President Albert Yates Praised for Accomplishments, Leadership of Colorado State University

Colorado State University President Albert Yates today was given an "A" by the State Board of Agriculture for exemplary leadership.

"Al Yates continues to provide stable, visionary and effective leadership as the president of Colorado State University and chancellor of the system," said Reginald Washington, president of the State Board of Agriculture, which oversees the three-school Colorado State University System. "He has served Colorado well as a leader and as the spokesman for higher education in the state."

In its annual review, the board praised Yates, who has been at Colorado State for more than 11 years, for his steady leadership, planning and management that has moved the university into the upper echelons among colleges nationwide.

In praising Yates, the SBA cited a range of initiatives and progress over the past year, including the following:

• The university continued to place high priority on providing a high-quality undergraduate education. In 2000-2001, the university saw the implementation of its new core curriculum, which includes required first-year seminars for all students. This is a significant step toward bringing greater focus, relevance and depth to the general-education requirements of the institution. The university also has sustained its commitment to enriching the academic experience of all students through activities such as volunteerism, service learning, internships and other opportunities to build upon the classroom experience.
• The university moved forward on a major initiative to enhance civility and decorum at Colorado State by incorporating these issues as a Key Strategy in the Strategic Planning Process.
• Research expenditures increased from $153,188,880 to $165,937,155. As well, Colorado State faculty received numerous national and international honors. Among the most distinguished faculty awards this year: Professor Barry Beaty was appointed to the National Academy of Sciences; Professor Doug Ishii was named the Colorado State University Research Foundation’s Researcher of the Year; and Gordon Niswender, University Distinguished Professor of physiology and director of Colorado State’s Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology Laboratory, became only the third American to receive the prestigious Hammond Award, which recognizes lifetime achievement in promoting better understanding of issues in animal reproduction.
• The university continued its well-established Strategic Planning Process with the addition of three new Key Strategies for fiscal year 2002, focusing on faculty resources, civility and civic education, and research and graduate education.
• Competitive faculty salaries continue to be supported, with a fiscal-year average merit increase of 5 percent, promotion increases of $232,000, special salary increases of $500,000 that were self-funded by the colleges, and $53,600 to fund six new Distinguished Teaching Scholars (completing a two-year plan to create and fund a total of 12 Distinguished Teaching Scholar positions).
• Colorado State raised more than $37 million in total gifts and pledges for the 2000-2001 fiscal year, an all-time record for the university and the continuation of an upward trend in donations. Private gifts and pledges were received from 31,000 donors in fiscal year 2000-2001. Ninety-three percent of contributions in that fiscal year provided support for academic areas and 7 percent provided support for athletics.
• Significant progress has been made in achieving ethnic and cultural diversity among students, faculty, staff and administration. For fall 2001, total undergraduate minority enrollment is 11.5 percent of overall undergraduate enrollment, or 2,293 students. The percentage of new freshmen who are ethnically diverse increased from 12.1 percent in fall 1997 to 12.8 percent in fall 2001. The rate of retention for students of color reached an all-time high of 57 percent for the most recent class measured (class entering in 1996).
• Morgan Library book recovery continued, ensuring that library resources are better than they were before the flood of 1997. Toward that end, the institution has allocated funds to enhance the library above and beyond the cost of replacing equipment, furniture and other non-book losses from the disaster. In total, the university has allocated more than $18.3 million toward enhancement of the library after the disaster.
• The university either completed or continued to move forward on key renovation and construction projects including the Animal Cancer Center; University Center for the Arts; Chemistry-Biological Sciences; Equine Orthopedic Research Center at the James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital; Laurel Hall; Plant Sciences; Wagar; the addition to the Microbiology Building; Environmental Learning Center/Visitors Center (a partnership with the city of Fort Collins); BSL-3; Natural Resources Research Center phases II-IV; Colorado State Forest Service’s new center in Boulder County; and more.
• Colorado State continued to climb in a number of national rankings, including moving up a tier in the U.S. News and World Report rankings of "America’s Best Colleges and Universities" and being ranked as one of Yahoo’s "Most Wired Universities."
• The university launched a major marketing initiative built around the tagline "Knowledge to Go Places," with specific attention to in-state image enhancement and Web marketing targeted toward key student recruiting markets.