That first tuition check

Published by Rachel Beanland on August 9, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

After 30 years of college teaching I did something new this week. I mailed the first tuition check for our daughter, who will, as I had hoped, be attending a liberal arts college. One friend commented, “It is like driving a new car off a cliff.  One down, seven to go.”

Yet rather than seeing that tuition check as being a Toyota Camry with a stuck accelerator, I believe I just paid the first installment on the greatest investment my wife and I could ever make in our daughter.

Many parents might ask, “Wouldn’t it be better if your daughter attended business school or studied engineering?” Perhaps, if that was her passion, but it is a rare 18-year-old who really knows they want to be an accountant or an electrical engineer.

Sure we want our daughter to eventually be gainfully employed, but we don’t think college should be about getting your first job. Instead we want our daughter to find her passion and purpose. We know that these next four years of intellectual exploration through close reading of texts, encountering different ways of knowing, writing (and re-writing) essays about questions both big and small, and partnering in rigorous academic inquiry is the best opportunity for her to reach her fullest intellectual and interpersonal potential and to lead a life of meaning.

We are making a long-term investment. With her liberal arts degree there is no promise of her getting a job with one of the “big four” accounting firms. (Remember when that used to be the “big eight?”) Instead her liberal arts education will provide the foundation for her to engage our diverse and pluralistic society and prepare her for the multitude of career changes she will encounter in her lifetime.

Am I offering wishful thinking? Personal experience with hundreds of advisees over the last 30 years tells me I can be confident in that outcome. The research literature supports my personal observations. Yet outcomes do vary. Some students make the most of those four years and others frankly respond poorly to all the freedoms and distractions. That latter result is when parents see that tuition check as that new car falling to the rocks at the bottom of a cliff.

So what advice would I offer my daughter about courses and studying?

If she asks me about meeting her graduation requirements, I’ll tell her to ignore the requirements and to take courses that get her heart pumping. In four years she will have checked all the requirement boxes anyway, and, in the process, she will have examined topics that really interest her, enjoyed learning more, and likely achieved at a higher level.

I would encourage her to make a real effort to get to know her professors and let them get to know her. The faculty at liberal arts colleges deeply care about student learning and achievement. Almost without exception they consider teaching their highest priority. Conversations with these individuals outside the classroom and shoulder-to-shoulder collaboration with them on research are opportunities that rarely, if ever, happen at big schools, but are the norm at a liberal arts college.

If I have a worry, it is time management. Now our daughter is incredibly self-disciplined and comes from an exceptionally demanding public high school. Yet suddenly classes meet only twice a week, papers and exams are months off, and at first college might seem easier than high school.

Striking that balance between playing hard and working hard is so difficult that first year. If you succeed and retain the good habits developed in high school you burst out of the blocks like a sprinter and run the next four years like a cross-country champion. When you hit a hurdle you are able to pick yourself up, clear the standard, and move on to the next challenge. If you procrastinate or coast along on the momentum gained from working hard in high school, you will finish far back in the pack and frankly have blown one of the greatest opportunities in your lifetime.

Perhaps surprisingly, short of trying to answer questions about her specific interests, that is all the advice I’d offer. When a student selects a liberal arts college, in most cases they are making a deliberate choice. Sometimes students fall in love with the beauty of a campus and are surprised to learn that liberal arts colleges don’t have nursing programs or courses in fashion design. Yet the vast majority of students coming to liberal arts colleges are intellectually curious, highly academically motivated, and flat out interesting young women and men.

At liberal arts colleges that place their highest priority on student achievement, these students flourish by learning on their own, from peers and faculty, and from experiences beyond the cloistered campus walls. Those tuition dollars come back to parents in immense interpersonal dividends and return to society in the meaningful contributions this next generation of liberally educated citizens makes throughout their lifetimes.

Consider Applying to the IQ Science Program

Published by Rachel Beanland on June 3, 2010 in classroom. 0 Comments

If you’re an incoming first-year Spider and you haven’t yet heard about the Integrated Quantitative (IQ) Science Program, I’d like to encourage you to take a close look at this exceptional learning opportunity.

We launched the IQ Science Program in the fall of 2009 after faculty in the School of Arts & Sciences applied for and received a $1.4 million grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Part of their application called for the creation of a “super course,” which would immerse students in biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, and physics simultaneously and allow them to see the interdisciplinary connections among what have for too long been considered distinct disciplines in academia.

