The University also is committed to fueling Delaware’s economic growth and driving innovation by positioning students to address tomorrow’s greatest challenges, Assanis said.  

“We’re doing very, very well, and yet we aspire to take our University to the next level of excellence and achievement,” Assanis told the UD Board of Trustees at its December meeting. 

In recent years, the University has launched many new initiatives and made investments that add significant value to the UD experience. This includes dynamic new academic programs and a growing community of scholars.

In line with its strong reputation, UD received a record number of applications from prospective freshmen for the 2017-18 academic year—27,800—a 5.6 percent increase over the prior year. Bucking the national trend of flat or declining enrollments, UD had a record first-year class of 4,306 for 2017-18, and a record first-year class of Delawareans, at 1,402. Over the past five years, first-year enrollment has gone up 13 percent, from 3,808 in 2013.  

New investments

Assanis said strategic investments in partnerships, programs and intellectual and physical capital will allow the University to enhance its competitive position in the education marketplace while increasing access and opportunity for even more undergraduates.  The fundamental goal, he said, is to enhance the success of all UD students—those who are on campus now and those of future classes. Plans include:

• Increasing undergraduate student enrollment by more than 1,000 over the next five years, with an emphasis on diversity and increasing access for Delawareans.
• Hiring 500-600 new faculty members over the next five to seven years, attracting the best talent from across the country and around the world. This recruitment effort will bring the total number of faculty to more than 1,500—a net increase of about 250 from 2016—and will optimize the student-faculty ratio.
• Construction and development of new buildings and programs to enhance interdisciplinary research and instruction in key areas. Examples include a new Biopharmaceutical Innovation Building; a new 10-story tower at the Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus to house the College of Health Sciences and high-tech commercial tenants; and the Biden Institute.
• Providing new transformational learning environments needed to keep pace with advancing technologies, including upgrading labs, research equipment, classrooms, and, in the longer term, adding a new interdisciplinary science building.
• Doubling graduate student enrollment in the next 10 years through the creation of a Graduate College, which will ensure grad programs’ success. Quality doctoral students attract quality faculty and generate more research funding, as well as supplement teaching capacity in UD programs, expanding critical lab sections and undergraduate research opportunities.
• Enhancing and expanding access to degree programs in engineering, health sciences and business and economics.
• Creating new and exciting cross-disciplinary programs that will prepare students to solve the problems of society that often require thinking across boundaries.
• Ensuring an entrepreneurial experience for every undergraduate by embedding entrepreneurship in nine-credit certificates offered through every college.
• Building new residence halls with academic environments that enable a living learning center, as well as enhanced intercultural spaces.
• Expanding academic support services like advising and career services for all students to improve UD’s already high graduation and placement rates. The Blue Hen Success Collaborative, a powerful analytics-based system, focuses student support to create a coordinated care network, helping all students finish in four years. 

The differential guarantees no net increase for UD students with the greatest financial need, Pell-eligible students, and is included as part of the Commitment to Delawareans financial promise as determined by the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). All current students who are enrolled at UD as of spring 2018 will also receive a credit of $250 per semester for full-time students and $125 per semester for part-time students to assist them until the charge is fully phased in.

Strengthening impact

UD’s continued partnership with the state is critical, Assanis said, to increasing financial aid for Delawareans and enhancing learning spaces for teaching and research—in collaboration with industry—for the greatest possible impact on the region.

Through partnerships with industry, government, policy leaders and business, the University has already taken significant steps toward advancing its reputation and impact, while providing vital education and workforce development. Altogether, the University has a $6.2 billion impact on Delaware, directly and indirectly supporting thousands of jobs in the state. These partnerships benefit students by providing opportunities for research projects, real-world learning, internships or other meaningful experiences, Assanis said.

Examples include the opening of the Delaware Innovation Space Inc., a new business incubator; a new partnership with the U.S. Dept. of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory; the STAR Campus development; UD’s collaboration with the Chemours Company; and UD’s partnership with 47^th Vice President of the United States Joe Biden to create the Biden Institute on campus