Goal 5: Improve the ability of students and faculty to conduct research, produce creative work and integrate scholarship with teaching.
The defining characteristic of the College of Arts and Sciences is the synergy between teaching and research and creative work. It is therefore essential that the College continue to improve the resources for scholarship and creative work available to students and faculty. Toward that end we recommend the following objectives:
5.1 To provide first-class facilities laboratories, faculty offices, classrooms, and studios in which students and faculty conduct research and develop creative works. Across the campus there is a critical need to provide additional space for the work of the faculty and their students. For faculty in the humanities, office space is working space and many faculty must work in cramped offices inadequate for the dual function of housing research materials and meeting with students. The expansion of programs in the natural sciences will require the construction of new facilities and the renovation of old ones in order to keep pace with new developments in technology. Many structures in the College's physical plant have now reached an advanced age, with too few resources having been invested in their maintenance and upgrading. In some cases, deferred maintenance has resulted in unsafe conditions that threaten the health and safety of members of the College community.
- The ASC Planning Committee should work closely with the College administration to develop capital construction priorities for the College and to establish its maintenance priorities. Additional funds for campus maintenance have become a priority in the College budget. The College administration should work with the ASC Planning Committee and the ASC Budget Committee to elevate maintenance in the College's budget priorities to the highest possible level consistent with current fiscal conditions.
5.2 To support the development of an outstanding library. As a repository of materials for scholarship and teaching and as the most important point of access to information stored and disseminated by new technologies, the University Libraries are indispensable to the mission of the College. Over the years the University has expanded to the point where the demands of users now far exceed the capacities of the Libraries in terms of materials, professional staff support, and physical plant. Not only does this impose grave constraints upon the ability of the faculty to pursue their missions in teaching and research, it severely limits the opportunities for students to study and learn in a serious academic environment.
- The College should support the construction of the proposed Science Library and the reconfiguration of Norlin Library as a Humanities and Social Sciences facility as its highest capital priority. The College should also establish as a priority the removal of its programs currently housed in Norlin Library to other space on campus and should advocate for the removal of all non-Library programs from that building.
5.3 To provide for the development of junior faculty as productive scholars, artists, and researchers. Untenured faculty members must be given ample opportunity to demonstrate their talents in research and creative work. In order for the junior faculty to attain the highest possible standards in evaluations of research and teaching for promotion and tenure, it is essential that untenured faculty not be obliged to assume inappropriate burdens in teaching and service.
- Departments should account for the workload assignments of their untenured faculty and, if necessary, to demonstrate that the tenured faculty have acted responsibly in protecting the prospects of their junior colleagues. If a unit is understaffed, for example, the department should look first to the senior faculty to carry the overload.
5.3 To maintain the competitiveness of startup packages across the disciplines. Many units in the College are no longer able to offer the start-up funds necessary to recruit new faculty. In some cases, start-up packages are significantly less than those of competing institutions.
- The College should identify competitive startup funds as a critical priority in its annual budget. The goal should be to greatly increase startup packages in those disciplines where they have fallen significantly below peer institutions.
5.4 To increase the opportunities for faculty to obtain release time to conduct research and develop creative works. A solid infrastructure is essential to supporting the research and creative enterprises of the College, but the most precious commodity for any faculty member is time. While the University has grown significantly in recent decades, the number of Faculty Fellowships available through the Council on Research and Creative Work has remained stagnant. At the same time, extramural funding opportunities never abundant in the Arts and Humanities and Social Science have diminished.
- The College should consider allocating a portion of incremental revenues to funding additional leave time for faculty members. The College should consider directing resources to support full-year sabbaticals at two-thirds of a faculty member's annual salary. Current policies should be revised to allow faculty more flexibility in allocating their teaching efforts, including provisions for distributing their courses over the summer sessions.
5.5 Increase support for the scholarly activities of faculty. The importance of research in all areas of the College is generally conceded; yet support for research and creative work, particularly in the Arts and Humanities and Social Sciences, remains limited. Even as expectations in research in these fields have soared, the funds available for field work, archival research, travel to collections, publication subventions, and conferences have remained stagnant. Every faculty member should have access to support for the legitimate research activities that are a required component in our workload.
- The College should consider using a portion of any incremental revenues to increase the funds available to faculty through the College Accounts.
