Stephens College News Bureau
Contact:
Amy Gipson, Vice President for Marketing and Public Relations, agipson@stephens.edu
Sara Fernandez Cendon, Media Relations Manager, sfcendon@stephens.edu
(573) 876-7111
www.stephens.edu
March 5, 2009
For immediate release
STEPHENS COLLEGE ADDRESSES CHANGES SHAPED BY THE CURRENT ECONOMIC CLIMATE
Forecasts balanced budget for 2009-10
COLUMBIA, MO – Like other colleges and businesses over the past several months, Stephens College has wrestled with issues related to economic changes nationwide. Endowment losses, rising food costs, a tighter loan market for families, and declines in unrestricted fundraising revenue all impact Stephens’ operating budget.
“All of us are seeing these incredible challenges on a national scope. As Stephens reaches this point in its Renaissance Plan, which was developed five years ago, we are still forecasting a balanced budget in 2009-10,” says Stephens President Wendy B. Libby. “Suddenly, because of economic conditions, we are having to act very quickly to stay on course.”
Several campus meetings have been held this winter with faculty, staff and students to gather ideas and input, and to communicate plans. These meetings have addressed strategies to increase revenue, mostly through the addition of new academic programs, and to decrease expenses. Stephens is making some reductions in its staff and adjunct faculty, while continuing to invest in new programs. Salaries for faculty and staff are being held at current levels for next year, and Stephens is suspending pension contributions for 2009-10. Stephens is also consolidating student housing by closing two of its smaller residence halls to plan for mechanical and engineering repairs and realize cost savings.
Stephens has moved quickly to develop new academic degrees to further increase enrollment and revenue. Building on its highly reputable Health Information Administration degree – long delivered in an online format for working adults across the nation – the College will also offer the degree this fall to its residential undergraduates in a slightly different format. These students will spend the first two years of the program on campus and finish the last two years studying wherever they like, online.
In addition to Stephens’ current master’s degrees in business, counseling, and curriculum and instruction, available through Graduate & Continuing Studies (GCS), the College will offer new master’s degrees in strategic leadership, management of health informatics, and in secondary education with certification starting this fall.
Over the next few weeks, Stephens will announce its Summer 2009 course offerings. This is the first time that Stephens has offered a large number of online summer courses for traditional residential students; classes are available to current students as well as non-Stephens students. Stephens also continues to enhance its recruitment of scholar athletes.
“We are not an institution that rests on her laurels,” Libby says. “Over the past five years, we have together turned Stephens around – dramatically increasing enrollment, refining our academic programs, renovating historic buildings, enhancing alumnae and donor support. Stephens is a college who knows who she is and why she is relevant. We have had to make some difficult decisions, then and now, but I am enormously proud of our accomplishments and the experience we give our young women. We have many opportunities before us as we look toward the future.”
Stephens College, established in 1833, is historically committed to meeting the changing needs of women. Stephens engages students in an innovative educational experience focused on pre-professional fields and the performing arts and grounded in the liberal arts. For more information about some of the programs mentioned above, contact the Stephens College Division of Graduate and Continuing Studies at (573) 876-7290, online@stephens.edu or visit www.stephens.edu.
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