A team of 10 faculty members worked through a yearlong research and development phase during the 2008-09 academic year, reading and writing and making connections between their academic fields, and in the process, designing a curriculum that would allow their students to do the same. The result of their work is a two-semester course that gives students with a strong interest in the sciences the opportunity to explore biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, and physics in one class, earning two units of credit in the fall and another two units in the spring. By the time IQ Science students conclude their first year at Richmond, they’ve fulfilled the requirements of all five disciplines’ introductory-level courses.

While the application process to participate in the IQ Science program is competitive (last year 80 students applied for 20 slots), don’t sell yourself short.

What kind of students should apply to participate in the course? There’s no one type, so anyone with an interest in the program and an eagerness to get the most out of their college experience should apply. While the course requires a serious commitment on the part of students, you don’t necessarily need to prove that you’re the most advanced science student to secure a spot. Of course, the faculty are looking for students who have demonstrated a commitment to studying science in high school, but they’re also looking for students who like to approach things from new perspectives, students who can’t help but see the connections when they’re looking at the big picture.

If you’re a student who plans to study science at Richmond and you love a good challenge, you owe it to yourself to check out the IQ Science Program. Applications are due July 10.

Robert Crumb Exhibit

Published by Rachel Beanland on November 3, 2009 in programs. 0 Comments

Members of the University of Richmond Community,

Each year the Modlin Center and the University Museums collaborate to provide a rich array of programming that not only serves the University of Richmond, but the greater Richmond area community as well.  The Modlin Center and the Museums have received national recognition for the integration of performing and visual arts and for their coordination with faculty to allow for events that enrich the educational enterprise.

There are times when that programming touches on controversial topics and/or artists.  This season includes a continuing exhibit of Robert Crumb’s work in the University Museums (August 20 to December 13, 2009), a public interview on October 27th with Robert Crumb conducted by Françoise Mouly, art editor for The New Yorker, and an online resource guide to Crumb’s work developed by VCU libraries, which hold one of the foremost collections of Crumb’s work.

While Mr. Crumb occupies a significant place in contemporary art and culture, his work has generated both positive and negative critical attention.  Critics have described some of Crumb’s images as disturbing and some of his work as sexist, racist, and misogynistic. At the same time, to hear from Mr. Crumb firsthand was a unique opportunity for those interested in studying American culture.  Further, some faculty in English, religion, and studio art combined the Modlin event with classroom discussion to examine this facet of popular culture with their students.  While the University made it possible to hear this dialogue and examine Crumb’s work, that does not mean we condoned its content.

As we learn together as an academic community, we can not ignore or avoid controversial topics, artists, or authors, especially in a case like Crumb, who, for better or worse, has a significant place in the art world and popular culture.  The arts, including Crumb’s work, hold a mirror up to society and create opportunities for conversation about the most difficult of topics.  Indeed, Crumb’s work was intended to challenge much of how America saw itself in the sixties and seventies.

Mr. Crumb has not appeared publicly for over 20 years and is making a book tour to promote his newest graphic novel, “ The Book of Genesis.”  The book tour began in Paris and New York before coming to Richmond.  The next stop for the tour is Los Angeles where all 200+ pages of the original art, which comprises the book, are being shown at the Hammer Museum.  The tour concludes at the University of Texas in Austin.

As an educational institution unequivocally committed to academic freedom and the free exchange of ideas, I trust we will consider Crumb’s work in ways that show our sensitivity and civility to everyone within our community.

The Richmond Liberal Arts Experience

Published by Rachel Beanland on October 5, 2009 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

The following is a transcript of remarks I made at a summer prospective student preview event on August 28, 2009.

Good morning. I am guessing that most of today’s attendees are high school seniors and their parents. I know what it feels like to be where you are sitting. My daughter Caroline, our only child, is starting her senior year in just a few days.

We have wandered campuses on college tours, waded through the admissions materials that overwhelm our mailbox on a daily basis, and waited for SAT and AP scores. Now comes the hard part—where is Caroline going to apply?

While that is going to be her decision, last week she asked for my advice. No, I am not making that up. She really asked for her father’s advice. This morning I want to begin by sharing with you what I told her.

Never being one to miss a learning opportunity, I started by suggesting that we do some math together. That idea, of course, was met with an, “Oh Daddy!” but she played along, and I hope you will do the same.

I said, “You graduate from high school in 2010 so you will graduate from college in what year?”

She replied, “2014”

I asked, “Ok, and you will be how old then?”

She was in a groove now and smartly retorted, “22 and gorgeous Daddy.”

I then asked, “Alright beautiful, let’s suppose you retire at age 68, how many years will you work and what year will it be when you retire?”

For all the high school seniors, I’ll give you that one again: “Suppose you retire at age 68, how many years will you work and what year will it be when you retire?”

At this point Caroline’s skepticism was showing and she said, “Dad, I hope this is actually going somewhere. This is starting to sound like an SAT question.” And she gave me ‘the look’.

