8 December 2009
To:
Chris Uggen, Chair, Sociology - 2015 Planning Cte. co-chair
Gary Oehlert, Associate Dean for Planning - 2015 Planning Cte. co-chair
Brenda Child, Chair, Department of American Indian Studies
Jennifer Cieslak, CLA Chief of Staff
Karen Dewanz, CLA Chief Financial Officer
Scott Elton, Asst. to the Associate Dean for Planning - 2015 Planning Cte. staff
Ana Paula Ferreira, Chair, Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies
John Freeman, Professor, Department of Political Science
Ronald Greene, Associate Professor, Department of Communication Studies
Laura Gurak, Chair, Department of Writing Studies
Keitha Hamann, Associate Professor, School of Music, and Chair, Budget Advisory Cte.
Haven Hawley, Program Director, Immigration History Research Center
Karen Ho, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology
Thomas Holmes, Professor, Department of Economics
Walt Jacobs, Chair, Department of African American & African Studies and Chair, CLA Council of Chairs
Kimi Johnson, PhD student, Department of Theatre Arts and Dance and COGS Senator
Alexis Kuhr, Associate Professor, Department of Art
Erika Lee, Associate Professor, Department of History and Director, Asian American Studies Program
Richard Leppert, Regents Professor, Department of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature
Barbara London, Associate Administrator, Institute of Linguistics/ESL/Slavic
Angus MacDonald, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology and Vice Chair, CLA Assembly
Judith Martin, Professor, Department of Geography and Director, Urban Studies Program
David Myers, Director, School of Music
Peggy Nelson, Chair, Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences
Steven Ostrow, Chair, Department of Art History
Glen Powell, Associate Administrator, Department of Geography
Aria Sameni, Undergraduate student and Vice President, CLA Student Board
Geoffrey Sirc, Interim Chair, Department of English
Al Tims, Director, School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Klaas van der Sanden, Coordinator, Institute for Global Studies
From:
James A. Parente, Jr., Dean
Subject:
CLA 2015 Planning Committee Charge
**********************
CLA
is initiating a strategic planning process, CLA 2015, with the purpose
of strengthening and repositioning the college for lasting success
within the new higher education landscape for public research
universities.
The
current economic situation of the nation and the state of Minnesota has
exacerbated an already challenging situation for higher education.
Before the onset of the economic downturn last fall, public research
universities were already approaching a critical moment in their
histories precipitated by the steady decline in state funding, and the
onset of a projected decline in the college student population for the
next several years. The simultaneous rise in
tuition in the wake of reduced public support threatens to place a
college education further out of reach of many talented students, and
the competition for these students will become increasingly keen. For
the next several years, state support is likely to decline, along with
the number of qualified students, and public research universities will
be under greater pressure than ever before to compete nationally for
outstanding faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students, and ensure
financial support and access for academically qualified students. We
must therefore ensure that our college builds innovative and
distinctive programs, on both the undergraduate and graduate levels,
that will make our college a destination of choice for the most
talented students from across Minnesota, the nation, and the world.
To
prepare CLA for this new world of public higher education, I am
charging a planning committee, CLA 2015, to provide counsel about the
future directions that our college should pursue to sustain excellence
in the years ahead. Though the University and the college will likely
face financial reductions in the next biennium as federal stimulus
dollars disappear, we must look beyond the next two to three years to
decide what we want the college to look like after we meet those
immediate financial challenges. Although the landscape of higher
education has changed--and will continue to change--we remain committed
to the distinction of our faculty; the creation of new knowledge and
modes of innovative performance; exemplary training for graduate and
undergraduate students preparing for postgraduate careers of
leadership, creativity, and service; an abiding commitment to diversity
broadly defined across national, racial, ethnic, gender, sexual,
religious, disability, and socio-economic boundaries, and the sharing
of our expertise with external communities in service to our state and
nation.
Our
challenge is to advance our highest ambitions for the research,
educational, and public service missions of our college with fewer
resources than are available today. The CLA 2015 committee is charged
with developing a series of recommendations for building the academic
distinction of the college, as well as improving, narrowing, and
refining the college's academic mission The committee should consider
possible opportunities for increasing our strength across the
humanities, social sciences, and the arts; for innovative ways of
delivering graduate and undergraduate instruction; for increased
interaction between faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates; for
building faculty, student, and staff diversity; and for creative ways
of engaging in outreach activities with other educational institutions
in the state, including the U of M system, and the urban and regional
community. The committee should also recommend ways in which the
college could generate new revenue beyond private fundraising that
would enable us to create distinctive curricula over the calendar year
and raise new funds to support our academic enterprise. Although fiscal
constraints make the planning process more pressing, it is vital that
the changes that we ultimately make will strengthen the core mission of
our college in education, research, and public service.
