Academic Futures moves ahead, defines progress
With the semester well underway,progressis being made onthe various projects set forth in the Academic Futuresreport. Academic Futurescontinues to be committedto developingpathways for ongoingcampus involvement as these efforts undergo further definition and development on route to being implemented.
Creating a student-centered campus
The provostand senior vice chancellorselected this section of the report as an initial focus for鶹ѰBoulder’sefforts.The Academic Futures reporthighlightedseveralimportant areas of work to support our students, many of which were already underway as part of other strategic efforts.
Under the auspices ofFoundations of Excellence, Vice Provost Mary Kraus has convened working groups that focus onre-imagining and improving theundergraduate first-year experienceand oncreatingcoordinated approaches to student advising. In addition,withinthe next month, Senior Vice Provost Katherine Eggert will berolling out a path for the development of a newCenter for Teaching and Learning,as well as forming a task force that will focus on a unified common learning experience for undergraduates.
In other news
Financial Futures gains momentum as projects for generating resources begin to take shape
Financial Futures, responsible for discovering and uncovering ways to support Academic Futures and other key strategic initiatives, is now in the solution design phase.
IDEA Plan to be unveiled this spring
This spring, 鶹ѰBoulder will see its first-ever comprehensive diversity, inclusion and equity plan delivered to the campus.
‘Deep dive’ insights set course for coming Strategic Facilities Visioning work
The Strategic Facilities Visioning project team has completed its initial deep dive phase, gaining valuable insights and setting the stage for the scenario planning discussions to come.
Interdisciplinary teaching, research and creative works
Interim Dean Jim White, College of Arts and Sciences, is leading a campus conversation this spring onhow the campus can facilitate and incentivize interdisciplinary work, perhaps the most transformative of all of the Academic Futures initiatives.
The Academic Futures InterdisciplinarityWorking Group is charged with defining more precisely what 鶹ѰBoulder should be doing to support, incentivize and facilitate interdisciplinaryteaching,research, scholarship and creative work, empoweringteams of scholars with strong disciplinary backgroundsto mesh their approaches and solve core sets of looming and futuresocial, cultural, scientific and technologicalproblems. They will provide a framework to take up big questions, from climate change to the definition of a good life.
Look for an update in the coming weeks on thegroup’s membership and schedule of delivery of a report to the campus.
Online/distance/technology in education
Dean Robert McDonald, University Libraries, is forminganAcademic Futures/Financial Futures Online Strategy Working Group that will integrate recommendations from the Academic Futures report and emergent work from the Financial Futures strategic initiative, seeking to define 鶹ѰBoulder’s vision of what online and distance education should look like. McDonaldis consultingwiththe Academic Futures Committee, the Council of Deans, the Boulder Faculty Assembly and chairs and directorsabout members andalso issolicitingnominations via a form at theAcademic Futures website.
Guided by the key idea of “Teachingexcellence independent ofmodality,” the working group will outline a guiding campus philosophy for this important effort. McDonald will oversee a smart convergence ofAcademicFutures with Financial Futures efforts to look at how 鶹ѰBoulder develops and implements a coordinated and comprehensive approach to online and distance education, supporting both residential and nonresidential students.The working group’s membershipand a timeline of delivery for its findings will be announcedin the coming weeks.
Integrating research impact and teaching excellence into faculty review, promotion
Dean Bobby Braun and the College of Engineering and Applied Science are undertaking a pilot project that looks at how faculty are evaluated in order to take into account research and creative impact (economic, societal, quality of life, etc.,) and to more accurately measure teaching excellence and innovation. Starting with the annual review process, CEAS will develop and test approaches that can then be shared with the rest of campus. This effort takes up several strands within the Academic Futures report.
Creating a global campus
Leadership-driven discussions on the elements of a coordinated global strategy for 鶹ѰBoulder involving stakeholders that would include faculty, students, staff and alumni are ongoing, and initial projects and approachesderivedfrom these discussions will be announced later in the spring semester.
Embracing the ‘public’ in public university
Over the springsemester,Academic Futures convenerJeff Cox andfacilitator Emily CoBabe-Ammann will be crafting a campuswide program for faculty, staff and students that creates pathways for public engagement. The goal is to make real the Academic Futures report’s call that鶹ѰBoulderrecommit toitsstatus as a public research university.
The campus’s year-long conversation and the resulting report are bearing fruit.Check for updates on town halls and engagement opportunities for Academic Futures each week in 鶹ѰBoulder Today;and on the first Tuesday of each month,visit CUBT for more extensiveinitiative updatesthat offermore information on progress and alignment of the initiatives.You can check on all the campus’s strategic initiatives here.