SAS dean unveils new strategic plan

The $19 million plan for the School of Arts and Sciences includes new faculty hires and more research dollars. University officials are set to release today their $19 million strategic plan for the School of Arts and Sciences, which outlines numerous initiatives designed to improve Penn's largest academic school over the next several years. Among the plan's specific initiatives are increased investment in six "core" academic departments -- English, History, Psychology, Political Science, Biology and Economics -- as well as a more concerted effort to recruit and retain top-rate professors as the General Requirement changes. The strategic initiative also includes plans to renovate Bennett Hall and says that SAS will secure new facilities for the Psychology and Music departments. Additionally, the school will find permanent locations for the Humanities Center, the College of General Studies and the Folklore Department. No time frame has been set for the projects. "The new administration in Arts and Sciences decided that it needed to take a step back and take a look at the landscape of the school and try to identify the priorities for advancing the positions of the school," SAS Dean Samuel Preston said. Both Preston and Richard Beeman, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, took office last January. In addition, SAS plans to "renew and enrich [its] faculty" by creating a more diverse faculty and enticing more renowned scholars to enter at the assistant level. At the same time, officials said they will work to reduce the rate of tenured faculty members over the coming years. SAS will now offer a $5,000 start-up research fund to each newly appointed assistant professor. And assistant professors who are promoted to the associate level will obtain access to another $5,000 research fund. A third $5,000 fund will be available to those who secure tenure as a full professor. Preston acknowledged that many Penn professors in diverse fields currently feel "somewhat undersupplied in research opportunity," adding that this new salary structure could put the University on par with other peer institutions. And Beeman agreed that this new incentive could produce an even more solid faculty -- an essential component of any elite university. "If you look at what makes any school great, it really is great faculty," he said. "You can't attract terrific students without a terrific faculty." SAS also plans to authorize the hiring of new faculty appointments in the History Department, increase the size of the faculty in the Biology, Psychology and Economics departments and guarantee "as many as five distinguished senior appointments" -- all specializing in American Politics -- in the Political Science Department, which has been struggling for two years to land top recruits. But Preston emphasized that the departments slated for growth will not benefit at the "expense of other departments." "We intend to foster modest growth in the departments that we've singled out," Preston said. "But it is not the case that the other departments are slated to decline." The plan, which is released approximately every five years by the school's administration, was drafted this past academic year. Preston said the various initiatives will likely be funded by the University and "generous external donors." The estimated $19 million cost excludes assorted facility renovations and construction that are outlined in the plan. According to Preston, the six departments selected to receive additional resources and funding are all "core academic departments" -- part of larger interdisclipinary programs -- that have above-average student-teacher ratios and "deliver an extremely important body of human knowledge." Wendy Steiner, chairperson of the English Department -- a department praised in the strategic plan as the "centerpiece of literary scholarship in the School" -- described the new funding as a "fabulous opportunity." "We're at the point right now where we really need this," Steiner said. The plan explicitly states that SAS will "increase the size of the English faculty" and "improve the competitiveness of graduate fellowship packages." Also included in the document are plans to establish an Urban Health minor, a range of fundamental science courses intended for non-majors and a Film Studies program, coordinated by the Annenberg School for Communication and the Graduate School of Fine Arts. While SAS administrators are extremely pleased with the strategic plan, they also admit that there are more changes to be made than those listed in the document. "You can't possibly take something as complicated and broad-based as the School of Arts and Sciences and include everything you want to do," said David Balamuth, associate dean in SAS. "There will certainly be things of significance done that are not articulated in the plan," he added.

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