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The Plan for Academic Enrichment: Goals, Objectives and Proposals
Below are the goals, objectives and proposals of the Plan for Academic Enrichment, approved by the Brown Corporation Saturday, Feb. 28, 2004. A narrative description of this outline is available through the News Service. (Return to news release 03-082.)
Areas of focus
I. Enhancing Undergraduate Education
Specific Objective 1
Expand opportunities for students to interact with faculty in academic and
non-academic settings, including new courses in emerging areas of inquiry and
richer offerings in more traditional areas.
Specific Objective 2
Develop additional programs and increase resources available to support
undergraduate participation in meaningful research opportunities, including both
individual and team-oriented research.
Specific Objective 3
Develop and implement an improved program of student advising.
Specific Objective 4
Continue to align financial aid policies with Brown’s educational mission,
and seek to attract and support the most highly qualified and diverse group of
students, without regard to their financial circumstances.
Specific Objective 5
Improve the quality of students’ residential and extracurricular
experience, and integrate that experience more closely with academic goals. (See
Strategic Goal VII.)
Proposals
- Increase the size of the faculty and lower the overall student-faculty
ratio.
- Expand research opportunities, both through central programs and in
multidisciplinary centers and with strategic partners.
- Improve support for faculty advising and develop innovative new advising
programs.
- Improve financial aid—eliminate freshman work expectation, adopt
need-blind admission, make further enhancements.
- Improve campus life facilities. (See Strategic Goal VII and related
proposals.)
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II. Excellence in Graduate Education
Specific Objective 1
Attract the best students to our graduate programs and provide them with
competitive levels of support.
Specific Objective 2
Consider additional innovative and distinctive new graduate programs, including
programs associated with the new multidisciplinary initiatives.
Specific Objective 3
Expand the Graduate School modestly to provide critical mass in very small
programs and to take advantage of new centers and partnerships.
Specific Objective 4
Initiate programs both to prepare future faculty and to prepare students for
non-academic careers.
Specific Objective 5
Improve the quality of graduate students’ residential and extracurricular
experience by integrating that experience more closely with academic goals.
(See Strategic Goal VII.)
Proposals
- Increase the size of the faculty to enable faculty to devote more time to
research and work with graduate students.
- Develop new doctoral programs where appropriate to take advantage of new
partnerships and programs such as the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole
and RISD in the digital arts.
- Improve competitiveness of support packages for our graduate students
— health insurance, stipend levels, additional dissertation fellowships
and TAs.
- Continue to develop new masters programs, including opportunities for
undergraduates to take a 5th year before entering the workforce, and expand
existing masters programs as appropriate.
- Develop innovative programs to help prepare graduate students for their
future careers, such as the new partnership with a neighboring liberal arts
college that provides our students with valuable teaching experience.
- Provide housing for graduate students.
- Improve campus life facilities. (See Strategic Goal VII and related
proposals.)
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III. Faculty Excellence in Teaching and Research
Specific Objective 1
Recruit and retain the highest-caliber faculty for Brown.
Specific Objective 2
Provide increased support for the teaching and research activities of the
faculty.
Specific Objective 3
Plan for continuing growth of the faculty on the order of 1 to 2 percent (6 to
13 positions) per year, following the addition of the 100 new faculty
positions.
Proposals
- Move quickly to increase the size of the faculty by 100 full-time equivalent
positions (FTEs).
- Plan for longer-term growth beyond the initial 100 positions.
- Improve competitiveness of faculty salaries.
- Increase the opportunities for faculty to take leaves for research and
scholarly purposes.
- Provide start-up funds, seed money for research, recruiting expenses,
etc.
- Provide facilities and other infrastructure support. (See Strategic Goal X
and related proposals.)
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IV. Leadership in Biology, Medicine, and Public Health
Specific Objective 1
Establish more effective means of integrating and coordinating strategic goals
in research and education across all components of the Division of Biology and
Medicine and the Brown Medical School, including the biological sciences,
clinical medicine, and public health.
Specific Objective 2
Strengthen the reputation and visibility of the Division and the Brown Medical
School at the national level.
Specific Objective 3
Continue to evaluate and revise the curriculum of medical education, expand the
educational programs of the Medical School.
