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>Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1999 15:57:56 -0700
>From: Peter Spear <Peter.Spear@Colorado.EDU>
>A&S Chairs and Directors:  Please distribute to all faculty, staff, and
>students (e.g., graduate students, undergraduate majors club) in your
>department or program.
>======================================================
>date:	March 29, 1999
>
>To:	Arts and Sciences faculty, staff, and students
>
>From:	The Arts and Sciences Budget Committee (John Birks, Padraic
>Kenney, Richard McCray, Laura Michaelis, Gail Ramsberger, Jerry Rudy,
>Christopher Shields, Peter Spear, ex officio)
>
>Re:	A College Strategic Plan
>
>After decades of continuous growth, enrollments at CU-Boulder and in the
>College of Arts and Sciences started to decline in 1992-93.  In
>addition, in 1994, the Colorado legislature began limiting tuition
>increases.  Because the budget at UCB depends so heavily upon tuition
>income, the enrollment declines and tuition limits eventually led to
>permanent budget cuts beginning in 1994-95.  Now, after five years of
>budget reductions, enrollments are on the rise again, and with them
>there is the prospect of increased funding.  However, any new resources
>are likely to be modest, and we cannot waste them by spreading them too
>thin.  To use new resources to the greatest advantage, they must be
>allocated in a focused way.  In addition, of course, we must use
>continuing resources wisely.  In short, the College of Arts and Sciences
>must plan strategically for the future.  We must decide on our goals -
>what is important, and what is not.  And we must decide how we will
>achieve our goals.  In this way, we can best contribute to the Total
>Learning Environment.
>
>Every department and program in the College has its own Strategic Plan.
>However, there has never been a College-wide Strategic Plan (at least
>not in College records or in the memory of current faculty).  There are
>several reasons for developing such a Plan now.  First, it will help
>guide the College in setting and achieving its overall long-term goals.
>Second, it will provide a framework for annual budget requests from
>departments and programs to the Dean's Office.  Third, it will help the
>College make the case to campus-wide administration for annual College
>budget requests.  A strong Strategic Plan will maximize our chances of
>getting necessary budget increases.
>
>The purpose of this memo is to invite departments, programs, and other
>groups to participate in developing a College-wide Strategic Plan.
>Specifically, we invite you to submit a 3-5 page concept paper about
>where the College should be in five years and what we need to do to get
>there.  The concept paper should take a College-wide view; it should not
>be a restatement of the Strategic Plan for your individual department or
>program.  To help focus your concept paper, we pose the following
>questions for consideration.  It is not necessary for you to answer each
>question specifically; however, they should serve as guides in writing
>your concept paper.
>
>I.	What is your vision of the College of Arts and Sciences of the
>future?  In thinking about this, it may be useful to recall the College
>Mission Statement, adopted by the Arts and Sciences Council in 1997:
>
>The mission of the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of
>Colorado at Boulder is: 
>*	To preserve, interpret, and convey humane values and learning,
>while 
>*	Creating, integrating, and applying knowledge in the arts and
>sciences, by 
>*	Ensuring excellence across a broad scope of liberal arts
>education, 
>*	Providing a superior learning experience for students, through
>dedicated teaching, research, and creative work, 
>*	Fostering educational exchange within the University, the
>Colorado community, and society as a whole, 
>*	And maintaining a community of teachers and scholars devoted to
>the preservation and discovery of knowledge and to the well-being of
>future generations.
>
>II.	The budget (re)allocation process of the past two years has been
>guided by the following principles.  Are these appropriate?  How should
>they be modified?
>
>*	Meet the basic needs of departments and programs so they can
>fulfill their missions.
>*	Maintain and improve on our strengths.
>*	Make targeted strategic investments to improve departments and
>programs on the cusp (large gain for relatively small investment).
>
>III.	In your view, what are the existing areas of strength in the
>College that must be maintained and even improved?  These may be
>individual departments/programs or broader cross-disciplinary areas or
>themes that encompass multiple units.
>
>IV.	What areas in the College are poised for excellence so that
>focussed investment can lead to a significant improvement in quality and
>national prominence?  Again, these may be individual
>departments/programs or broader cross-disciplinary areas or themes that
>encompass multiple units.  Are there specific examples in each of the
>College divisions (natural sciences, social sciences, humanities and
>arts)?
>
>V.	From the perspective of your department or program, what
>linkages or interactions with other units are most important?  These can
>be existing interactions or interactions you would like to see formed.
>
>VI.	Are there areas of strategic importance that are not represented
>in the College but that should be introduced and developed?
