University Senate Executive Committee

April 8, 1998

Important over-riding points to remember during the implementation phase:

1. The Senate Executive Committee hopes that the Process for Change will indeed bring about material improvements to the instructional program and benefits to intellectual life at the UO. It is, and will be, important to community morale that this project will not have been, in the end, "just another strategic plan."

 

2. We must base any changes upon an honest assessment of who we are and whom we serve. We are and must remain a traditional four-year residential research university with an emphasis on general education rooted in the liberal arts. Our traditional strengths demonstrate the evolving vitality of this institution and are not antithetical to broader-reaching changes in education. Therefore, parallel to this traditional mission, we must expand our offerings in non-traditional delivery of education to serve increasing numbers of non-traditional students ("New School for Continuing Education"). It is to be understood that reaching out to the non-traditional student does not dilute our principal mission, but enhances it. Because of the long-standing quality of our university, we can deliver a product better than the phoenixes in the business.

 

3. The Process for Change has demonstrated the value, but also the difficulties, of seeking solutions by consensus. During implementation, the University Senate Executive Committee encourages the central administration to consult especially with the various campus entities that are most relevant to any change under consideration. For example, we have read frequent references to revising the standards for promotion and tenure, yet promotion and tenure are not one and the same, and it is evident that the guidelines currently in place are misunderstood or unknown by many on campus. Accurate information is essential before change is considered and, certainly, before it is implemented. It is therefore imperative that as plans for implementation develop, each membership group of the university -- administrators, faculty, staff, and students -- be involved in making decisions concerning what each group knows the most about and does best.

 

4. As we position ourselves for the future in a rapidly changing environment, we must define ourselves rather that let external forces define us. Teaching is not the delivery of a packaged product. Teaching is a dynamic experience in which the teacher and the student learn together. Quality of learning, at all levels, is in large measure dependent on the vital relationship between teaching and research. We can better educate our students and the public about this relationship. While reckoning with economic factors, innovative technologies, and changing student profiles, let us never lose sight of our primary mission as educators and researchers.

Please note that although points are not referred to directly by solution team, this summary builds on the numerous excellent ideas included in the 18 Solution Team reports.

• Undergraduate Education
• Graduate Education
• Funding and Budget
• University Tradition ("Spirit") and Internal Communication
• Expanded Offerings
• Public Image and Visibility
• Diversity
• University Structure

1. Curriculum

• Simplify core requirements and achieve coherency.
• Require a small class experience for all freshmen to "anchor" them to the university. Keep the small cohort together all year so that they can get to know one another and the professor(s). Models are: FIGS, Freshman Seminars, Discover Oregon.
• The Freshman Challenge: Freshman curriculum should include an orientation course and a visions/exploratory course to open doors to the many interdisciplinary options available.
• Teach and assess the basic skills -- oral and written communication, problem-solving, critical thinking. Emphasize writing across the curriculum.
• Require a capstone project in every major – a portfolio, thesis, project, seminar, performance, and so forth.
• Expand the honors college and honors tracks.

1. Small classes are the key to quality of learning at many levels of the curriculum--efforts should be made to maintain and enhance small classes to complement large lectures where possible.

 

2. Ensure that freshmen and sophomores receive access to full-time professors ("My professor knows who I am.")

 

3. Improve advising. Freshmen and sophomores should be advised by well-qualified full-time faculty. Advisors could be paid by adding to their ASA accounts.

 

4. Improve quality of life in the residence halls and the Greek community. Make them learning communities.

 

5. Bring faculty and students together in research endeavors.

 

6. Require the declaration of major before junior status is awarded. Help students who are not ready to declare by establishing a general studies degree in liberal arts along the lines of the General Science degree. We could offer both a General Liberal Arts and a General Social Science degree. Also, widely publicize the possibility of an independent major.

 

7. Raise admission standards.

Research and graduate education and undergraduate education form a tripod upon which the university rests – without one leg, the others collapse. The three components are intimately interwoven. Graduates are an important component of a student-centered model of education in a research university and also crucial to the fostering of an atmosphere of learning, community, and excellence. The integration of graduates into this model can be achieved by:

1. Stressing that not all graduate education is a matter of training future university professors. Models of terminal M.A.s and practical certifications should be explored side-by-side with the maintenance and enhancement of quality graduate programs. This, however, should be implemented carefully to maintain academic and curricular freedom, especially from undue private and corporate influence (witness the changing delivery of health care in this country).