But she continued to play along and said, “Ok, I’d work 46 years and it would be 2060 when I retire.”

My advice then was this: “Sweetheart, some people go to a college that prepares them for their first job. My hope is that you will go to a college that gives you the tools for a lifetime. A lifetime that includes changes you can’t even imagine.”

So what is my message to the students and parents who are here this morning?

Studying the liberal arts at the University of Richmond is an exceptional opportunity for a young woman or man to prepare for the world they are going to face between now and 2060.

What are these tools for a lifetime that a liberal arts education provides?

First of all, it is not about what you know. Instead it is all about ways of knowing and ways of learning.

Imagine if I gave you a text and told you that you would be tested on that reading.

Some of you would read it and try to memorize as many facts as you possibly could. You would fall into a group that’s called ‘surface learners.’

Others would read the text and try to figure out what you think is going to be on the test. These folks are called ‘strategic learners.’

Now that is not as good as it sounds. Strategic learners are far more interested in getting high grades than actually learning.

Finally, the last group wants to understand the material conceptually. These are ‘deep learners.’

Deep learners want to apply their ideas to important problems. Deep learners eagerly break with traditional paradigms and invent new ones. Deep learners work passionately to find new connections and to achieve the fullest possible understanding.

At Richmond, professors work to make every class and every assignment an opportunity for deep learning. You combine this commitment to teaching with small classes and the range of programs and experiences that you might find at a much larger institution and you have something truly special.

My fondest hope for my daughter, and for each of you, is that you find your passion at college. If you decide to come to Richmond, no matter whether you major in art, music, biology, philosophy, business, or leadership studies you are going to learn to ask important questions, collect the data necessary to answer those questions, critically analyze that data, and learn to present your findings in highly compelling ways.

Those are the tools for life that a liberal arts education provides. You master those skills and you will be ready for your first job, your third career change, and all the other challenges you will face from now to 2060. Today is an opportunity for you to take Richmond on a test drive.

No matter what your area of interest, go look at the science labs, instrumentation, and course offerings. No liberal arts college is any better than the quality of its science programs. Great science education signals high quality across the board.

Ask about study abroad and decide if Richmond will prepare you for the complex and pluralistic world of today and fifty years from now.

Learn about research and internship opportunities, and see the range of hands-on experiences that would be part of your Richmond education.

What you are going to find is that Richmond has the facilities, the faculty, and the commitment to students that is second to none.
What makes Richmond unique is the way that all the pieces come together. At Richmond you have the intimacy of a small liberal arts college and the complexity of a major research university.

The critical difference is that there aren’t any graduate students competing for your professor’s time and attention.

Let me close by giving you a few examples of how we are creating cutting edge learning opportunities by having departments and programs work together in unique ways.

This fall, with the support of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, we launched our new year-long Integrative Quantitative Science course for first-year students.

Imagine another college where ten faculty members from five different departments come together to team-teach a course that combines the first courses in biology, chemistry, computer science, calculus, and physics.

The course includes an entirely new set of integrated laboratory experiences that require deep learning using all five disciplines. If you want to be challenged in the sciences, Richmond is the place for you.

Just as our faculty like students who want to be challenged, these dedicated teacher-scholars challenge themselves. Now I want you to imagine faculty from arts & sciences, business, law, and leadership studies-that’s four different schools-developing a entirely new program that combines the best of each of these areas of study.

Well, the Richmond faculty have done just that. Beginning next year—what would be your first year at Richmond—we will offer a new interdisciplinary major in Philosophy, Politics, Economics, and Law. Let me tell you this major is for deep learners, individuals who want to make a difference between now and 2060.

My last example gives me a chance to make a plug for another session that I am doing this afternoon about majoring in the social sciences and humanities.

You want to come to that session if you are interested in English, history, creative writing, languages, psychology, classics, religion, political science, and sociology. What I think you might be surprised to learn is how many students in these areas of study also do summer research.

Most people think summer research is just in the sciences. Yet last summer one of our classics professors, Elizabeth Vaughan, took five students on an archeological dig in Turkey.

David Salisbury, a geography professor, had four students accompany him to the Peruvian Amazon. They lived with indigenous families and studied fishing practices and trade.

Oh, and did I tell you that the students were all paid for these experiences?

Pretty amazing and it’s just the tip of the iceberg of opportunity at Richmond.

I truly hope you enjoy learning about the unique liberal arts experience that Richmond has to offer and just maybe you will decide Richmond is the right fit for you.

Welcome Back!

