Dear Faculty and Staff:
On Friday, February 19, I announced at a special meeting a plan for restructuring Academic Affairs, based on the many conversations on this subject that have been occurring on campus since December. Many people were part of this special meeting: thank you! I am also grateful to the University Senate, its Executive Committee, and especially the Planning and Budget Committee for its willingness to engage others in considering this topic and offering recommendations.
Those discussions revealed a number of principles that informed the decision I made in collaboration with the VP Council:
- Take time to weigh implications and plan carefully.
- Implement a structure aligned with Fredonia history, identity, and strengths.
- Be fiscally responsible and protect the academic mission, especially given the state budget situation.
- Seize an opportunity to be innovative in the ways we work together and serve students.
- Begin searches at the best times of year to ensure strong, diverse pools.
- Take a strong position and real action to address a national need for advancing the STEM disciplines and social sciences.
- Determine the best way to support interdisciplinary studies.
- Demonstrate the distinctive role of visual and performing arts.
- Seek balances of gains and sacrifices across divisions, not sacrificing one group for the benefit of another.
- Ensure a smooth transition of leadership.
- Invest in faculty rather than administrators.
- Value governance.
- Look for efficiencies and different ways of doing things.
This is the phased plan, based on these principles, that was announced on Friday:
1. We are not going to begin a dean search or hire an interim dean when Dave Ewing leaves Fredonia for a new position. Just as vacancies in all units are now being left open, we will leave this M/C line open for two years as a cost-saving measure and—more importantly—as a way to give the campus time to plan together a phased approach.
2. Phase 1 will begin on June 1 of this year with the formation of a College of Arts and Sciences, with John Kijinski as dean and two associate deans selected from among the tenured faculty. The current secretaries to the College of Natural and Social Sciences and the College of Arts and Humanities will be in this new College to ensure a smooth transition. This structure is not a compromise or a simple cost-savings strategy or, worse yet, a cobbled College of Necessity or Randomness. It is a deliberate choice about who we are and where, for some time, our strengths have been. A transition team will be appointed next week to work with John Kijinski and Dave Ewing. There will be some costs to appointing associate deans (salary adjustments and covering courses in their departments), the costs can be funded from the vacant M/C line and still yield approximately $60,000 annual savings for the campus. There will be no increase in secretarial or staff positions.
3. Phase 2 will occur in 2010-2011, as the campus considers programs and departments within the College of Arts and Sciences. In the January 22 discussion, many of you asked interesting questions about where departments best belong and, repeatedly, how we might better support the interdisciplinary programs that are distinctive at Fredonia and innovative in their recognition of learning across boundaries. I hope that the Senate Planning and Budget Committee will be willing to lead this planning effort, perhaps using a broader group as recommended by the Senate for effective planning.
4. Phase 3 is acting on our commitment to establish a College of Visual and Performing Arts in Fall 2012. This is not a “someday” promise. We will form an advisory board of faculty, staff, and alumni to plan for this structure in 2010-2011, and in 2011-2012, we will engage in a national search for a dean to start that fall. This will not add an administrative position, as the vacant M/C line will be used to hire at the same salary level; the President and Cabinet have agreed to commit this line. There will be no additional staff, as one of the secretaries from the College of Arts and Sciences would become this new dean’s secretary. There will be no additional space requirement, as the new dean will occupy the vacated Maytum Hall office.
The full text of my remarks from Friday afternoon, including more detailed rationales for this plan, have been posted on the Academic Affairs website.Thank you to all who were involved in this process.
I welcome your responses and look forward to working together with you as we implement this plan.
Sincerely,
Virginia S. Horvath
Vice President for Academic Affairs
