Publisher's Profile:
William Cooper
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Trani
by
Doug Forshey
Virginia Business
April
2004
What
brought you to the University of Richmond?
I was working at Georgetown (University), living in
McLean, Va., and had a great life there. But when Richmond
called I was struck by how exceptional the place was.
The university had a very strong financial profile and
it was still in motion, still aspiring to greater heights
and that's what really attracted me. This is also
how we recruit top faculty and students here.
What
are some of the business initiatives the university
is involved with?
Our role was pivotal in helping attract the national
headquarters of Philip Morris USA. The deal was done
in two stages. First, Reynolds Metals was bought by
Alcoa and they needed to maintain a small work force
here, but they didn't need to be in the real estate
business. We did a gift-purchase agreement in 2001 for
their 250,000-square-foot office complex and paid $8
million for a $21.4 million building. Then we needed
to figure out what to do with this building. In the
long run it could be the site of executive education
or a school of high technology. But in the short term
we needed to rent this space out.
Last year at this time we landed the big tenant —
Philip Morris USA — providing us with a source
of revenue and a home for hundreds of highly paid Philip
Morris USA executives. This has had a tremendous economic
effect on the entire region.
Our
educational programs, including our School of Leadership
Studies, our Management Institute and our School of
Continuing Studies are involved in many partnerships
with an array of Virginia businesses to either train
their managers or customize whole programs onsite. We
are exploring opportunities in which our educational
enterprise works well with what local businesses are
trying to accomplish.
We also have a special degree program for firemen and
police officers who did not earn their undergraduate
degrees, which is very important as they take on new
management responsibilities. We are taking on a major
role in helping shape their work force with an emphasis
on the emerging field of emergency management services.
What are some of the major changes you've
seen in higher education in the last decade?
Education is ever changing. It's one of the great
cauldrons of humanity in a sense that it's at
the leading edge of most societal changes that take
place, and 10 years is a long time in higher education.
Ten years ago we didn't have the Internet and
that's changed everything. We have to hire professors
and attract students who are even more engaged in cutting-edge
research and creative enterprises. Expectations are
much greater by today's undergraduates and we
have to be on that edge to provide knowledge that isn't
on the Internet. That's where we add value.
Another change has been greater mobility across state
lines, dramatically changing higher education in the
last quarter century. Students will go with their parents
to visit Tulane in New Orleans or Stanford in California
as they make their decision on which colleges to apply
to. That didn't happen 30 years ago. The ease
of travel has had a real impact on education. To compete,
we offer our fair share of scholarships to attract Virginians,
and we assert that any Virginian can get a world-class
education right here without having to leave the state.
What
is Richmond doing to keep up with technology?
We're spending a great amount of money upgrading
our computer network to increase the speed and efficiency
of information transferal. And we're adding more
wireless opportunities than ever before. We do this
because of the growing demands of faculty and student
research. Technology is so much more user-friendly than
it was 10 years ago for faculty and students to work
on different pieces of a problem in collaboration. There
is an effortless nature to technology that just wasn't
true when I was a student.
Our professors are using technology as an integral part
of the learning process. Several of our chemistry teachers
are producing software that can create 3-D models, allowing
students to study organic chemistry in a much more exciting
way, rather than the old way where they see it on a
page and try to imagine it. This kind of technology
is incredibly powerful and if we can grow it here, it
has worldwide transportability (via the Internet) that
wasn't previously available. Now universities
can share best practices from all over the world to
teach the next generation.
What
type of outreach programs do you have internationally?
Our dean of international programs and her staff are
experts at identifying opportunities for establishing
partnerships and exchanges around the world. She selects
ones that are true to their home culture so our students
get more of a real international experience at some
of the smaller cities. We have a lot of international
students coming here, and nearly half of all of our
undergraduate students go abroad for a semester or the
whole year. We're very big on international studies,
because in today's global economy that's
part of doing business.
The exciting part is that our students go abroad and
study, and then bring that experience back to Richmond.
In addition, about 7 percent of our full-time students
are international coming from 60 different countries.
This is an enormous source of diversity for us and the
Richmond region. They love Richmond and the whole metropolitan
area. And it's great for a student from Hampton
Roads or the West End to have a roommate from Pakistan
or Peru. They both learn so much. Private universities
such as ours tend to offer more opportunities to attract
international students. This allows for a more diversified
undergraduate student body.
You
recently kicked off a new capital campaign. What are
some of the goals?
We're looking to raise $200 million with the goal
of boosting our overall academic quality and national
reputation. Universities are all about their people
who are the main growth engine for improving quality.
The campaign will raise money for endowed chairs for
additional eminent faculty members and increase our
financial aid capability — a big part of our operation.
We strive to maintain a policy that is “need-blind”
and meets the full financial needs of our undergraduate
students. This policy is expensive. We have 2,900 undergraduates
and about 450 law students and are nowhere near the
size of VCU. Our mission, however, is to offer the highest
quality of education to our students. The game plan
is to stay our size and continue to raise the level
of quality through the roof.
Facilities are also a major part of the campaign. We're
building a state-of-the-art science facility and an
expanded library and that takes money. As a private
institution we don't benefit from state money
and are completely dependent on endowments, tuition
and gifts, plus other revenue sources through business
partnerships.
We don't want to just be a very good small university;
we want to be a great university serving all of Virginia,
the nation and the world.
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