The University System of New Hampshire consistently extends its reach beyond the classrooms and into the state’s communities, neighborhoods, schools, and other areas as part of our mission to be both a resource and a partner of choice. USNH operates collectively with its institutions and works toward its goal of being the very best small public higher education system in the country. As the state’s university system, we have many partnerships – with our host communities, with state government, with our students and their families, and with organizations that help us provide an education that will enable our students to contribute to society and the workforce. These partnerships have been established and nurtured over many years to be mutually beneficial and provide direct and indirect benefits to the citizenry of New Hampshire.

This Annual Report looks back over the 2006-07 fiscal year (FY07) and reviews how our accomplishments and partnering efforts have impacted the state, as well as provides a detailed overview of key financial data from FY07. These accomplishments are described in the next section of the report under each component of the University System’s four-fold vision, which is to be:

1. Truly student oriented
2. Committed to excellence in selected programs and services
3. Efficient and effective in the use of its resources
4. Recognized as the partner of choice by others

1. New Hampshire’s University System is Student Oriented

The institutions of the University System revolve around a core commitment to students and student learning. USNH focuses on serving the higher educational needs of the people of New Hampshire and recognizes its responsibility to regularly evaluate those needs, institutional offerings, and how and where it delivers programming.

Project Access – For the past three years, USNH has examined academic programs in the state and how and where they are offered as part of the Project Access initiative. This evaluation has been on a parallel track with an exploration of workforce demands by region. Data has been compiled from several sources to obtain a “best estimate” of educational need and demand and efforts are under way to address some of these needs.

In FY07, the UNH Department of Nursing expanded on its collaboration with GSC to adapt the UNH RN Completion Program to be fully online. Licensed registered nurses can complete a bachelor’s degree in nursing online with UNH delivering the nursing courses and GSC delivering the prerequisite and support courses. In addition, the Community College System of New Hampshire (CCSNH) students in the Associate in Science in Nursing can enroll in the Opt-In Program which offers guaranteed admission to the UNH RN to the Bachelors in Science and Nursing (BSN) program. Community college Associates Degree in Nursing (ADN) graduates transfer as juniors into the BSN program. Participants elect to take their prerequisite and elective classes online through GSC and through UNH their nursing courses online on a full- or part-time basis as they continue to work as practicing nurses. The response to these new offerings has been overwhelmingly positive both from students and health care employers.

Another effort launched in FY07 features a partnership among GSC, PSU, and the Berlin campus of the CCSNH to increase participation and success in higher education in the state’s northern region. Responding to workforce development and training needs of employers and industries in the region, three joint programs have been developed and delivered. Students successfully completing degree requirements for the Associates in Science (AS) degree at CCSNH-Berlin can now transfer seamlessly to GSC and be admitted with full junior standing in business management, criminal justice, and early childhood education.

Additional articulation agreements were developed for those Berlin community college students with an AS in teacher preparation to transfer with junior status to GSC and earn a BS in language arts and elementary education, or into PSU through the North Country Teacher Certification Program. The program, offered on the Berlin campus, allows students to graduate from PSU with a BS in Childhood Studies (K-8 Teacher Certification).

Last, several workforce development training contracts have been developed as part of Project Access. Examples include training for paraeducators, continuing education for teachers, on site management training for hospital managers, and an analysis of training needs for New Hampshire law enforcement personnel.

The Affordable College Effort (ACE) – In the fall semester of 2006, USNH launched the Affordable College Effort (ACE) to help New Hampshire’s neediest students pay for the first year of a college education at one of the residential institutions. College affordability is one of the top concerns of the University System’s Board of Trustees. They endorsed the new effort in FY06, expanded eligibility criteria for the spring of 2007, and in June 2007 supported an expansion that will enable eligible students to receive ACE awards for their sophomore year beginning in the fall of 2007.

ACE is geared toward any New Hampshire resident attending a USNH institution as a full-time freshman or sophomore who started their studies within one year of graduating from high school and for which the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) is under $1,000. During these first two years, ACE award recipients will incur no loan debt for meeting the direct costs of education. Direct (or billed) costs include tuition and standard fees, as well as standard campus housing and meal plans. ACE awards per recipient were $4,625 in FY07 and a total of 131 students received grants. The expansion is expected to double the number of awards made to needy New Hampshire students in FY08.

