Printable VPA Academic Strategic Plan PDF 417KB
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VPA ACADEMIC STRATEGIC PLAN: AN INTERIM DRAFT: AN INTERIM DRAFT
- State of the College: A Brief SWOT Analysis
- Goal 1: The Undergraduate Experience
- Goal 2: Graduate Education
- Goal 3: Administrative Infrastructure and Facilities
- Goal 4: Faculty Research
- Goal 5: Community Engagement
- Goal 6: Budget Collaboration and Accountability
- Goal 7: Monitoring Implementation of VPA's Academic Strategic Plan
- Appendices
Introductory Statement
This report should be considered as a DRAFT version of the College’s Academic Strategic Plan. With the arrival of new Dean Michael Tick this academic year, the creation of a highly participatory faculty and staff process was necessarily delayed until Dean Tick had time to gain a solid perspective on the College’s needs, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. A college-wide academic strategic planning committee, with faculty and sta from all areas of the College was established in early January, 2017. Working in subgroups, the committee has generated a wide range of strategic initiatives and action steps, many of which are included in this draft report.
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Mission: The College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University is committed to the education of cultural leaders who will engage and inspire communities through performance, visual art, design, scholarship, and commentary. We provide the tools for self-discovery and risk-taking in an environment that thrives on critical thought and action.
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A strong academic strategic plan begins with an assessment of how the organization views its current situation. One way to do this is to conduct a SWOT analysis, identifying strengths to build upon, weaknesses to eliminate or better manage, and opportunities to take advantage of, and threats that need to be anticipated and responded to strategically. Each of the college’s academic units has recently conducted its own SWOT analysis, and will draw upon that analysis in drafting its own unit-specific strategic plan. The following represents those issues that are particularly relevant to the college as a whole.
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Excellence in teaching is a hallmark of the VPA experience, both in terms of our many devoted individual instructors, but also due to the intimate nature of studio-based learning, including small discussion sections, ensembles and private lessons.
- VPA includes a number of nationally highly ranked professional programs (#3-ranked Industrial Design; #4ranked Drama; #5-ranked Musical Theater; #9-ranked Interior Design; #14-ranked Transmedia; #16-ranked Ceramics; #19-ranked Printmaking; #20-ranked Sculpture, #21-ranked Setnor School of Music; #23-ranked Film; and #32-ranked Museum Studies). In addition, while disciplinary ranks do not exist for communication studies programs, our Communication and Rhetorical Studies M.A. program is one of the top PhD feeder programs in the U.S. VPA itself is ranked #33 in U.S. News and World Reports 2017 Best Graduate Programs in Fine Arts (up from #45 in 2012).
- VPA’s Drama program is the most selective program at Syracuse University in terms of percentage of applicants who are admitted to the program, and the program has a long list of alumni who are prominent in the theater and in television and film acting and directing.
- In conjunction with Syracuse University Study Abroad programs, VPA offers a wide range of enticing opportunities for study abroad in London, Florence, Strasbourg, Berlin, Bologna, and Prague, and equally exciting off-campus domestic programming in NYC, LA, and D.C. Highlights include the Tepper Program and Gilbert Week in NYC, Sorkin Week, Ginsburg-Klaus Week, and the Turner Semester in LA, and “Political Communication inside the D.C. Beltway” in Washington, D.C. Getting more students to participate in these programs, especially study abroad remains a goal and a strategic opportunity.
- VPA has made a habit in recent years of successfully targeting and attracting impressive groups of new faculty members, more often than not, landing the top candidate in each of our applicant pools.
- VPA has several “heritage” programs (we offered the first BFA in fine arts in the U.S.; the first four-year music degree in the U.S.; rhetoric was one of the initial programs of study at Syracuse University’s founding; the School of Art has a long and glorious reputation, particularly in sculpture and painting, while the School of Design’s industrial and interaction design program has produced a prestigious group of design entrepreneurs. These legacy programs represent a strong foundation for continued excellence.
- VPA, like many other schools/colleges at Syracuse, has very strong and active alumni networks, but these are not utilized in as comprehensive and strategic manner as they could be.
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- With some exceptions, undergraduate and graduate application pools to VPA programs are not deep. We need to strengthen recruiting messages and efforts in order to be more selective in admissions, as one of many measures of academic excellence.
