President Robert Shelton’s plan for university wide growth and reorganization gained the attention of UA Faculty Senate Monday night.
Wanda Howell, chair of the UA faculty, said that the university intends to grow through strategic advancement of its core principals.
“”We want to increase the quality of what we do,”” Howell said. “”Hopefully we can increase revenue (and product)…through a focused reallocation of resources.””
Howell outlined a program in which each university department will work to consolidate itself by analyzing the overall effectiveness of the individual departments.
Nothing within the university reorganization would happen without student input, said Tommy Bruce, president of the Associated Students of the University of Arizona.
“”Obviously the changes affect the student body,”” Bruce said. “”There is a strong student voice throughout this whole process. ASUA has representation on all of the committees that are reviewing these (reorganization documents).””
Bruce said that ASUA intends to keep the student body involved throughout the entirety of the reorganization process.
“”Any change in the current structure will affect everybody,”” Bruce said. “”No matter how you slice it, positively or negatively, everyone will be affected.””
He added that this whole process is under a time crunch, stating that academic departments have to present a report on their individual department to the provost within three weeks.
In the meeting, various representatives of the faculty senate outlined different ways in which the university intends to change.
One major facet of this intended growth is an increased marketing initiative that intends to portray the UA, as what senate members are calling, “”a world-class university.””
Bruce said that an improved marketing presence could only bode well for the future of the university.
“”Any UA marketing (will) change the way we look across the country,”” Bruce said. “”This is a very positive move in the right direction, in terms of recruitment and celebration of what the university is.””
A memo from Miranda Joseph, an associate professor in the women’s studies department, on behalf of the Strategic Planning and Budget Advisory Committee, sent to Shelton and Provost Meredith Hay, outlined a guide for the consolidation of academic programs.
The memo stated that UA academic programs would be evaluated based on seven different categories. The points outlined were central to the UA mission: external demand, internal demand, productivity, quality, appropriate size and cost effectiveness.
Bruce said that the goal of this reorganization process is to improve the overall quality of the UA while reducing unnecessary costs.
