Ferrari, Boschini match up in funding, spending
Universities show change, growth with both men
By Jacque Nguyen
Staff Reporter

Illinois State University President Victor Boschini Jr. first crossed paths with Chancellor Michael Ferrari as a graduate student at Bowling Green University when Ferrari was provost. Little did Boschini, TCU’s chancellor-designate, know he would be following in Ferrari’s footsteps so closely.

Boschini will officially become chancellor June 1, ending his four-year position as Illinois State University president. Ferrari originally became chancellor March 25,1998.

Despite Ferrari’s and Boschini’s differences in leading a private university and a public university, respectively, certain aspects of their records have shown similarities throughout their tenures.

Fund raising
Ferrari and Boschini have both implemented key fund-raising campaigns that have taken each university to a higher level.

In a Fort Worth Star-Telegram article, a TCU official said fund raising is what the university needs most right now.

At his official inauguration, Ferrari announced his plans for a Commission on the Future of TCU and set the agenda for a fund-raising campaign, said Bronson Davis, vice chancellor of university advancement.

The strategic planning project involved 500 TCU trustees, faculty, staff and students forming 17 task forces to decide what taking TCU to a higher level of distinction means, Davis said.

Davis said $100 million in cash was raised in the first four years of Ferrari’s administration.

“This has been the most successful four years in fund raising the university has ever had in cash commitments,” Davis said.

The university set a fund-raising goal of $230 million by 2007, Davis said.

According to a Skiff article, when Ferrari came to the university in 1998, the endowment was at $750 million. In March 2002, it reached its highest point ever at $1 billion.

Boschini has guided ISU through the university’s first comprehensive fund-raising campaign and has already raised $63 million toward its $88 million goal, said Susan Kern, vice president of university advancement.

“We are well on our way to raising more money than we ever have at ISU,” Kern said.

The success of this campaign will continue to depend on alumni, not corporations, which differentiates it from most fund-raising campaigns, she said.

According to the Star-Telegram, Boschini provided the university with its first endowed chair and helped raise the endowment from $33.3 million to $33.7 million.

Construction and renovation
Ferrari and Boschini have both taken funds from other areas to aid in new construction and renovations for their respective universities.

TCU has seen new construction with the $25 million William E. and Jean Jones Tucker Technology Center, which opened in June 2002, the Sarah and Steve Smith Entrepreneurial Hall to be completed this month and the $7 million Charlie and Marie Lupton Baseball Stadium, which opened earlier this month.

Renovations were made to University Recreation Center, Waits Hall and Foster Hall and $30 million toward laboratory and classroom renovations.

Davis said the initiative to take $30 million from the endowment to renovate classrooms and laboratories was planned in the TCU Commission.

“Ferrari felt it was important to TCU’s well-being to go ahead (with the new construction and renovations) and raise the money as we go,” Davis said.

ISU saw new construction in the Center for Performing Arts, which took three years to complete and was dedicated Oct. 18, 2002, said Christine Tsui, assistant director of facilities planning and construction. In 1996, the tuition was raised to finance the building, she said.

Tsui said using $28 million in grants, the College of Business Building began construction in April 2002. The project’s completion is anticipated in time for the fall 2004 class, she said.

Existing farm property in Normal, Ill., was sold to fund the purchase of a corporate research farm in Lexington, approximately 20 miles away, Tsui said. Four farm buildings were constructed for research purposes and new utilities were installed with a budget of $5 million.

Enrollment
Since Ferrari and Boschini have been school leaders, both TCU and ISU have seen increases in student enrollment.

According to the 2002 Fact Book, when Ferrari became chancellor in 1998, there were 7,395 students enrolled at the university. In 2002, enrollment had increased to 8,074 students.

James Atwood, assistant dean of admissions, said enrollment has increased because of Ferrari’s leadership.

“The number’s have gone through the roof,” Atwood said.

ISU Director of Admissions Steve Adams said enrollment has increased from 20,281 students in 1999 to 20,975 in 2002.

“Since Dr. Boschini has been at ISU, the university has grown in enrollment and grown in quality of the student body,” Adams said.

Atwood said Ferrari and the university want to enroll talented and diverse students.

According to a fall 2002 Skiff article, one way the university has attempted to address diversity is through the Chancellor’s Council on Diversity, which was introduced three months after Ferrari became chancellor.

Cornell Thomas, special assistant to the chancellor for diversity and community, said the council consists of students, faculty, staff and alumni who develop strategies and programs to increase diversity at TCU and the surrounding area.

In 1998, minorities made up 12 percent of total enrollment, according to the 2002 Fact Book. In 2002, the number of minorities made up 13.5 percent.

Enrollment of undergraduate minorities at ISU for fall 2002 is 10.1 percent of total enrollment, according to the office of Planning and Institutional Research.

According to the trend of the undergraduate minority enrollment, the rate did not increase each year like TCU’s enrollment did. In 1999, the number of undergraduate minorities was 529 and in 2002 the number was 461.

Tuition
With the current condition of the economy, Ferrari and Boschini have had to increase tuition to continue to provide resources for each university.

Enrollment at TCU has increased each year, but so has tuition. When Ferrari became chancellor in 1998, the tuition was $345 a credit hour, estimated at $11,590 a year, according to the 2002 Fact Book. Tuition and fees have increased by more than $1,000 each of the past three years.

“The increase (in tuition and fees) was implemented to sustain TCU’s overall quality of academic programs and general operations,” Ferrari said.

According to ISU, the university operates by credit hour. In 1999 when Boschini became university president, the tuition and fees for 15 credit hours was $2,232.55 and increased to $2,649.07 by fall 2002.

ISU Director of Admissions Steve Adams said funding levels from the state have decreased. Because of the economy, and the university, along with other state universities, has had to raise tuition to continue to provide the resources that students need to succeed, he said.

Jacque Nguyen
j.f.nguyen@tcu.edu