– John Meerts and Tom Kannam reported on Wesleyan financial profile. Our investment returns met the trustees’ goal of being in the top quartile of institutions with the same or larger endowments for the last 1, 3 and 5 year periods. Our total endowment continues to lag behind our academic peer institutions at $625 million.

– Large projects for the future, including the construction of a new molecular life sciences building to replace Hall-Atwater, a University Museum, a renovated Davenport, as well as the future of woodframe houses were dicussed, including strategies for raising the money for the science center.

– Wesleyan’s institutional position, particularly its place in the U.S. News and Report rankings, was debated. Wesleyan placed 10th this year and was 6th in academic reputation. Jim Dresser, chair of the board, quoted the executive editor of USN&WR, who said this fall: “The difference between Number 1 and Number 10 is miniscule.” Wesleyan placed a satisfying 3rd in the Washington Monthly rankings.

– Wesleyan’s competitiveness in the Academic marketplace was discussed; generally speaking, the Trustees recognize Wesleyan’s superb faculty and outstanding students and are puzzled why we do not rank even higher relative to our peer schools.

– The committees, Campus Affairs, University Relations, and Finance, each discussed their agendas for the year. Campus Affairs has a number of tenure cases to review this year and will also review the progress of new Dean’s Office programming.