Division of Academic Affairs Draft Strategic Plan April 2010

Transcription

1 Division of Academic Affairs Draft Strategic Plan April 2010 Vision: The Academic Affairs Division will be a dynamic, agile, and effective organization. This will enable us to foster quality education and scholarship, through involved and informed faculty, staff, and students. Mission: The Academic Affairs Division at IUP provides comprehensive undergraduate offerings and selected master s and doctoral programs that challenge students, faculty, and staff to understand their responsibilities to a global and changing world. Through a teacher/scholar model* that is committed to innovation, quality instruction, research, and public service, students gain expertise in their field of study and are inspired to be intellectually curious, civically responsible, and professionally competent lifelong learners. Guided by high ethical standards, a commitment to excellence and a respect for diversity, the Academic Affairs Division provides leadership in producing graduates that excel, delivering research innovations that benefit society, and undertaking public service that enriches the community. The Division anticipates, creates, and responds to changing needs, and shares these as institutional responsibilities. * Based upon Boyer KEY: Bold = Goal Underline = Objectives Solid bullet = Strategies NOTE = Goals are in alphabetical order Academic Identity - Engage the division to develop and support a shared identity and brand. Communicate the mission of Academic Affairs across diverse constituencies. Offer comprehensive, up-to-date, and applicable curriculum which prepares students for a globally oriented workforce. Bolster community service; provide resources. Reward faculty for keeping current. Keep liberal studies curriculum current.

2 Build culture of recognition and rewarding of achievement. Regain the personal educational experience that has been IUP s traditional strength by promoting deep intellectual relationships between faculty and students. Give greater emphasis on internships as part of course. Strengthen and promote internship program. Support and sustain broad and diverse undergraduate and graduate programs. Capitalize on the university s strengths such as the fine arts and our many accredited programs --even within the Ivy League there are specialized brands. Do what we do well --Cannot be all things to all people. Reclaim brand as public ivy a public institution with an excellent educational program. Emphasize the high quality of our faculty, who teach nearly all classes and engage in service, research and publications. Publicize the amazing work going on around campus in research and community services (different approach to promotion less top-down, administration-focused publicity/events) Create more visibility for faculty accomplishments at IUP, within the community and with the public. Recruit & maintain excellent faculty. Boost time, resources available to Center for Civic Engagement. Small class sizes for major. Personal contact with faculty members. Opportunity for undergraduate research. Continue to offer faculty professional development opportunities to improve their skills and stay current with discipline, research, and teaching approaches. Build a culture of professionalism in students through internships, undergraduate research and publication, professional writing and communication. Strengthen culture of professionalism within IUP faculty, by countering faculty burnout, making sure requirements of 2

3 faculty are appropriate, and involving departments in filtering this. Provide an affordable education. Strong Doctoral Programs. Develop and implement an internal & external marketing plan to give credibility to Public Ivy image. Create an academic culture that promotes our doctoral research programs. Promote the unique status of IUP as the only Carnegie Doctoral University in the PASSHE System. Academic Programs - Create and maintain high quality, well supported, distinctive, and vibrant academic programs. Provide an affordable education. Implement and promote the 1998 FPDC Teacher-Scholar- Service model. Support and expand the programs sponsored by the Center for Teaching Excellence that promote professional development of teaching. Support and expand the programs sponsored by the School of Graduate Studies and Research and the Research Institute that promote professional development of research and scholarship. Support and expand the programs sponsored by the Office of Service Learning that promote faculty and staff professional development in service. Maintain the student support programs sponsored by the Learning Enhancement Center, the Writing Center and Center for Student Success Support the Undergraduate Scholars Conference Support student scholarship through research awards and reimbursement for travel to present research at professional meetings. 3

4 Support the development of service opportunities and servicelearning courses and programs sponsored by the Office of Service Learning. Promote and support the innovative teaching and learning approaches identified in the Center for Teaching Excellence teaching awards, the Senate award for teaching and disciplinespecific teaching awards. Sponsor faculty workshops that focus on the development, incorporation and sharing of innovative teaching and learning methods including those that help implement the revised Liberal Studies curriculum. Maintain and enhance a culture of accreditation, assessment and achievement of university and discipline specific student learning outcomes. Allow flexibility to align graduate and undergraduate program reviews with accreditation processes where appropriate. Coordinate graduate and undergraduate outcomes assessment centrally using data to inform and sustain the continuous improvement process. Provide support to expand accreditation for graduate and undergraduate programs not currently accredited. Review alignment of graduate and undergraduate program learning goals with University student learning outcomes. Establish a definition and review process for viability of graduate and undergraduate programs. Provide resources for the curricular review process needed in the transition to the new Liberal Studies curriculum. Coordinate outcomes assessment centrally using data to inform and sustain the continuous improvement process. Increase involvement of Academic Affairs in living-learning communities. Coordinate the services for student enhancement and retention efforts across divisions. Coordinate the establishment of a Graduate Life Center. Increase flexibility and access to educational opportunities at the undergraduate and graduate level. 4