There
are two stages to the CLA 2015 planning process. The first stage
requires that the 2015 committee provide counsel about collegiate
budget and planning (the "compact process") for FY11. President
Bruininks and Provost Sullivan have asked all colleges at the
University to plan for a 2% reduction for FY11. We will have the
opportunity, however, through the compact process to request that 0.75%
of those funds be returned to the college for our highest priorities in
2010-11. I ask, therefore, that the 2015 planning committee provide
recommendations about the 2% reduction and the 0.75% request. The
second stage of the planning process will be devoted to the
establishment of a set of recommendations for the college to pursue
over the next five years as it repositions itself for the new
environment of public higher education.
Provost
Sullivan has provided a set of guidelines and questions for colleges to
consider as they engage in their planning process. The guidelines
themselves closely parallel the recommendations emerging from the
report Financing the Future of the University that was
presented to the Board of Regents by President Bruininks on 9 October
2009In responding to these questions, the Provost advises that our
answers "must promote the quality and excellence of our programs;
promote synergies among teaching, learning, and scholarship; leverage
resources from numerous sources; and advance the strengths, reputation
and comparative advantage of the college." The questions are:
a. What programs and areas must be strengthened or expanded?
b. What programs should be maintained at current levels of support or reduced levels of support?
c. What programs and areas should continue, but be substantially reduced or consolidated?
d. What programs should be discontinued or eliminated?
e. How
can academic programs and areas better leverage existing human capital
resources, including rationalizing teaching loads; sharing new, more
energetic curriculum; consolidation; better use of classrooms and
laboratories; and the development of new academic programs?
The CLA 2015 Planning Committee's charge may be summarized as follows:
1. Provide counsel and recommendations about the ways in which CLA should meet its 2% reduction in O&M resources for FY11
2. Provide recommendations for strategic investment to inform the college's FY11 compact request
3. Provide
recommendations for repositioning CLA to achieve higher levels of
academic excellence in research, teaching, and service by 2015 and
recommend strategies to realize this plan during a period of
constrained or shrinking resources and a concomitant narrowing of focus
in FY12/ FY13 and beyond.
4. Develop metrics for assessing progress towards collegiate goals and the effectiveness of the chosen strategies.
The
Planning Committee will work together with current collegiate
governance bodies (CLA Assembly; Council of Chairs; CI&A; BAC,
P&A Board) and any cross-collegiate committees or groups (e.g.,
DUS's; DGS's; internationalization; undergraduate education;
Administrators' Forum), currently standing or that may be formed, to
provide broad discussion and significant engagement in the planning
process across the college. Members
of the CLA 2015 Planning Committee are not expected to serve as
representatives of the interests of particular departments or specific
groups but encouraged to bring their diverse perspectives to the
committee to advance CLA as a whole.
Timeline and process:
The
college will submit its FY11 compact document in mid-February 2010. In
order to complete the first stage of the planning process, the CLA 2015
Planning Committee will engage in focused work between now and the end
of January. We aim to convene the Planning Committee once before the
semester concludes and use this initial meeting to provide the
necessary fiscal background and set the stage for the intensive
discussions on academic and fiscal issues that will follow.
Additional
meetings regarding this first stage will be scheduled in January both
before and after the start of the semester to complete the first stage
of the committee's work. I ask that the Planning Committee submit its
recommendations to me for the FY11 compact by 1 February 2010.
The
second stage of the planning process will continue into the spring and
fall semester 2010. It is anticipated that the committee will be able
to use this time to continue its work on the steps that should be taken
to improve, narrow, and refine the college's academic mission and
develop new strategies for generating revenue. The CLA 2015 Planning
Committee will work collaboratively with the consultative bodies of the
college and solicit ideas from CLA faculty, staff, and students as it
shapes its recommendations.
Important deadlines:
1 February 2010:
Recommendations due for FY11 compact request (charges 1-2)
1 April 2010:
Status report on the progress to date on 2015 planning (charges 3 and 4)
15 October 2010:
Final recommendations due from the CLA 2015 Planning Committee
It
is anticipated that a collegiate planning document, the CLA 2015 plan,
will be finalized in the late fall 2010, and that this plan will inform
collegiate priorities and initiatives for FY12 and beyond. I am
grateful for your willingness to serve on this important committee and
for your commitment to the college in addressing these critical
short-term and long-term questions. I look forward to working with you
to chart a course for the college that advances our academic
excellence, and that strengthens our profile as a national and
international destination for graduate and undergraduate students
within the new reality of constrained state funding and increased
reliance on new sources of revenue.
