New program aims to bring U. more revenue

As New Jersey prepares for another set of budget cuts, the School of Arts and Sciences is taking an initiative to generate more revenue.

Robin Davis, executive vice dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, created a new revenue-generating program that looks to bring in a different strata of students into the School of Arts and Sciences, like graduate students, which would in turn create new revenue for the University.

"Essentially, you would have students coming in [to the School of Arts and Sciences] that you wouldn't normally be educating, and those students would bring in tuition for the program that they'd be participating in," she said.

Davis said the idea for the revenue-generating program came soon after she entered the dean's office and was confronted with the unique and intelligent ideas of the faculty in the School of Arts and Sciences.

"It is a good idea to see if we can encourage the faculty to pursue some of their creative talents beyond the undergraduate classroom and put together some entrepreneurial efforts that bring in additional revenue streams to the University," she said. "So that's what the program is about."

University President Richard L. McCormick agreed with Davis' idea for the program, saying it is good to look at revenue-generating enterprises with the huge budget cuts the University is expecting in the future, she said.

"We were awarded from the president's office $750,000 over a period of three years to put together a mechanism of seed grants for faculty who apply for them," she said. "What they will do is put together an application process to the deans office and they'll spell out the kinds of programs, projects or courses [they wish to pursue]."

Davis said her office e-mailed the faculty within the School of Arts and Sciences to notify them the program was now available, telling the faculty they could receive a $75,000 grant over two years to pursue their idea.

"The idea is that we'll review the program and if that faculty member is awarded the grant, we'll review it in a couple of years," she said. "[It is] just to make sure that it is something that is actually revenue generating and in the long run, self supporting."

Although the program is aimed at bringing in graduate students and people from the New Brunswick community into the School of Arts and Sciences, the new initiative would also benefit undergraduate students as well, Davis said.

"It really showcases the research activities of the faculty," she said. "There also may be new opportunities for them to, for example, get some way of enrolling in these courses as well."

The School of Arts and Sciences dean's office would not tell their faculty members what to do but rather have their ideas flourish into potentially successful courses, Davis said.

"The dean's office is saying, ‘We have this opportunity for you that we can fund for two years … you would not only be bringing revenue into the University during a very difficult budgetary time, [but it] will also give new opportunities for students for advanced degrees,'" she said.

A good example of the types of courses this new program would offer is the Master of Science in Mathematics Degree for Mathematical Finance, which proved successful, Davis said.

This degree program integrates theoretical foundations with practical applications for quantitative finance and aims to prepare graduate students for rewarding careers in investment banks, hedge funds and more, according to its website.

"So you can graduate with your undergraduate degree and say, ‘Gee, I'm really good at math, but I don't know exactly how I want to apply it. But what if I took this math finance course and that was my entree ticket to a job in Wall Street?'" she said.

A number of graduate students are already taking that course, Davis said.

Davis also referenced the graduate program Cultural Heritage and Preservation studies as another good example of the types of courses that would be offered in the new revenue-generating program.

CHAPS is a program that provides an opportunity to study heritage preservation issues within local, national and global contexts and is designed for students who wish to study cultural heritage issues as an academic subject, according to their website.

"So these could be people who go into museums and become heads of museums. They are people who are interested in preserving houses and structures in cities," Davis said. "So there are a number of concepts in which we have very strong faculty."

The new program would be implemented in January, adding her office hopes to have five courses in the program offered by the upcoming spring semester, Davis said.

"I think it's a win-win-win," she said. "It would be for the University, it would be for the faculty, and it would be for the students who would have the opportunity to enroll in newly developed programs."

Davis, in an effort to explain her reasoning for the program, said there are two options when facing a budgetary crisis like the current and future situation New Jersey is dealing with.

"What you can do is just feel as though you don't have any control," she said. "On the other hand, you can take the reigns and really step up to the plate and work harder to try to make our University even better."