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Strategic
Plan CSBS’ Key Strategic Objectives (related to Issues in the University Draft Strategic Plan, February 2004) --Enhancing
Interdisciplinary Teaching, Research and Creation
of an Institute of Public and International Affairs (“Institute”)
is central to the strategic plan for CSBS. The proposed Institute will
be centered on several areas of scholarly inquiry: politics, public policy,
government, governance, and the nonprofit sector. It will provide an enhanced
institutional structure in support of expanding many of the kinds of interdisciplinary
activity now underway as well as new collaborations, “…expanding,
strengthening and coordinating existing University of Utah capabilities
in a number of related areas that may include: public policy analysis;
substantive areas of public policy…,” e.g., (1) public health
(initially, behavioral/developmental health policy) (2) environmental
policy; “…applied politics (for example, campaign management,
and advocacy or lobbying); political and civic engagement; inter-sectoral
relations among government, nonprofit, and for-profit organizations; relations
among local, state, tribal, and national agencies and governments; and
international service and policy coordination.” (Draft Proposal,
Institute of Public and International Affairs, May 2004) Other
aspects of the Institute of Public and International Affairs include proposals
nearing completion for (1) an undergraduate minor in Applied Politics
and (2) a Masters of Public Policy. University approvals for them will
be sought in fall 2004. Planning will be initiated in summer and fall
2004 for an undergraduate certificate in Applied Politics. Explorations
will begin in 2004-05 for (1) an allied Ph.D. field in public policy and
(2) for a master’s degree or field of specialization in campaign
management. CSBS will seek $13 million in the Capital Campaign for programs
and operations of the Institute of Public and International Affairs. An
additional $5-$20 million will be sought in the Campaign to support the
future needs of the Institute for space – for offices, instruction,
research and outreach activities. The CSBS strategy of intra disciplinary specialization and inter disciplinary advancement is the only viable strategy available given existing and expected resource constraints. All of the departments have been driven by resource stringency toward greater focus and specialized niches in their disciplines, especially in graduate education. Departments will continue to build on their existing strengths while maintaining competence in other subfields. There is already strong disciplinary focus (but none exclusively since comprehensiveness in the teaching mission is still honored) that is being enhanced in the various CSBS departmental plans, e.g.,
Departments plan to seek additional faculty lines when possible but in any case to maintain their current disciplinary focus while pursuing new areas of opportunity. Departments throughout CSBS are increasingly at a salary disadvantage with respect to other public research universities, losing ground in comparison to other RU1 institutions and in comparison to other disciplines in the University at both the Professor and Assistant Professor ranks. (Data prepared by the Office of Budget and Planning indicate that – for all ranks – average levels of compensation in CSBS as a percent of RU1 comparisons in the University of Oklahoma Survey are 81.1%, lowest of the larger colleges in the University, to be compared to 90.8% for the University as a whole). Base budget cuts over the last decade and authorized, cannibalization to maintain some semblance of salary competitiveness have resulted in fewer faculty members (F’93, 177; F’99, 134; F’03, 134) but many more students (fiscal year ’99, 100,063 SCH; fiscal year ’03, 123,139 SCH) in most departments. Increasing
intra-disciplinary focus and doing more with less are tactics with which
we are very familiar, but they are inadequate to protect the excellence
we have achieved and, even more so, to progress. It would cost approximately
$1 million to close the 9.7 percentage point average, relative
compensation gap between CSBS faculty and the University as a whole –
while selectively targeting for merit and equity. With permission,
we will move aggressively to close this gap by “hardening”
“productivity funds” into salaries over the next five years
while maintaining SCH production. We will ask for incremental central
funds to cover the associated benefit costs. This aggressive college-wide
program will fund preemptive salary increases for faculty members at risk
for external recruitment. In addition, endowed chairs, professorships,
and faculty awards for excellence will enable departments to recruit,
retain, and allow eminent scholars to strengthen their reputation for
research and teaching, locally and nationally. Competitive financial aid
packages for graduate and undergraduate students (scholarships, fellowships,
and assistantships) will enable CSBS to compete for outstanding students.
While CSBS continues to seek public funding to maintain and expand excellence
among our faculty and students, we will endeavor to raise $3 million for
this purpose through the capital campaign. The 134 regular faculty of the 7 academic departments of CSBS already supervise each semester approximately 1000 registrations by undergraduate students in individual student/faculty directed research, writing, internship and service experiences. Departments are committed to further enhancing the quality of opportunities for undergraduate research and service under close faculty supervision. However, any increases in the number of such experiences will be highly targeted. Enhanced academic advising by CSBS faculty and staff in cooperation with University College and the various elements of Student Services are key to creating a better match between students’ skills and interests and their faculty supervised experiences – improving their quality and the efficiency with which they are conducted. The University strategic objectives of “Balancing Quality, Growth and Accessibility” and “Student Engagement” are not likely to be achieved otherwise. --Community Based Research, Teaching and Outreach Already service learning activities in the local community are found across most departments in the College with several actively involved with the University Neighborhood Partners. Engaging students in individual student/faculty directed, community based research, learning and service is an objective of several departments. Increasingly the community relevant to teaching, research and even outreach, in all of the social and behavioral sciences, is neither defined by the boundaries of the local municipality, nor those of the State of Utah nor even of the United States. The academic disciplines of CSBS are international, not only, in the sense that science transcends borders, but also, in the more direct sense that, although they may be evolving and permeable, political, economic, geographic and cultural borders of the world play profound and changing roles in the science of even local human behavior and well-being. New international initiatives and expansion of current initiatives require funding for teaching and research on international issues in all CSBS departments and programs. No social science department or program can ignore the global context. Through targeted development efforts over the next five years, $3 million funding will be sought for student and faculty international travel, exchanges, research and the creation of programs and centers that enable the establishment in all CSBS departments and programs of world-wide connections of faculty and students at the U of U with people and issues world-wide. The departments and faculty of CSBS will continue to be active in their involvement and collaboration with the academic programs in the Middle East Center, International Studies, Asian Studies and Latin American Studies. |
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