Shirley Ann Jackson
This is an article written by students, for students. It is not intended to serve as an official or exhaustive account of RPI’s history, but rather as an informed student perspective meant to encourage discussion, transparency, and critical engagement with the Institute’s past and future.
Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson served as the president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute starting on July 1st, 1999 to July 1st, 2022.
Her goal for the school was "to achieve prominence in the 21st century as a top-tier world-class technological research university, with global reach and global impact." Through the Rensselaer Plan, the Institute invested heavily in critical research infrastructure, like the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studiesand EMPAC .
Expansion
Shirley Jackson broke barriers as the first woman and first Black president of RPI, and she made diversity in STEM a core institutional priority. During her presidency, the percentage of female undergraduates enrolled at the school increased from 24% (1999) to 32% (2017.)
It also is long past time to address what I have described as a “quiet crisis” in the development of the talent pool: our failure to draw sufficient numbers of young women and underrepresented minorities into fields such as computer science, engineering, physics, and mathematics.
School Finances
Although one of the administration’s central goals was to dramatically expand research activity, expenditures for such did not reach the original $100 million target until 2014, and from there, it plateaued. Even when federal funding research declined in the mid-2010s, and in spite of falling revenues, RPI continued it’s aggressive spending on research. This created
RPI’s total debt grew more than sixfold between 2000 and 2020, while assets increased at an inadequate rate. Credit agencies responding with downgrades eventually pushed RPI’s debt rating down. Rising interest and debt service costs began to consume financial resources that might otherwise have supported academic programs, student life, or facilities maintenance around campus.
Large capital projects further complicated RPI’s finances. The EMPAC building, initially projected at $50 million, ultimately cost more than $220 million, diverting funds and adding to long-term financial pressure. Pension liabilities also grew steadily, leaving the Institute with significant unfunded obligations despite large cash contributions.
As alumni participation and unrestricted giving declined, RPI increasingly turned to undergraduate enrollment growth to stabilize revenue, exceeding the enrollment levels originally envisioned in The Rensselaer Plan. While this strategy did help offset losses elsewhere, it marked a shift away from the research-driven model that originally justified the Institute’s financial expansion.
By increasing undergraduate enrollment while finances stagnated, resources and support for students were limited. Instead of increased investment per student, growth functioned as a stopgap to stabilize revenue in the short term, while spreading existing resources thinner across a larger student body.