5 Coordinate communication between departments and job placement services. Develop stronger academic partnerships with businesses and community leaders through existing centers and other resources. Take advantage of ties to alumni and companies with which IUP does business to provide opportunities for students. Expand exchange program opportunities. Explore/increase/enhance/take advantage of collaborative agreements within the PASSHE system and other institutions. Encourage departments to incorporate liberal studies outcomes within major courses to allow students more choice in elective courses. Encourage departments to explore expanded offerings through distance education. Explore different timing and delivery of courses for summer and winter sessions. Increase availability, support and incentives for use of technology in course delivery. Improve course availability for students in upper division levels through dual listing, increasing faculty resources or more efficient rotation of courses. Undertake a needs assessment and environmental scan for potential new programs. Collect and assess data on academic preparation and needs in the workforce from recent and established alumni. Community - Foster a community through relationships and interactions among student, faculty and staff as well as communities external to Academic Affairs. (Based upon the Boyer Model for community building) Create an educationally purposeful community, a place where faculty, staff and students share academic goals and work together to strengthen teaching and learning across the campus. Strengthen the connections between students and faculty both in the classroom and out of the classroom. Develop shared expectations of academic quality and integrity. Provide incentives and rewards for contribution to community. 5

6 Support departmental, college-wide, university-wide, and state system events/efforts that emphasize community of scholars. Provide space for interaction that produces and fosters community. Create an open and just community, a place where freedom of expression is uncompromisingly protected; where the sacredness of each person is honored; and where diversity and civility are pursued and powerfully affirmed. Protect the free expression of ideas at all levels of the academic community. Affirm the civility of discourse by swiftly denouncing the use of offensive and derogatory language on campus. Strengthen and support policies regarding racial, ethnic, religious, and sexual discrimination. Promote communication among members of the academic community through social media. Promote shared governance among the faculty, administration, and trustees, in order to protect the educational mission of the university. Create a disciplined community, a place where individuals accept their obligations to the group and where well-defined governance procedures guide behavior for the common good. Embrace, celebrate, and sustain a university community that is inclusive of diversity and social equity. Recruit and support diversity among faculty, staff and students. Develop an appreciation of multicultural community. Incorporate/integrate gender and multicultural awareness into the curriculum. Adopt a just community as a campus compact. Create a community that is caring of the well-being of each member, where service to others is encouraged, and where the heritage of the institution is celebrated with rituals affirming both tradition and change. 6

7 Encourage IUP community members to accept their obligations to the community and assure that rules and policies are enacted and communicated that guide the behavior of IUP community members for the common good. Identify and expand community service and leadership opportunities across the curriculum and university programs. Promote a culture that clearly supports teaching excellence and that promotes and celebrates student success. Ensure that curricular and co-curricular programming appeals to a diverse student body. Celebrate intellectual pursuits and accomplishments by supporting both university and college or department level commencement ceremonies. Quality - Attract, develop, retain, and reward high-quality and diverse faculty, staff, and students. Attract, retain, and develop a diverse faculty, who are strong teachers, scholars, and participants in the life of the university and the wider community. Establish complement allocation procedures that allow for timely search processes and adequate recruitment time. Strongly articulate the teacher/ scholar model and service expectations during all phases of the hiring, promotion and tenure process. Provide adequate resources to support teaching and professional development, including travel, release time where appropriate, and appropriate library funding. Promote an environment of shared governance and collaboration in decision-making. Maintain a pedagogically-appropriate faculty-student ratio. Hire faculty who are experts in their fields, who maintain active research agendas, and who are committed to student success. Attract, retain, and develop a diverse body of undergraduate students who are academically prepared, active learners, and striving to achieve personal excellence. 7

