Seeking Community Feedback on the Academic Core Proposal
A Message from Dr. Renée T. White, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
Dear Colleagues,
Over the past three weeks, faculty and staff have engaged in complex and generative conversations across the colleges and have put forth their ideas and proposals about potential alignments and synergies that will best serve our students, faculty, staff, and academic aspirations. Along with the community priorities identified through our strategic planning process, these discussions provided the basis for the first draft of the academic core proposal we have developed for the President.
The Executive Deans and I are now asking for your input. All faculty and staff are invited to provide anonymous feedback on the draft of the academic core proposal, including feedback on plans for individual programs along with comments on the general process.
This is a crucial part of this process, and any feedback you provide will be reviewed and considered by academic leadership. We ask that your feedback be constructive, specific, and concise. Feedback that provides recommendations for improvement is especially welcome.
Please note that this draft is preliminary and incorporates the thinking reflected at college convenings as well as proposals that have been shared with the deans’ offices. We have also worked with the co-chairs of the University Faculty and Staff Senates to solicit feedback through shared governance channels. College deans will also be discussing the proposal and collecting feedback via the local processes used to support this work.
The feedback survey will remain open through April 25 at 5pm EST. Feedback will be reviewed daily. Once the survey closes, the Executive Deans and I will incorporate community feedback and finalize the proposal by May 1 to present to the President. The final version of the draft proposal, along with a summary of the feedback we receive, will be shared with faculty and staff on April 30.
The feedback survey focuses on the extent to which the draft proposal meets the criteria of the following questions raised at the cross-college convenings:
- How does this improve or enhance the student experience?
- What are areas of opportunity for advancing scholarship and creative practice and supporting the relevant fields?
- What duplication can be removed that isn’t generative?
- Is this feasible within our current financial parameters?
Thank you to everyone who participated and engaged in this process. I know that, even with the purpose of ensuring The New School’s long-term sustainability, the prospect of change unearths significant concerns for our community during this time of year, especially given the short timeframe. Your involvement in the next phase of this work will be essential as working groups will be formed to consider and address implications for all of the colleges as we begin planning the implementation phase.
We will continue to share regular updates with you as this work progresses. For more information about our charge and process, visit the Enhancing our Academic Core website.