A recent example of the kind of program being discussed was a $300,000 grant for real estate economics from the Gerald Hines Corporation, a real-estate development firm, said GSD assistant dean for development Stephen I. Solomon.

The school is presently seeking funding for a program in construction technology, for an exchange program with a Spanish architectural school, and for an endowed chair in honor of former GSD dean architect Joseph Luis Cert.

One of GSD's often sited problems is its few full-time faculty, 25 percent of the school's voting faculty members are adjuncts who hold other jobs.

Administrators say that the faculty shortage has hampered expansion and some of the proposed programs may have to be run jointly with other schools to draw on their resources.

Last fall President Bok proposed creating three joint professorships between GSD and the K-School in housing, transportation and urban development to help bridge the gap opened by the loss of the regional planning program.

But the shortage remains serious enough that getting more full-time faculty is still a major priority, Bok said this week.

Bok also said he will help fundraise for three new professorships and programs, even though the University's schools are usually responsible for their own finances. "'Every tub on its own bottom' is a good policy, but it has to be applied with discretion. There has to be a thumb on the scales and it has to be done sensibly," he said.

Officials say other causes for the schools financial problems include a lack of wealthy alumni to tab, a lows student to instructor ratio, a small endowment and a heavy reliance on tuition for revenue. Only the Law School gets more of its budget from tuition then GSD's 57 percent.

Tuition for next year was just raised from $8600 to $9500, said Rooney but almost all of that will be spent on operating expenses.

The school currently has a goal of raising $18.5 million by the end of the decade, Solornon said. He added that a crucial part of that needs to be corporate funding for programs like the ones being discussed this spring.

Faculties are often slow to change but many at the GSD think that change is necessary. "The faculty's current deliberations are the major topic occupying the faculty right now and probably will be for some time," one GSD professor said