CAS Strategic Plan.doc

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COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

“Excellence, Diversity, Unity”

A STRATEGIC PLAN FOR

FY 2006-2011

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CAS STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE

MEMBER AFFILIATION

Allison, Jay Communication Studies Professor, Faculty Council Ayer, Hugh Emeritus FacultyBader, Chris Psychology Graduate StudentBell, David Geography Graduate StudentBurggren, Warren DeanCampbell, Mike History Professor, Regent ProfessorCukor-Avila, Patricia English ProfessorCullivan, Kathryn Associate Dean for Fiscal & Human ResourcesCundari, Tom Chemistry ProfessorDancy, Geoff Political Science Graduate StudentGoven, Art Chair, Biological SciencesLevin, Melinda Radio/TV/Film Professor, Faculty CouncilMeernik, James Chair, Political SciencesMonticino, Michael Associate Dean for Administrative AffairsMuamba, Francis Economics Undergraduate StudentPaswan, Christine Radio/TV/Film Administrative AssistantRichroath, Susan Assistant to the DeanSchaake, Jean Associate Dean for Academic AffairsSherman, Bob CAS Board MemberSmith, Patrick Chair, Aerospace StudiesWalker, Stan CAS Development Director

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Executive Summary

Unit Name: College of Arts and Sciences Date Submitted: 6/1/2006

Contact Person: Warren Burggren, 940-565-2497, [email protected]

Unit Vision: By 2011, CAS programs will emphasize interdisciplinary teaching and scholarship with an international perspective, and key programs will have advanced to positions of national/international recognition.

Unit Mission: The College of Arts and Sciences serves as the academic heart of the University of North Texas. It serves the core educational needs of UNT’s students as well as carries out scholarship and education in its diverse constituent disciplines in the arts, humanities, social sciences and sciences.

Summary of Unit Plan:

The College of Arts and Sciences enjoys strengths deriving from its: role as steward of the Core Curriculum, complexity and diversity, strong interdisciplinary programs, and commitment to undergraduate teaching.

The College faces challenges related to: increasing its research and scholarship, as measured by publication and levels of

extramural funding, attracting and retaining talented faculty and staff, attaining sufficient space of sufficient quality for faculty and student activities, improving graduate funding, enhancing fundraising and alumni relations, improving our community partnerships for scholarships, internships, and job

placement for our students, the lack of a comprehensive method for faculty productivity assessment.

The College sees leadership opportunities by: sharply increasing funded extramural research to help UNT meet is goal of $35

million in annual expenditures, increasing enrollment of highly qualified students by 12% during the period 2006-

2011, promoting interdisciplinary research and teaching, reaching out to our large, and largely untapped, alumni base, and incorporating technology into student learning and research.

Given the breadth, depth and diversity of the College of Arts and Sciences, its activities fundamentally address virtually all UNT Core Values and Themes, as outlined in detail in the College’s Strategic Plan. The College Plan consists of six major goals

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with several action items that specify responsible individuals or groups, timelines, cost estimates, assessment criteria and examples.

College Goal #1. INTERDISCIPLINARITY: Improve quality of undergraduate and graduate education and faculty scholarship by encouraging and rewarding interdisciplinary collaboration that addresses the needs of our internal and external constituencies.

Relationship to Strategic Initiatives: The College of Arts and Sciences will increase interdisciplinary activities in all aspects of its mission, corresponding to the UNT Academic Plan Initiatives 1.1, 1.4, 1.7, 2.3 and 3.3.Target and Milestones: The College of Arts and Sciences will undertake six initiatives including pilot freshman seminar courses by Fall 2008, creating new interdisciplinary courses through 2011, and establish interdisciplinary centers of excellence (beginning 2007, and throughout the plan). These initiatives will be mindful of the Colleges goal of increasing its enrollment by 12% during the period 2006-2011 (Appendix 1).Additional Resources Required: One time costs of ~$150,000 and annual costs of ~$170,0 00.

College Goal #2. INTERNATIONALIZATION: Improve quality and relevance of curriculum by integrating international perspectives and opportunities into teaching as well as scholarship, service and outreach.

Relationship to Strategic Initiatives: Internationalization will be a key feature of many of the College’s initiatives during the next five years, corresponding to the UNT Academic Plan Initiatives 1.5, 1.7, 2.4, 2.5 and 3.4. Target and Milestones: Initiatives will include a college-wide assessment of efforts to improve internationalization, creation of a fund to reward relevant courses, establishment of pilot freshman seminar courses by Fall 2008, allocation of funds to promote international activities (by Fall 2007) and establishment a limited number of highly effective partnerships with foreign universities.Additional Resources Required: One time costs of ~$20,000 and annual costs of ~$70,000.

