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March 10, 2003
Dear Members of the MBL Community,
This is the third in a series of communications designed to keep you informed of the progress we are making in developing a 10-year strategic plan for the Marine Biological Laboratory. To read my earlier letters to the community and review a list of Steering Committee and Task Force members, please visit our strategic planning web site.
As you know, John Dowling and I are directing the MBL’s strategic planning effort, with help from the consulting firm McKinsey and Company, members of the Board of Trustees, resident and summer scientists, and staff. Since I last wrote, Phase III task forces on Governance, Affiliation, Facilities, and Finances have completed their work. These groups have made a series of recommendations that were reviewed by the Strategic Planning Steering Committee and by the MBL Board of Trustees at their November and February meetings. We expect to begin implementing some of these recommendations over the next 18 months.
Phase III Task Forces: Governance
A task force on Governance chaired by Robert Palazzo and George Logan was charged with recommending refinements to the MBL's governance and administrative structure. The group reached consensus in a number of areas and have made the following recommendations:
- Create a Center (or similar administrative structure) for Summer/Visiting Research and hire a part-time director for that program
- Codify the process by which Centers are established, reviewed and terminated
- Eliminate the Board of Overseers, which duplicates the efforts of the Decennial Review Committee
- Hire a Chief Scientific and Academic Officer and broaden the scope of the Education Committee so they are responsible for all undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate educational activities at the Laboratory
- Expand the number of Trustees to create flexibility and enhance fundraising capabilities
- Further define the role of the President of the Corporation
- Restructure the Standing Committees of the Board of Trustees
- Affirm that the Science Council serves in an advisory capacity to the Director/CEO
Phase III Task Forces: Affiliations
A second task force on Affiliations chaired by Gerald Weissmann and Al Zeien was asked to recommend affiliations to support the proposed graduate program and the overall mission of the Laboratory. The group reached consensus on the following recommendations:
- Begin the process of becoming a degree-granting institution by:
- Amending the MBL Charter to allow us to grant degrees
- Beginning the accreditation process with New England Association of Schools and Colleges
- Begin negotiations with potential affiliates, including WHOI/MIT, Brown, and others
Phase III Task Forces: Facilities
A third task force on Facilities chaired by George Langford and John Lakian was asked to develop a preliminary plan for expanding or modifying facilities, housing, and support services, based on the data produced during Phase II activities. The task force took the information gathered about potential expansion in the MBL’s programs over the next five to ten years and laid out an ambitious and expensive expansion plan for facilities designed to meet those needs. This exercise demonstrated that some of the expansion and new programmatic elements suggested in Phase II would need to be scaled back. The Steering Committee reviewed the task force’s report, and reached consensus on a few key recommendations:
- Develop a comprehensive site plan for the campus that takes into consideration strategic planning initiatives. Given current plans, the committee believes that no new buildings will be required in the village, although additions to existing structures and major renovations and reallocation of space will be necessary over time.
- Renovate the Whitman Building
- Renovate the Loeb and Swope buildings (no consensus was reached on how or when this might happen)
- Provide additional parking (off-campus)
- Reconfigure the Library to accommodate the new digital library initiatives and information commons area, move under-utilized materials off site, and provide additional research and office space
- Create a new animal care facility (no decision was made as to where)
The issues addressed by this Task Force are ongoing, and will continue to be discussed by members of the Trustees’ Campus Planning and Physical Assets Committee (formerly the Facilities and Capital Equipment Committee).
Phase III Task Forces: Finances
Finally, a fourth task force on Finances co-chaired by Mitchell Sogin and Vin Ryan was asked to quantify financial requirements and funding options to facilitate an informed prioritization of resources relative to the strategic plan. The group developed flexible models to determine what it will cost to implement various components of the strategic plan. A final financial analysis will not be available until decisions concerning facilities and programs are finalized, however initial estimates indicate that we will need to embark on a campaign to raise approximately $100 million to fund the priorities emerging from the strategic planning effort. Again, the work of this group is ongoing and will now be addressed by the Trustees’ Finance Committee.
Next Steps
The Board of Trustees has agreed to begin implementing some of the recommendations made by Phase II and Phase III task forces over the next 18 months.
Clerk of the Corporation Thomas Crane has been working with us to rewrite the MBL’s bylaws and charter to enable us to meet some of the needs of the emerging strategic plan. These changes include expanding the number of Trustees and changing the MBL’s charter to allow us to become a degree-granting institution.
The MBL has been exploring affiliations with a number of institutions and has recently begun serious discussions with Brown University about developing a joint graduate program at the MBL. Presumably students would do their basic course work during their first year in Providence with the option of doing their laboratory work at the MBL. The Brown administration and faculty are excited about affiliating with the MBL, and we think such an affiliation makes good sense for the MBL for a number of reasons. Providence is an easy drive from Woods Hole; a number of Brown faculty already do summer research at the MBL; and collaborations and adjunct affiliations already exist between MBL and Brown investigators. We hope to sign a memorandum of understanding during the summer of 2003 and hope to admit our first graduate students in the fall of 2004.
Given the MBL’s expanding educational and research programs, we have also begun the search for a Chief Academic and Scientific Officer (CASO). The CASO will report to the Director and CEO and will oversee all research and educational programs at the MBL. Jerry Melillo has agreed to chair the search committee. Advertisements for the position will appear shortly in major international journals. We hope to fill this position in 2004.
We will also be hiring a planner to develop a campus space plan to help us reconfigure and renovate space to meet the scientific needs emerging from the strategic plan. Requests for proposals were sent out in January for this project and for initial plans for the Whitman Building renovation.
Following the recommendations of the Summer/Visiting Research and Governance Task Forces, I have asked Robert Goldman of Northwestern University to serve as Interim Director of the "Whitman Center" for summer and visiting research. Bob will lead a yet-to-be-named advisory group of summer investigators and work with a yet-to-be-hired firm on the Whitman Building renovation. We expect to finalize the job description for the Center Director by the end of this year and have a new Center Director on board by the summer of 2004.
Finally, one of the recommendations of the Resident Research Task Force was to establish a Center for Cell Dynamics and Imaging, which will build on the MBL’s strong tradition of cellular imaging. This Center would pull together researchers who focus on understanding the chemistry and biophysics of the living cell. The growth of this program is likely to take advantage of the MBL’s close ties with commercial leaders in instrumentation. In the near term, we will put together a committee to better define this initiative and to begin searching for a Director for this program. Bay Paul Center Director Mitchell Sogin has agreed chair a search committee. We hope to have this new Center established by the end of 2004.
As I did last year, I plan to hold regular informational meetings with the community throughout the summer. As always, your comments and suggestions are most welcome. With the input of the entire MBL community, we are confident that we will develop a strategic plan that will ensure that the Marine Biological Laboratory continues to make unique and distinguished contributions to the life sciences. Thank you again for your interest and support.
Sincerely yours,
William T. Speck, M.D.
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