The campus is continuing to engage in year three of听鈥攊mplementing the strategic initiatives鈥� themes and projects and transforming them into the campus鈥檚 work priorities. At the heart of this process is our commitment to furthering the public good by embracing our role as Colorado鈥檚 leading national public research university and enacting that role through shaping tomorrow鈥檚 leaders, being the top university for innovation and positively impacting humanity.
Read about our progress this year on the campus鈥檚 four priority themes, along with concurrent work on other Academic Futures themes and strategic campus projects:
Spring 2020 priority themes and projects
Interdisciplinary education, research and creative works听
Jeff Cox, convener of Academic Futures,听and Emily CoBabe-Ammann, facilitator of Academic Futures, are continuing the work of forming a 鈥渄efinition team鈥� to work through the concept of the academies as put forward in the report.听听
The definition team will look at possible structures of the academies, as well as budget requirements, implications for supporting departments and research institutes, operational challenges and a process for approval.听
Cox and Cobabe-Ammann are at work seeking the membership of the definition team. They听plan to have the definition team in place during the coming weeks, with work to commence in spring-summer.
Creating a common student-centered approach to teaching and learning听
Responding to the听Foundations of Excellence听initiative, the campus continues its work on a first-year advising model that embeds first-year advisors in colleges, schools and programs, networked together under a common structure and budget. Hiring for additional first-year advisors across all of SM调教所 Boulder colleges and schools is expected to be completed by July 1, 2020.
鈥淲e are well on our way to hiring additional first-year advisors,鈥� said Shelly Bacon, associate vice provost for advising and exploratory studies. 鈥淲e鈥檝e also expanded Mike Simmons鈥檚 role from director of the university exploration and advising center to director of first-year and exploratory advising. He鈥檚 been meeting regularly with all first-year advisors to build a supportive, campus-wide advising network for our students.鈥�
罢丑别听Center for Teaching & Learning听(CTL) has appointed Becca Ciancanelli as the lead for inclusive pedagogy, a new position designed to support all campus educators as they engage students from diverse backgrounds in the learning process. Ciancanelli presented a session on inclusive pedagogy during the Spring Diversity and Inclusion Summit on听Feb. 25, and will hold a similar session for graduate students on March 30, during the campus鈥檚 annual Graduate Student Appreciation Week, March 30 to April听3.
鈥淲ith these workshops and one-on-one consultations, we are starting to advance our commitment to a common student-centered approach to learning throughout campus,鈥� said Kirk Ambrose, the director of CTL. 鈥淲e are continuing to hire our professional staff with plans to have everyone in place by early summer.鈥�
IDEA Plan, Diversity and Inclusion Summit marked progress in making excellence inclusive
The IDEA Plan implementation transition working group鈥攍ed by Vice Chancellor Bob Boswell and including Assistant Vice Chancellor and Deputy Chief HR Officer Merna Jacobsen, Arts and Sciences Associate Dean for Student Success Daryl Maeda, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management Kevin MacLennan and Chief Human Resources Officer for SM调教所 Boulder Katherine Erwin鈥攊s moving forward with convening the Council for Community and Inclusion (CCI).
The CCI will be a representative group of leadership from across SM调教所 Boulder who will permanently engage the campus on implementing the IDEA Plan and sustaining the campus鈥檚 inclusive excellence efforts. Their charge will be to 1) recommend and prioritize IDEA Plan actions, 2) advocate and engage for promising practices and award innovation grants, and 3) assess and report diversity and inclusion data to campus and leadership. They will steward the IDEA Plan in making excellence inclusive at SM调教所 Boulder.
Additional information about the Council for Community and Inclusion and other progress related to the IDEA Plan will be forthcoming in future updates.
Next steps on online and distance education expected later in spring
Provost Russ Moore has accepted three听working group reports听on online and distance education, all of which were focused on creating a plan to move from the current state of online education to a desired future state; on new possibilities for continuing education as a program innovator; and on creating infrastructure and resources for online/continuing education.听Next steps for the advancement of online and distance education are expected later this spring.听
Progress on other Academic Futures themes and campus strategic projects
骋辞惫别谤苍补苍肠别听
Schools and colleges continue to strengthen our governance ecosystem, ensuring more direct representation of faculty across campus. They are all in the midst of reviewing governance structures to include processes for increased budget transparency and communication with their deans, more complete grievance procedures and a definitive statement on the use of faculty course questionnaires (FCQs) in their unit.听
Additionally, the criteria and process for the dean鈥檚 review will now be undertaken as part of faculty governance at the school or college level. We anticipate this work will be completed by the end of the semester.听听
Campus success: Physical and financial resources听
听year-long effort has culminated in a data-rich facilities planning tool to help our campus leadership make the most effective infrastructure decisions in support of the campus mission and priorities. The completed visioning effort, along with the recommendations from the听housing,听transportation听and energy master plans, will all inform the 2021听Campus Master Plan update, which is slated to begin this spring.
Running in parallel,听Financial Futures听continues to surface opportunities that bring our resources into even better alignment with our听strategic plan. During the past 12 months, campus community members have generated over 570 ideas, resulting in over 160 projects approved for implementation. These projects are projected to generate a significant net impact for the campus in fiscal year 2021 and beyond.
What it means to be a public university today
This initiative theme, embedded in听Academic Futures, is integrated in our daily activities of research, scholarship, creative work, teaching and service. These activities further the public good by providing new knowledge, discoveries and creative works that directly serve communities. Progress on this initiative will be announced later in the spring semester.听
Accreditation update听
As a part of SM调教所 Boulder鈥檚听comprehensive evaluation for reaffirmation of accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), a team of peer reviewers from HLC visited campus on Dec. 9 and 10, 2019. The team鈥檚 purpose was to review the university鈥檚 continued compliance with HLC鈥檚 criteria for accreditation and to provide recommendations on our continued work on institutional improvements.
The site visit team鈥檚 report has been reviewed for accuracy and correction of errors by campus senior academic leadership and the accreditation team, led by Senior Vice Provost for Academic Planning and Assessment Katherine Eggert. The team鈥檚 report has been submitted to听听for review in mid-March.
The university expects to receive a final report and action letter from the HLC in April.
Academic reorganization update听
Provost Russ Moore on March 4 hosted an open forum in the College of Arts and Sciences to discuss academic reorganization. Moore explained his thinking on a new structure for the college and linked it to the work of the听Provost鈥檚 Committee on Academic Reorganization听and that of听three working groups听who delivered reports to him in December-January.听
Moore said he supported鈥攃onsistent with the committee and working group recommendations鈥攃reating three more empowered divisional deans in natural sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities. As proposed, the divisional deans would have budget and personnel authority for faculty lines and set divisional goals, priorities and projects.听
The divisional deans听would work in concert with the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences who would coordinate support functions such as human resources, communications, fundraising, advancing the liberal arts identity and mission of the college, and managing budgets for those support activities.听
Moore said the advantages of this structure would be to ensure the faculty and staff are closer to those who make many decisions while freeing the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences to focus additional time on fundraising, leading the mission of the liberal arts, and coordinating interdisciplinary activities.听
鈥淚 would think this would be a dean鈥檚 dream,鈥� Moore told the group.听
Moore said the work of creating job descriptions, working out logistics and structure issues, and conducting national searches for the deans would mean the new structure for the college was likely 18 months away.听
鈥淏ut we can begin the first stages of that work as early as next week颅鈥攁fter Monday鈥檚 (March 9) meeting with Arts and Sciences chairs,鈥� Moore said.