College Goal #3. PARTNERSHIPS: Greatly enhance and continue to develop external partnerships to foster highly recognized scholarship, education and service.

Relationship to Strategic Initiatives: Creating meaningful partnerships outside of the College and the University will enhance each of the College Strategic Plan goals, and will contribute to UNT Academic Plan Initiatives 1.3, 1.6, 1.7, 2.5 and 3.5. Target and Milestones: Formation of partnerships within and outside of UNT will be reflected in activities ranging from fundraising to curricular revision. Additional Resources Required: One time costs of ~$20,000 and annual costs of $18,000.

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College Goal #4. RESEARCH FUNDING: Increase extramural funding for research as a means to enhance both the quality and quantity of scholarship of our faculty and graduate students.

Relationship to Strategic Initiatives: The College of Arts and Sciences will play a major role in increasing UNT’s research funding, primarily but not exclusively through greatly increased funding in the sciences. This goal corresponds to UNT Academic Plan Initiatives 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 and 3.1-3.5. Target and Milestones: CAS will increase research funding by providing training and resources for all of its faculty able to garner federal funding by Fall 2007, increase graduate student stipends Fall 2007, differentially invest in science and interdisciplinary programs most likely to lead to increased federal funding and funding critical staff positions throughout the duration of this plan. CAS targets a minimum 5% per year increase in funding among current faculty, and additionally increasing funding through all hires, including at a minimum of two senior research scientists per year with current funding of at least $200K per year (Appendix 2). Through this combined strategy, we will increase current external funding in CAS by a minimum of 50%% by 2011 (See Appendix 2). This target using a “faculty position by position” approach is forward-looking but realistic given uncertainties in the federal budget and increased competition as more universities mandate increased funding levels from their faculty. In parallel, the College will pursue a strategy of hiring large clusters and possibly even entire departments. This will have an enormous impact, albeit one difficult to model or predict in size, scope and costs. Pursuing either strategy will require significant and sustained university investment in research infrastructure, hiring new science research faculty and providing attractive start-up packages for new hires. Additional Resources Required: Annual costs of ~$6,200,000 for the life of the strategic plan.

College Goal #5. EVALUATION/PRODUCTIVITY/REWARD: Improve evaluation of faculty and staff performance to better recognize, reward, and stimulate productivity, then provide competitive salaries for faculty and staff to achieve a level of excellence at least comparable to our aspirational programs.

Relationship to Strategic Initiatives: A faculty and staff that is fairly evaluated and then fairly rewarded is at the key to all CAS missions, and corresponds to all strategic initiatives in the UNT Academic Plan. Target and Milestones: Achieving this CAS goal will involve identifying peer departments/programs by Fall 2006, developing a faculty productivity evaluation system by Fall 2007, and continue to pursue salaries, course loads and levels of productivity comparable to those of with benchmark institutions throughout the period of Strategic Plan. Additional Resources Required: Annual cost of evaluation. One time cost of ~$60,000. Annual cost for competitive salaries - ~$2,000,000, plus annual increases once salary benchmark levels are reached.

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College Goal #6. INFRASTRUCTURE: Improve the condition of teaching and research facilities by continuing to modernize our facilities, equipment and technology.

Relationship to Strategic Initiatives: Improvement and modernization of CAS’s teaching and research facilities will impact UNT’s Academic Plan Strategic Initiatives 1.2, 1.7, 2.2 and 3.1-3.3.Target and Milestones: Improvement of non-capital infrastructure (equipment, renovation, etc.) will involve continued improvement of physical plant management throughout the life of the Strategic Plan, development of a data-based process for resource allocation by Spring 2007, and establishment of partnerships directly supporting CAS infrastructure throughout the life of the Strategic Plan.Additional Resources Required: Estimated costs of $2,000,000-$4,000,000 annually for non-capital improvements to existing infrastructure, with ~$50,000,000 for new capital construction in the period 2006-2011.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Mission Page 8

Vision Page 8

The Planning Process Page 8

Strengths, Challenges, Opportunities Page 9

1) Strengths: Current Environment

2) Challenges: Current Concerns

3) Opportunities: Our Future

Strategic Goals Page 12

CAS Goal #1 – Interdisciplinarity Page 12

CAS Goal #2 – Internationalization Page 16

CAS Goal #3 – Partnerships Page 18

CAS Goal #4 – Funded Research Page 20

CAS Goal #5 – Productivity Page 23

CAS Goal #6 – Infrastructure Page 25

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MISSION OF THE COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

The College of Arts and Sciences serves as the academic heart of the University of North Texas. It serves the core educational needs of UNT’s students as well as carries out scholarship and education in its diverse constituent disciplines in the arts, humanities, social sciences and sciences.

