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VPA Academic Strategic Plan
An Interim Report: October 2017
Questions? Please contact VPA Office of Academic Affairs at 315.443.5955
DRAFT 10-16-2017
COLLEGE OF VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS OFFICE OF ACADEMIC AFFAIRS
VPA ACADEMIC STRATEGIC PLAN: AN INTERIM DRAFT
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.
This interim plan incorporates a brief SWOT analysis and identifies six broad categories of academic and corresponding fiscal initiatives: (1) the undergraduate experience, (2) graduate education, (3) administrative infrastructure and facilities, (4) faculty research, (5) community engagement, and (6) budget collaboration and accountability. Please see appendices I – III. The plan concludes by articulating how we will monitor progress as we implement the various strategic initiatives and action steps.
Each of these initiatives will be pursued and framed by the College’s vision and mission statements as well as the Syracuse University Academic Strategic Plan and Campus Framework. The College of Visual and Performing Arts has articulated the following vision and mission statements:
Vision: The vision of the College of Visual and Performing Arts is founded upon the belief that art and scholarship can impact social change.
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.
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.
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.
(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%.
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.
Increase recruitment and enrollment of strong candidates with a focus on underrepresented populations and diversity of all kinds, greater selectivity, and growth of applicant pools.
(see Appendix I Big Ideas). Foster rich and communal curricular and co-curricular experiences that enhance students’ academic and personal development and promote local, regional and global engagement.
Cultivate a culture that ensures the success of the whole student.
Cultivate a culture that fosters a strong sense of identity around multidisciplinary education.
Help students develop their career path.
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.
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.
Our vision is to position the VPA’s graduate programs to be leaders in graduate training in the U.S. and globally, and to be leaders in exploring new approaches to graduate training in the visual, performing and communicative arts.
Attract the top students and support them as appropriate.
Focus efforts on addressing the financial, cultural, emotional and intellectual needs of all students.
Strategy 2.2.1: Benchmark peer institutions for stipends, teaching loads, tuition discount and benefits; explore new sources of revenue for financial support.
Foster policies and incentives to promote faculty involvement in transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary research and graduate training opportunities, creating a supportive, ‘bridge-building’ culture across the college, university, and into the wider community.
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.
Build an organizational infrastructure that supports the academic mission, student experience, interdisciplinary study and research, efficiency and consistency of college operations.
Improve the academic and research environments to strengthen our commitment to the education of cultural leaders who will engage and inspire audiences through performance, visual art, design, scholarship, and commentary.
Engage in systematic long-term planning with regard to funding facilities and infrastructure. (Please see Appendix II 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 the City of Syracuse. The college also conducts significant academic programming using rental property in both New York City and Los Angeles. Evidence exists that the physical state and location of facilities has a direct effect on recruitment and retention of faculty and students, rankings, and effective delivery of curriculum. Current facilities range in age from 26 to 128 years and all need refurbishment or replacement to meet the goals of the Campus Framework: i.e., support academic excellence, enrich student life and contribute to a vibrant campus setting (see Appendix II).
In addition to the age and location limitations of the current facilities, the College is faced with inadequate or nonexistent mechanical systems, funding for refreshing technology, specialized equipment, fixtures and furnishings. These limitations have resulted in our diminished ability to attract and keep quality students, faculty and staff and to effectively deliver curriculum and provide a superior student experience.
The College strives for a safe and healthy work and learning environment, while recognizing that certain health hazards and environmental risks are associated with the creation of art. Many of our buildings are not current with health, safety and security best practices. Facilities are spread around and beyond the main campus, forcing students to travel at off hours due to performances, rehearsals and studio work, while dependent on public transportation that is often unreliable. The college is dependent on audiences for presentation of student and faculty work and has many visitors on a regular basis. This requires us to be conscious of their safety in our practices. Best practices in sustainability and environmental compliance are necessary for the health and safety of all, in the present and for the future.