8 Maintain timely student completion of programs through planned and publicized course offerings. Offer major and minor curriculum that is current and attractive. Build a culture that values student academic and professional success. Consistently recognize and publicize student achievement. Offer more courses and undergraduate programs online (including summer/ winter) in those disciplines where it is pedagogically appropriate. Recruit students of high academic ability. Attract, retain, and develop a diverse body of graduate students who are committed to achieving excellence. Provide competitive graduate assistantships support and increase overall number of assistantships available that are adjusted every year for inflation. Encourage student/ faculty research collaborations. Increase public awareness regarding existing student, faculty and program achievements. Ensure timely completion of degree through planned and publicized course offerings. Increase the annual advertising budget for all graduate programs. Attract, retain, and develop a diverse staff/administration/management who serve as active participants in the academic division. Provide tuition waivers for graduate level coursework. Continue with health and wellness programs, including increased staff discount rates for the campus fitness center. Provide opportunities for professional development. Provide recognition of a job well done. Provide necessary training and timely upgrades in equipment Research and Scholarship - Improve IUP s capacity for quality research and scholarship with appreciation of the teacher/scholar model as defined by Boyer (scholarship of discovery, scholarship of teaching, scholarship of integration, and scholarship of application. 8

9 Provide an environment and infrastructure that fosters intellectual discovery, creative problem solving and the dissemination and application of knowledge. Provide release time for faculty interested in research and scholarship to pursue their goals. Streamline grant or contract proposals submission and management. Recognize that graduate education is part of IUP's research and scholarship 'engine'. Provide more opportunities for training and mentoring for new faculty on such topics as preparing grant proposals and developing a research agenda. Create a uniform system for tracking the scholarly activities of faculty. Clarify research and scholarship expectations as related to the process for promotion and/or tenure. Solidify funding for the Office of Workforce Education and Economic Development and properly align the Office within the Academic Affairs Division. Increase the number of partnerships with the private industry sector. Increase the number of partnerships with other educational institutions. Define key research and scholarly strength for business and industry partnerships. Continue supporting both faculty and graduate student research and travel thorough the internal grants process. Create a university-wide facility designed to house state of the art research laboratories, shared equipment, and a place where our most productive researchers can interact. Offer superior research and scholarly support services to faculty, staff, and students. Refill the Assistant Dean for Research position in the SGSR. Support the IUP research infrastructure. Expand the Undergraduate Scholars Forum to include graduate students. Fund research and scholarly journal activities at IUP. 9

10 Create more incentives for submitting proposals. Reward successful grantsmanship. Create a faculty expertise database so that industry can quickly determine who can work with them. Create a part-time grant reviewer position in the School of Graduate Studies and Research. Recognize and reward excellence in scholarship and research. Keep the annual event for recognizing achievements in faculty research and scholarly work. Keep the Outstanding Researcher Awards for each college that are funded by the RI. Create awards that recognize special achievements in scholarship and advising. Create a peer-to-peer research gathering place for faculty and students. Raise the visibility of research at IUP by having a web page entitled IUP Research listed on the University s home page. Create a quarterly Research at IUP publication to be distributed to every state legislator, to major industries, key industry clusters in the state, and to alumni. Publicize the rewards and incentives for faculty that do exist. Reward successful grantsmanship. Recognize patent submissions with a plaque for each faculty member. Resources - Increase resources available to Academic Affairs and align them with academic priorities and opportunities. Obtain a greater share of university resources for Academic Affairs. Negotiate increased share of revenue to OAA from Summer/Winter sessions, online courses, F&A from grants and contracts, Performance Funds, and Doctoral Enhancement. Require more timely distribution of financial resources like Winter session revenue, Summer revenue, F&A, etc., so departments can plan effectively and not lose resources. 10

