As the first phase of CU Boulder’s Academic Futures visioning process—titled Rethinking the University: the futures of learning and discovery—draws to a close, I wanted to provide you an update on the process and offer my thanks to all those who are taking part in our town hall meetings and engaging via digital platforms.
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Russell L. Moore
The vision behind the Academic Futures process is to listen broadly to interests and concerns in order to make sure our central mission—teaching and learning, discovery and creation—shapes our collective efforts.
Vice Provost and Associate Vice Chancellor for Faculty Affairs Jeff Cox has, along with facilitator Emily CoBabe-Ammann, director of strategic projects from our Research and Innovation Office, convened six town hall meetings in September. On the Academic Futures website, you can review everything we’ve heard from the campus community—every idea, comment and note is now posted in a continuously updated and searchable spreadsheet in the “What We’re Hearing” tab at the top of the page.
Building upon these conversations, the Academic Futures Committee, comprised of students, staff and faculty, will work to identify and to prioritize key themes (i.e., “We should promote interdisciplinary team-teaching”) and to put forth more specific projects and action items (i.e., “Consider a laboratory-based model for teaching in the humanities”) for the campus to consider.
Campus leadership is committed to using the results of this process to inform campus planning as we imagine, and then create, the CU Boulder of the future. We will soon announce the composition of the committee and post it so that the campus community can provide input to this key group.
Additionally, we also will select more than 150 listeners from dozens of nominations, to be announced at the same time as the committee. Listeners are trusted faculty and staff colleagues who serve as an immediate point of contact for questions, comments and concerns related to the Academic Futures process and who relay ideas to the Academic Futures Committee and answer questions from their colleagues about its work.
Moving ahead in October, we will reach the end of our town halls and begin a second series of more focused conversations. We are continuing to receive written input and ideas, and I invite you take advantage of the opportunity to submit a white paper to add more developed and focused ideas to the process.
Let me thank all of you who have participated and encourage those of you who have not yet participated to please do so. In the following weeks, I look forward to meeting with our campus community and learning more about the priorities and interests that students, staff and faculty have as we think about our shared academic futures. I am committed to an authentic and inclusive process.
Again, I invite you to visit the Academic Futures website for more information, including a timeline.
Russell Moore,
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