The College recognizes that technology and major equipment frequently provide the vehicle by which our students, faculty and staff create and provide their work to audiences. As such, technology and major equipment permeates all aspects of teaching, learning, research and support in VPA. Our students, faculty and staff are savvy users of technology and we must provide an environment where equipment and technology is as state of the art as practicable. As we provide these resources they must be backed up with clear policies, training and access to support centrally.
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.
Bolster interdisciplinary research by facilitating more team-teaching across units and creating problem-oriented research hubs within VPA and with other schools/colleges.
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.
Formalize Engagement Across Curricula.
Create clear and explicit reporting documents for senior leadership identifying current and prior year budget performance to facilitate effective collaboration and communication between responsible parties and appropriate monitoring of performance and accountability.
Ensure there are effective internal controls in place to prevent excessive financial commitments and overspending.
Develop budgets that are reflective of each units’ funding needs (based on enrollments, curriculum, strategic initiatives, research, equipment, etc.) that are in alignment with the College’s resources.
Evaluate the fiscal health of academic programs to ensure they are sustainable.
Refocus our efforts to identify appropriate min/max enrollments in all VPA courses and develop a plan to minimize the occurrence of low-enrollment courses.
Ensure the College is utilizing available resources to achieve goals outlined in the strategic plan.
Establish short and long-term development plans with specific funding targets.
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.
No strategic plan can be successfully implemented without someone charged to monitor its progress and keep everyone on the same page as the plan unfolds and evolves.
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.
VPA is interested in exploring a collaborative endeavor with the accredited Everson Museum, which could anchor SU’s Museum Studies program; perhaps one day the Everson Museum would morph into the “Syracuse University Museum.”
For more information concerning VPA facilities, please refer to the document titled, College of Visual and Performing Arts Facilities Goals and Objectives
VPA must implement professional advising and establish a career services center. We therefore seek funding to hire a Director of Student Affairs and additional funding to transition our current Student Affairs office to an entirely professional advising operation. We also seek funding to hire a Director of Career Services and one additional staff member with the goal of improving retention and time to degree; jobs for our graduates can only be enhanced by a Career Services Center.
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.
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.
Establish Department of Arts Administration -- offer traditional BA/BS in Arts Administration and MA in Arts Administration (online degree); an interdisciplinary program with the Whitman School and perhaps with the School of Law; all students would be required to minor in an arts area. The new department would share faculty with the School of Design’s Museum Studies Program and the Department of Drama’s Theatre Management program; Syracuse Stage and Everson Museum would be key partners.
Create a partnership between the State, County, and SU whereby VPA’s Department of Transmedia’s film program and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication partners with the Central New York/DeWitt Film Hub -- this bold initiative would require additional tenure-track film faculty and staff, but would strengthen our connection to the entertainment industry and increase job placement. Please see the following link for additional information: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2017/01/5_reasons_the_states_15m_syracuse_film_hub_has_flopped_so_f ar.html
Implement BFA/MFA in Theatrical Props: Design and Technology -- only LSU, the University of North Carolina School for the Arts, Ohio University, University of Delaware and Yale offer this degree. We envision a collaborative endeavor between the Department of Drama, the Schools of Art and Design and Syracuse Stage.
Implement MFA in Theatrical Projection Design -- only the Yale School of Drama, Carnegie Mellon and the University of Maryland have viable graduate programs. We envision an interdisciplinary program between the Departments of Drama and Transmedia (computer art and virtual reality), College of Engineering and Syracuse Stage.
Expand BS in Drama to include direct entry -- this program would require three full-time faculty lines; at present the drama faculty have a three/four teaching load, one of the heaviest loads on campus. Metrics suggest that this unit has the national reputation to attract a highly competitive cohort; the program can’t be implemented without additional facilities on campus and/or after a Department of Drama/Syracuse Stage Regent Theatre Complex expansion and renovation.
