Message To The Faculty Thanking Them For Their Leadership
April 21, 2009
On Monday, April 6, the Faculty Senate gave its support to a series of reorganizations. The faculty in over three dozen departments and programs voted to combine their research and teaching efforts to form a dozen consolidated units. Eight other departments voted to merge, while others have decided to redefine themselves. These reorganizations will save funds from administrative overhead that can be used for strategic investments in teaching, research, and outreach. Details on the reorganizations are included in the Lo Que Pasa piece that reported the Senate vote (http://lqp.arizona.edu/node/1282.
These reorganizations are the culmination of the efforts of all of you who came together from across campus when we began the Transformation process. The combined schools, programs, and departments will establish new partnerships among faculty who had been divided by the boundaries between departments and colleges. These mergers and consolidations are already yielding plans for new teaching initiatives and grant proposals to advance research partnerships. In tandem with these reorganizations, faculty efforts will be refocused through the mergers and eliminations of twenty-three majors that had not attracted enough student support to meet ABOR graduation requirements or were no longer seen to be central to the mission of the colleges offering the majors.
I would like to thank all the faculty who took time away from their research and teaching to forge these partnerships. I would especially like to thank Vice Provost Gail Burd and Wanda Howell, Chair of the Faculty. We also owe many debts to Miranda Joseph, Chair of the Strategic Planning and Budget Advisory Committee, and all the members of SPBAC who played a role in reviewing and shaping these proposals when they were first submitted. The effective coordination of Wanda Howell, Miranda Joseph, and Gail Burd was vital to the Transformation process, but it was the creative energy and innovative proposals of all the faculty involved that really made the process so successful.
These reorganizations conclude the first phase in the Transformation process. The new units will now need to move forward with consolidating operations and building on the strategic partnerships that they have established. To help programs strengthen their operations, we are moving forward with the Tuition Flow reorganization and other reinvestment reforms that will help us to prepare for the challenges ahead.
I look forward to working with you to advance these initiatives,
Meredith Hay