- On average, VPA faculty carry one of the heaviest teaching loads on campus (3/3, with Drama at 4/3, Art and TRM at 3/2, CRS at 2/2 for research-active faculty). This creates a difficult challenge for many of our faculty to engage in the level of robust research activity expected at a Research I university.
- One result of heavy teaching loads is that VPA faculty in some programs have less time to attend conferences and participate in important national and international conversations about the future of the arts and the academy.
- We are a geographically dispersed college (8 buildings, 4.4 miles from the Warehouse to Comstock Art Building), raising challenges for our faculty and students to engage in cross-disciplinary activities within the college and the larger university. This dispersion also results in duplication of technical shops and other services that would be far less expensive to provide if shared across academic units located in greater proximity to one another.
- VPA has too many tenured faculty and not enough students in some academic programs, and too many students and not enough faculty in other program areas. Retirements and other strategies are necessary to enable reallocation of resources.
- VPA is over-reliant on part-time faculty in some programs, particularly in the Setnor School of Music.
- VPA needs to improve on its 4-year undergraduate graduation rate (51.6%) and 1st-year retention rate
(76.4%). The range across academic units in terms of graduation rate is 29%-67%. The 1st-year retention rate varies from 52%-87%). We also have one 5-year program with a graduation rate of 62% and 1st-year retention rate of 90%.
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- In any given year, 11-12% of all VPA students participate in full semester, summer, or short-term study abroad programs. During the junior year, when most VPA students typically go abroad, between 48-57% of that cohort is engaged in study abroad. This number could be even higher and represents an opportunity for improvement, perhaps aiming at being consistently above 60% of juniors participating in study abroad.
- The college can take a greater role in offering courses to non-VPA students by participating in a new university-wide core curriculum and proposing new minors and dual majors (see Appendix I Big Ideas for VPA).
- Opportunities abound to further Internationalize our curricula, invite more international visiting scholars to campus, and engage in more thorough planning to enhance the student experience of international students here at Syracuse and better prepare domestic students for successful study abroad and follow-through upon their return to campus.
- The college has an opportunity to engage in more strategic enrollment management practices to minimize the number of low-enrollment classes offered and more carefully align enrollment caps with pedagogical best practices and capacity of facilities.
- There is significant potential for VPA’s Transmedia program to partner with state, county and SU in operation of the Central New York/DeWitt Film Hub (see Appendix I Big Ideas for VPA).
- Build on and build out alumni networks for each of our program areas to take greater advantage of the energy and desire to assist current students that is a hallmark of Syracuse and VPA alumni.
- The impressive growth of programming for veterans and military families at Syracuse is something programs in VPA can align with in more effective ways, particularly in terms of arts healing, mindfulness and interpersonal communication practices.
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- Inadequate emphasis on assisting students with career planning and job placement, particularly in relation to increasing federal scrutiny regarding gainful employment rules.
- Risk of programs becoming less attractive to prospective students because of outdated or inadequate facilities and equipment, or facilities poorly suited to support essential learning outcomes.
- Potential challenges to some areas of academic programming due to tuition subsidies for students who enroll in public universities, particularly in New York State. High cost of SU tuition and high VPA program fees make our programs financially out-of-reach for many potential students.
- Risks if unable to reallocate financial resources to areas of greatest need and opportunity within the college.
- Risks if unable to resolve the college’s ongoing structural budget deficit through the RCM budget model.
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The overall strategic goal for enhancing the undergraduate student experience is to recruit, matriculate, retain, and graduate in four years a diverse, talented, and intellectually curious student with the skill set to become innovative makers and leaders of cultural change in our global community; they will engage and inspire audiences through performance, visual art, design, scholarship, and commentary.
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Much of the reasoning for the initiatives outlined above reflects: (1) a desire to see academic programs in VPA emerge from their silos to enhance opportunities for students to experience intellectual diversity that exists across the College; (2) a desire to see all SU students, regardless of major, benefit from courses offered by VPA.
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Graduate education is central to the mission of VPA, and vital to maintaining competitiveness and leadership as a tier-1 research university. Premier graduate programs attract top faculty, drive research discovery and innovation, contribute to undergraduate teaching and mentoring, and deeply enhance campus life and community.
