Schools release individual 'agendas'

The plans stress the need for increased faculty positions, minority recruitment and endowed chairperson positions. Research, faculty recruitment and interdisciplinary programs are among the priorities of the strategic plans of the University's 12 schools, which were released yesterday as part of the "Agenda for Excellence." Administrators called upon individual schools to review their objectives within the framework of the plan, which was released in November 1995. In their plans, all four undergraduate schools stressed the need for increased faculty positions, minority recruitment and endowed chair positions. The College of Arts and Sciences, in particular, is looking to hire new junior faculty members in a effort to increase their current proportion from 20 to 23 percent by the year 2001. The Wharton School of Business also seeks new faculty in order to compete with student-faculty ratios at peer institutions. Student surveys will be used to identify areas in need of increased teaching resources. The College plans to renovate its Biology facilities and construct a new Psychology building as early as 1998. Other repairs will target Bennett Hall and the Music Building. The History Department will move into the newly renovated College Hall and various departments that "were temporarily exiled to Market Street" will return to Logan Hall, according to School of Arts and Sciences Interim Dean Walter Wales. The School of Engineering and Applied Science has also begun planning for the Institute for Advance Science and Technology II -- which will provide modern space for the Computer Information and Science Department. The reports also stress interdisciplinary programs to encourage students to study outside of their home schools. "The goal is to create projects that will allow students to understand that the world in not divided up into disciplines," Provost Stanley Chodorow said. "[The world's] problems come to you in a sort of big mess and you have to apply everything you know to them." Many of the professional schools are seeking to develop undergraduate minors while also allowing undergraduates increased access to graduate level courses. SEAS's proposal includes developing one or two "flagship programs of the [Management and Technology] type" in topics such as Biotechnology, Telecommunications or International Technology. New minors for non-science and engineering majors are also in the works. Programming improvements will also be made in the College. "The school's efforts to reorganize the writing program, develop an emphasis on quantitative skills and promote language instruction in disciplinary context will benefit all of the undergraduate schools," according to College Dean Robert Rescorla. The individual school plans also echo the Agenda for Excellence's goal to emphasize undergraduate research. Research opportunities will open to all College undergraduates by 1998, while the Nursing and Engineering schools hope to attract further funding for research. The plans set high expectations for the University, and implementating them will be far from inexpensive. The College plan alone indicates a need for $100 million to cover facility costs and $200 million for undergraduate financial aid, faculty chairperson positions and start-up funds. And the School of Nursing has a $35.3 million fundraising goal, of which only $17.5 million has already been collected. Rodin said fundraising and administrative restructuring -- not tuition increases -- will be used to fund the initiatives. All new funds will be allocated to the programs and departments targeted by the plans, leaving remaining departments to make due with their current budgets. Rodin stressed that the plans outline a set of strategic goals and are not a curricular review. "The strategic plans really lay out the signpost, the pathways, but they don't put in the roads," she said. Several aspects of the Agenda are already underway, including the establishment of the joint Wharton-Law submatriculation program and a SAS committee to search for senior American and Comparative Political Science professors. The IAST phase I building at 33rd Street and Smith Walk -- which will provide SEAS with modern research space -- will be completed this summer. As for future initiatives, priorities vary between schools, according to Rodin. "The next step for some is faculty hiring," she said.