Emergent Opportunities

Updated 02.13.24

Overview

Tactics that have Emerged for More Immediate Potential Action from the Strategic Planning Working Group Documents and Questions/Actions that Require More Exploration

Our strategic planning foundation process produced opportunities for more immediate action in addition to longer-term opportunities that require more discussion with the community and with our new president. The following is a list of items that were identified in the reports that are already in various stages of action.  At the end of the document is the list of longer-term items and questions.

Actions for Academic Year 2024

Action Items Pending

Community-Building Actions

  • Explore revival of the Community Day of Learning. (President’s Office, Provost, Chair of Faculty, Dean of Undergraduate College, Dean of Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research, Director of Athletics and Physical Education, SGA President)
  • Hold open houses so community members can get to know various departments on campus --- use Communications recent event as the model. (Chief of Staff, Chief Communications Officer.)

Action Items Underway

Community-Building Actions

  • Exploration of common hour possibility. (Provost, Registrar, Chair of Faculty, Bi-Co colleagues.)
  • Provide moments to gather and process current events that have a broad impact on campus. (Chief Enrollment Officer, President, Dean of Undergraduate College, Dean of Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research.)
  • Continue to experiment with ways to communicate about events on campus. (Chief Communications Officer.)

Faculty, Student and Staff Support

  • Begin process to evaluate/determine resources needed to rebalance faculty workload, including the possibility of moving to a 2/2 teaching load for faculty to relieve faculty strain and to recognize the less formal forms of student/faculty interactions that are important to our educational mission. (Provost, CAP, CA, Department Chairs, Full Faculty.)

Connection to the Broader Community

  • Figure out monthly SEPTA passes for students so that they can take advantage of opportunities/events in Philly. (Dean of Undergraduate College, Provost, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer, SGA leadership.)
  • Re-evaluate our existing Climate Action Plan to raise awareness and to tweak again with community input (post-COVID). (Director of Facilities, Chief Communications Officer, Provost.)

Action Items Completed

Community-Building Actions

  • Experiment with a weekly coffee hour at a designated time that will change for Semester II. (President’s Office, Chief Alumnae/i Relations and Development Office.)

Faculty, Student and Staff Support

  • Additional staffing for Access Services --- move director to full time; added a full-time associate director position (search underway); continue GSSWSR intern. (Dean of Undergraduate College.)
  • Two faculty lines added to address enrollment pressures.  Award positions and continue to evaluate impact and additional need.  (Provost, CAP)

Actions for Consideration

  • Course scheduling to take advantage of the full week and de-densify course times so that students can take full advantage of the offerings.  (Provost, Registrar.)
  • CAP processes to take advantage of institutional data and to take a multi-year, future orientation to allocation of faculty lines.  Coordination with Curriculum Committee to make sure that staffing can meet program expansion.  How can CAP and the Provost respond to the pressure of departmental contributions and cross-departmental initiatives that create pressure on faculty resources? (Provost, Chair of CAP, Registrar, Institutional Research.)
  • Continued evaluation of dining options, particularly in light of desire for building community and in consideration of growing need for flexibility for students with diverse food needs.  (Dean of Undergraduate College, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer, Director of Dining Services.)

More Exploration Needed

  • Further exploration of the optimal size of the student body with a named strategic target and accompanying resource commitments is needed.  
  • Creation of spaces that meet the needs on campus, particularly communal meeting spaces that accommodate cross-constituency gatherings. There is a need to create a comprehensive plan for both the smaller buildings on campus and Canaday and Taylor renovations that reflect the current and future needs of the campus to meet future academic endeavors and that provide space support for a vibrant campus life.
  • Understanding of the use of interim hires --- understanding how and why.  How do interim faculty contribute to the intellectual life of the campus?  Are there better ways to make interim faculty part of the community?  What is the optimal balance of interim and continuing faculty?
  • How do we address the apparent resource gap --- growth of programs (particularly interdisciplinary ones) without sufficient analysis of sustainability/impact on other existing programs and faculty/staff resources?  Given that we cannot expand faculty/staff size infinitely (due to steady student body size), what is the best pathway to a balanced, resourced set of programmatic offerings?

College Strategic Plan Project