As the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina become more apparent with each day, many at [UR] have focused on how we can help the storm's survivors and academic institutions along the Gulf Coast, ... This tragedy continues to unfold, but I am heartened by the warm and caring response from so many in our campus community.

It's not so much the law as the sociology of the board. By and large, most people expect they are going to continue with the same management company. You assume it's their fund.

One way [we will increase annual giving] is that we are bringing in extraordinary talent. We so far have three people on the senior management team. The key is we're trying to bring in people who have had experience with capital campaigns.

The most important thing I will be doing this year, other than the listening tour, is to begin strategic planning. In effect, I am asking each school, typically working with alumni, students and administrators, to focus hard on where we are going. Not just where we want to be a year from now, but what are the real stretch goals?

An average 90-year-old patient arrives with a half-dozen diseases and a half-dozen medications. Many of those patients end up spending 10 to 15 hours in the emergency room while tests are done and we keep watch on them.

We actually put out three times as many news releases as our peer institutions. But it also suggests that if we put out fewer, we might have a higher rate of the news releases [being picked up by] news media.