President’s State of the University Address Reflects a Student Focus

In his first State of the University Address, Chapman President Daniele Struppa highlighted the University’s rapidly growing programs in the health sciences, the rising selectivity of its students and several initiatives aimed at enhancing student life.

Speaking Feb. 24 in Musco Center for the Arts, Struppa also focused on Chapman’s growing efforts to attract first-generation college students.

“That’s  something we are very committed to. It meets with our inclusiveness and our desire to fulfill the promise of higher education for our students,” he said.

Toward that goal, The Chapman Experience Task Force has been formed to develop a variety of new long-range plans, he said.

“The idea is to look in a comprehensive way at what Chapman does and what makes Chapman such a special university,” he said

Other accomplishments he noted:

• Plans to build the Institute for Interdisciplinary Brain and Behavioral Sciences at the Rinker Health Science Campus.
• Launch of the Smith Institute for Political Economy and Philosophy.
• Robust growth of external grant research, now at $6.5 million.
• Remarkable national media visibility garnered by the Chapman University Survey of American Fears research team.