Scott shares a vision
for the campus’s future

by Daniel J. Fitzgibbons, Chronicle staff

s the end of his term edges closer, Chancellor David K. Scott this week outlined his vision for the future of the campus in the 21st century and detailed a proposed 10-year plan for investment in institutional priorities.

     During a 90-plus minute presentation to about 150 administrators, faculty, staff and student leaders on Tuesday morning, Scott discussed his 79-page document, "Strategic Intent: An Integrative University for the 21st Century, A Commonwealth of Learning – A World of Learning."

     The far-ranging manifesto, which covers topics from a philosophical analysis of the future of higher education to securing additional resources and proposed changes in the administration, is the capstone to his planning trilogy that began with "Strategic Thinking" in 1995 and continued the following year with "Strategic Action."

     Before laying out his ideas at the forum, Scott acknowledged his lame-duck status. "You may not pay much attention to what I have to say today and that is how it should be," he jested.

     Scott also prefaced his presentation by noting that many of the proposals in "Strategic Intent" incorporate elements of a 10-year financial plan submitted earlier to President William M. Bulger and the Board of Trustees. That plan, said Scott, was not accepted and is being revised to address concerns that it was too heavily reliant on fee increases and did not contain enough plans for restructuring.

     The chancellor said his plan calls for fashioning a model "integrative university" which emphasizes a holistic, organic approach to virtually every activity. Such an institution, he said, will foster interdisciplinary learning, teaching, research and outreach that promote scholarship and help address societal concerns and problems.

     To develop an integrative university, Scott said, will require a "significant investment" from a variety of revenue sources, including fees, private fund-raising, entrepreneurial activities, distance learning, public-private partnerships, research grants and especially state support.

     "I continue to believe that a special investment from the state will be necessary for the integrative university of the 21st century," he said. "This investment should be viewed as the equivalent of the third Morrill Act for the Knowledge Age, just as the earlier Morrill Acts made state and federal investments in the transition to the Industrial Age."

     According to Scott, a special investment by the state would require at least an additional $50 million in operating funds beyond normal increases and another $1 billion in one-time funding for infrastructure needs.

     "Had the growth of [campus] revenues matched the average growth of state revenues for the last two decades," said Scott, the institution would have realized an added $131 million in support.

     Lacking broad-based public support for such an investment, however, the campus is unlikely to secure any large-scale infusion of state funds, he said, citing his administration's own inability to generate grassroots backing for the campus. "I regard [it] as one of my greatest failures," said Scott.

     Since no special state investment is on the political horizon, Scott said campus should pursue a financial strategy that attends to pressing institutional needs, preserves academic quality and positions the University to move ahead if a large infusion of support does materialize in the years ahead.

     Basing his plans on projected growth rates in state support of 4.5 percent and 3.5 percent, Scott said the spending scenarios also call for some increases in student fees, additional revenues from distance learning, entrepreneurial activities and private support, and restructuring and reallocations totaling $20 million to $30 million. Restructuring at that level, he said, "may mean operating with fewer personnel."

     With some 500 faculty retirements projected over the next 10 years, Scott said the campus must develop a centralized plan to refill those vacancies to stabilize faculty-student ratios and bring identified departments "to the next level of excellence."

     "Each position needs to be viewed strategically," said Scott, so that faculty-student ratios are dictated by rational design rather than by default.

     Over the past decade, he noted, higher numbers of non-tenured faculty and professional staff have helped keep faculty-staff ratios roughly constant at 15 to 1. In the short term, said Scott, the ratio may have to rise as high as 22 to 1 while a faculty-replacement strategy is developed and implemented. Such jump, he said, will still place the campus below the median among peer schools.

     Scott also proposed several steps to improve the campus's profile according to standards of the Association of American Universities (AAU). Along with ensuring that top-ranked departments remain strong, he said, the campus should examine the profiles of all departments and identify which should move to the next level.

     Between 1982 and 1995, those universities invited to join the AAU deepened the numbers of departments with excellent ratings in National Research Council rankings. "To some extent, UMass moved in the opposite direction as it struggled to sustain top departments at the expense of others," said Scott. "The challenge is to improve departments and generate better integration of teaching, research and outreach."

     In the area of teaching and learning, Scott called for a "reorganization of knowledge" in which the current nine colleges would be replaced by six reconfigured units: Life Sciences and Natural Resources; Education; Management and Applied Management; Nursing, Public Health and Health Sciences; Humanities and Fine Arts/Social and Behavioral Sciences; and Physical Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering.

     The chancellor also said graduate programs should be reviewed with an eye to creating more interdisciplinary master's programs and undergraduate-master's combinations.

     In addition, a new General Education curriculum should be the model for integrative learning and Community Service Learning should be integrated into the curriculum, he said.

     Other campus resources should be focused on analyzing and directing resources to clear away bottlenecks that block students' access to courses and impede progress toward graduation.

     Scott repeated his strong support for broadening International Programs so that all students have some international experience. He called for overhauling the language requirement, either by extending it to include all students outside arts and sciences or by abandoning the requirement altogether and making a second language an entrance requirement.

     He also proposed that International Programs be led by an academic dean.

     Another area of concern addressed by Scott was diversity, which he admitted has fallen short in terms of recruiting and retaining African-American students. Despite that shortcoming, he said, the campus has been successful in reflecting the diversity of four-year college-bound high school seniors in the state. Last fall's entering class, he noted, was 16.7 percent minority students, compared to 13.4 percent of college-bound seniors in the state.

     To raise the high school graduation rates of all high school students, said Scott, a systemic approach involving elementary and secondary schools is needed.

     In addition to broadening the diversity of the student body, the chancellor said the campus should capitalize on anticipated retirements by faculty and staff to create a more diverse workforce.

     To promote research on campus, the chancellor said resources must be focused on faculty renewal in selected departments and in facilities. An annual growth rate of 6 percent would raise support to $150 million by Fiscal Year 2010, he said, which places the campus on a more competitive level.

     As part of that effort, the campus must continue to diversify support from state, federal, business, industry partnerships and other private sources. Campus facilities, such as the proposed integrative sciences building, should be designed to encourage interdisciplinary research, he added.

     As the Internet and distance learning evolve, Scott said the campus must respond to a growing demand for lifelong learning and adapt new technologies to provide on-campus instruction at a reduced cost per student. The University should be prepared to tap into other teaching technologies as they become available, he said.

     With regard to the Library, Scott said $8.1 million is needed to move to the median ranking of the Association of Research Libraries.

     Another area that should be reviewed is Athletics, said Scott. The review should determine the appropriate array of sports and levels of local, regional and national competition.

     On the thorny issue of moving to Division I-A football, Scott said the idea is possible if a proposed 10-year business plan for Athletics is put into place. But, he added, "it is madness and it is folly" to pursue I-A football without the massive special state investment in the campus.

     "Failure to move in this direction could mean the elimination of an array of sports or the elimination of I-AA football," he said.

     Campuswide, Scott said, the integration of Research and Economic Development and Outreach into Academic Affairs should be completed. At the same time, Scott said Administration and Finance, Student Affairs and Campus Life and University Advancement should report to the deputy chancellor.

     "This structure will allow the chancellor to spend more time externally while working closely with the provost and deputy chancellor and with clusters of vice chancellors and other administrators on appropriate issues," the report said.

     Scott also floated several other changes, including expansion of the Commercial Ventures and Intellectual Property office and the creation of an office of special events and visitor relations. Scott offered to discuss aspects of his plan with various constituencies in the weeks ahead.