Published by Rachel Beanland on August 17, 2009 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

New A&S colleagues and returning A&S faculty,

Welcome back!  As always, I hope your summer has afforded you a productive and uninterrupted time to pursue your creative and scholarly endeavors while also being relaxing and restorative.

My conversations with everyone returning to campus have been filled with excitement about the new academic session.  This year is remarkable, not only because of the size of the entering class (925 at last count), but more importantly, because of diversity among these new students. Students of color make up nearly 25% of the first-year class, and over a fifth of our new students are the first generation in their families to attend college.

As we meet this amazing new group of students, there are questions I am confident we are all asking ourselves:

  • Are we ready to meet the needs of this entering class?
  • Will we be able to provide these new students with the challenges and opportunities that will allow them to make the most of their liberal arts education at Richmond?
  • At the end of four years, what will the class of 2013 say about their teachers at Richmond?

While teaching is always at the forefront of our professional goals, this year, perhaps as never before, we are focused on this primary objective.  This year the faculty is committed to begin preparations for the new first-year seminars, to engage in extended discussion of the general education curriculum, and to explore new ways to provide additional interdisciplinary offerings that cut across our five schools.

These are ambitious goals, but we have shown we are ready for the challenges ahead.  This fall we will be launching our new Integrative Quantitative Science program (IQS) for first-year students. Ten faculty from five departments will team teach this course that was developed as part of a yearlong faculty seminar.  IQS integrates the first courses in biology, chemistry, computer science, calculus, and physics and includes an entirely new set of integrated laboratory experiences.  Seventy-eight students applied for the twenty available slots in the course.  Clearly, our new first-year students want this kind of intellectual challenge.

We will have two additional faculty seminars in the Spring term also focused on curricular development.  A group of American Studies faculty will participate in the first Tocqueville Faculty Development Seminar.  These faculty, joined by Professor Winfried Fluck, University of Berlin, will be collaborating on the development of new courses that examine American Studies from a transnational perspective.  Another group of colleagues will be part of a faculty seminar that will develop the core and capstone curriculum for the new Philosophy, Politics, Economics, and Law major.  With the distinctive assets of our five schools we are ideally poised to become a national leader in these two areas of interdisciplinary study.

While these faculty seminars are an important collective endeavor, great teaching is a process of continuous individual improvement.  Just as we want our teaching to challenge our students’ existing conceptions and paradigms, we need to examine our own pedagogical practices with equal rigor.  As part of that pursuit, I hope you will take a few minutes to read the attached article by Ken Bain, “Understanding Great Teaching.”  In four pages Bain examines how great teachers overcome students’ pre-existing ways of knowing and learning with the goal of moving students from being what he calls “surface” and “strategic” learners to “deep” learners.

I trust this article will provide you with additional insight as we go about the most important part of our job—student learning.  In the dean’s office we are eager to help you in whatever way we can as you work with your students to provide them the very best in learning opportunities.

Best wishes,

Andy

Budget Update

Published by Andy Newcomb on December 15, 2008 in budget, staff and faculty. 0 Comments

Colleagues,

I am writing to update you on the status of the School of Arts and Sciences’ current budget (FY09) and next year’s budget (FY10). As I began to draft this message on Tuesday, that afternoon’s electronic Chronicle had two headlines that caught my eye: Brandeis U. Faculty Senate Asks Professors to Take Pay Cuts and Harvard Freezes Salaries and Suspends Faculty Searches.  If you do a Google search on “University cost saving measures” you will get over 2,220,000 hits. Williams recently cut back on their tenure track and visiting faculty searches and the list of casualties goes on.  Needless to say, no college or university is immune from the current economic downturn.

After consultation with Academic Council, I want to share with you the steps we are taking within the School of Arts & Sciences to address the current economic situation.  In particular we need to:

  1. Identify budget cuts of 3 percent , 5 percent , and 7 percent from our FY10 operating budget of $2.5M.  That means for every 1 percent of cuts we need to find $25K.  These operational budget cuts from across the University will likely go to help fund a very modest compensation increase.  Budget cuts must be submitted by January 9th.
  2. Plan on how we can best manage the FY09 budget for the remainder of the fiscal year to build a contingency fund. We would use this fund if other cuts are requested or if we run additional unexpected deficits.  If we end up not needing to meet any contingencies, we can fund end-of-the-year needs or husband resources to address FY10 needs.