Expand the BM in Sound Recording Technology and Music Industry Programs -- job placement is robust; additional faculty and space would be required. In addition, implement a BS in Music Engineering degree in collaboration with the College of Engineering. Setnor’s BM in Sound Recording majors already have the option to minor in Electrical Engineering (EE) or Computer Science (CS), following minor plans designed specifically for BM in SRT majors by the College of Engineering. BS in Music Engineering degrees are jointly accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) and the Accrediting Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). MUE degrees thus require a NASM accredited Music program and ABET accredited Electrical or Computer Engineering program at the same institution, which SU has. Both the extant and STEM centric BM in SRT major and the proposed BS in MUE degrees would retain music study at their core, with a greater emphasis placed on College of Engineering coursework in the BM in MUE degree. If implemented, we would be one of a few exclusive programs that offer a music degree of this type, with proven job placement opportunities across many industries.
Implement BS/BA in Design -- it is our contention that there is a market for design students who want to pursue a more generic design program with more electives. This program would cater to those students who want to study a design-based program that is less focused on studio work and leverages the full breadth of learning at a research university. We feel that there is a good chance this program would be the highest recruiter in the School and would reduce or even eliminate those students who currently transfer.
Design and Design Thinking is big news; many students from majors across the University are interested in studying design as a means of augmenting and enhancing their chosen program. For example, architecture students may want to study Interior or Industrial design, journalists may want to study fashion design to inform a specialist area of engagement, business students engaged in entrepreneurial activity would certainly be interested in design as a tool in business and product development.
We propose the following School of Design minors:
Implement MBA Design Management — we propose the development of a collaborative MBA in design management with the Whitman School of Management and/or a minor in design management.
Implement Arts in Healing graduate programs (music, dance and art therapies) if/when the University opens a College of Medicine (could also explore a clinical partnership with Crouse Hospital prior to establishing a med school) -- Harvard, UCLA, Johns Hopkins, University of Florida, University of Kentucky, Dartmouth, NYU and the University of Southern California all have one thing in common and that is arts education in their med schools, a growing trend: http://www.harvard.edu/media-relations/harvard-joins-growing-trend-arts-education-med-schools It may be worth noting that art is part of the military continuum – promoting readiness during pre-deployment as well as aiding in the successful reintegration and adjustment of veterans and military families into community life; service members and veterans rank art therapies in the top 4 (out of 40) interventions and treatments.
Implement Ph.D. in Communication and Rhetorical Studies — will need one tenure-track line; the unit has identified a person of color they would like to recruit from the University of Illinois to round out the faculty needed for this new degree.
Implement Dance Minor — national data shows that students in the STEM fields gravitate to institutions that offer dance as a minor; VPA would not benefit under the current RCM model, but the University as whole would benefit from offering this minor. In short, dance is a powerful recruiting tool. (Note: although the School of Education currently offers a minor in Dance, it is focused on exercise science and NOT dance as an art form: ballet, modern, jazz, musical theatre style — the genres the aforementioned students seek.)
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.
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.
To begin the process of developing a strategic plan for VPA facilities it is necessary to supplement the findings of Sasaki and the Campus Framework. The arts are a glaring absence from the Framework and must be included if the University is to be successful in reaching the Framework’s goals. It would be beneficial to the University and VPA to engage a consultant, be it Sasaki or another firm, to develop a vision for arts facilities on campus.
Until such time that a strategic plan for arts facilities can be developed, the college has identified six facilities that require immediate attention:
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.
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, 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.
Issues of Work/Life balance allows faculty, staff and students the best ability to meet the goals and mission of VPA and Syracuse University
Provide a welcoming, supportive, collaborative atmosphere that supports high job satisfaction, values individual ideas and contributions, and provides good governance with respect, positivity, creativity, and fun for faculty, staff, and students.
Support greater diversity and inclusion. Create an understanding of diversity, broadening the spectrum of what a diverse faculty, staff and student population includes and create an atmosphere that values diverse experience and varied point of views.
Strategy 2.1: Engage faculty and staff in diversity workshops and awareness seminars, etc.
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.
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.