November 2006

The Board of Trustees met the first week in November. Here are excerpts from President Hochstettler’s report to the board:

As autumn advances on Palatine Hill, I am pleased to report that the College absolutely reverberates with the rhythm and energy of academic life. We have … completed our Homecoming festivities for the College of Arts and Sciences, and the laughter and affability that infused this year’s round of reunions will buoy our spirits for months to come. In another positive development, we formally dedicated the new Small Business Law Clinic in downtown Portland, the culmination of years of hard work and collaboration with the City of Portland, several distinguished local law firms, and the Lewis & Clark Law School. In the Graduate School of Education and Counseling, there is a resurgence of spirit as well, with a record level of enrollments and keen energy on planning for the future. Lewis & Clark is certainly a college with a past worth celebrating and a future bright with promise.

It has been six months since I have written a general report to the Trustees. Please let me take this occasion to highlight several key events and developments since the May, 2006, meeting of the Board.

1. Personnel Changes: Our new Vice President for Business and Finance and Treasurer, Carl Vance, came to us on August 1, 2006, following ten years at Linfield College. Carl is already engaged on many fronts to improve our business practices and to create a solid basis for future planning and budgeting. Tom Krattenmaker has come to us from Swarthmore College to head up our Public Affairs and Communications unit, and he is moving quickly to raise the profile and polish the image of the College with our many publics. Houston Dougharty has joined us as Dean of Students, coming to us from the University of Puget Sound. Clark Yeager from Kutztown University in Pennsylvania now serves the College as its new Director of Physical Education and Athletics. Finally, we have hired Catherine Crooker to serve as Phil Akers’ right hand as Associate Vice President for Development. Catherine comes to us after many successful years as the Executive Director of the Tuality Healthcare Foundation. I encourage you to introduce yourselves to our new colleagues and to get to know them.

2. Enrollments: Lewis & Clark currently has a total undergraduate enrollment of 1,985, a bit higher than anticipated due to a higher than expected yield and a sustained rate of retention. This year, we had a record number of high school valedictorians (35) in the matriculating class and a record number of National Merit Scholars (15). The mean SAT score for the verbal and math components rose three points to 1290. Bucking the national trend in law enrollments, the Law School enrolled 224 new students this year. Total Law School enrollment is 728 students this fall. Coming off a slight slump last year, the Graduate School of Education and Counseling has enrolled a record number of students this fall at 928. Total headcount for the entire institution is 3,641.

3. Athletics: Our new Athletic Director, Clark Yeager, has gotten off to a quick start, working closely with the coaches, with Associate Director of Physical Education and Athletics Judy McMullen, and with our new Dean of Students Houston Dougharty, to reinvigorate the sports programs as a key element of the student experience on campus, to the benefit of the entire community. We have successfully fielded a football team this year that is capable of playing its full conference schedule, and there is considerable support among students for the resurgence of this anchor program for athletics at the College. The Athletic Hall of Fame induction dinner was sold out this year, with over 220 alumni and guests in attendance, well in excess of recent figures for that event. Over 1,500 fans attended the homecoming game itself, and although the Pios lost to Menlo College, the team showed great spirit and perseverance in this as in all its games thus far this year.

4. Recent Grants: I mentioned above that the Small Business Law Clinic opened last week, amid much celebration. We are gratified that the City of Portland has given a grant of $100,000 to underwrite that program in its initial phase. In other areas, the Environmental Studies Program under Professor James Proctor has received a prestigious grant from the Mellon Foundation for $300,000, and Robert B. Pamplin, Jr., Professor of Science Janice Lochner has also been awarded a grant amounting to nearly $200,000 from the National Institutes of Health. Lewis & Clark continues to enhance its profile as a college where research and the generation of new knowledge is a part of everyday life.

Respectfully submitted,
Thomas J. Hochstettler
President