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Financially attractive offers are essential to effective recruitment and are also important for degree completion. A thriving research community requires various kinds of support to enable faculty and graduate students to study and teach. This includes an adequate material environment in terms of the amount and quality of space for producing work. To stay current, relevant, and attractive to prospective students and employers, graduate degree programs need to continuously evolve to encompass emerging disciplines, anticipate skills needed by future employers, and enable the creation of new knowledge at the boundaries of disciplinary fields. The ability to navigate in interdisciplinary professional and research environments and to engage in meaningful collaborations across disciplines is thus increasingly a crucial ingredient for professional and creative development and success. Surveys administered by the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP) to graduated arts alumni reveal that interdisciplinary work is a significant element of success for artists in their careers.
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Objective #3.1: Organizational Structure
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The scope of needs for the college require a longer-term plan with regard to physical spaces and buildings. Capital improvements are inherently dependent upon donor support and funding. Within the next ten years, the College must consider its future needs and plan accordingly.
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Objective #4.1: Interdisciplinary and Global Research
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- Strategy 4.1.1: Explore options for more curricular creativity, flexibility, and load relief (1 credit workshops) to incentivize more collaborative teaching opportunities that lead to research.
- Strategy 4.1.2: Create appropriate “research hubs” within the college or in collaboration with other schools/colleges to attract, retain, and develop faculty scholarship. Increase the number of VPA faculty who participate in University committees, competitions, faculty fellow, and mentoring programs designed to promote research activity.
- Strategy 4.1.3: Pursue alumni or donor options as well as greater use of the SU office of Research to support interdisciplinary research and global scholarship.
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Goal 5: Community Engagement
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By their very nature, programs in VPA are instinctively involved in a variety of forms of community engagement. The work of our students and faculty require audiences or are project-based, with many of the projects taking place within local, regional, even global communities. These forms of engagement are critical to our pedagogical mission as well as our faculty and graduate student research.
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- Strategy 5.1.1: Continue to enlarge and enhance involvement of students and faculty in community engagement, building on activities like the Syracuse Poster Project, Talent Agency, public art commissions, Connective Corridor, etc. Research and catalog current VPA programs and projects that fall under the umbrella of “Community Engagement” and link to other SU initiatives. Explore or implement an Arts Engagement Conference. Explore college curriculum requirement for Community Engagement (e.g., service-learning, internships and the like).
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Objective #6.1: Budget Collaboration and Accountability
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Creating and maintaining a balanced budget through effective stewardship of the College's financial resources is critical to the College of Visual and Performing Art’s ability to implement its academic strategic plan. It is imperative that financial planning be transparent, and effective in protecting the College’s fiscal health and in supporting its College-wide and unit-level priorities.
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Objective #1: Monitoring Implementation
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- Strategy 7.1.1: Establish a VPA Strategic Plan Implementation Committee through Faculty Council to meet regularly, develop an implementation and monitoring plan, and document and track progress in accomplishing the goals, objectives and strategies outlined in this plan. Committee should report regularly to the dean and to the faculty at large.
- Strategy 7.1.2: Create an Excel spreadsheet to track progress, identify due dates, stakeholders, expertise and resources needed, and persons accountable for each objective/strategy.
- Strategy 7.1.3: Charge the VPA Strategic Plan Implementation Committee with periodically reviewing the major goals outlined in the Syracuse University Academic Strategic Plan to monitor alignment with VPA strategic objectives and strategies.
Appendices
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Facilities
Recently, an RFP was sent to six world-class architectural firms to conduct a feasibility study and program a renovation and expansion of the Department of Drama/Syracuse Stage Regent Theatre Complex and construct a new Setnor School of Music building on the block currently housing Phoebe’s Restaurant. We are also in discussions with the Provost and Pete Sala’s group about moving the School of Design in its entirety back to campus, to create synergies with the College of Engineering and the School of Art. The Shaffer Art Building (home of the Department of Transmedia and part of the School of Art) supports approximately 1,000 students. The facility is dilapidated, dirty, and depressing. The same holds for the ComArt facility, which should be expanded to include all studio arts under one roof. VPA is working with the Libraries to expand and renovate Belfer Laboratory, a teaching sound studio for students in the Music Industry and Bandier programs, the Sound Recording and Technology program and the Audio Arts program. Communication and Rhetorical Studies should be relocated from Sims Hall to Crouse College after the Setnor School of Music relocates. Smith Hall and the first floor of Sims should be vacated.
