BINJE asked Rutgers President William Tate a simple question at the end of its exclusive interview earlier this week: If we sit down again a year from now, what do you want to say you got done?
The list is short, but it isn’t easy. Here it is:
1. Enrollment that runs on data
Tate’s first answer is the one that keeps the lights on.
“A data-driven, AI-informed, econometrically driven enrollment management strategy. Period,” he says.
Tuition is the single biggest piece of Rutgers’ revenue, so recruiting students and keeping them through graduation is budget policy, not just admissions. Tate doesn’t soften what happens to schools that get it wrong.
“Anybody that doesn’t have one, their business will fail in higher ed,” he says.
2. A new chancellor for Rutgers Health
The second goal is about the business of health.
Rutgers Health has been run by an interim since Brian Strom stepped down as its inaugural chancellor after 12 years. Robert Johnson has held the job since Jan. 2. Tate says Rutgers Health accounts for about 42% of the university’s budget.
TATE Talks
BINJE sat down with Rutgers President William Tate earlier this week. Here’s the three-part series that came from it:
Wednesday: Tate’s warning: After a balanced first year, “hard decisions” are coming
Thursday: Q&A: Tate on talent, research and affordability — and the Newark and Camden campuses
Friday: 10 things: What Tate wants New Jersey to know about Rutgers
He wants someone who can work hand in hand with RWJBarnabas Health, Rutgers’ clinical partner, and turn nearly $1 billion in research into treatments for patients.
“Our number one opportunity from a business point of view,” he says, is “to link a billion dollars of research, tremendous basic science, with a clinical partner.”
Tate says he’ll stay on top of it himself, along with the new chancellor and RWJBarnabas Health CEO Mark Manigan. Rutgers also has a longstanding clinical partnership with University Hospital in Newark.
3. A run at the top 10
The third goal is about reputation — and rankings.
Tate wants “a continued upward tracking of the university in terms of external recognition related to its quality,” including a push to become one of the top 10 public universities in the country.
Tate is quick to point out that all three Rutgers campuses rank among the top 50 public universities in the latest U.S. News rankings, and all three hit their best marks ever. Rutgers–New Brunswick is No. 14, Rutgers–Newark is No. 32, and Rutgers–Camden is No. 43.
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What could get in the way? Tate doesn’t name energy prices or health care costs. He cites changes in federal policies.
“The biggest challenge is just policy headwinds that are inconsistent with the advancement of discovery and/or talent procurement that we don’t control,” he says.
He says Rutgers will adapt.
“No matter what happens, we’re going to make it work,” he says.
