Report 2/13/20068:55 AM

Since our meeting in December I have used email letters to keep the Board up to date on the life of the University. In this Report I do not want to repeat what I have written already but I would like to highlight some key, on-going elements that will be helpful to our meeting. Of course, I will be happy to discuss issues or questions that you may have about what is in this Report and what is not covered as well.

1. Enrollment & Return to Campus: We began the Spring semester on 9 January with
approximately 90% of our students returning to Loyola. Those who did not return did so for a number of reasons (deferred until next year, family issues, transferred). We are actually having two spring semesters this year. Spring I will end with Commencement on 29 April. In addition to the 14-week session, there will be two 7-week sessions running concurrently within it. Spring II runs from 8 May through 21 July. In addition to the 10-week session there will be two 5-week sessions running concurrently within it. We believe that this innovative scheduling will give students the opportunity to “catch up” if they have fallen behind in the programs and credits because of the dislocation caused by Katrina last fall.

Our applications for next year are down, as we expected. At this writing we have 1,638
applications (compared with 3,406 this time last year). We have 1,010 accepted students at this time (compared with 2,239 last year). We are still involved in recruiting for next year. Our Admissions Office is launching “Each One Reach One” this week. It will be an effort by
students, faculty, and staff to identify and reach potential applicants. Also, we have taken the opportunity to develop our web recruiting and application process by using GoalQuest, Inc. Their software is used by a number of Jesuit universities (e.g., Scranton, Gonzaga, Loyola Marymount) and seems to be very successful. It is an interactive software that not only receives but also sends out information to inquiring students and parents. It assists in recruiting, yield, retention, and parent communication.

2. Finances: We are sorting out charges and tuition for the Fall and Spring semesters of this
year. Some of the universities and colleges our students attended last semester are asking for tuition dollars for the fall. We have filed our insurance claims and hired Ernst & Young to pursue our business interruption insurance. There is relief money from the Federal Gulf Coast Relief Act for affected schools in Louisiana. The State Board of Regents is to administer the $95 million. The presidents and government affairs assistants worked together to develop a recommendation for a formula for the distribution of the funds. The Regents have sent their recommendation to the committee of the State Legislature that must give the final approval. The recommendation, if approved, will give Loyola $8.7 million. Because our finances are so tied to our enrollment the discussion of enrollment and finances will be a major part of our discussion session in our meeting.

3. Planning: Following the direction of the Board in December I have moved ahead with
planning, which will be at the center of our February meeting. After thoroughly reviewing our situation, I asked Ted Frois to appoint an ad hoc committee of the Board to help with planning. That committee is comprised of Ted, Suzanne Mestayer, Mike Graham, S.J., Mike Garanzini, S.J., Pam Ryan, Alton Doody, and myself. The focus of that committee will be enrollment and budget projections. Walter Harris and Rhonda Cartwright have developed different scenarios on enrollment, and its financial impact, for the committee. We will make recommendations to the full Board in our meeting.
The enrollment and budget projections set the parameters for the rest of our planning. I
have set up an internal task force, which I am chairing, to advise me on recommendations I can make to the Board about programs and initiatives in academic and student affairs. This
committee will allow me to listen to the faculty and staff. I, along with Walter Harris, will have a general overview of directions for the Board in February and final recommendations for our meeting in May.

I believe that the recommendations of the Board Task Force will give us the parameters
for our plan and the final recommendations of the internal task force will give us the content. My hope is that by the May meeting we will have a Strategic Blueprint for the next three to five years. It will give us direction and a basis for evaluation. This Blueprint will allow us, over the summer, to begin work on a facilities plan and laying the groundwork for a capital campaign.

4. Property: Following the Board’s directive in our December meeting I have been looking at different options for space and campus development. We have begun a conversation with the Sisters of St. Joseph about buying their mother house property near City Park. We are only in the earliest stages of this conversation. Ted Frois and I have asked Kevin Poorman and Karen Cooper to advise us on how best to proceed. We are also looking at options for campus
operations in other cities throughout the region.

5. Advancement: I have begun working with Vicki Frank to help reorganize and rebuild the IA operations. We have recently received the results of an alumni opinion survey from Grenzeback Glier & Associates. This was a survey I asked for last year. It was a blinded random survey of 405 of our alums and I think it will be helpful as we move forward.
We also received the results of a survey by Stamats on our marketing themes and messages. The report should help us focus our message as we move into the future. We are continuing to seek additional gifts for the relief fund and to pursue national and local funding opportunities.

6. Fall Follow up: In light of the unique experience of the fall for our students (our “domestic semester abroad”) I have hired Paul Seyler of Competitive Resources to help us learn from our students and their experiences at other universities. How do we compare? academically? student life? facilities? (I want to thank Alton Doody for his help in identifying Mr. Seyler. Also, this semester I will review with the Vice Presidents and others our emergency
planning in light of our experience this year.

7. Vice President for Student Affairs: As you know last spring Jim Eiseman stepped down as VP for SA and Tom Smith became Interim VP. I had lined up the components of a search before Katrina. Now the search is finally underway. We have a search committee chaired by Dean Frank Scully. And we are using the search firm of Spellman & Johnson to assist us in the search. We have a lot going on, as you can tell. I look forward to talking with you and getting your
advice.