To: All Faculty & All Academic Professionals & All Civil Service Staff
           <everybody@illinois.edu> 
    From: "uipres@uillinois.edu" <uipres@uillinois.edu>

Reply-To: uipres@uillinois.edu
 Subject: MASSMAIL - Presmail

September 6, 2002


Dear Colleagues:

Welcome to what promises to be another exciting year at the University of 
Illinois. Whether you are a newcomer or a longtime faculty or staff 
member, you are an important part of what I am confident will be an 
invigorating--albeit challenging--school year.

Once again, our campuses in Chicago, Springfield, and Urbana-Champaign 
have attracted bright and ambitious students, be they high school 
graduates, advanced-degree candidates from across the world, or part-
timers making a midcareer shift. Almost unnoticed, we continue to build 
enrollment in our virtual campus, University of Illinois Online, which 
brings together and helps support the Internet courses and programs our 
campuses offer. We expect more than 66,000 students to flood our campuses 
and thousands more to join us in less traditional learning opportunities, 
from Saturday art schools to executive MBA programs.

Fortunately, most of our senior leadership is in place. These men and 
women--and, in fact, all of you--will be asked to do more with less this 
year in order to mitigate the impacts of a tighter state budget. We have 
promised our students that we will try hardest to protect the elements of 
a University of Illinois education most important to them and critical to 
their development as learners and leaders. Those elements include good 
classroom instruction, well-supplied labs, competent academic advising, 
essential student services such as health care and counseling, well-
stocked library shelves and accessible databases, and buildings that are 
clean and well lighted.

These essentials are most vulnerable to the downturn in the Illinois 
economy that has left us with less state money than we received last 
year. About a third of our day-to-day operating budget comes from 
Illinois taxpayers, through the legislative process. It is, however, the 
essential third that allows us to open our doors every day; puts faculty 
in front of classes, janitors in the hallways, doctors and nurses in the 
hospital, secretaries in the offices, and librarians in our multitude of 
libraries; turns the lights on; heats and cools our buildings; and so 
forth. It leverages the research that is key to our reputation and our 
contributions to the arts and sciences, technological advances, and 
economic development in Illinois and beyond. Furthermore, it is our 
direct link to the people of Illinois who support us, send their sons and 
daughters to us, and use our services, such as Extension, summer science 
and band camps, and community building.

Despite the challenges this year presents, we expect to move ahead on 
many fronts. Universities, by their nature, are places of spirit and 
optimism, fueled by good ideas, imagination, and, ultimately, hard work. 
I ask for your special commitment this year to help the University of 
Illinois prosper and be strong. We have experienced down cycles before--
about every decade or more--and know that we must move firmly against the 
inertia that could attend a budget slump.

Thank you for your service to this great university. Joan and I wish each 
of you a most productive and fulfilling year.

James J. Stukel
President
uipres@uillinois.edu
This mailing approved by:
The Office of the President

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