and one retired, Howell said, noting there were no layoffs.

The center’s operating margin, $19.4 million, which is 7.4 percent of revenue, is higher than budgeted, and Fitzgerald said he is "cautiously optimistic" about the rest of the fiscal year.

The Medical Center is experiencing a 6.2 percent increase in referrals. Outpatient surgery cases are sent to the Virginia Ambulatory Surgical Center, while the hospital focuses on more extensive surgery. Fitzgerald said two more admissions a day would mean about $1 million in additional revenue per month.

Dr. Edwin D. Vaughan Jr., chairman of the Medical Center Operating Board, said that Medicare reimbursements to doctors were declining about 4 percent a year. He said this had broad implications since managed care contracts are tied to Medicare rates.

"If Medicare goes down, then our book of business goes down," he said.

Vaughan also warned of a future doctor shortage as medical school enrollments drop. He said doctors practicing now are getting older, retiring earlier and not putting in 12-hour days. Dr. George Beller, chairman of the hospital’s clinical staff executive committee, said there is already a shortage of cardiologists, despite earlier predictions of a glut.