Art & Art History
Intro by Jeff Cox
- Intro on teaching and research visioning
- Laying out of fall work
- Role of Committee and Report
Q. Can the December 15th deadline be extended?
A. December 15th is the deadline. We are trying to get the ideas by then so that they can help shape the themed discussions that are occurring. However, if you have a really great idea after the 15th, by all means, send it in.
Q. Are you considering staff forums along with faculty forums?
A. In general, we have had good participation from staff in the themed discussions. We started faculty forums to cover topics that significantly affect faculty using shorter meeting durations that fit better within the teaching schedules. We are be happy to entertain staff forums if you believe they are necessary.
Comment: We need to look at and adjust hours for courses in programs (such as Art) where students are putting in significantly more hours a week than the credits they are given and create a model that is better aligned with how we organize student work.
Comment: We need better financial support for our graduate students so that they can graduate without high debt, especially in programs where students will not likely be getting high-paying jobs after graduation.
Comment: We need better financial solutions for our students. We are committed to excellence, and we get good interest and applications from top applicants, but we continually lose them due to better funding/financial offers from other schools.
Comment: We need a better funding model for programs in the arts beyond majors. For example, 1/3rd of our budget goes toward cleaning (studios, etc.).
Q. Has there been any discussion so far on changes to promotion and merit processes?
A. There have been many conversations, and there is a session coming up on changing the criteria for excellence in teaching, research, creative work, and service.
Comment: Collaboration is very interesting. Current barriers are keeping it from being a strong program:
- Budget model and lack of compensation
- Thinly staffed – can’t cover our own classes and then also teach with/for other departments
- Geographically we do not have the ability to pull others in to teach with us.
Comment: The CU Art Museum is understaffed and underfunded. It should be better funded and better utilized as a resource for the campus. For example, the campus could schedule courses in the building. We need to recognize that different things on campus require different budget/funding models beyond student credit hours and majors.
Comment: We have a lot of duplication and redundancy in courses in different schools/departments. This is actually doing a disservice to the university and the students. We need to create some sort of oversight to prevent the duplication and better utilize current resources.
Comment: We need to revisit ATLAS and how it should be utilized. It seems that it is no longer available outside of Engineering, the updates and changes are engineering-centric, and students are confused. We need to understand the current and future intention of ATLAS.