VISION OF THE COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

By 2011 CAS programs will emphasize interdisciplinary teaching and scholarship with an international perspective, and key programs will have advanced to positions of national/international recognition.

THE PLANNING PROCESS

Academic strategic planning is most effective when it is neither “top-down” nor “bottom-up”, but instead represents a repeated cycling of ideas and comments as the document gains acceptance among all areas of the involved community. Additionally, the most valuable strategic plan is a “living document” that, while providing long-term guidance, also is flexible and changes in tune with the emergence of strengths, challenges and opportunities.

The College of Arts and Sciences Strategic Plan began with the call for Departmental strategic planning during the Fall 2004 semester. Each department created a draft strategic plan following general guidelines provided by the College, with first drafts provided to the College in May, 2005. A newly established CAS Strategic Planning Committee examined these plans during the summer of 2005 by the College’s Development and Advisory Board. This committee, responsible for producing the CAS Plan, then began a process of careful examination of each Departmental Plan to determine the College’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as the most commonly recurring departmental concerns, values, and goals. The College committee additional considered the broader university, state and national environment for public higher education.

After creation of a first draft in early December, 2005, the College’s Strategic Planning Committee made the Plan widely available to the students, staff and faculty of the College with the invitation to provide commentary and critique. Additionally, the College’s Development and Advisory Board examined the Plan at its annual retreat in January, 2005. The College Strategic Plan Committee considered all input from the College’s constituents, as a crucial part of the cycling process referred to earlier, and created a second (though not necessarily final) version of the plan.

Additional commentary was incorporated into the College Plan during the course of the Spring, 2006 semester even as preliminary implementation began, as the departments began implementation of their own unit strategic plans. Also during 2006, department revised their departmental Strategic Plan to incorporate their program-specific comments as well as bringing them into alignment with the emerging College Strategic Plan. The College Plan will be posted for first broad distribution in early June, 2006, with refinements continuing during the summer and fall of 2006.

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STRENGTHS, CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES

1) Strengths: Current Environment

Steward of the Core Curriculum. Our influential position as steward of UNT’s core curriculum enables CAS to promote our Mission and Vision, as well as support UNT’s Academic and Strategic Plans.

CAS Complexity and Diversity. The complexity and diversity of the College of Arts and Sciences provides a wealth of experience and resources. This places CAS in a preeminent position to achieve our goals as outlined in the College’s Strategic Plan.

Strong Interdisciplinary Programs. CAS has established a number of successful interdisciplinary majors and minors to help students tailor degrees to their needs and to address the needs of an increasingly internationalized society. Existing programs serve as models for additional programs.

Commitment to Undergraduate Teaching . CAS is committed to ensuring that its tenured and tenure-track faculty teach at all levels of the curriculum, particularly core courses. This commitment helps sustain and improve our community of students, faculty and alumni.

2) Challenges: Current Concerns

Curriculum Management in the Face of Enrollment Growth. The challenge for UNT, and thus for CAS, in recent years has been to balance the natural tension between increased enrolment, from which derives funding for UNT, and increased quality of the students we admit and the training we give them. UNT’s participation in the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s Closing the Gaps plan requires some enrollment increases, but the current UNT funding model rewards additional enrolment with additional funding, leading UNT to currently seek more students than necessary to fulfill our State mandate. Our Challenge will be to maintain the quality of instruction (e.g. through the Quality Enhancement Plan for large classes), even as we are asked to increase our instructional activities.

Productivity Assessment. In order to best determine how to implement the Plan and reward its most productive faculty and department, CAS must develop methods and tools for measuring faculty/departmental productivity. CAS must develop a method to reward productivity, a method that recognizes productivity measures should differ from discipline to discipline within the college.

Research and Scholarship Growth. The University has been given the mandate of increasing its research as an Emerging Research University within the State of Texas. UNT has established a target of $35M in annual research funding expenditures by 2011. As one of the primary University generators of federal funding, CAS must assume responsibility for increasing extramural research support. But we are also

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responsible for maintaining a comprehensive view of scholarship that values research in the humanities and social sciences as well as the sciences.

Faculty and Staff Development. Attracting and retaining talented faculty and staff requires an increase in funding to provide sufficient resources for their professional development.