Budget planning assumptions

Before considering how to address these two points, I ask that you review the budget planning assumptions, which I believe should guide our decision making and that were discussed in Academic Council:

  1. All existing faculty and staff lines (including those where we have authorized searches even if those searches are not yet complete) should be protected, and if a search is closed this year, that search should be reopened in 2009-10.
  2. Given the likely small compensation increase for FY10 (if there is a compensation increase), I will propose a plan to use this year’s merit rankings in a weighted fashion in future years so that merit rankings across the next few years are balanced out across likely variable compensation pools.  The idea is to make sure that faculty with high rankings this year are not penalized because of a very low, or perhaps zero, compensation pool.
  3. The momentum of existing programs should be sustained, especially programs that impact students: the debate team, the Roadmap program, student research, mock trial, etc.
  4. Every effort should be made to maintain faculty summer fellowship funding at FY09 levels.
  5. In FY10 all non-essential empty faculty lines will be “soft frozen” as a way to absorb some of the impact of the operating budget cuts and as a way to create a funding reserve for nascent programs that do not have an existing hard-lined budget.  I will propose a priority listing of faculty searches for Academic Council to review in the late spring when we hope the economic picture will be better.
  6. We will review all A&S restricted endowment payouts to ensure that payouts have been incremented according to the University’s spending formula. Within the terms of the endowment, any additional revenues will be examined as possible offsets for budget cuts in other areas.
  7. We will identify a variety of cost containment strategies (see the partial list of potential options below).

FY10 budget cuts

After discussing these assumptions I presented one scenario for making our 3 percent, 5 percent, and 7 percent FY10 budget cuts.  My proposed approach was as follows:

  1. The A&S graduate program is being phased out, which makes it possible to capture $25,000 and apply those funds to our budget cuts.
  2. Reduce travel allocation for all continuing faculty (tenure-track and directors) from $1,600 to $1,500 and capture $23,100.
  3. Reduce lecture funding by 5 percent and capture $4,000.
  4. Cut A&S equipment budget and spend down A&S plant fund as needed. Capture at least $25,000 and up to $125,000, if necessary, to make 7 percent cuts.

We had a robust discussion of this plan, and Academic Council advised an alternative approach, which I accepted.  That alternative approach is as follows:

  1. The A&S graduate program is being phased out, which makes it possible to capture $25,000 and apply those funds to our budget cuts.
  2. There will be no reduction in FY10 travel allocations at this time.
  3. Lecture funding will be cut by $20,000.
  4. The annual chair and program coordinator professional development allowance will be reduced by $250 to $750, which will provide a budget cut of about $7,500.
  5. Cut A&S equipment budget and spend down A&S plant fund as needed. Capture at least $22,500 and up to $122,500, if necessary, to make 7% cuts.

Cost containment strategies

Along with reaching a consensus on the budget planning assumptions and where we should make our budget cuts, we also discussed cost containment strategies. We agreed to implement these cost containment strategies as soon as possible:

  1. Reduce the number of searches/visits and practice particular care in limiting entertainment expenses for searches and other visitors.
  2. Provide minimal refreshments at A&S faculty meetings, eliminate coffee at Academic Council, reduce department entertainment expenses, etc.
  3. In 2009-2010, cancel all classes with enrollments under ten except in cases where the class is absolutely required for graduating seniors and/or in cases where the relatively small number of majors in the department precludes the possibility of enrollments of ten or greater.
  4. Optimize schedule-planning to minimize the need for adjuncts and term faculty.
  5. Hold a workshop in January 2009 with chairs, program coordinators, administrative coordinators, and other budget managers to review budget-tracking processes and to optimize cost accounting.
  6. Engage all schools/programs that provide summer faculty stipends in a conversation about the level of compensation in order to avoid competition for faculty time that could artificially drive up costs.
  7. Request an analysis of possible increased pass-through costs, for example, dining hall and catering costs.

Closing thoughts

While things look bleak, and they are, we can handle this round of cuts and still keep things running smoothly.  At the same time, we need to be very prudent because this round of cuts may not be the last, and even once the economy comes back, it is going to take a while to recover from these cuts.

We will use our January A&S faculty meeting to discuss this situation further.  If you have any thoughts before then, please give me a call or send me an email.

Appreciatively yours,

Andy

FY10 Budget

Published by Andy Newcomb on October 14, 2008 in budget. 0 Comments

Colleagues,

I wanted to share with you the memo that I recently sent to department chairs and program coordinators requesting their help in completing the A&S FY10 budget planning document.

In that memo I included the instructions that were sent to the President’s Cabinet and the deans regarding the submission that needs to be made to the Budget Committee by November 21st.

The three key points in those instructions were:

• There will be no across the board increases in operating budgets.
• There will be $2M in new monies for FY10 (not including any new funding for faculty/staff compensation).
• For the most part, these new monies will be allocated to support the objectives of the five principles in the new strategic plan.

