Rodin proposes new priorities for U. academics

University President Judith Rodin and Provost Stanley Chodorow will release an outline of six major University-wide academic priorities for public comment today. Projects created under the initiatives will cost the University "several hundred million dollars," Rodin said. But she would not release any specifics on the proposals' financing. The report, published in today's Almanac, stresses the development of cross-school, multi-disciplinary programs. "Many [of the priorities] identify and diagnose areas where we need to build the University," Rodin said. Genetic, biology and biomedical research, along with programs addressing health policy and health care management issues, are among the top priorities. The construction of the Institute of Advanced Science and Technology on 34th Street will help in improving scientific research on campus, according to the proposal. The report states that the University needs to improve its programs in politics, history, law and other government-related studies. The proposal calls for the creation of a center that will specifically focus on the humanities. The center will probably hold conferences and bring in guest faculty to teach at the University for a semester or a year, Chodorow said. Improvements in academics and research will lead to a greater University role in the community, according to the report, which emphasizes the importance of urban design and public service issues. The last priority discussed in the proposal stresses the University's need to improve the campus's use of technology. Though some money will be raised specifically for the programs established by the proposals, University and individual school-based funds will also be redirected to provide additional financing. The University's success in each priority will be measured in different ways, Chodorow said. The health sciences and technology priorities are likely to be considered successful if research grants increase, while other areas may be measured by academic program reviews, Chodorow added. "We will also be able to measure activity -- conferences held, grants, courses taught, graduate student quality and numbers, faculty recruitments and retentions and so on -- for all of the areas," he explained. University administrators will release more specific timelines and goals for each priority sometime this fall, along with a condensed version of the strategic plans of the individual 16 undergraduate, graduate and professional schools, Rodin said. Architecture Professor David Leatherbarrow, a member of the Academic Planning and Budget Committee, said the new priorities do not suggest that cross-disciplinary programs will replace the core curriculum. "There has to be work done on the basic disciplines and the fundamentals of the arts and sciences," Leatherbarrow said. But Law Professor Michael Fitts said the existing multi-disciplinary programs have influenced administrators in their strategic planning. "I think it's that success that's led the University to build on them," Fitts said. The six academic priorities form yet another piece of the administration's Agenda for Excellence, a five-year strategic plan released last fall. Rodin noted that future academic changes are not limited by the initiatives released today. Students, faculty and members of the University community have until October 4 to comment on the proposal. Wharton senior and Academic Planning and Budget Committee member Ben Nelson emphasized the need for student comment on the document. "It's important to look at the six topics and to ask if something is drastically missing," Nelson said. Rodin and Chodorow plan to present the Agenda for Excellence to the University's Board of Trustees in mid-October.