Latino Initiative – Large scale immigration to the United States, especially from Latin America and Asia, combined with an aging US population, will profoundly reshape higher education in the years ahead. In the Northeast, non-whites accounted for 100 percent of the net growth in the population between 1990 and 2000. The number of Latinos in New Hampshire grew 81 percent during the same time period. Despite the growing numbers, Latinos remain one of the most socio-economically distressed and educationally disadvantaged groups.

Many Latino students and their families face formidable roadblocks on their path to college, including inadequate preparation, lack of role models, and an unclear understanding of the benefits of being college educated. USNH established the Latino Initiative in early 2007 to begin to create opportunities for access to, and success in college. A bilingual outreach coordinator, working with sta. in the USNH admissions offices, began advising and supporting students and families in their homes, community centers, and schools to inform them about the benefits of an education and to assist with questions regarding admissions and financial aid. By June 2007, over 1,800 individuals had been informed about educational opportunities across USNH.

Expansion of Project Mentor – USNH and its four institutions, in partnership with middle schools across New Hampshire, have developed and put in place a mentorship program designed to increase the number of young people who stay in high school, graduate, and continue on to postsecondary education. Project Mentor expanded across all USNH institutions in FY07 for the first time, building o. a successful program by the same name that has operated through the University of New Hampshire in the greater Durham area for the past nine years. This expansion represents a new statewide collaboration between higher education and K–12.

To address the future need for well-educated citizens and workers, USNH—with the strong endorsement of the Board of Trustees— began expanding Project Mentor in FY06. Building outward into the communities immediately surrounding the USNH campuses and learning centers, Project Mentor pairs undergraduate college students with incoming sixth-grade students (to continue through to the end of eighth grade) to help them navigate some of the challenges of adolescence, strengthen academic performance, and raise aspirations for college. In spring 2007, seventy-seven middle school students at twenty different schools were being served through partnerships with high school mentors. Post-surveys in spring 2007 indicated that 80 percent of the middle school students who participated in Project Mentor aspired to graduate from high school and 72 percent indicated they wanted to go on to college. In addition, the website www.ProjectMentorNH.org was developed to enhance access to program information and materials. Continued expansions are planned for FY07, including additional online training of mentors and teachers through Granite State College.

College Readiness and Success – New Hampshire has the 6th oldest population in the United States, and the state will likely see a decline in the number of high school graduates in the next decade due to demographic shifts. At the same time, the state’s and the region’s employers have a greater demand for educated workers than ever before. USNH is addressing this issue in several ways and in partnership with many different organizations that have concerns about our future workforce and the educational attainment of our youth.

USNH awards more than half of all bachelors degrees in the State, more than all of the other private New Hampshire institutions combined. In FY06, USNH developed “Get Ready for College” brochures and posters for middle and high schools, and students and their families. The colorful posters in English and Spanish show students the steps they could take each year to prepare for college. The brochures are for families and students and mirror the content of the posters. In FY07, nearly 50,000 brochures were distributed and posters are currently displayed in most schools. The New Hampshire School Counselor Association, the New Hampshire Higher Education Assistance Foundation, and Fidelity Investments are key partners in this effort.

USNH has also been working with the New England Board of Higher Education on its regional “College Ready New England” effort and has helped lead efforts in New Hampshire to create a statewide college readiness working group. In addition, New Hampshire Governor John Lynch established a P-16 Working Group in FY07 to look at ways to help improve the overall educational experience and attainment of our students from pre-kindergarten through college. USNH Chancellor Stephen Reno was named to the P-16 group and is working in partnership with its members and the higher education community to develop recommendations on P-16 issues to present to the Governor in late 2007.

North Country Public Higher Education Collaboration Project – Residents of Northern New Hampshire have access to higher education opportunities predominantly through USNH institutions and the state’s community college system. While three public institutions provide educational opportunities to area residents, a more efficient, cost effective, collaborative, and strategic approach is being developed for the future. The North Country Public Higher Education Project was launched in FY07 and includes other USNH partners such as NH Public Television, UNH Cooperative Extension, PSU Center for Rural Partnerships, PSU Center for the Environment, UNH Carsey Institute, and local education centers and community-based agencies.

