ENDOWMENT REACHES $17 BILLION
Stanford's merged pool of investments garnered a 1.0 percent return for the 12 months that ended June 30, and the value of the endowment rose 3.2 percent to $17 billion as of August 31, the final day of the fiscal year.
The merged pool includes most of the University's endowment and expendable funds, plus capital reserves from the Stanford and Lucile Packard hospitals. The endowment's value reflects investment gains and losses, gifts and funds transferred into it, minus the annual payout that supports University operations. The payout for fiscal year 2012 was $872 million, or 5.3 percent of the endowment value at year's start.
"Thanks to the generosity of Stanford's donors and disciplined financial management, and despite low investment returns, the endowment had modest growth last year," noted Randy Livingston, vice president for business affairs and chief financial officer. "Our endowment is still smaller than preceding the 2008-09 financial downturn, and we continue to be concerned about the possible reductions in federal research funding and an investment downturn driven by global economic malaise."
VICE PROVOST: Mitchell now oversees online learning development. (Photo: Linda A. Cicero) NEW POST FOR ONLINE EDUCATION
Stanford in August named computer science professor John Mitchell to the newly established office of vice provost for online learning. Mitchell already had been serving as chair of President John Hennessy's advisory committee on technology in higher education.
During the current academic year, the Stanford Online Initiative is focusing on faculty involvement in new teaching and learning methods, supporting the production of courses and their online delivery, and continuing the seed grant program to faculty that began last spring.
URSTEIN NAMED DEAN OF FRESHMEN
Robert Urstein has been appointed associate vice provost, director of undergraduate advising and research, and dean of freshmen, succeeding Julie Lythcott-Haims, '89, who left Stanford to pursue a master's degree in poetry.
Urstein has served as assistant dean for the doctoral program at the Graduate School of Business since 2004.