While the amount of new monies is substantially lower than previous years, given the current economic climate it is remarkable that we are talking about any new monies at all. We owe our thanks to Herb Peterson and the entire group at Spider Management for their longstanding careful fiscal management that puts us in this highly enviable situation.

Needless to say, we are going to need to make an extraordinarily compelling case as we present our argument for new funds, and we will want to carefully align our submissions with the new strategic plan. As a reminder the latest working drafts of the five planning groups are available online at http://strategicplan.richmond.edu/.

The five principles of the Strategic Plan are as follows:

Principle 1: The University will have an academic enterprise that will be connected, innovative, rigorous, and personal with the intent to foster faculty growth and ensure student success.

Principle 2: The University will be a diverse community, strengthened intellectually and socially by the range of knowledge, opinion, belief, and political perspective as well as background (race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, ability status, age, religious, economic, geographic) of its members. Students will, therefore, be prepared to contribute in a diverse and global workplace and society.

Principle 3: The University will be affordable for students who can most benefit from and contribute to the educational environment.

Principle 4: The University will be intentionally and compellingly engaged in the Richmond community and region as a method to shape, both educationally and experientially, its students and as a means to contribute its skills, energy, and goodwill to the identified needs of the larger community in which we are corporate and individual citizens.

Principle 5: The University will offer its students a distinctive experience that will be further enhanced in meaningful ways grounded in the preceding principles.

Requested information

Let me outline the information I need from each A&S unit and the timeframe for providing this information. I will divide my request into two parts: 1) Operating budgets and 2) Funding for new initiatives.

Operating budgets

You need to keep three things in mind as you review your operating budgets for any unusual inflationary increase or other changing conditions from FY09 to FY10.

First, operating budgets are to be used for critical instructional expenses. You should determine your needs and priorities based on how funding changes will impact student learning. Keep in mind that there are internal and external mechanisms to fund faculty and student research and that faculty travel and lecture funds are not operational monies. These funds are in a central pool and are allocated separately closer to the beginning of the new fiscal year.

Second, in 2002 we moved to “bottom line” budgeting. In essence this means that chairs and program coordinators are responsible for judiciously allocating their unit’s resources and making sure at the end of the year that the unit does not exceed budget. In this system, department chairs and coordinators—those who are in the best position to know a unit’s needs—manage program expenses and they are accountable for expenditures.

Third, in the past departments and programs have taken little or no operational budget increase, and we instead have invested that money in School-wide priorities. For example, in the last few years that method has enabled us to significantly increase funding for department lecture budgets, undergraduate research, and faculty travel. This year there is no automatic inflationary increase in operating budgets (last year there was a 3% pool). As such, the assumption is no increase, and we are going to need to make our case for any changes in operating budgets.

Here is what I need from department chairs and program coordinators regarding operating budgets:

1. What internal efforts have you taken to respond to budgetary concerns and to increase effectiveness? Perhaps you have developed a plan to reduce the amount of photocopying or the extent/cost of long distance phone calls. I am hoping that every unit will be able to give me at least one and perhaps multiple examples of internal reallocations and other means to address budget needs (without asking for more funding).

2. If you can’t cover your operating budget needs through reallocation then email me a brief explanation of your needs and let me know how much you can cover through internal reallocation and how much of an increase you are requesting. Remember each of these operational budget requests must compete with all other funding requests including funding for new initiatives.

Funding for new initiatives

New initiatives can be for either reoccurring items (a new faculty line) or one-time items (a faculty seminar to support development of a new interdisciplinary program). The likelihood of receiving funding will significantly increase relative to the degree to which the proposal supports one or more principles in the Strategic Plan. At our August Academic Council Retreat we discussed three new initiative priorities (in alphabetical order): 1) faculty summer fellowships, 2) new faculty lines, and 3) undergraduate summer research support.

Here is what I need from department chairs and program coordinators regarding funding for new initiatives:

1. Please provide a brief description of the new initiative including the cost and indicate whether the cost is reoccurring or a one-time expense.
2. Briefly describe how your proposal is aligned with the five principals of the strategic plan.
3. If your request is identified as a priority item I will ask you for more detailed information.

Timeline

October 21, 2008: Review budget request process at Academic Council

October 22, 2008: Budget process discussed at A&S Faculty meeting

October 24, 2008: All budget request information from departments and programs due to dean

November 4, 2008: Preliminary funding priorities discussed at Academic Council

November 21, 2008: A&S budget planning document due to Budget Committee

If you are uncertain about any part of this memo, please feel free to call me (x8128).

Thank you for being good stewards. I appreciate your work to achieve our goals by thoughtfully using our resources: financial, capital, and human.