The major outcome of this project will be a comprehensive plan that utilizes the collective resources of GSC, PSU, the Berlin campus of the Community College System, UNH Cooperative Extension, and NHPTV to best meet the current and future educational and workforce needs of the North Country.

2. The University System Delivers Excellence in Selected Programs

The colleges and universities of the University System are complementary in their missions, purposes, and offerings. Each institution brings a unique set of talents and expertise to its students, the state, and beyond. Together, they meet a full spectrum of higher educational needs while being recognized individually for excellence in select areas.

Charley, a 42-pound heifer, made history when she was born on a University of New Hampshire farm in December 2006. The Jersey calf was the first heifer born at the nation’s first organic research dairy farm at a land-grant university. Her birth represented the culmination of years of planning, as well as the beginning of a path-breaking endeavor in agricultural education and research.

Several years in the making, UNH’s Organic Dairy Research Farm exploded with activity this past year, including crucial fund-raising efforts. Major funders include Stonyfield Farm of Londonderry, NH; Horizon Organic Dairy of Broomfield, CO; Aurora Organic Dairy of Boulder, CO; Hannaford Bros. Supermarkets of Portland, ME; Organic Valley of LaFarge, WI; Newman’s Own Foundation of Westport, CT; and HP Hood of Chelsea, MA. UNH’s Organic Dairy Research Farm is not merely another producer of organic milk. Its primary goal is to provide much-needed research to this burgeoning sector of dairy farming, and to educate current and future organic dairy farmers—as well as conventional farmers interested in sustainable agriculture— throughout the Northeast.

Plymouth State University students gained invaluable practical experience when their criminal justice class traveled to Cambridge, MA, for a unique competition with Harvard Law School students. A mock trial put ten PSU undergraduate students against a group of Harvard third-year law students in a courtroom setting. “The Plymouth State students were great,” said Harvard’s preeminent law professor, Alan Dershowitz. “The decisions in both cases were in their favor. I hope some of them decide to become lawyers. They would be first rate.”

“These students worked tirelessly in preparation for this debate at Harvard Law School,” said PSU adjunct professor Eric MacLeish. “They received no extra credit, but did this to represent PSU and to hone their advocacy skills.”

In fall 2007, Keene State College welcomed a cohort of thirty-six high-achieving students into a new College-wide Honors Program. The program encompasses a new residential learning component, with all of the students housed in suites on the third floor of newly renovated Fiske Hall. With the appointment of Dr. Beatriz Torres as director of the program, the students have been guided into specialized and newly developed Integrative Studies courses aimed at stimulating dialogue and the mastery of writing and quantitative concepts that are core to various disciplines. Students selected for the Honors Program are recipients of merit scholarships provided by the Morris Foundation.

Granite State College’s Post-Baccalaureate Teacher Certification (PBTC) program has been awarded a five-year $429,000 US Department of Education grant to improve the quality of educational services for children with disabilities. The funds will support development of new instructional, assessment, and support tools, including a comprehensive higher education mentoring program.

PBTC is job-embedded and field-based, and offers certification in several critical shortage areas: General Special Education, Reading Specialist, Learning Disabilities, Emotional/Behavioral Disorders, and Mental Retardation. One goal of the grant is an increase of sixty certified special education teachers by 2012, placed in high-poverty and rural New Hampshire school districts.

3. The University System Directs Its Operations Efficiently and Effectively

Accountability in higher education was one of the top issues debated nationally in FY07 in light of the work of U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings’ Commission on the Future of Higher Education and recommendations regarding voluntary reporting of data coming from many higher education associations. While the University System has a long history of strong fiscal management, the Board of Trustees wanted to demonstrate accountability beyond the financial aspects of operating a university system. In FY06, the Board formally adopted eighteen strategic indicators to monitor and report outcomes for the purpose of demonstrating accountability and informing the various internal and external constituencies served by the University System. This includes monitoring how well students are gaining access to, and finding success in achieving educational goals, as well as documenting the value added that New Hampshire receives from outreach and research activities of faculty, staff, and students. Some findings include the following:

• Six-year graduation rates increased at all three residential campuses and remained very stable at Granite State College, with their population of predominately part-time transfer students. Retention rates for students at all four institutions are equal to or above their comparator institutions.
• In response to the growth in the average debt levels of graduates, there continues to be an ongoing commitment to significant increases in institutional financial aid support for students.
• Enrolled students and alumni at all institutions have a high level of satisfaction with their USNH institution. Approximately 90 percent of current students and over 80 percent of alumni were satisfied with their overall experience.

