Retiring UIC chancellor Sylvia Manning reflects on accomplishments 

By Jean Lachowicz 

Sylvia Manning, chancellor of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) since 1999, announced in July that she will retire this month. Prior to serving as chancellor, she was vice president for academic affairs for the University of Illinois system for five years.

            During her years as chancellor, UIC became one of the nation’s top 50 research institutions, having achieved coveted "Research I" status; of those, UIC is growing fastest in federally funded research. UIC also opened the College of Medicine Research Building and Center for Magnetic Resonance Research during Manning’s tenure.

            On her watch UIC increased student retention and graduation rates, improved freshman courses and general education programs, built new student housing and the Student Recreation Facility, and revitalized the Great Cities program. It also produced its first Rhodes Scholar, finished expanding the south campus, and increased public recognition and media coverage.

            “When I look at how far we’ve come in eight years, especially in the context of six years of state budget cuts, I can’t help thinking how much further we could have gone if we had money,” said Manning. “We would have vaulted if we had the resources.”

            Money problems have led to substantial tuition increases, deferred building maintenance, and loss of key faculty and staff members to other institutions where funding is more secure.

            Many improvements during Manning’s time came by using resources creatively, such as Project Oasis, which transformed more than a dozen concrete spaces into cozy places to relax and read or for students to meet with faculty or friends. These oases offer comfortable sofas and chairs, study tables, good lighting for reading, carpeting, plants, and artwork by UIC art and design students.

            “Project Oasis is a great thing, and it makes the campus more inviting,” Manning said. “It is completely gift-funded, and each oasis isn’t very expensive because we use UIC resources as much as possible. These places make a great difference for the students.”

            “Also, the Rec Center is a popular place to be,” she continued. “As we focus more on campus life and look at the student experience, we can see how much more activity and energy we have on campus today. Students not only go to classes here, but they can work out, enjoy more food options, live on campus, and maybe even get a job here.”

 

More housing

            Manning noted, “When I came, there were 800 students on waiting lists for housing because all of the student residences were full. Now we have a variety of accommodations for undergraduates and graduate students and, at least at the moment, there are no waiting lists.” This year, in fact, for the first time in UIC's history, more than 50% of freshmen live on campus.

            As the Chicago area's largest university, UIC has a responsibility and unique opportunity to contribute to urban well-being, Manning said. UIC’s Great Cities program embodies this metropolitan engagement through hundreds of teaching, research, and service programs such as the Great Cities Institute, Neighborhoods Initiative, Center for Urban Economic Development, and Natalie P. Voorhees Neighborhood Center.

“The first thing we wanted to do was start with an inventory of existing community partnerships, so we could truly understand the Great Cities commitment and build on that foundation,” she said. “Groups of students and faculty members are very involved in local healthcare, education, and planning issues. Students often consult with community groups. We do lots of outreach in the area of athletics and let community groups use our athletic fields and the Pavilion. We reach out.”

            UIC makes its hometown part of students’ urban experience by reaching out to the local community through the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, Office of School Relations, Center for Urban Educational Research and Development, Operation Cease Fire (an anti-gang and gang research program), UIC Provost’s Educational Outreach, public service activities, Urban Health Program, City Design Center, external education, and the Division of Specialized Care for Children.

            “As of last year’s count, we have 550 partnerships with major institutions in Chicago,” said Manning. “There were 1,100 separate projects.”

Manning believes trust and communication play key roles in good relationships with neighboring communities. “Our relationship with the community is of extreme importance,” she said. “Of course there are always opposed interests, but we try to let any problems that arise be defined by the community, and we participate with the community in seeking the best possible solutions.”

 

Faculty excellence

As chancellor, Manning earned high praise for her commitment to faculty excellence. While quick to credit the deans, who have sole responsibility for hiring faculty, she stressed the importance of UIC’s mission in selecting prospective faculty members.

            “We say [to prospective faculty], ‘We’re going to take the most advanced scholarship and make it available to smart, ambitious kids, regardless of socioeconomic or ethnic background,” she explained. “Do you want to make a real difference? Do you want to come to UIC to work with eager students, a highly diverse campus, and the cultural richness and opportunities of Chicago?’ We sell the same things we sell to donors," meaning UIC sells itself to potential students and donors alike on its high level of academics and ability to serve a diverse clientele.

            “In one freshman class I taught, I asked the students what language they would speak to their grandmother. Out of 16 kids, there were nine different languages—one of them a language I never even heard of! This serves our mission of teaching, research, and public service,” said Manning.

            UIC’s College of Education plays an active role with local schools. For example, this fall it will partner with the Noble Network of charter schools to open the Noble Metropolitan Math and Science High School on Near West Side near UIC's health and science facilities. The school has hired a principal, who already is recruiting students. "We’ll begin with ninth grade and add a grade every year,” Manning said. “Noble will run the school, and we will offer enrichment for the students. We plan to have an early college program at the school, and I will fortunately be able to be part of it after retirement, as I am on the board of directors.”

            She added that UIC’s health sciences, “superb both in quality and scale” allow it to offer the new school many resources. “We have all the professions on one campus, and we are the only institution with all of the health sciences: medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health, dentistry, and applied health sciences,” she explained

 

A premier public institution

Manning believes that, as UIC’s new vision statement says, the institution “will be, and be recognized as, the nation’s premier urban, public research university. One challenge we face is how do we get people, especially locally, to realize who we are? There’s been tremendous growth in the number of significant TV and major print media hits, with a huge growth in number of hits and percentage of positive hits.

            “For example, there has been a great deal of coverage of the Chicago Biomedical Consortium, funded by a multi-million dollar commitment from Searle and the Chicago Community Trust. The consortium consists of a group of nine scientists—three from UIC, three from University of Chicago, and three from Northwestern University—and they decided to put their diagnostic equipment in UIC’s labs for the central location and also for the excellent staff we have to maintain the machine,” said Manning.

            Although Manning admitted it will be difficult to leave UIC, she has “confidence that the great strides we are making will continue.” She wants UIC to keep getting increased National Institutes of Health funding, hiring the best management and faculty, and cultivating strong community support. She also wants UIC to go forward with plans for the Advanced Chemical Technology Building, which have been on hold since 2005 because of funding issues.

            “We are still in the early stages of the Brilliant Futures capital campaign to raise $650 million, and we are very lucky to have such an exceptional development staff. Last year was the highest fundraising year ever, and we want that to keep going. Someone else will get to be here for the building of a Performing Arts Center, which has been a project that is very close to my heart,” Manning said.

            University of Illinois President B. Joseph White said, “Sylvia has provided superb leadership to UIC. Every member of the UIC family—faculty, students, staff, alumni, and friends—has benefited from her intellect, integrity, collegiality, and passion for this campus.”

            White announced a nationwide search for Manning’s successor. UIC will appoint an interim chancellor after her departure in December; a new chancellor should be in place by July 1, 2008.

            “As for my own future, I want to put some distance between December and figuring out what I’m going to do next,” Manning said. “Intellectual life has to have a lot of give and take, and right now I want to continue to give UIC all of my attention until my retirement. After that, I can start making plans for myself.”

            Manning earned her PhD in English language and literature from Yale University, has taught English, and has published several works on Charles Dickens and other Victorian authors. She has grandchildren in Minnesota, piles of books she wants to read, and a retired husband with whom to enjoy life. Her post-December schedule already is filling up.