 

2. Providing an interdisciplinary experience for all graduates parallel to that offered to undergraduates, and exploring ways to link both experiences.

 

3. Integrating graduate participation at every stage of building, defining, and extending community as outlined in the headings of university tradition, expanded offerings, diversity, and university structure later in this report.

1. Remove competitive basis for internal funding. Fund what is educationally sound and serves all students. For example, adequately fund the teaching of lower division core curriculum, freshmen small class experiences, writing across the curriculum, departmental teaching releases for full-time faculty to teach FIGS, Discover Oregon, and so forth.

 

2. Create a "Frequent Scholar Program" -- a tuition credit plan. For every 15 credits earned, get 1 credit free. Students can save up to get future courses or a term free. Such a plan would reduce the cost of education to the stu dent, increase retention (it's harder to walk away from this kind of an investment), and would be a huge public relations statement.

 

3. Improve scholarship base. This could be an OUS effort for all campuses.

 

4. Expand the Williams Fund concept for innovative teaching.

 

5. Institute tuition breaks for children of faculty and staff.

 

6. Re-think the relation of the central administration to departments. Some aspects of budgeting are best centralized, some are best decentralized.

 

7. Make an effort with the UO Foundation and fundraisers to designate a small portion of every large donation to a specific Presidential Objective, announced at the beginning of every year (e.g., scholarships one year, faculty salaries another year, campus infrastructure another year, and so forth).

1. Build community in every way possible. Some members (but certainly not all) of certain departments have more allegiance to the department than to the university as a whole. That is natural but it makes for a weaker university. We need to feel part of a community, not part of isolated units.

 

2. Improve communication within the university structure. Work to have everyone understand the mission and their role in it.

 

3. Begin a tradition of Fall (October) University Convocation, with regalia, outside if possible, and with classes cancelled (perhaps on a Wednesday afternoon, Friday morning or afternoon, Saturday morning). Events could include: procession, President's Address, a charge to the students (why they are here, why we are here, what we all hope to accomplish, including general and specific goals), faculty panel on research, evening social.

 

4. Expand University Day into a campus-wide event, with full community participation.

 

5. Direct our excellent established research centers and institutes to hold campus forums especially for students to attend which present ongoing research (e.g., Humanities Center, CSWS, CAPS, Institute of Molecular Biology, Institute on Violence and Destructive Behavior, Institute of Marine Biology).

 

6. Reduce the cost of athletic events to faculty.

1. Use campus resources beyond 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays, for both non-traditional and traditional students (evenings, weekends).

 

2. Greatly expand the presence of UO in Portland. Make it an academic presence, involving many more departments.

 

3. Have the UO broker virtual courses.

1. Sell the product. Make our 30-second spot videos more relevant to our prospective students.

 

2. Publicize what we do well. Demonstrate our strengths to the public and to our own community.

 

3. Create a publicity drive led by the president. Stress excellence. Highlight the faculty.

 

4. Create a Presidential Lecture Series to be held throughout Oregon (Portland, Bend, Ashland, Salem). Have the president introduce the speakers and host a reception. Invite alumni, legislators, community leaders.

1. Publicize our teaching-credential program and its excellence. The impending shortage of teachers will be a major issue for the state and the legislature. We can fill the need.

 

2. We are better recognized nationally than within the state. Bring this recognition home.

 

3. Raise the public's expectation for higher education in the state. Tell them what is available, what they should expect, and the quality of our programs.

1. Prepare our students for work in the 21st century, a diverse world with a global emphasis.

 

2. Attract minority faculty to departments that have poor diversity showing.

 

3. Establish a visible campus force (dare we say committee?) that works towards increased diversity in faculty and student ranks. For example, recruit qualified Californian students of color who may be disenfranchised with the chilling effect of recent legislation.

1. Re-think school and college organization.
2. Maintain an open structure that encourages collaboration and innovation.

 

3. Divide students into residential colleges.

 

4. Free up the faculty to do what they do best.

 

5. Define administrative roles so that faculty and administrators can work supportively and in tandem towards the same objectives. Building this positive relationship takes strong leadership.

The Senate Executive Committee would like to thank the central administration for the element of inclusivity woven into the Process for Change. We recognize that this building of consensus is extremely time-consuming, and therefore, costly, but we are certain that, in the long run, this process will serve us well.

Ann Tedards, President

Jeff Hurwit, Vice President

Gwen Steigelman, Secretary

Paula Burkhart

Peter Gilkey

Clare Lees

Michael Olson

Wayne Westling

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