Operating Budget – In June 2007, the USNH Board of Trustees voted to approve a $384 million operating budget for “education and general” purposes in FY08 that continues an ongoing effort to direct more funds to support institutional financial aid to help keep the cost of attendance as low as possible for New Hampshire students. Tuition for in-state students will increase by 6.7 to 6.9 percent for the fall of 2007, while out-of-state tuition will rise by 5.2 percent. The approved budget represents a 5.1 percent spending increase above the FY07 level. The budget includes a 4.1 percent state appropriation increase to $96 million.

USNH Financial Strength Bolstered Through Strategic Management of Debt Portfolio
USNH strategically manages its debt portfolio to minimize its cost of capital and risks, and maximize its debt capacity and flexibility. Since January 2005, USNH has refinanced bonds, issued variable rate debt, and entered into interest rate swaps that resulted in a reduction of its weighted average cost of capital from 5.2 percent to 4.0 percent. To minimize risk, USNH has put in place conservative budgeting policies, including the establishment of a quasi-endowment which currently has a balance of over $9 million and is expected to continue to grow. The conservative budgeting policies and the accumulation of additional assets in the quasi-endowment have enabled USNH to maximize its borrowing capacity within its current bond rating of A1/A+, thereby providing the funds to invest in the physical plant to keep USNH campuses competitive.

To maximize flexibility, USNH has utilized multi-modal debt instruments and a streamlined approval process for new transactions, enabling USNH to act quickly to take advantage of ever-changing interest rate market conditions. The following example showcases the effectiveness and flexibility employed by USNH: In December 2006, management and Trustees working with external financial experts analyzed within seven days a sudden reduction in long-term municipal bond rates and executed a conversion of $60 million of variable rate bonds to a fixed rate and an option to enter into an interest rate swap in 2011 with a notional value of $42.5 million. The result of these two transactions was to further reduce USNH’s cost of capital and produce savings of $6.7 million, all of which will be invested to further mitigate risk. The financial strength of USNH has improved considerably as a result of the active, strategic management of its debt portfolio. This financial strength will be critical to USNH’s ability to compete and respond to the challenges anticipated in the years ahead.

New Leadership Within USNH

Board of Trustees Names Mark Huddleston as Next President of the University of New Hampshire – The USNH Board of Trustees unanimously elected Dr. Mark Huddleston the next president of the University of New Hampshire. Dr. Huddleston, the former president of Ohio Wesleyan University, brings to UNH three decades of experience in public and private higher education as a faculty member, dean, and senior administrator. He assumed the UNH presidency in July 2007.

“Dr. Huddleston offers UNH a distinctive blend of vision, experience, and commitment. He is a sitting president at a well-respected private university who previously has served in increasingly responsible positions over twenty-four years at a large public university. He is a dedicated and recognized academic, and an individual who impressed the search committee and members of the UNH community with his vision for the university and his collaborative style of leadership,” said USNH Chancellor Stephen Reno.

Dr. Huddleston began his academic career at the State University of New York-Buffalo in 1977 as an assistant professor of political science. He then joined the faculty of the University of Delaware in 1980, where he remained for more than two decades. Dr. Huddleston chaired the Department of Political Science and International Relations and served as associate provost for international programs. He was named dean of the College of Arts and Sciences in 2001, where he managed forty-five academic departments and centers with nearly 900 full-time faculty and sta., and served in that capacity until he was named president of Ohio Wesleyan University in 2004.

He took over the presidency from J. Bonnie Newman, who served as interim president since the departure of former President Ann Weaver Hart in June 2006. While known nationally as a highly skilled senior government administrator, Ms. Newman has devoted many years of her career to higher education. She was recognized for her dedicated service to UNH at the 2007 commencement ceremony when she was awarded an honorary doctorate in front of two former U.S. presidents who served as commencement speakers (see photo, opposite page).