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As a result of the new 4+4 initiative, I’m encouraged that all undergraduates may one day be required to participate in a core curriculum supported by more than one college; that our students will select electives in arts and creativity as they are required to do at many excellent institutions, for example Duke, Penn State, West Virginia University, Carnegie Mellon, LSU, Ohio University and the University of Kentucky to cite just a few that I am most familiar with. These schools offer a comprehensive arts and creativity core in design thinking, public speaking, dance, film, music, theatre and visual arts. Carnegie Mellon’s BXA Intercollege Degree Program would be an ideal model for SU as it allows a select group of students who demonstrate interest and accomplishment in the fine arts and the humanities, social sciences or natural sciences, computer science, and emerging media to explore beyond the traditional academic major, or integrate more than one field of study across disciplines.
Specific Academic Initiatives
Implement BS in Gaming -- interdisciplinary program between VPA’s Department of Transmedia and Setnor School of Music and the College of Engineering; two faculty members would be needed in virtual reality and gaming theory; VPA currently offers a minor in gaming.
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Create a VPA “Designing the Future” Initiative—serious proposals have been advanced, calling for the U.S. government to establish a cabinet-level Department of the Future (see http://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2016/12/department-of-future-trump-000258). While not likely to happen anytime soon, there is need for those in the creative arts to partner with schools of citizenship, media, and politics to imagine future scenarios in which the basic institutions of governance and social life, as seen from the perspectives of visual art and design, the performing arts, and communication studies, could reinvent such practices and ostensibly create a better social world(s). VPA’s proposal for a “Designing the Future” initiative would establish an ongoing conversational “thought experiment” among faculty with common and intersecting research interests. The project could involve an extension of both the Cosmopolis 2045 Project (co-directed by a VPA faculty member) and the Canary Project (directed by two VPA faculty members). At the heart of this collaboration is a truly multidisciplinary initiative, built around themes of designing and planning for alternative futures, reinventing communication practices and employing design thinking and creative practices for government, industry, military, cybersecurity, healthcare, education, journalism, etc. Imagine turning the creative communities in higher education loose and letting them take the lead but partnering with engineers and public administration types in imagining a better future, redefining everything from politics to pleasure.
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The June 2016 release of the Syracuse University Campus Framework solidified the need to address substantial concerns facing the College of Visual and Performing Arts facilities. The college has a current enrollment of approximately 1900 undergraduates and 200 graduate students and is housed in 9 buildings located on main campus, south campus, and in the City of Syracuse. Current facilities range in age from 26 to 128 years and all are in need of refurbishment or replacement in order to meet the goals of the Campus Framework: i.e., support academic excellence, enrich student life and contribute to a vibrant campus setting.
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Nancy Cantor Warehouse – School of Design
- VPA would like to explore the feasibility of renovating an existing building or constructing a new facility in proximity to the Shaffer Art Building, Comstock Art Facility, the School of Architecture, the College of Engineering and the iSchool. We continue to see and hear from current and prospective Design students and their families that the location of the Warehouse causes hardship. Students are significantly removed from campus life, spend considerable time bussing to and from the facility, and incur additional expenses by being located off-campus (i.e., parking fees for private lots, lack of bookstore access, etc.).
- A facility located on or near main campus would alleviate these hardships for Design students and also provide an opportunity for synergy between programs that is currently lacking or difficult to facilitate. Prior to 2005, Design programs were located in various facilities on main campus, but within reach of the School of Architecture, the iSchool, and the School of Engineering. Since being consolidated within a single facility the collaboration within the School of Design has grown exponentially, while the synergy between the School of Design and our most obvious partners has waned, perhaps due to an “out of sight, out of mind” mentality.
- Additionally, a new Design facility located on main campus (or adjacent to Comstock Art) would provide the college opportunity to improve our operational processes by eliminating redundancies in services across the college that are currently necessary simply due to location, particularly wood, metal and print shops, all operated at considerable cost. (For example, we operate wood/metal shops at the Cantor Warehouse, Smith Hall, and Comstock Art.)
Crouse College – Setnor School of Music
- The College would like to explore the feasibility of development of a School of Music Building in close proximity to the Regent Theater Complex (home of the Department of Drama and Syracuse Stage), 820 E. Genesee Street. The building would become the new home to the Setnor School of Music, as well as support facilities for the Theater Design and Theater Management programs with the Department of Drama, currently housed above Phoebe’s Restaurant.
