IC News

“I want to be clear that this is a critical year for the college,” said Cornish. “It is the third year of implementation for our five-year strategic plan. It is a year of transition, not just at the president level but at many levels of the institution, particularly as we learn to live with COVID.  At the root of it all is our ongoing prioritization of the student experience. Students are our ‘why,’ and they are at the heart of every decision we make and should be at the heart of everything that we do.

“As interim president, it is my responsibility to this community and this college to continue our forward momentum, with a focus on stability and opportunity.”

Downs told the audience that he is frequently asked how the college is able to fund the Cortaca Jug football game that will be held in Yankee Stadium in 2022. He noted that the promoter—and not the college—is taking on the full financial risk, by paying the New York Yankees for the game expenses that they hope to make up through ticket sales. IC will receive a stipend from the promoter for team travel costs, and utilize portions of existing departmental budgets that would have been earmarked to pay for the game, were it held on campus.

“The biggest part of it is we get tremendous intangible benefits: we get publicity, we get recognition, and this is good for everybody who's here at the institution, and anybody that wants to come here to college,” said Downs. “This is a fantastic opportunity for the college. The risk is borne by other parties not us and this is really a momentous occasion for all of us here on the campus.”

Laurie Koehler, vice president for marketing and enrollment strategy, provided an update on IC’s enrollment and retention, calling attention to our positive indicators in national recognition including the US News & World Report rankings and the Princeton Review rankings.

Koehler said that while we are doing better on enrollment than 2020, we still have additional progress to make. Our total fall 2021 student enrollment headcount is 5,239.

“We know we're still battling market forces that are at play nationally and regionally, but at the end of the day, based on our census data, we're in a good position to land very close to our net tuition revenue target,” said Koehler.

Koehler also explained that we had more students choose not to return to IC this year than was expected, but that we also overestimated our discount rate, the percentage on average that we discount undergraduate tuition.

“To be clear, coming in lower than expected on the discount rate is a good thing for the budget,” said Koehler. “The lower headcount is nearly balanced out by a lower discount rate, which means we're positioned to come very close to hitting our net tuition revenue numbers used for the budget.”

Rosanna Ferro, vice president for student affairs and campus life, talked about the strong opening that Ithaca College had for all students at the start of the semester. This included move-in, the Jumpstart program, first-year orientation and a second-year experience, for those who didn’t get to experience an orientation last year.

Additionally, student affairs hosted fall welcome programming that included 36 separate events over the first two weeks which were open to the entire campus community. Nearly 4,000 students attended at least one fall welcome event.

“That gave us a sense the students were hungry for this, that they really wanted to be engaged, and they wanted to be in person,” said Ferro.

Ferro also mentioned the restarting of intercollegiate athletics, student organization recruitment, and the continuation of the food pantry that is helping to service the campus community.

“Another aspect of this work that is so critical is that we're still managing food and financial security issues and so I'm very happy to report that our food pantry has increased hours,” said Ferro. “We've been seeing increased participation in that area as well. This is one of those initiatives that I love to highlight because this initiative is self-sustained mainly by alumni donations.”

Wendy Kobler, vice president for philanthropy and engagement, discussed the work that was accomplished in fiscal year ’21. This included restarting the Friends of Ithaca College organization, launching the IC Family Council, and celebrating the tremendously successful IC Giving Day, in which a record $1.85 million was raised from students, alumni, faculty, staff and other supporters in a 24-hour period.

Kobler related the goals for the philanthropy and engagement team for fiscal year ’22, which include developing and distributing an alumni survey; securing $800,000 for the IC Annual Fund; and hosting another IC Giving Day in late April 2022—this time with a goal of raising $2 million. Lastly, Kobler mentioned that they are seeking project submissions for Giving Tuesday, which will take place on Nov. 30.

Stein said that search committees will be formed soon for the three vacant deanships, with more information forthcoming. Lastly, she spoke on the curricular revision that is underway.

“The main goal here is flexibility,” said Stein. “We want to create more opportunities for students to engage with the incredible breadth that I see offered by streamlining requirements while continuing to offer quality programs.”

Hayley Harris, vice president for human resources and planning, gave an update on the strategic planning process, noting that while change may be difficult, it is necessary.

“The reality is that we must implement the changes outlined in our plan in order to ensure that the college is here for many generations to come,” said Harris. 

Harris revisited the key Ithaca Forever goals and how members of the campus community contributed to those goals through years one and two. Harris highlighted the strategic planning focus for the coming year (year 3), which includes COVID and public health management; financial sustainability; leveraging innovations in teaching, working and learning; diversity, equity and inclusion; creating a caring campus community; recruitment and retention of students and employees; as well as a focus on philanthropy and engagement.

“This is actually a very exciting stage in the implementation of the plan, because now our work across campus is aligned with our strategic goals, and we're all pulling in the same direction,” said Harris.