Specific Objective 4
Enhance clinical education and research through greater collaboration with
affiliated hospitals, the creation of centers and other programs focused on
translational research, and increasing external support for such work.
Specific Objective 5
Recognize public health as a special strength of the Brown Medical School and
build on that strength by increasing the visibility of the effort, investing
additional resources in faculty positions and facilities, and enhancing the
educational offerings.
Specific Objective 6
Enhance our capabilities in the basic biological sciences by adding faculty,
improving and expanding facilities, and supporting both existing and new
collaborations between faculty and students in the Division and their colleagues
throughout the University and elsewhere.
Proposals
- Strengthen the Dean’s position as strategic planner and leader.
- Add faculty positions in key areas of the life sciences and public
health.
- Improve and expand space for teaching and research in the biological
sciences and public health; develop an appropriate new facility to serve as the
home of the Brown Medical School and new space for public health.
- Provide discretionary funds for the Dean to use as seed money for strategic
initiatives and to improve the overall level of support for faculty teaching and
research.
- Restructure the Medical School Curriculum Committee and move from a
discipline-based curriculum to organ-based and function-based offerings.
- Develop and implement arrangements with the affiliated hospitals that
strengthen academic programs and encourage greater collaboration and more
strategic planning.
- Provide start-up funds and seed money for new faculty.
- Increase the Division’s emphasis on biotechnology collaboration and
commercialization with the State of Rhode Island and other strategic
partners.
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V. Fostering Multidisciplinary Initiatives
Specific Objective 1
Establish major new centers or institutes of multidisciplinary teaching and
research as resources are generated to support those initiatives.
Specific Objective 2
Expand and improve existing institutional relationships and develop new
partnerships in areas where the research and teaching interests and strengths of
those institutions complement our own.
Specific Objective 3
Leverage resources by connecting existing centers and institutes more closely to
the work of academic departments and programs.
Specific Objective 4
Develop academic support and infrastructure to serve the needs of
multidisciplinary programs and centers, as well as more traditional
disciplines.
Specific Objective 5
Continue to develop distinctive, nationally recognized multidisciplinary
graduate and undergraduate programs.
Proposals
- Establish and build support for new multidisciplinary initiatives as
proposed by the Academic Priorities Committee in spring 2003.
- Develop key strategic partnerships with RISD, MBL, Trinity, etc.
- Allocate faculty positions to these initiatives and recruit new faculty to
help lead them.
- Provide start-up funds, seed money for research, recruiting expenses,
etc.
- Provide discretionary funds and support budgets.
- Provide space and other support. (See Strategic Goal X and related
proposals.)
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VI. Enhancing Excellence Through Diversity
Specific Objective 1
Make diversity integral to the education of undergraduate, graduate, and medical
students.
Specific Objective 2
Foster greater diversity among students, faculty, and staff.
Specific Objective 3
Address issues of diversity within the curriculum and in extracurricular
programs.
Specific Objective 4
Develop and implement strategies to place diversity at the center of campus
life.
Specific Objective 5
Provide support for managing diversity among students, faculty, and staff.
Proposals
- Allocate faculty positions to the Target of Opportunity program and recruit
outstanding new faculty.
- Establish an Office of Institutional Diversity.
- Develop innovative programs to bring diversity into the curriculum and
extracurricular programs, such as the Curriculum Transformation Workshops and
the Conversation Series recently initiated by the Office of Institutional
Diversity.
- Develop effective support systems and programs for individuals and groups,
such as the Intergroup Dialogue and Conversations About Teaching.
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VII. Building a Shared Sense of Community
Specific Objective 1
Develop the appropriate facility or facilities needed at Brown to foster a
greater sense of community among students, faculty, and staff and to meet a
variety of specific needs for shared space.
Specific Objective 2
Reorganize and improve existing community facilities to integrate more
effectively the academic and extracurricular/co-curricular lives of
students.
Specific Objective 3
Improve the quality of students’ residential experiences and provide more
housing options for undergraduate, graduate, and medical students.
Proposals
- Develop and implement a plan for a campus center or comparable
facility.
- Plan and build a new fitness/wellness center.
- Renovate Sharpe Refectory to meet modern needs and standards for
undergraduate dining.
