Rutgers Receives Resignation Letter From President

TINTON FALLS, N.J. - This afternoon Rutgers president Richard McCormick sent out the longest e-mail, his students and staff probably have ever gotten from him, notifying the Rutgers community of his resignation. McCormick simply stated that his term as university president will end after the 2011-2012 academic year. The president went on with his emotional message giving the university community the history of how he came to be Rutgers' president, how Rutgers has changed under his administration and what is to come.

Below is the letter McCormick sent out, which was provided by a Rutgers student:

"Dear faculty, staff, students, alumni, parents and friends of Rutgers:

My longstanding and profound pride in Rutgers has grown even stronger in 
the past month. Walking with my wife Joan and our year-old daughter 
Katie on Rutgers Day, I was reminded again of the breadth of outstanding 
programs this university offers—and was inspired afresh by the often 
brilliant ways in which members of our community made their areas of 
expertise relevant to visitors of all ages. Then at Rutgers Stadium on 
May 15, I presided over Rutgers’ largest and first truly university-wide 
commencement. At that jubilant, magnificent ceremony, we honored the 
first graduating class of the School of Arts and Sciences, born of our 
Transformation of Undergraduate Education, and conferred a record 12,800 
degrees as well.

Today I reflect with joy on these fresh expressions of great achievement 
at Rutgers as I announce to our Board of Governors and to all of you my 
plans to step down as Rutgers President at the end of the 2011-2012 
academic year.

As many of you know, Rutgers is my home. I was born only a few blocks 
away and spent countless hours wandering through campus walkways and 
corridors as a child reared by parents who spent their careers loving 
and caring for Rutgers. Later, I had the privilege of serving on the 
Rutgers history faculty from 1976 to 1992. So as I prepare to conclude 
my presidency, I am not leaving home. Joan, who is a loyal Rutgers 
alumna, Katie, and I plan to be a part of the Rutgers community for many 
years to come. I will return to the faculty in New Brunswick, where I 
began my academic career as an assistant professor 35 years ago. My 
family and I will remain connected and committed to Rutgers through our 
work, philanthropy, good will, and public service.

When I returned to Rutgers as its 19th president in December of 2002, 
our nation was at war and New Jersey was grappling with a difficult 
economy. Sadly, these conditions persist today. In my Inaugural Address, 
I said that despite these realities, we have within Rutgers enduring 
instruments of the highest and noblest human purposes and that never was 
the work we do more important. Despite tragedies, challenges, and 
budgetary hardships, we have labored together for nearly a decade to 
move this remarkable university forward.

Together, we achieved the most significant reorganization of Rutgers in 
a quarter-century through the Transformation of Undergraduate Education. 
That initiative has opened up opportunities for all New 
Brunswick/Piscataway undergraduates to benefit from the university’s 
academic programs and support services. It led to the establishment of 
the School of Arts and Sciences with its comprehensive new curriculum, 
Byrne first-year seminars, dramatic expansion of opportunities for 
undergraduate research and honors programs, and support for top 
undergraduates who are increasingly winning the most prestigious 
international scholarships and awards.

I am exceedingly proud to have appointed so many academically excellent, 
entrepreneurially aggressive chancellors, deans, and vice presidents on 
all three campuses. They are providing leadership for everything 
important happening at Rutgers and helping us find new sources of 
revenue in order to achieve our ambitions. Together, we have launched 
new interdisciplinary academic initiatives in such fields as nutrition, 
materials and devices, transportation, childhood studies, urban 
entrepreneurship, and climate change and alternative energy. Together, 
we have also strengthened the arts and sciences disciplines that are at 
the core of the university. These programs have positioned Rutgers to 
compete in the global economy, to contribute to the solution of 
worldwide problems, and to prepare students for lives of accomplishment 
and purpose deep into the 21st century.

