Updated Feb. 8, 2016 at 1 a.m.
The University has raised over $1 billion of the $3 billion it hopes to secure in the BrownTogether capital campaign, announced President Christina Paxson P’19 in a community-wide email Saturday following a meeting of the Corporation, the University’s highest governing body.
This milestone “provides exciting momentum as we continue seeking investment for the BrownTogether campaign,” Paxson wrote in an email to The Herald.
The Corporation also formally and unanimously endorsed an action plan released Monday that allocates $165 million — or 5.5 percent of the funds to be raised in BrownTogether — to boost the diversity and inclusiveness of the Brown community.
With guidance from a report on deficit reduction issued by the University Resources Committee, the Corporation approved a 4.1 percent tuition hike, bringing total undergraduate charges to an estimated $64,566. The increase is consistent with those of past years: 4.4 percent for the current academic year and 3.8 percent the previous year.
The budget for undergraduate financial aid will jump 7.1 percent. In the coming year, the University hopes to increase the competitiveness of the scholarships it offers middle-income families, a demographic for which it lacks coverage relative to its peer institutions, Paxson wrote in the community-wide email.
Total financial support for graduate students will receive a $1.8 million bump. Graduate student stipends will increase by 3 percent, now totaling $24,400.
The budget for the 2017 fiscal year totals over $1 billion, an increase of 5.2 percent from 2016. The budget projects a $300,000 deficit, a stark turnaround from the budgets of recent years, Paxson wrote. Last year, the University predicted a gap of $4.4 million.
Finally, the Corporation will see a change in leadership, Chancellor Thomas Tisch ’76 P’18 wrote in a community-wide email also sent Saturday. Samuel Mencoff ’78 P’11 P’15, a Corporation member since 2003, will become the University’s 21st chancellor July 1 while continuing to serve as co-CEO and founding partner of Madison Dearborn Partners.
“What excites me is that Brown today is already an excellent university with extraordinary faculty and incredible students,” Mencoff wrote in an email to The Herald.
“The trustees and fellows have chosen a truly passionate and collaborative leader and steward for Brown,” Paxson wrote in an email to The Herald.
The committee that chose the new chancellor “surveyed the entire Corporation” to look for a sense of where the Corporation stands and what type of leadership it needs, Tisch said.
While Tisch was not on the committee himself, he talked to its members about his thoughts on the current state of the University and the characteristics an effective chancellor would need.
A good chancellor should have a “sense of leadership and support” as well as respect for the governance of the University, Tisch said. “The role of the chancellor is to be the moderator.”
Alison Ressler ’80, current Corporation treasurer and partner at Sullivan and Cromwell, will step into the role of vice chancellor, and Theresia Gouw ’90, founder of Aspect Ventures, will become treasurer.
— With additional reporting by Lauren Aratani and Agnes Chan