- Built in 1888, Crouse College is a beautiful, impressive and historical fixture on the Syracuse University campus. It is, however, not an appropriate facility for a 21st century school of music, most notably for nonexistent sound abatement, inconsistent HVAC (including humidity control), and lack of modern performance and practice/rehearsal venues.
- Ideally, the Setnor School of Music and the Department of Drama would be in close proximity as they share similar needs for curricular space for delivery of music lessons, performance, stage management instruction, and prop, costume, lighting and sound shops.
- In addition, having a highly visible performing arts center and concert hall on campus can serve the entire campus community as a central hub and venue for major on-campus events and performances while remaining sensitive to its primary purpose in serving the educational mission of the School of Music and Department of Drama.
Regent Theater Complex (home of the Department of Drama and Syracuse Stage)
- The need for renovation and updating the Regent Theater Complex becomes essential. The degree programs in acting and musical theater are the most competitive programs at Syracuse University and yet are housed in facilities built in 1919 and last updated in the 1980's. A state-of-the art theater complex is crucial to maintaining the caliber of students applying for admission to the BFA in acting/musical theater. Current facilities are inflexible and utilize outdated technology, lighting, sound, rigging, etc. and do not support academic excellence
- The need for renovation and updating the Regent Theater Complex becomes essential. The degree programs in acting and musical theater are the most competitive programs at Syracuse University and yet are housed in facilities built in 1919 and last updated in the 1980's. A state-of-the art theater complex is crucial to maintaining the caliber of students applying for admission to the BFA in acting/musical theater. Current facilities are inflexible and utilize outdated technology, lighting, sound, rigging, etc. and do not support academic excellence
Crouse College – Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies (CRS)
As one of the first academic programs in the country to offer an academic program in communication and rhetoric, it is fitting to provide a historic facility to house CRS. The development of a performing arts center to house the Setnor School of Music would allow the college to relocate the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies from Sims Hall to Crouse College. Crouse College was built in 1888 and is in need of restoration to its fully glory, as well as integration of appropriate HVAC systems, instructional spaces, technology, etc. With this renovation, we anticipate having the ability to increase undergraduate enrollment, implement a new PhD program, and reestablish a competitive debate team.
Shaffer Art Building – Department of Transmedia
The Shaffer Art Building was completed in 1990 and has not been updated since. We have consistent complaints from students and faculty about the lack of air conditioning, ventilation, and functioning windows. The Department of Transmedia offers a highly-ranked program in film, yet has limited facilities and technology to deliver its curriculum. We propose that Shaffer Art Building be renovated to more fully accommodate the Transmedia curriculum, to include film and photo studios, sound studios, editing suites, and graduate student studios.
The Belfer Laboratory -- Setnor School of Music
The Belfer Laboratory, administered by SU Libraries, features a Live End/Dead End recording studio and control rooms designed by Chips Davis, nationally recognized acoustic expert and recording studio designer. One control room is furnished entirely with digital equipment by Syracuse University's Setnor School of Music. It is used as a teaching laboratory for students in the Music Industry and Bandier programs, the Sound Recording and Technology program, and the Audio Arts program. With increased enrollments in these programs, we have outgrown this antiquated facility. Last semester VPA discussed with David Seaman, Dean of Libraries and University Librarian, the idea of expanding this facility by adding a second floor that would connect to Byrd Library. Dean Seaman is supportive of the project.
Upon completion of these renovations the college would release associated spaces currently utilized in the Nancy Cantor Warehouse, Smith Hall and Sims Hall.
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Issues of Work/Life balance allows faculty, staff and students the best ability to meet the goals and mission of VPA and Syracuse University
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Most programs and guidelines regarding work/life balance at the University are the purview of the Office of Human Resources, and thus beyond the scope of our College’s strategic plan. The issues outlined above are those that can be managed at the College level and would promote greater overall well-being among faculty and staff.
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This VPA Academic Strategic Plan provides a general blueprint for the collaborative effort of VPA faculty, staff, and administrative leadership to strengthen the College’s future, acknowledging threats and weaknesses and taking steps to manage them; identifying opportunities to build on existing and emerging strengths; and exploring best practices from beyond our usual sources to make VPA an even better place for students to thrive in the company of great faculty and staff. Our goal is to accomplish this plan in the most fiscally responsible way possible, with appropriate assistance from University leadership, because this academic strategic plan instills a level of confidence about the directions we are pursuing and the way we plan to accomplish them.
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