Best,

Andy

A&S Dean’s Office-South Annex

Published by Andy Newcomb on October 7, 2008 in staff. 0 Comments

Colleagues,

I hope you will take a few minutes to read this email and learn more about the A&S Dean’s Office-South Annex. In particular, I am writing to make sure everyone is up to speed on the initiatives we have in place to support student advising and retention as well as our interdisciplinary programs.

First, why did I choose the heading A&S Dean’s Office-South Annex? Like many departments, we are experiencing a severe space crunch. Many thanks to the psychology department for helping us address that issue. They agreed to delay a faculty search for one year, which provided sufficient bridge space until we are able to return associate deans Johnson and Johnson to Boatwright Administrative Wing along with the other members of their teams. Our goal is to bring them all home within the year.

So just what is happening in the South Annex?

Susan Johnson is working in conjunction with Steve Bisese to implement and create a combined academic-developmental program to improve student adjustment to college and increase student success. The First-Year Roadmap to Success program is underway and student response has been very favorable. Susan and Steve are working with faculty and student development staff to create the next phase of programming for second, third and fourth year students.

Susan also continues to work with the Office of Human Resources to develop leadership training programs for department chairs and program coordinators, and she is responsible for coordinating program reviews and interviewing her share of tenure-track faculty candidates. In addition, Susan has assumed responsibility for supervising Mallory Schindler, who is the coordinator of the Office of Interdisciplinary Programs.

Scott Johnson directs the work of the Academic Advising Resource Center. Scott, associate director Lindsey Love, and administrative assistant Sue Pytlik support academic advisors and students in the three undergraduate “day” schools. In just two years of existence, the AARC has worked closely with the registrar’s office on advising changes that include the AARC Web site, the unit conversion, improved BannerWeb resources, the online student progress report, and the new Grad-Tracker advising/audit program. In addition, the AARC works with incoming students and their parents throughout the summer, recently implementing a “New Spiders” website that provides a detailed timeline, important information and access to resources that can assist with everything new students need to be prepared for the start of the school year. More and more evidence points to advising as a key means of improving the overall quality of the undergraduate experience, and the AARC exists to serve advisors and students toward enhancing Richmond’s academic advising.

Scott also continues to teach a class each semester in rhetoric and communication studies and pursue his research on communication in educational contexts. Like the other associate deans, Scott does his share of interviewing tenure-track faculty candidates and serving on committees, and, of course, is available to provide valuable counsel on everything from wardrobe choices to world peace.

Please stop by Richmond Hall and say hey to Susan and Scott and other members of their teams.

2008-09 Diversity Hiring Initiatives

Published by Andy Newcomb on August 28, 2008 in hiring. 0 Comments

Colleagues,

In my Welcome Back letter, I emphasized the need to attract and retain a diverse faculty. While we have made considerable headway in adding more women to our faculty and in recruiting faculty with international backgrounds, we have not enjoyed commensurate success in attracting faculty of color. With eighteen searches this year, we are ideally positioned to make inroads toward further diversifying our faculty. We have had a standing practice of including a diversity advocate on each search committee, and departments have done an excellent job crafting ads that will increase the likelihood of attracting a diverse pool of applicants. Everything we do to make “search” a verb instead of a noun will increase the likelihood of recruiting the most qualified and most diverse faculty possible.

We also have three other initiatives in place to increase the effectiveness of our diversity hiring efforts.

First, with our searches this year, I am willing to work with departments to upgrade any assistant professor position to the tenured associate/full rank if this enhancement would lead to the hiring of a person of color.

Second, as you are aware, the School of Arts and Sciences has had a successful targeted hiring program in place since 2002, and this coming year we will be able to take our efforts to the next level. At Faculty Colloquy our new provost Steve Allred announced his Opportunity Hiring Initiative. Steve’s willingness to commit central resources to targeted hiring of faculty of color is especially beneficial to the School of Arts and Sciences. Essentially, the school receives six years of funding to allow for the hiring of a tenure-track faculty member and five years of funding for a tenured faculty member. At the end of that time, the school will have to assume the salary expense for that hire. Given our experience with retirements and other departures, the school should be able to plan ahead to allow us to make the most of the provost’s generous initiative. I encourage any interested department or program to bring me a proposal, and we will work together to see if we can make the hire happen. Remember, this initiative applies to new lines over and above lines already designated to departments and programs.

Third, we also need to develop our own pipeline if we expect to have a more diverse faculty. The decision to close the A&S graduate programs and gain new resources to create a minority pre-doctoral/post-doctoral fellowship program appears to be a highly promising way to reach this goal. With support from the provost and departmental commitments, we will be ready to recruit two fellows this fall with residency in 2009-2010. All A&S departments and programs are eligible to propose recruiting a minority doctoral/post-doctoral fellow. There are already over 300 prospective candidates who have registered at Consortium for Faculty Diversity website.

