‘High stakes’ decisions loom ahead, provost
tells faculty

by Daniel J. Fitzgibbons, Chronicle staff

ith budget reductions and early retirement incentives draining away faculty positions, interim Provost Charlena Seymour this week outlined an academic planning process aimed at identifying long-term priorities while carrying the campus through its immediate financial crisis.

     In a letter to faculty, Seymour announced the appointment of a 20-member steering committee to oversee three key areas of planning: program assessment, strategic directions and resource allocation. Chaired by Legal Studies professor Janet Rifkin and Frank Hugus, head of Germanic Languages and Literatures, the committee will guide the program review process, recommend long-term priorities and consult with Seymour on short-term strategies "to preserve strength in Academic Affairs and position the campus for future growth and development," says the letter.

     According to Seymour, the campus has been trying to cope with a dwindling faculty workforce for nearly a decade, when nearly 200 positions were lost through state cutbacks. In the wake of that loss, planning "shifted to fine-tuning the number and organization of academic programs," she said.

     However, faculty numbers have continued to decline through random attrition, she said, leading to "severe imbalances" in some programs. Efforts over the past year to meet anticipated faculty vacancy savings with investments in key areas were derailed by the 5 percent cut in state funding this year, which was covered in part by not filling 60 positions over the next two fiscal years. In addition, the early retirement program could account for the loss of nearly 100 more faculty.

     "For all practical purposes, this means that most of the anticipated vacancy savings for the next three years will be consumed by budget reductions," said Seymour. "The rebalancing and reinvestment hoped for through the planning process will be even further delayed. It may take the better part of a decade to make meaningful reallocations."

     As a result, she said, "The stakes for planning have increased dramatically, and the task has grown: we must now not only set long-term priorities, but also determine how we will meet our basic obligations over the next year or two."

     To accomplish those tasks, Seymour said, "We will need to make immediate decisions about curriculum, enrollment, facilities, and the wise use of the limited funds available for backfill, but we must be sure that these short-term actions are guided by the priorities of a long-term recovery plan. Put another way, we must understand our future in order to make sense of the present. These will be high-stakes decisions, requiring careful thought and considerable imagination."

     According to the letter, the planning process is intended to allow the campus to:

• Maintain, to the extent possible, distinctive strength where it has emerged on campus.
• Identify and, where possible, seize opportunities for future strength.
• Avoid and, where possible, correct imbalances within the academic program, particularly with respect to instructional supply and demand.

     The principal resource for future reallocation between programs will be faculty vacancies, which will be treated as a "common resource" to be invested according to priorities determined by the planning process, said Seymour.

     The program assessment initiative will review all departments and programs in terms of quality, productivity, centrality and other criteria to identify short-term strategies and determine whether faculty positions should be added or future vacancies should be refilled or realloacted to other units.

     Seymour also wants to identify the "most promising areas of research, scholarly and instructional distinction" to guide planning across each level of academic affairs.

     In the area of resource allocation, Seymour said specific priorities will guide those decisions. In the short-term, some "very limited funds" may be used to fill the most serious gaps in the instructional ranks. Future decisions will involve authorizing the use of vacancy savings to fill faculty positions.

     "This process should allow the campus to assess its remaining capacity after faculty losses are clear, to set realistic long-term priorities, to make the wisest possible stop-gap decisions in the near term, and to reorganize academic programs in the most productive possible way," Seymour said.

     In addition to the work of the steering committee, which includes faculty, deans, administrators and representatives of the Faculty Senate, Graduate Student Senate and Student Government Association, Seymour said she has asked the deans of address "broad questions" of academic organization, opportunities for enhanced revenues and obstacles to innovation and renewal.

Steering committee membership

Co-chairs
Janet Rifkin, Legal Studies
Frank Hugus, Germanic Languages & Literatures

James Young, English
Lila Gierasch, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Linda Slakey, Commonwealth College
Bill McComb, Natural Resources Conservation
Jose Mestre, Physics
Bob Wilson, Hotel, Restaurant & Travel Administration
Cleve Willis, College of Food & Natural Resources
Dennis Hanno, Isenberg School of Management
Eileen Breslin, School of Nursing
Jim Kurose, Computer Science
Portia Elliott, Teacher Education & Curriculum Studies
Mike Malone, Chemical Engineering
Laurie Godfrey, Anthropology
Patty Freedson, Exercise Science
Jay Schafer, Collections, Library
John Cunningham, Provost's Office
Peter Tamas, graduate student
Aaron Saunders, undergraduate