- Improve facilities within the Rockefeller and Science Libraries to meet more
effectively the needs of students for group study space and information
access.
- Increase the number and range of housing options available for
undergraduate, graduate, and medical students.
- Institute a program of regular rehabilitation of residence halls based on a
30-35 year cycle.
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VIII. Diversifying and Expanding the University’s Sources of
Revenue
Specific Objective 1
Double the level of giving to the Brown Annual Fund and significantly increase
current use giving for financial aid, athletics, and other priorities of the
Academic Enrichment Initiatives, all as part of a comprehensive campaign.
Specific Objective 2
Raise more than $750 million in capital gifts and pledges in the campaign,
including at least $200 million for capital construction projects and the
remainder for new endowment.
Specific Objective 3
Significantly increase the level of external support for sponsored research.
Specific Objective 4
Establish new professional graduate programs and other revenue-generating
continuing education programs.
Proposals
- Undertake a major comprehensive campaign over the next 6-8 years, with a
goal significantly above $1 billion. Refocus and increase staff and other
resources in order to engage, cultivate, and solicit alumni, parents, and other
friends of the University more effectively.
- Expand and enhance research facilities, augment support for research
administration, target start-up and seed funding to promising research
faculty.
- Develop new professional masters programs in areas of demonstrated need and
capacity and explore new opportunities for continuing and executive education.
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IX. Collaborating with the Local Community on Issues of Mutual Interest and
Benefit
Specific Objective 1
Develop closer and more collaborative ties with neighbors and neighboring
institutions.
Specific Objective 2
Contribute to the educational, cultural, and economic life of the City of
Providence and the State of Rhode Island more effectively and with greater
impact.
Specific Objective 3
Work with the local community to develop more effective and collaborative
approaches to quality of life issues such as safety, parking, and
transportation.
Proposals
- Collaborate with the City and area colleges on the implementation of an
equitable and sustainable PILOT program.
- Work with neighboring institutions and with the City and State on
identifying ways to enhance educational, cultural, and economic opportunities
for both the institutions and the broader community.
- Work with neighboring institutions and with the City and State to improve
safety and security in this area.
- In collaboration with the City and State, develop improved parking and
transportation facilities and systems.
- Work with other educational institutions to make better use of our
collective resources through consortia or other collaborative arrangements.
- Develop processes and communications channels to keep neighbors and
neighboring institutions informed about and involved in ongoing planning
efforts.
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X. Enhancing the Quality of our Facilities, Infrastructure, and
Administrative Support
Specific Objective 1
Attract and retain the best possible staff and provide adequate staffing and
other resources to support the work of faculty and students.
Specific Objective 2
Ensure robust internal and external communications to advance the
University’s position locally, nationally, and internationally.
Specific Objective 3
Provide appropriate library support for faculty and students in all fields of
study, with particular focus on ensuring resources for new fields of study.
Make libraries more accessible and more responsive to students’ needs for
varying types of space for study and collaborative work.
Specific Objective 4
Expand support for the use of technology in the academic and administrative work
of the University. Provide classrooms, labs, and computer clusters in which
digital and multimedia applications can be developed and used easily and
effectively.
Specific Objective 5
Invest in the physical infrastructure of the campus, including new and renewed
academic, administrative, and campus life buildings, utilities systems,
technology infrastructure, parking and transportation facilities and systems,
and campus landscaping.
Proposals
- Ensure competitive staff salaries and benefits. Enhance and target staff
training and development.
- Ensure appropriate level of staff support in academic and administrative
departments.
- Increase support for library acquisitions, operations, and facilities.
- Increase support for technology, with the goal of providing ongoing funding
for the regular replacement and upgrade of desktop hardware and software and
planned funding for major system and network upgrades.
- Increase the number of digital classrooms and provide ongoing funding for
the renewal of existing digital classrooms.
- Develop systematic programs of facilities and infrastructure renewal and
rehabilitation for buildings, utilities, and other infrastructure.
- Invest in new facilities and campus infrastructure—academic space,
campus life, utilities, and parking/landscaping/walkways/etc.
- Invest in positioning Brown for long-term expansion of facilities off
College Hill.
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