Construction workers can be spotted through the large windows of Chapman University’s Keck Center for Science and Engineering—a milestone achieved in President Daniele Struppa’s first year in office. Struppa became president of the 157-year-old university in the fall of 2016.
The 140,000-square-foot building will be the largest facility on campus and is a few feet from where Struppa will deliver his second annual state of the university address this week.
The speech by the former professor of mathematics will introduce initiatives to help strengthen student life, expand health sciences programs, and outline Chapman’s five-year plan that takes effect in June.
Struppa said the university’s evolution has been dramatic compared to when he first joined as chancellor in 2006.
“In one word—unrecognizable,” he said. “There is a lot of physical change that you can look at, but more than that is the quality of the programs and the quality of the faculty that we have hired.”
Chapman’s biggest push was boosting its science programs, from founding Schmid College of Sciences and Technology in 2008 to building an Irvine campus for health science in 2014, as well as hiring nationally and internationally recognized faculty, including Yakir Aharonov, world-renowned for his achievements in quantum physics.
Struppa and his board hope a university focus on science will produce students that can help Orange County grow good-paying STEM jobs—coders, engineers, healthcare professionals. Those jobs only grew less than 4% here from 2006 to 2016—far less than the nation’s largest metropolitan areas.
He said the biggest focus midway into his second year would be improving campus life for students, what he calls the “Chapman Experience.”
“It’s become clear that as a university, we don’t just compete with other universities but we really compete with a lot of other service providers that (you) would not associate with a university,” he said.
That includes improved dining services comparable to popular restaurants and a fitness facility like that of a 24 Hour Fitness. Struppa said the student experience is not limited to what happens inside a classroom, but extracurricular activities that help build a sense of community and well-balanced life for students.
One step toward that goal is giving more of its 6,410 undergraduate students an opportunity to live on campus.
Struppa said 37% of undergrads live in dorms but it wants to house at least 50% by 2021.
He said construction of the 402-bed dorm at Villa Park Orchards Association Packing House, coupled with last year’s $150 million purchase of the 399-unit Katella Grand apartment complex in Anaheim, will bring it to its goal early.
It should also ease tension between Chapman and Old Towne residents who have raised concerns over noise, increased traffic and less parking. Much of the debate has been tied to Chapman expanding its campus with additional buildings, but Struppa said that tension would ease, as there’s simply no more room.
“I don’t see any room for physical expansion,” he said. “We’re going to have some limited student growth, mostly (with) our new engineering school.”
Keeping It Open
Struppa said donor support has played a significant role in helping Chapman to offer new programs and hire faculty, adding that last year was its best in fundraising with $107 million.
Chapman received a $45 million donation from Chapman alumnus Dale Fowler and his wife, Sarah Ann, for the Fowler School of Engineering, which will open in the fall of 2020. The school will be housed inside the Keck Center, which received a $21 million naming gift from the Los Angeles-based W.M. Keck Foundation in September. When complete, the three-story, high-tech center will have 40 research and teaching labs and 47 faculty offices.
But Chapman plans to launch an aggressive $500 million campaign that will be dedicated to its endowment. The endowment today is roughly $325 million—a figure that would still categorize Chapman as a “thinly-endowed” university—albeit a giant improvement from when Jim Doti started his 25-year run as president in 1991, when the school’s endowment was $18 million and it was losing money.
Struppa and his development team are still in the planning phase of the fundraising initiative, but will launch it as part of its five-year plan.
“Part of the reason that we want to strengthen the endowment is because through that you can provide additional support to students that wouldn’t otherwise be able to come to Chapman,” he said.
Roughly 87% of students receive some form of financial aid, such as a grant or scholarship, according to the university.
Struppa said funding remains a challenge in higher education, even for private institutions like Chapman. Rising costs lead to higher tuition, and the new campaign will help ease students’ costs, even for books and housing.
“I look at (fundraising) as a very noble art,” he said. “Some students will have their life made a little bit easier because of you, and that to me is very rewarding.”