>
>VII.	Should the College consider trimming some areas (e.g., centers,
>sub-disciplines, departments) in order to free resources to build
>others?
>
>VIII.	Are there fundamental resources that are necessary for faculty
>and staff to do their jobs but that are inadequate and should be
>increased?
>
>IX.	The following criteria have been used in guiding budget
>(re)allocation during the past two years.  Are these appropriate?
>Should any be deleted or added?  How should the various criteria be
>balanced?
>
>QUALITY:  Indices include the quality and quantity of teaching and
>research, funding, reputation and visibility, leadership, quality of
>students, placement of students, and coherence, rigor, and clarity of
>curriculum.
>
>CENTRALITY:  Indices include the program's contributions to the role and
>mission of the University, the teaching of general education
>requirements, productive interdisciplinary research, and contributions
>to the aims of the UCB Strategic Plan.
>
>STUDENT DEMAND:  Demand is reflected by the amount of student interest
>in a unit's courses, the number of undergraduate majors, and the number
>of applicants to the graduate program.  It also can be indicated by a
>strong service-course role, enrollment and waiting list trends, and by
>number of degrees awarded.
>
>UNIQUENESS:  A program is considered unique if it is outstanding or has
>a potential for excellence and/or a singular or significant external
>impact in the state, region, or the nation.
>
>COST:  It is important to note the Excellence Task Force's statement
>that, "programs high in quality and centrality would be maintained
>regardless of cost."  Academic concerns, not costs are of primary
>importance.  Cost has a role in determining areas for enhancement or
>development.  There is no single metric for determining cost versus
>benefit of a unit, especially across disparate disciplines.  However,
>certain factors, such as cost per student credit hour, obviously need to
>be examined.
>
>X.	Following are the College-wide funding priorities for this
>year's budget process.  How should these be modified for the long term?
>Should the order be changed?  Should any be deleted or added?
>
>(1) Decrease class size and increase the proportion of classes taught by
>tenure-track faculty by hiring additional tenure-track faculty.
>
>(2) Improve equity and security for non-tenure-track faculty by
>providing contracts and minimum salaries as described in the
>"Instructors' Bill of Rights."
>
>(3) Retain the best tenure-track faculty by paying salaries that are
>more competitive with our national peer institutions.  Specifically,
>fund merit-based salary increases over and above the standard-factor
>(inflation) increase plus 1% above-inflation-increase proposed by
>President Buechner.
>
>(4) Increase operating-budget support for teaching, research/creative
>work, and outreach/service activities.
>
>(5) Increase the number and quality of graduate-student instructors with
>funds for additional TAs and graduate fellowships.
>
>(6) Enhance writing instruction.
>
>(7) Achieve Task-Force recommended goals for improved advising by hiring
>additional advisors and providing better support.
>
>(8) Increase diversity of the College through faculty hiring and
>enhancing the Minority Arts and Sciences Program (MASP).
>
>(9) Stimulate research with increased matching funds.
>
>(10) Better integrate research and teaching with programs such as UROP
>and URAP.
>
>(11) Improve and increase service learning with additional courses,
>staff, and operating support.
>
>(12) Improve and increase the honors program with additional courses and
>support.
>
>XI.	Formal shared governance started in the College in 1996 with the
>advent of the Arts and Sciences Council.  In planning for the College of
>the future, should there be changes in the College governance structure?
>
>XII.	What specific measures of success should be employed to evaluate
>our progress toward meeting the goals of the Strategic Plan?
>
>XIII.	Are there any other budgetary or non-budgetary issues that ought
>to be addressed?
>
>These questions are intended to help focus your answers to the broader
>questions of where the College should be in five years and how best to
>get there.  Your concept paper addressing these issues should be
>received in the Dean's office by the end of the semester, May 14, 1999.
>We hope that all A&S departments and programs will take the opportunity
>to respond.  In addition, concept papers from individuals, ad hoc
>groups, or clusters of departments or programs are welcome.
>
>The A&S Budget Committee will be supplemented by faculty, staff, and
>students from across the College disciplines to create a Strategic Plan
>Task Force.  The charge to this Task Force will be to read the concept
>papers, synthesize and integrate them, and use this input to draft a
>College of Arts and Sciences Strategic Plan.  The draft Plan will then
>be brought to the faculty for discussion and input.  Our goal is to have
>the final Plan in place for the beginning of next year's budget process
>in October.
>
Lise Menn
Professor and Chair
Linguistics Department - Box 295
University of Colorado
Boulder CO 80309-0295
303-492-8042; fax 303-492-4416

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