Team 1 Team 2 Team 3 Team 4 Team 5 Team 6 Team 7 Team 8 Team 9 Team 10
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1. Develop an "Oregon Excellence" program that defines and distinguishes a UO undergraduate education through purposeful teaching, evaluation, and assessment. Train faculty members (through TEP and other means) in the following areas: (1) to identify and define the skills, either explicit or implicit, that they are teaching in each course, (2) to assess student progress more rigorously, and (3) to help students who need it. Require each student to develop a portfolio or other means of demonstrating skills and knowledge obtained as undergraduates. Require each student to have a "capstone" experience in the senior year. Solution teams 6, 9, 13, 16.
2. Develop an "Oregon Experience" program for the first two years (lower division). Model the program on learning communities such as FIGs and Discover Oregon, with intensive student contact with faculty members who serve as both instructors and mentors. The program should emphasize through course content the development of skills in communication, analysis, problem-solving, use of university resources such as the library, and computer competency. Reward faculty members for participating in the program. Solution teams 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 16.
3. Develop an "Oregon Exchange" program requiring students to gain structured out-of-the-classroom practical experience sometime during their sophomore through senior years. The work of the academy must relate to the world beyond the campus. Exchange opportunities could include domestic or international internships, research work in UO labs, study abroad, volunteer work for community service organizations, etc. Record the experience in students' official transcripts. (See also E.1) Solution teams 1, 3, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12.
4. Simplify and clarify General Education requirements. Switch from distributive to core curricula. Require all students to meet General Education requirements before advancing to junior status. Solution teams 1, 4.
5. Revamp academic advising. Undergraduate students need more structured, more frequent, and more comprehensive mentoring and guidance by the UO faculty that extends beyond advice on course selection and program requirements to include overall support for students' learning and personal development. Identify those parts of advising which are purely technical in nature and should be handled by professional staff, and those parts which are in the faculty domain: mentoring, advocacy, guidance. Recognize the importance of advising and mentoring students in UO faculty recruitment, evaluation, and promotion and tenure procedures. Solution teams 1, 4, 6, 13, 16.
6. To serve students who prefer not to specialize at the undergraduate level, create a Liberal Studies bachelor's degree and promote independent (individualized) degrees more aggressively. Solution teams 1, 13.
7. Create more curricular flexibility by eliminating existing academic administrative structures (schools and colleges) to allow modular groupings of courses into a variety of "collegia"; retain departments as fundamental building blocks. Split faculty FTE for departmental and university responsibilities, and allow faculty members to select the collegia in which they wish to expend their university FTE. Solution teams 1, 8, 15, 16, 18
8. To foster greater ethnic diversity in the student body, create an "Oregon Access" program that targets less represented groups at the high-school level through recruitment partner programs. High-school juniors and seniors who sign a letter of intent to attend the UO would receive special preparatory training in cohorts (to create instant groups of friends at UO in their first year) and regular communication with UO representatives. (See also E.4) Solution teams 6, 7, 10, 11.
9. Raise admission standards for GPA. Solution teams 9, 16, 19.
10. Redesign criteria for promotion, tenure, and merit awards. Criteria should be flexible and include greater emphasis on student contact, including graduate student contact; student development, including advising; teaching and teaching development; and service, especially in restructuring the university. (See also C.2, D.5) Solution teams 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12, 14, 15, 16.
1. Make an institutional commitment to serving non-traditional students, and publicize this commitment widely.
2. Create an Extended Studies degree based on objectives different from the residential/traditional UO degree. Retain quality control. Solution teams 7, 11, 16.
3. Develop stand-alone certificate programs in certain areas of study. Solution teams 11, 15.
4. Develop "practical-application" terminal tracks in Master's programs. (See also C.1) Solution team 15.
5. Be more flexible with calendar (e.g., intensive 4- or 5-week modules) and with course scheduling, at least in degree programs or courses of greatest interest to non-traditional students. Solution teams 4, 7, 11, 15, 16.
6. Drawing from UO faculty and student expertise in digital media,
business, and copyright law, create high-quality digital educational programs for commercial distribution. Utilize the developing UO Electronic Press, the New Media Center, and other existing resources to establish the UO's niche and reputation as a provider of the best higher education software for an emergent market.
1. Develop "practical-application" terminal tracks in Master's programs. (See also B.4) Solution team 15.
2. Redesign criteria for promotion, tenure, and merit awards. Criteria should be flexible and include greater emphasis on student contact, including graduate student contact; student development, including advising; teaching and teaching development; and service, especially in restructuring the university. (See also A.10, D.5) Solution teams 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12, 14, 15, 16.
3. Link undergraduates more closely to the research enterprise of the university by directing centers and institutes to hold campus forums to present ongoing research especially for students. Encourage undergraduates to attend more graduate/faculty-level presentations by offering special one-credit preparatory sessions. (See also D.3)
1. Improve communication from the central administration to the faculty, staff, and students, and vice-versa. Diversify and make less hierarchical the modes of communication. Articulate the administration's annual goals so that all faculty, staff, and students feel informed of and invested in the university's future. Solution teams 2, 4, 12 14.
2. Re-establish the tradition of an annual fall Convocation with regalia (if feasible) and the cancellation of classes. The program should be designed to attract faculty, staff, and student interest and should include a President's address, an annual charge to students, a faculty panel on a timely subject, and an evening social at the EMU or Mac Court.
3. Link undergraduates more closely to the research enterprise of the university by directing centers and institutes to hold campus forums to present ongoing research especially for students. Encourage undergraduates to attend more graduate/faculty-level presentations by offering special one-credit preparatory sessions. (See also C.3)
4. Clarify institutional expectations for student behavior and for the residential experience. Issues to address include who does and should live in campus-provided housing, how these residential facilities should be consistent with and enhance the institution's educational purposes, and whether we have policies and practices in place that hold students responsible for their behavior and learning. Create expectations of high standards. Solution teams 4, 12, 19.
5. Give undergraduate education, the mentoring of undergraduate and graduate students, and university service greater presence in the institutional culture by raising their emphasis in the promotion/tenure/reward system for faculty. (See also A.10, C.2) Solution teams 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12, 14, 15, 16.
1. Develop internships and service linkages to various external constituencies as part of the "Oregon Exchange" program (see A.3). Solution teams 1, 3, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12.
2. Expand or enhance the Explore Oregon program to bring more targeted groups of constituents to campus, and develop other "open house" events that invite public participation. Solution teams 6, 7, 10.
3. Expand the "Eggheads Go Home" program. Solution team 7.
4. Through the "Oregon Access" program, create partnerships with selected schools to develop recruitment programs that offer special preparation for students declaring their intent to study at the UO. (See also A.8) Solution teams 6, 7, 10, 11.
Solution teams 1, 4, 7, 8, 9, 12, 15
1. Establish a tuition credit plan (whereby students earn and save credits--e.g, one or two for every 16 credits completed--to apply to courses taken later; a "frequent flyer" plan for students).
2. Create more on-campus jobs for students.
3. Offer faculty and staff members a tuition break for sending their children to the UO.
4. Guarantee that tuition will be frozen at individual students' first-year level for a certain number of years.
5. Encourage donors to support access as a programmatic need.