Aligning Our Academic Vision for The New School
A Message from Dr. Renée T. White, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
Dear Faculty and Staff,
I am writing today to provide an update on the work we are currently undertaking as a university to better align our academic vision with our strategic plan and our vision for the future of The New School. The overall intention of this project is to safeguard our long-term stability and sustain the vitality of our mission by strengthening our academic programs, augmenting and improving inter-college links and collaboration, and enhancing our students’ experience both today and in the future. This work to date has illuminated some key questions about our possibilities as an institution moving forward, such as:
- How can we make it easier for students to take advantage of course offerings across the university in order to better promote our commitment to multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary study?
- How can our history as a groundbreaking home for adult and transfer students help us reimagine possibilities for supporting these student populations across the university, beyond one program or college?
- How might new configurations provide new opportunities for research and creative practice, and how might our research centers, labs, and institutes become more connected to our academic programs?
- How will our continued commitments to Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice and environmental sustainability be centered and strengthened in our planning for the future?
Progress to Date
As most of you are aware, last semester the Board of Trustees and Interim President Shalala charged the Executive Deans and me with developing a plan for a new and forward-thinking academic structure for The New School. We began this work by engaging in conversations with faculty and staff to ensure your valued input, aspirations, and concerns were reflected. These discussions were critical for involving our community in the generation of ideas about potential alignments and synergies that will best serve our students, faculty, staff, and academic aspirations for years to come. The data, insights, and feedback we gathered formed the foundation of the proposal the Executive Deans developed in consultation with me. After receiving input from over 240 members of our faculty and staff, this proposal was presented to me, Interim President Shalala, and the Board of Trustees on May 1.
Given the pace of work this past spring, it was important to use the summer months to focus on highlighting questions and concerns, continuing regular meetings with faculty and staff directly affected by the proposal, and preparing ways to include more campus voices. During this intervening period, this work continued along these lines, albeit initially at a slightly slower pace as the university navigated leadership transitions. It was essential that both Lisa Rubin, Interim Executive Dean of the Schools of Public Engagement, and President Joel Towers be a part of shaping next steps.
However, I would also note that, while implementing innovative change requires time for thoughtful deliberation and careful planning, this does not negate my sense of urgency to ensure we move forward swiftly for the sake of providing clarity for our SPE faculty, staff, and students. I also extend my deepest appreciation to the SPE staff and faculty for their continued positive spirit and hard work during this transition. Please know that you are valued members of our community, and I am committed to ensuring your voices and contributions are fully recognized.
Ongoing Work
There have been many consultative discussions with President Towers, the college deans, and Provost’s Office leadership on how we can move forward with the goal of aligning our academic vision across all of our colleges and programs (which also includes addressing issues that were not resolved during the initial period). This goal drives the next phase of work, in which we aim to become more transfer-friendly, facilitate movement between programs and colleges, deepen interdisciplinary connections and pathways, and expand our commitment to adult learners, building on the work of SPE and longstanding New School history. I’m pleased to report that there has been important progress:
- The Executive Deans have been hosting, and will continue to facilitate, cross-program discussions with faculty and staff to think through the questions, implications, and various next steps needed to enact this work. This includes:
- Dean’s Office Leadership from SPE and NSSR are meeting on a regular basis to discuss planning. Chairs and Program Directors from Public and Urban Policy, International Affairs, and Creative Writing have been asked to work together (and have been meeting) to discuss course and additional planning for AY25-26.
- The Deans of SPE, Lang, and the School of Undergraduate Studies at SPE have been meeting with program leadership from BPATS and related areas at Lang. Additional meetings are forthcoming with GLUE, undergraduate Creative Writing, and Languages.
- Parsons’ School of Design Strategies leadership is working with SPE Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management and Management faculty to begin collaborative conversations, which includes joining faculty meetings, being added to mailing lists, and sketching out initial thinking for course and curriculum planning in AY25-26.
- The Deans of SPE and Parsons have met with the full faculty and staff of the School of Media Studies. Additional conversations with SPE and Parsons Media faculty are being scheduled to discuss and further assess possibilities for this area of work. Market research regarding our Media programs was compiled over the summer that can be used to inform future conversations.
- Future planned meetings will discuss admissions, college-level policies, faculty review processes, and staff portfolios. Staff retention and working conditions are a high priority throughout this process.
- Please note that not all programs are moving on precisely the same timeline with regard to the above outlined plan for program convenings, with consideration for different questions and concerns across spaces.
- Faculty and staff who are seeking additional detail regarding the status of cross-program planning are encouraged to be in touch with their relevant program directors and dean’s offices for more information.
- We have been actively reviewing reports and recommendations from the Faculty Affairs Committee sub-working groups on full-time faculty 1) compensation, 2) leaves, and 3) workload.
- We are close to finalizing the timeline for realizing this work over the coming year with the goal of moving toward implementation for the academic year 2025-2026.
- I also continue to have standing meetings with the co-chairs of the University Faculty and Staff Senates to update them and solicit their questions and concerns on behalf of their constituencies. The co-chairs have advocated for expanding when and how faculty and staff are consulted and provide input.
Through this process to date, exciting and emerging opportunities that are already taking shape here at The New School were amplified, including:
- Student collaboration
- Innovative curriculum development and pedagogical approaches across programs, schools, and colleges
- New research opportunities
- Deepening shared commitments around equity, justice, and inclusion
Related Initiatives
This process has highlighted the tremendous potential we have within our community. Over the past several years, we have spent significant time engaging in complex questions about who we are as a university, who we want to be, and how we can bring our aspirations for The New School to life. The work we began this spring is also the starting point for us to map out how we can enact our new strategic plan, which was developed separately from this process and outlines recommendations that reflect broad investment in our community priorities.
Together with our recent Self-Study report for Middle States and our ongoing retention initiatives, this work collectively ensures that we are living up to our mission and vision while mapping out a vibrant future for the university. It is also important to note that what was started as an academic restructuring is an incomplete characterization of the work underway. This is not the end goal, but rather part of the larger work we need to do for our sustainability as a university. The work we have done thus far is part of a broader vision. We are not only restructuring or rehoming programs—we are doing work that will transform all of our colleges. The need to reorient our understanding of this work has become more clear over the summer since, as we learned through the strategic plan, there are many areas of focus that deserve attention. In approaching this project, we have reviewed prior campus initiatives that also outlined these same focal points, and some of the issues raised are ones that I have been hearing about since my first semester at The New School, which I shared back with the community through my First Year Reflections in September 2022.
The success of this endeavor relies on our community’s active involvement. Student voices must be centered, and our faculty and staff expertise needs to be meaningfully leveraged. We are committed to providing more forums for input by our community regarding both the project and the process. You can expect to hear from us again later in the semester with further details and information about how you can actively participate in this essential work.