PSU and Plymouth-Area Communities Come Together to Install Sara Jayne Steen as the University’s 14th President – The Board of Trustees and Chancellor of the University System of New Hampshire formally invested Dr. Sara Jayne Steen as the 14th President of Plymouth State University in April 2007. The “ Imagine A Way” investiture ceremony was more than an event to install President Steen; it was a series of events designed to bring PSU’s friends and supporters together on campus to reflect on the 136 years of its proud academic tradition, to share in its past and present achievements, and to envision future partnerships and collaborations.

The “ Imagine A Way” celebration featured events throughout the week that showcased PSU students, faculty, and sta.; engaged the community; and raised awareness of a variety of activities that advance the mission of the University. While “ Imagine A Way” celebrated the investiture of President Steen, it will continue as an annual event that will engage the campus community and feature an annual “State of the University” presidential message.

Presidents Climate Commitment – While the USNH institutions have a long history of pursuing efforts to be more energy conscious and efficient, the four USNH presidents took a major step toward climate neutrality by signing the national “American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment” in FY07. New Hampshire became one of the first states nationally to have all of its public university system presidents support this effort. Over 300 presidents have signed the commitment, which calls for all institutions to create a comprehensive action plan for becoming climate neutral, including specific goals and timelines. Within two months of signing the commitment, institutions must create internal structures to guide the development of an overall plan, and within one year they must complete an inventory of all greenhouse gas emissions. Within two years, institutions must have a plan in place that includes a target date for achieving climate neutrality; targets and goals that will lead to climate neutrality; actions to include these issues as part of the curriculum or educational experience for students; and mechanisms for tracking progress on these efforts. Some of the specific efforts that are recommended as ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are already in place at USNH institutions.

On May 27, 2007, Plymouth State University announced that they are one of the first institutions of higher learning nationwide to earn the US Green Building Council’s LEED Gold Certification for a residence hall, Langdon Woods, and recently established a blog to stimulate greater dialogue regarding PSU’s environmental initiatives. Keene State College began a campus emissions inventory in 2005; has converted all campus diesel vehicles to biodiesel as part of a college/city collaboration; and since 1996 has used its President’s Council for a Sustainable Future to advance sustainability initiatives. The

University of New Hampshire has a novel greenhouse gas emissions inventory tool that has been adopted by more than 200 colleges and universities across the United States, and a comprehensive Climate Education Initiative that brings practices into the classrooms and laboratories on campus. Granite State College will look at integrating sustainable practices within the college and its academic programs as key elements of its 2008-2019 Master Plan.

USNH Strategic Indicators:

• Number and percentage of NH college-bound seniors who attend each USNH institution
• Number and percentage of first generation college students at each USNH institution
• Financial aid given to NH students
• Number of transfers from CCSNH to USNH Retention rates: Freshman and CCSNH transfer students
• Enrolled-student satisfaction
• Six-year graduation rate
• Awards, distinctions, and recognitions received by each USNH institution
• Alumni satisfaction and alumni employability
• Operating margin
• Unrestricted net assets (financial resources) to operations
• Unrestricted net assets (financial resources) to debt
• Total financial resources per FTE student
• Average undergraduate debt load at graduation
• Alumni percentage who give to each USNH institution
• Number of gifts by size-of-gift category and by donor category
• Outreach and professional activities of faculty, staff, and students
• Dollar value of sponsored programs

4. The University System Is Recognized as a Partner of Choice by Others

USNH recognizes that to fulfill its mission, the institutions and the system as a whole must be engaged in its communities and with its many constituencies so it can provide the best service possible, whether it is training additional nurses, providing new online access to select fields of study, or bringing experts to the State Capitol to testify on issues of interest to legislators. USNH is working collaboratively with hundreds of organizations across the state, country, and world to advance technologies, increase educational opportunities, and assist communities through volunteerism, service learning, and the sharing of resources.