Our short-term goal is to have two fellows in residence in 2009-2010, and long-term, to have five fellows annually by 2012. Pre-doctoral fellows would teach/co-teach one course annually and post-doctoral fellows would teach/co-teach two courses annually. Fellowships are typically for one year. Travel and professional development support will be available for the fellows, and the fellows’ faculty mentor will receive a stipend.

Please do not hesitate to talk with me if you have any questions about any of these initiatives.

Best, Andy

Welcome Back

Published by Andy Newcomb on August 22, 2008 in faculty. 0 Comments

New colleagues and returning faculty,

Welcome back!  I hope your summer has been relaxing and restorative while also providing productive and uninterrupted time for you to pursue your creative and scholarly endeavors.

Caroline, Judy, and I had a fabulous trip to Bolivia and Peru, including the chance to hike the Inca Trail as well as travel to the Peruvian rainforest. We also made our first college visits.  Being on the other side of the table is eye opening to say the least.  I was particularly impressed with the flexibility and resources the top-tier liberal arts colleges provide their students as a means to foster intellectual curiosity and support rigorous academic engagement.

I hope you are looking forward to the year ahead as the next twelve months appear to be full of promise at our own institution.  I want to take this time to offer a few observations about things I see on the horizon and suggest things we might do to make the most of these upcoming opportunities.

The community will soon be hearing from the Strategic Plan working groups regarding goals, action steps, and metrics.  Our faculty, staff, trustee, and administrative colleagues on these working groups have been hard at work this summer, and they, no doubt, look forward to hearing your thoughts about their progress thus far.  I hope everyone will take advantage of any and all of the various means available to offer insights and suggestions.  The strategic planning process offers a unique opportunity to shape the direction of the institution over the next five years.

I want to thank each of you who responded to the dean’s survey this past spring.  Four themes emerged from your observations, and I look forward to working with you over the next year to collaboratively address these issues.

The first theme was the desire to bring even more transparency into our processes and decision-making.  I am committed to this goal and ask for your help in knowing when more transparency is needed and how to increase it.  Currently, we rely heavily on Academic Council as an information pipeline and on department chairs and program coordinators to individually and collectively advise the dean.  The suggestion has been made by UFC to create “a formal and official process or mechanism whereby its faculty advise the dean on the allocation of resources within each school.”  While few, if any of us, are fans of more committees, perhaps establishing an advisory budget and planning committee would add to transparency.  I hope that the faculty will consider whether to create such a committee in the fall term.

The second theme concerned support for interdisciplinary programs and the role of these programs in decision-making processes, such as mid-course reviews and tenure and promotion.  While we have made some progress in addressing these issues (the addition of a program coordinator for interdisciplinary programs for example), work remains to be done.  This year I will be meeting regularly with the interdisciplinary program coordinators to develop a protocol for joint appointments and three-year class schedules and to explore ways to better support these programs as well as better involve them in the decision-making process.

The third theme involved the recognition and support that is afforded to our faculty colleagues who are continuing directors.  I have taken one immediate step to address the concerns of directors and that has been to raise the per capita travel allocation for directors to the same level as that provided to tenure-track faculty.  In addition, we also surveyed the directors, and in response to their concerns, Dona Hickey and I are in the process of developing a draft action plan to present to the faculty for their consideration.

The fourth theme questioned whether we are doing all we can to attract and retain a diverse faculty.  While we have made considerable headway in adding more women to our faculty and in recruiting faculty with international backgrounds, we have not enjoyed commensurate success in attracting faculty of color.  With eighteen searches this year, we are ideally positioned to make inroads toward further diversifying our faculty.  At our May retreat, the department chairs and program coordinators discussed other ways to strengthen our hiring practices, including upgrading any open position to the tenured associate rank if this would lead to the hiring of a person of color.  At the time, I committed to working with the new provost to find funds to allow for these position enhancements.  We also discussed developing our own pipeline for a more diverse faculty through a minority pre-doctoral/post-doctoral fellowship program that tapped into the Consortium for Faculty Diversity applicant pool.  With support from the provost and departmental commitments, we will be ready to recruit two fellows this fall with residency in 2009-2010.

As always, I would be glad to meet with you individually or with your department or program collectively to further discuss these and other issues.  It is a great joy for everyone in the dean’s office to work with each of you and we all wish you and your students the greatest of success this year.  We hope to see all of you at the A&S Start of School Picnic (Tuesday, August 19th) and Colloquy (Wednesday August 20th).

Best wishes,

Andy