V. Components of the Multi-Year Plan
B. Expenditures
(1) Major
Initiatives $7.0 M
(h):
Creation of Community - $ 0.6M
One of our ten principles
for the design of the future University emphasizes attention to the
ecology of the living-learning environment. A truly excellent University
must not only provide distinctive teaching, research and outreach programs.
It must also attend to the quality of life for students, faculty and
staff. Because the UMass Amherst campus community is so diverse, the
manner in which policies are made, decisions are reached and controversial
issues are handled may be as important as the results themselves. Indeed,
the University transmits values to students by the way it approaches
policies, decisions and issues.
Co-curricular opportunities
are an important part of a students University experience. Many out-of-class
activities and programs enable students to connect what they have learned
in the classroom with real life situations. Involvement helps students
to develop life-long skills and brings a sense of belonging to the community.
In responding to this dimension, representatives of the undergraduate
Student Government Association, Registered Student Organizations, and
the Graduate Student Senate have developed proposals for release of
the Trust Funds, thereby enabling these
funds to be used to enhance programming according to the needs of students.
The undergraduate students propose funding by the University of various
staff positions currently born by the Trust Fund; in particular, positions
most directly connected with educational programs. The funds released
will be used for more general program support under the guidance of
a newly established Program Board. The Graduate Student Senate also
proposes relief which will serve to make the University more caring,
e.g., through a Child Care Voucher Program, and support for Commuter
Services and the Housing Resources Center. Other initiatives may emerge
from the study of the quality of life of students from other countries.
The Faculty Senate Council
on the Status of Women included in its "New Agenda
of Women for Higher Education" a recommendation that we develop
an institution-wide concern for children and families. The administration
has endorsed this recommendation. We have taken some important first
steps in this direction, through the establishment of a Family Issues
Committee and an ad hoc committee to investigate the feasibility of
a sick child care facility. We must continue to develop an institutional
concern for the lives of our employees and students--a concern that
extends well beyond the workplace and the classroom.
The idea that the Commonwealth
is our Campus should also be reflected in the orientation program
for new faculty and staff coming to the Campus. At present we do very
little to explain the distinctive role that this type of institution
plays, and why it differs from Harvard, MIT, and Boston University,
for example. The orientation might include visits to some of our outreach
activities: to Mass Ventures, where we link the new ideas in science,
engineering and technology to economic development in Western Massachusetts;
to a K-12 outreach program in Springfield; to the Agricultural Experiment
Station for the Cranberry Industry; to a meeting with legislators at
various points in the Commonwealth; to our other four Campuses. A group
will be assembled to explore this concept.
In the same spirit, there
could be an annual UMass Festival, a celebration of the entire campus
with discussions, debates, performances, laboratory displays that, in
their sum, demonstrate the intellectual excitement and diversity of
the Campus. Everyone in the University and in the surrounding communities
could be a part of this celebration--students, faculty, staff, alumni,
parents, legislators, Trustees, citizens. A broadly constituted group
will be assembled to explore this possibility.
To make the Campus more
caring, greater attention needs to be focused on Faculty
and Staff Development. We have established a Staff Development
and Training Unit in the area of the Vice Chancellor for Administration
and Finance. In the Provosts Office, the Associate Provost for Faculty
Development provides parallel support for faculty, and for graduate
students, through the Center for Teaching. Later in this Section we
propose a reorganization of the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity
to become the Office of Equal Opportunity, Diversity and Human Relations,
allowing greater attention to issues of human resources and development
generally. Funding for initiatives in this important dimension of the
University will be part of our Strategic Action.