We have made important campus investments, including a Business School 
building and residence hall in Newark, a Law School building and 
recreation center in Camden, and a visitor center and buildings for the 
health sciences, life sciences, and civil engineering in New 
Brunswick/Piscataway, to name a few. Together, we are realizing a new 
vision for the Livingston Campus, with an emphasis on business and 
professional education, including a new academic building to meet the 
growing demand for business studies. Already we have dramatically 
reshaped the student experience at Livingston with a new student center 
opened last year, a dining commons opening this fall, and a 
1,500-student residence hall complex opening in 2012.

In these years we have also strengthened our commitment to the 
university's 400,000 living graduates with a more robust alumni 
relations presence, a reinvigorated Reunion and Homecoming, and our 
first comprehensive, university-wide alumni association, the RUAA. We 
have made the dream of college more attainable for disadvantaged 
children through the Rutgers Future Scholars program, which next summer 
will reach its full enrollment of 1,000 pre-college students—each 
holding the promise of a free Rutgers education if they earn admission.

We have worked together to promote deeper appreciation for the 
university and its achievements through initiatives such as the Rutgers 
Today online news center, Rutgers Day, and our Jersey Roots, Global 
Reach campaign. True to the theme of that campaign, Rutgers has become 
both more engaged with the communities where our campuses are located 
and more active and present internationally.

Along the way, I have taught, worked with, and learned from 
undergraduate and graduate students whose intellectual curiosity is 
matched by a commitment to Rutgers’ betterment. I have applauded their 
accomplishments in the classroom, lab, and studio, on the stage and the 
playing field, and in the community. I have seen our highly skilled and 
dedicated staff members surmount challenge after challenge in supporting 
students and keeping the university moving forward. I have marveled at 
our faculty’s success in making important discoveries, earning record 
levels of grant funding ($433 million last year alone), winning 
international prizes, and earning election to revered academies. I have 
witnessed the devotion of parents who have made great sacrifice to keep 
their son or daughter at Rutgers, and the generosity of our alumni in 
funding scholarships to make a Rutgers education possible for those who 
come after them.

Thanks to all you have done, the demand for a Rutgers education has 
never been higher. Applications for admission have risen by 14 percent 
since 2002, and enrollment has grown from 51,480 students that year to 
an anticipated 58,000 this fall. During that period, the university has 
improved student retention and graduation rates, increased student 
diversity, and enlarged the representation of out-of-state, 
international, and non-traditional students. These changes have enabled 
Rutgers to educate and graduate a student body that is highly diverse 
and increasingly well-prepared for 21st century global citizenship.

There are ambitious opportunities ahead of us. We are in the midst of a 
one-billion-dollar fundraising campaign—the largest in our history—and 
have already raised more than half of that total. During the year ahead, 
I will continue to devote myself to fundraising, and I am confident that 
Rutgers will reach the campaign goal under my successor, just as the 
last Rutgers campaign reached its successful conclusion following my 
arrival as president in 2002.

Just as important is the challenge set forth by the higher education 
task force appointed by Gov. Chris Christie and led by former Gov. Tom 
Kean. Affirming that “For a state to be great, it must have a great 
state university,” the task force has made recommendations to propel 
Rutgers to the next level among the nation’s premier public research 
universities. I have expressed the university’s clear support for these 
recommendations, including adequate state funding of higher education 
and a bond issue to support capital facilities. I have also spoken 
forcefully about the transformational benefits of bringing Robert Wood 
Johnson Medical School and the School of Public Health into Rutgers 
University. Having these health science schools within our university 
would help attract top-flight researchers, increase federal research 
grants, and create new interdisciplinary opportunities among our 
distinguished academic departments. I will continue to advocate strongly 
regarding these issues during the year ahead.

With important accomplishments behind us, and a bounty of opportunities 
ahead, I believe that Rutgers today is stronger than ever. I have 
pledged to the Boards of Governors and Trustees that I will continue to 
work vigorously to advance Rutgers, and I extend that same pledge to all 
of you.

Joan and I feel privileged to be part of this university. We will always 
love Rutgers and the extraordinary people who make this such an 
outstanding institution.

Sincerely yours,

Richard L. McCormick"