Provosts Forum

1
Promoting a Breadth of Scholarship and Teaching
while Maintaining a Focused Research Mission
2
Promote in what Context?

• External
• Students (and prospective students)
• Faculty and Administration

3
Promote the Importance of Education and
Scholarship

• Both are fundamental responsibilities of
  universities in society.
• While industries, government agencies, and other
  organizations advance knowledge in some fields,
  only the university undertakes this across the
  spectrum of human understanding.

4
Promote the Importance of a Broad Undergraduate
Education

• The Essential Learning Outcomes
• Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and
  Natural World
• Intellectual and Practical Skills
• Personal and Social Responsibility
• Integrative Learning
• from the AACU report College Learning for the
  New Global Century

5
Promote the Importance of a Broad Undergraduate
Education

• Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and
  Natural World
• Sciences, Mathematics, Social Sciences,
  Humanities, Histories, Languages, Arts
• from the AACU report College Learning for the
  New Global Century

6
Promote the Importance of a Broad Undergraduate
Education

• Intellectual and Practical Skills
• Inquiry and Analysis, Critical and Creative
  Thinking, Written and Oral Communication,
  Quantitative Literacy, Information Literacy,
  Teamwork and Problem Solving
• from the AACU report College Learning for the
  New Global Century

7
Promote the Importance of a Broad Undergraduate
Education

• Personal and Social Responsibility
• Civic Knowledge and Engagement, Intercultural
  Knowledge and Competence, Ethical Reasoning and
  Action, Foundations and Skills for Lifelong
  Learning
• from the AACU report College Learning for the
  New Global Century

8
Promote the Importance of a Broad Undergraduate
Education

• Integrative Learning
• Synthesis and Advanced Accomplish- ment across
  General and Specialized Studies demonstrated
  through the application of knowledge, skills,
  and responsibilities to new settings and
  complex problems.
• from the AACU report College Learning for the
  New Global Century

9
Promote the Importance of Breadth in Graduate
Education

• Traditional Ethics, languages,
  mathematics/statistics...
• Reshaping Doctoral Education (T)
  Interdisciplinary studies, international
  experiences, pedagogy, business and
  entrepreneurship...

Golde, C. M. and Walker, G.E. (eds.) 2006.
Envisioning the Future of Doctoral Education
Preparing the Stewards of the Discipline.
Carnegie Essays on the Doctorate. Carnegie
Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
10
Promote the Importance of a Broad Undergraduate
Education

• Students value a broad education
• Employers value the capabilities developed
  through a broad education
• Integrative learning (73 say it should receive
  more emphasis)
• Knowledge of human cultures and the physical and
  natural world (53-82)
• Intellectual and practical skills (60-76)
• Personal and social responsibility (53-76).

Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Inc. How
Should Colleges Prepare Students to Succeed in
Todays Global Economy. Based on surveys
conducted on behalf of the Association of
American Colleges and Universities, Dec. 28, 2006.
11
Promote the Importance of a Broad Undergraduate
Education
Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Inc. How
Should Colleges Prepare Students to Succeed in
Todays Global Economy. Based on surveys
conducted on behalf of the Association of
American Colleges and Universities, Dec. 28, 2006.
12
Promote the Importance of a Broad Undergraduate
Education
Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Inc. How
Should Colleges Prepare Students to Succeed in
Todays Global Economy. Based on surveys
conducted on behalf of the Association of
American Colleges and Universities, Dec. 28, 2006.
13
Promote Access to Higher Education

• UAF has primary responsibility for providing
  educational opportunities to interior, northern,
  and western Alaskacertainly the largest
  geographic area served by any public university.
• This responsibility requires continued commitment
  to community-based and distance education.

14
Focus Use Limited Resources Wisely

• No university can encompass every aspect of every
  field choices must be made.
• The university, and units within the university,
  must develop plans (involving the faculty,
  administration, staff, students and other
  stakeholders) and allocate resources based on
  those plans. Plans must include reasonable
  breadth in education and scholarship.
• Efficient and useful planning requires leadership.

15
Focus Use Limited Resources Wisely

• Plans cannot (and should not) have the level of
  detail that eliminates the need for
  administrators to make decisions.
• Plans guide decisions and limit the range of
  choices.
• Administrators plan openly within this context
  and decide, considering opportunities and
  threats.

16
Understand that Focus does not Mean Exclusion

• Americas Arctic University is a leader in
  research areas that are not specific to the
  arctic atmospheric science, environmental
  science, volcanology, fisheries, ...
• A focus for research and scholarship should exist
  because of unique opportunities provided by UAFs
  location, not because only arctic (or Alaskan)
  research is acceptable.

17
Use Limited Resources Wisely

• Lead the development of a clear and current
  consensus on the essential elements of breadth,
  for both undergraduate and graduate education.
  Ensure that UAF offers these elements.
• Lead the development of plans to (further)
  develop focused areas of leadership in research
  and scholarly activity.
• Strive to secure resources to fulfill these
  goals.
• Make informed decisions guided by these
  priorities.