Encouraging More Graduates to Stay in New Hampshire and Contribute to the Economy: The 55 Percent Initiative – In January 2007, USNH Chancellor Stephen Reno put out a call to action to address workforce needs by launching a new initiative to encourage more of the state’s new college graduates to “work, play, and stay” in New Hampshire upon graduating. The 55 Percent Initiative looks to retain 55 percent of the college graduates in state as compared to the 50 percent retained today through a “tourism-like marketing campaign.” Working with the New Hampshire College and University Council and the New Hampshire Department of Resources and Economic Development, presidents from colleges across the state agreed to have their seniors and recent alumni surveyed to help ascertain why students stay or leave New Hampshire, what barriers they face if they want to stay, and what attributes they cite about the state as being the most important factors in making such a decision. A shift from retaining 50 percent of the graduates to 55 percent of the graduates could have a $42 million impact on the state’s economy in one year. Several chambers of commerce, businesses, and organizations have signed up in support of this initiative on the USNH website.

USNH institutions are regularly recognized as partners of choice
Some recent examples include the following:

• In December, the University of New Hampshire’s Crimes Against Children Research Center partnered with Verizon to host a special town meeting to discuss educating children on Internet safety. At the meeting, Verizon officials also announced that they would provide a $150,000 grant to support the Center’s ongoing efforts to better understand the evolving security issues of the Internet and how best to protect children from, and educate families about online dangers. More than 500 community leaders and educators from around New Hampshire attended the forum. Participants included Governor John Lynch, Attorney General Kelly Ayotte, and the center’s director, David Finkelhor. Other speakers included Tom Dailey, general counsel for Verizon Online; Dennis Shaw, chief operating officer of iSAFE Inc.; Commissioner of Education Lyonel Tracy; Portsmouth, NH Chief of Police Michael Magnant; and Alyssa Shooshan, project director for US Senator Judd Gregg.
• Graduate students from Plymouth State University’s Small Business Institute (SBI) played a major role in the launch of exclusive automotive wireless communications technology developed by AeroSat Corp. of Amherst, NH. The students presented their marketing plan to AeroSat’s board members, employees, and PSU officials in April 2007. The group wrote a proposal for automotive mobile networking—a new program that will be used in cars able to distribute information while en route. They assessed the need for this technology then created marketing materials, performed surveys, investigated costs, and researched competitors. AeroSat CEO Michael J. Barrett commended the students for their effort and said that AeroSat could have easily spent $500,000 to have an outside consultant provide the information the company received from the University’s SBI team.
• Keene State College is one of seventy-six US colleges and universities recognized by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching for making community engagement a part of their mission. KSC was one of sixty-two institutions in the group that was classified for both curricular engagement and outreach. In order to be selected, institutions had to provide descriptions and examples of institutionalized practices of community engagement that showed alignment among mission, culture, leadership, resources, and practices. A recent study showed that 43 percent of KSC students participate in community-or service-based learning, with strong faculty and administrative support for these activities.
• Granite State College and UNH Manchester received a grant from the New Hampshire Higher Education Assistance Foundation (NHHEAF) to expand their Programa de Transicion al la Universided, the College Transition Program for Latino/Hispanic students. This collaboration is encouraging the college aspirations of Southern New Hampshire’s growing Latino population and reflects a shared commitment to access, diversity, and community engagement. GSC’s program will focus on Latino/Hispanic adults who balance college with family and work responsibilities by taking evening, weekend, and online classes on a part-time basis.
• EcoLine Project Will Be Major New Source for UNH Renewable Energy
  With the strong support of the USNH Board of Trustees, the University of New Hampshire—in cooperation with Waste Management, Inc.—launched EcoLine, a landfill gas project that will pipe enriched and purified gas from a landfill in Rochester to the Durham campus. UNH is the first university in the nation to undertake a project of this magnitude. The renewable, carbon-neutral methane gas, from Waste Management’s Turnkey Recycling and Environmental Enterprise facility in Rochester, NH, will replace commercial natural gas as the primary fuel in UNH’s cogeneration plant, enabling UNH to receive 80-85 percent of its energy from a renewable source. UNH and USNH officials worked closely with the Board over the past eighteen months to review this cutting-edge energy project and were granted final approval to move forward in August 2007. Upon approval, construction started on both a landfill gas processing plant in Rochester—which will purify the gas—and the 12.7-mile underground pipeline, which will transport the gas from the plant to the university’s Durham campus. UNH is expected to fuel its cogeneration plant with landfill gas by the fall of 2008. The estimated cost of the project at UNH is $45 million.