11 Press for IUP to renegotiate its relationships with affiliated organizations in order to increase benefits and reduce costs to IUP and OAA, e.g. Increase the amount of donations for scholarships and discipline specific initiatives. Reduce fund transfers to, charges, from and costs for such affiliates as Research Institute and Foundation. Space determine whether allocation process is responsive to academic needs Personnel determine whether there are processes that could be made more efficient to free personnel for other duties/units. Identify and analyze the impact of trends related to resources. Analyze the impact of the Academic Passport (for students with associate degrees from community colleges), other articulation agreements, and the plan by the National Center on Education and the Economy to graduate students from high school in 2 yeas and admit directly to community colleges. Provide flexibility and choice in curricula and do needs assessments in terms of workforce trends and delivery formats. Analyze the impact of various tuition and fee scenarios. Analyze the impact of increasing the number of international students. Analyze the impact of proposed cuts and expenditures on net revenue. Examine and select new resource generating options. After completing Objective 1, identify and implement new opportunities to generate revenue (e.g., Summer and Winter offerings, online courses and programs, new programs, grants and contracts, donations, and increasing dual enrollment). Maximize Performance Funds by selecting and meeting benchmarks that benefit OAA and providing specific feedback to units so they can help meet performance indicators. Press for negotiation with PASSHE to improve formula funding for doctoral enhancement. 11

12 Expedite curriculum approval process. Develop a process for cost and revenue sharing - establish a working group that communicates across and within divisions regarding revenue sharing, explore distribution models for cost and revenue sharing, determine the approximate dollar amount and alternative types (i.e. space) of the resources for sharing, work out the necessary procedure to implement the sharing, report and review the actual resources that have been shared and the efficiency for the sharing. Develop and establish an on-going process to analyze and monitor the budget impact on curriculum and accountability for providing, generating, allocating and using resources. University-wide curricula (e.g., Liberal Studies or Distance Education) - analyze cost and revenue scenarios (different ways of achieving the same goals), clearly identify, communicate and sign off on resource commitments, establish timeline and procedures for formative reviews that are effective but not burdensome. New program proposals determine whether the budget is adequate (does it identify all costs and revenues and make realistic long-term projections? Are resource commitments clearly identified, communicated and signed off by all responsible parties?) Establish timeline and procedures for reviews that are effective but not burdensome. Space improve teaching and research facilities to improve recruitment & grants. Direct resources toward quality programs and link resource allocation to performance. Develop and implement a process for quality evaluation, specifying the focal points for decision making authority and accountability - colleges, departments, programs, majors, centers and institutes, etc. Identity incentives, the behaviors and outcomes that should be incentivized, and a process for awarding incentives. Decide on appropriate metrics for quality and performance. Ensure that commitments to resources are honored. 12

13 Direct resources toward areas affected by enrollment growth. Provide adequate resources for areas affected by enrollment growth, such as academic programs, prerequisite courses, distance education, and liberal studies courses. 21 st Century Learning Environment - Maintain and promote IUP as a premier institution of excellence in academic quality. Prepare students to adapt to a rapidly changing global environment. Provide additional and ongoing international professional development opportunities for faculty and staff. Ensure that the curriculum exposes students to global trends and cultures. Increase awareness and participation in study abroad experiences. Expand the system of financial support to further promote student study abroad experiences. Develop strategies to better assimilate international students into the IUP community, enabling them to share their perspectives and experiences with greater numbers of students. Increase diversity and number of international student population Design holistic transformational learning environments that nurture cultural, social, ethical, intellectual, & personal development. Develop and maintain an institutional culture that prioritizes and celebrates the evolution of students in self, culture, and nature. Invigorate a culture of mentorship. Educate faculty in developing ways to assist students to implement their class projects within relevant communities. Enhance and acknowledge the vital connection between the university and the greater Indiana Community. Nurture externally validated and innovative student achievement in artistic, scholarly, and applied venues (such as 13

14 departmental student of the month, lounge areas within departments, etc.). Explore new ways to partner with Student Affairs in the overall education and development of students. Promote deep intellectual relationships between faculty and students across disciplines. Prioritize faculty-student interaction as paramount to learning. Recognize the value of lower faculty-to-student ratios in the classroom. Examine and improve the student academic advising model and explore new models such as centralized advising. Support and maintain Living-Learning Environments. Create a seamless and ubiquitous learning environment that spans digital and traditional classrooms. Create a minimum of one space per building for use as a lounge and academic discourse location for both students and faculty. Create levels of classroom technology in all colleges enabling savings on lower technology classrooms to be used for advanced classroom technologies. Provide incentive for faculty to use 21st century technologies. Poll departments to determine what type of classroom is necessary (lecture, modular, seminar, etc.) and renovate classrooms to meet the different classroom needs. Identify programs that can be offered online and provide the necessary resources to implement these programs. Create an infrastructure and processes for providing comprehensive support for the development and delivery of online courses. Examine the current structure of technology support and assistance in the six colleges and the library and develop a model consistent with the 21st century learning environment. 14

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