The Imperative of Excellence

The Provost's 2003 State of Academics Address (cont'd)

Drexel University
March 11, 2003

page 2

     When Anthony Drexel founded this university in 1891, he hoped to create an institution in the heart of Philadelphia that would offer the urban working class the opportunity for excellence that our neighbor, the University of Pennsylvania, offered to the sons and daughters of the emerging American aristocracy. In 1848, Drs. Constantine Herring, Jacob Jeanes and Walter Williamson founded the Homeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania to offer an educational opportunity to those who believed that there were alternative ways to heal. William Mullen, Henry Gibbons, William Birkey, Robert Kane, and John Longstreth, five Philadelphia men, founded the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania. "Five men" – two simple words that shout loudly about whom that institution served and why. A medical education for that underserved group – no, that not-served group – was regarded as so scandalous in 1850 that the Philadelphia police were called in to guard its first commencement.

     The new Drexel University was, as you see, founded by nine individuals – Mr. Drexel, three from the Homeopathic Medical College and five from the Female Medical College – who had a common vision of providing access for those who might not otherwise ever see opportunity.

     Today, our mission as a university must be no less ambitious than that of our founders.

     Today, more than 150 years after the founding of the oldest of our foundation colleges and recognizing that a university education is the pathway to full participation in democratic society, we must continue our outreach to those who might otherwise not have access to opportunity. One student completing baccalaureate and post-graduate study can dramatically affect the future of his or her family for generations.

     Today, fully 33 years after declaring ourselves a university, we must commit to the excellence necessary for this institution to earn a full seat among those who lead the Academy.

     And today, more than at any moment in our history, achieving excellence is not just a noble ambition, but an imperative of survival in the new landscape in which higher education and the new Drexel University must compete.

     Beginning today and continuing each year at this time, I, as Provost of the University, will present my view of the State of Academics. I will do so as a professor who believes in and is committed to the notion that the academic culture is a place where teachers and learners come together as a body as they did in the Akademia. I will do so as a university administrator who through 17 years of administrative experience has learned the business of higher education. I will do so as provost, the one person in the university who sits both in view and viewing – in view while making the decisions of administration but also viewing through the eye and ideal of a faculty member. Finally, I do so as a person who is committed to the great mission of this university, committed to building a great faculty and academic community, and committed to achieving the vision of the new Drexel University.

     The State of Academics Address is particularly important this year as we begin the process of strategic planning. In the early 1990s, Drexel's fiscal position was rapidly declining. Enrollment dropped, faculty hiring ceased, the physical plant was seriously neglected, raises were stopped, many people left, and locally, the very existence of Drexel was questioned.