Last week professor Jim White was appointed as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. He has been appointed in an interim role beginning in August to lead an exciting new evolution of Arts and Sciences as the largest college in the university. Jim’s appointment coincides with a unique opportunity over the near horizon to engage each other in a much larger conversation about our structures, policies and processes within the College of Arts and Sciences and, more importantly, our vision for the future of the college.
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Russell L. Moore
Based on feedback received from program review, meetings with faculty and staff, and conversations with students, we are convinced that now is the time for this important discussion, given our desire to better support our teaching and scholarship. For example, some key feedback has focused clearly on such as questions as how do we promote more interdisciplinary pedagogy and scholarship; how do we better serve our students and faculty; and how, beyond just considerations for our largest college, do we prepare to become the university of the future?
This watershed moment in the life of the university is ideal to examine these core questions. We are fortunate to have the highest quality faculty, the best class of students and some of the most productive staff in the history of the University of Colorado Boulder to participate in and guide these high-stakes conversations. We have the right people to envision a university that flourishes in whatever circumstances lie ahead and to develop the precise pathways to that success.
More specifically, we are in the right environment to ask some critical questions:
- What are our collective aspirational goals, not only for ourselves, but for each other and for CU Boulder?
- How do we see faculty and their work evolving over the next 10 years, and how do we support that transformation?
- What will be the educational needs of our students in 10 years and how will we meet them?
Senior Vice Chancellor and Chief Financial Officer Kelly Fox
Our desire here is clear: Instead of forcing our visions and ideals around preconceived structures and organizations, we want to free ourselves from those impediments and develop aspirations for where we want to go and who we want to be as a major, global, public research university. Once those aspirations are established, we can begin to discuss how to organize ourselves to ensure we have the greatest opportunity to reach those goals.
We believe that this will be a three-year process—a time frame that accords with our reaccreditation by the Higher Learning Commission, which will be interested in any creative changes we may be planning. We expect that year one will focus on asking and answering the big questions related to vision. Year two will address how we get from where we are to where we want to be, and year three will be the actual implementation of our vision.
It is for these reasons that Jim White was named as dean in an interim appointment for up to three years. That time frame is subject to the outcome of these conversations as the work of the dean of Arts and Sciences may change accordingly. Further, he is very committed to leading this process for effective evolution and engagement of the college. These conversations undoubtedly will flow beyond the college itself and additional faculty, staff, student voices will be sought out, listened to and incorporated into our final vision. To that end, we will work with all interested parties, including the Boulder Faculty Assembly, Arts & Sciences Council, Staff Council, deans and vice chancellors, Budget and Finance, OIT, and any other group or person who wishes to be engaged.
We very much look forward to discussing additional details of this initiative in the fall, once everyone is back for the new academic year. In the meantime, we hope that you spend a portion of the remainder of the summer asking yourself and your colleagues what you aspire to achieve in your work and in the work of your department, your college and the larger work engaged by the university. In the meantime, feel free to share your input with either of us at vcaa@colorado.edu or svc-cfo@colorado.edu.
Russell L. Moore,
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
Kelly Fox,
Senior Vice Chancellor and Chief Financial Officer