Infrastructure . The College’s current space, even where of sufficient size, is not uniformly of the quality necessary to fulfill our ambitions for improving scholarship and research. With respect to teaching, the difficulties of scheduling adequate teaching space, particularly large lecture classrooms, suggest that CAS requires an ongoing, active voice in university planning for facilities and facilities utilization.

Graduate funding. Funding for graduate students, who are an integral part of the scholarship and research activities of UNT, is generally in the fourth quartile among public universities, and lower than each of our peer institutions. The College faces the challenge of improving scholarships and other forms of assistance to graduate students, beginning with the academic areas that are key to the College’s successful implementation of its Strategic Plan.

Alumni Relations and Fundraising CAS, and its constituent departments, must enhance ties to alumni and other friends of our College to raise funds for scholarships, research and other activities.

Community Partnerships. Forging connections with business, industry, not-for-profit organizations, schools, and government agencies will increase opportunities for student learning (e.g. scholarships, internships, job placements) as well as enhance the success of our external partners.

3) Opportunities: Our Future

CAS has numerous significant opportunities at the outset of our planning process. We have the vision of being a major participant in the continuing improvement and enhanced profile of UNT through significant increases in:

Research Conservatively, we target a 50% increase in extramural research funding over the next 5 years, even by following conventional routes to funding stimulation (Appendix 2). However, the College will also aggressively pursue more dramatic actions (e.g. recruitment of large outside research groups or even entire departments in to the College). Irrespective of strategy to grow research dollars, research funds are critical to the continued success of many CAS departments, and increasingly important in other areas, such as the arts, humanities and social sciences.

Student Participation. At the graduate level, the College of Arts and Sciences will work with its departments and Graduate School to increase support for graduate students. By the year 2011, UNT expects graduate enrollment to increase by 26.8%. A parallel

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increase of that magnitude in the Arts and Sciences will depend on faculty and program capacity, competitive research and teaching assistantships and tuition replacement money. Without these three vital infrastructure components, graduate enrollment will continue a slight decline or remain relatively static. Yet, given optimum increases in research and teaching assistantships and institutional support for tuition, Arts and Sciences programs will be able to compete nationally and increase the number of students in targeted programs (Appendix 1). Increases in program quality and enrollment will be directly dependent on financial contributions through research and institutional support. Modest to strong financial support could increase graduate enrollment from 14% to 21%.

Internationalization. CAS should be proactive in developing new (and flexible) programs that are responsive to the needs of students who will operate in an increasingly internationalized society. Our burgeoning existing international partnerships will serve as a basis for continued international of our curriculum and scholarly activities.

Interdisciplinary Programs. The diversity of programs within CAS provides the college with a unique opportunity to promote and reward interdisciplinary research and teaching, which address the needs of our internal and external constituencies.

Alumni Involvement. Alumni are our strongest and most dedicated ambassadors. CAS has a large untapped alumni base that should be approached through departments. Increased alumni involvement will benefit departments, the college, and the university through increased extramural giving, partnerships, and internships.

Technology in Learning. As the largest college in one of the 100 most wired campuses in the nation, CAS should explore a variety of approaches for delivering instruction. In promoting technology, CAS recognizes that one technology in learning should be geared to the needs of individual programs.

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STRATEGIC GOALS

The College of Arts and Sciences Strategic Plan focuses on six discrete goals:

Interdisciplinarity Internationalization Partnerships Research Funding Evaluation/Productivity Infrastructure

Each goal is important in moving the College forward, and each goal is directly linked to elements of UNT’s Academic Plan as well as its Strategic Plan.

CAS GOAL #1. INTERDISCIPLINARITY: Improve quality of undergraduate and graduate education and faculty scholarship by encouraging and rewarding interdisciplinary collaboration that addresses the needs of our internal and external constituencies.

Rationale: To adapt to increasingly complex global economies and cultures, our faculty, staff and students must have the opportunity to interact within curricular and research/creative environments that break down traditional divides among academic disciplines. These open environments will nurture faculty and students in developing aptitudes for analyzing, interpreting, and applying knowledge in local, regional, national, and international settings.

Linkage to UNT Academic Plan:

Core Values: A. Students and Learning; C. Scholarship and Research; D. Community and Connectivity; E. Partnership and Outreach.

Themes Addressed: III -Interdisciplinarity

ACTION ITEM 1.1. Create a working group to investigate and recommend best practices in the implementation of Interdisciplinarity in higher education settings.

By Whom: CAS Faculty Council, and departments and personnel with vested interests.

By When: Fall, 2008

Cost: (measured in personnel time expenditure) Source of Funds: n/a

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Assessment: Establishment of group, creation of a series of best practice recommendations, followed by demonstrated implementation of these recommendations, and ultimately establishment of interdisciplinary courses, programs and research centers.

Prime Examples:1) From CAS Dean’s Office and College: Have CAS Faculty Council make recommendations on

best practices for faculty assignment, assessment and reward for interdisciplinary activities.2) From Philosophy and Religion Studies. Create a Center for the Study of Interdisciplinarity,

charged with investigating the development and implementation of Interdisciplinarity in higher education settings.

ACTION ITEM 1.2. Develop a “pilot” freshman seminar course team-taught across/within departments related to interdisciplinary research and scholarship.

By Whom: Ad hoc committee working with Undergraduate Curriculum Committee and individual departments

By When: Fall, 2008

Cost: $15,000 – one 3 SCH course (team taught, with additional monies to bring in a speaker each semester)

Source of Funds: CAS Dean’s Office

Assessment: Use student focus groups, course evaluations and department assessment; track student success and retention over time; and have UCC evaluate data collected and modify curriculum.

Prime Examples:1) From English: A general course on some topic such as the “Great Discoverers: (e.g. The Daniel

Boorstin book series)2) From History and Political Science: A Seminar entitled “Peace and reconciliation after war:

consideration of political, economic, linguistic, psychological and historical dimensions

ACTION ITEM 1.3. Develop a “pilot” advanced interdisciplinary science seminar for juniors and seniors considering graduate school in the sciences so that students are taught by working on faculty research projects. .

By Whom: Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, working with individual departments

By When: Fall, 2008

Cost: $15,000 (same format as Action Item 1.2 - one Fall section and one Spring section)


Assessment: Prior to initiation of pilot seminar, inventory current practice and capacity for expansion for undergraduate participation in research. Then after offering of course, combined with entrance-exit interviews, student evaluations, and ad hoc course review, there should be a strong expectation that faculty would co-author projects with these students. The projects might be presented to a “jury” of faculty in a competition and displayed somewhere prominently on campus.

Prime Examples:1) From the Sciences: A sequence of interdisciplinary science courses for a group of gifted

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students (Honors students) - the first course will be the freshman science seminar followed by sophomore level interdisciplinary class on the scientific method to make certain all students are getting similar training in doing research; and then the junior/senior research seminar

2) From the Sciences and Psychology: Create series of lectures titled “SCIENCE AT THE EDGE” which examines how traditionally distinct science disciplines are merging to create new opportunities

ACTION ITEM 1.4. Conduct a feasibility study to establish an undergraduate interdisciplinary science degree, comparable to those offered at Texas Tech University and University of Houston.

By Whom: UCC together with Science and Mathematics Department Chairs

By When: Feasibility study concluded by Fall 2008

Cost: $48,500 ($48,000 to cover TF’s or adjuncts to allow release of 4 science faculty - Biol, Chem, Phys, Geog - from one course each semester for 3 semesters to work on project, and $500 to cover travel to model campuses)


Assessment: Prior to establishment of committee and feasibility study, investigate the nature of the interdisciplinary science degrees, enrollments and placement of graduates. Then, creation of formal report on desirability, requirements and implementation of degree.

Prime Example: 1) From Political Science: The format, scope and organization of the International Studies (INST)

major could serve as a useful, local model

ACTION ITEM 1.5. Establish three new interdisciplinary Centers of Excellence building upon the expertise of faculty across the university to advance scholarship and education.

By Whom: Involved Faculty, Chairs, CAS Dean’s Office, Deans Offices of other Colleges/Schools as appropriate

By When: Beginning Spring 2007 and throughout duration of Strategic Plan

Cost: If each Center is conceptual, no direct cost. If a Center requires physical space (which would indicate a desirable high level of activity), then estimated one time costs for renovation, furniture, computers, etc. is $50,000 each (total $150,000). Estimated annual cost of operating budget and staff person is $30,000 (total $120,000). Departments would need assistance in raising private funds for the development of these centers. Departments would also be expected to apply for external funding to develop centers.

Source of Funds: Combined UNT, State, Federal and private funding.

Assessment: Annually, the college will assess Interdisciplinary Centers of Excellence though the analysis of the following data from reporting units:

Evidence of local and national recognition, including:1. Program ranking by external agencies2. Submission and receipt of multi-investigator/discipline grants3. Publication of multi-investigator/discipline papers

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4. Submission and receipt of large grants for Centers of Research Excellence grants to federal agencies such as the NIH COBRE program, NSF DBI program, and the National Center fro Research Resources (NCRR)

5. Undergraduate and graduate enrollments and graduation rates Admission of undergraduates to graduate and professional school programs Non-performing Centers will be “”sunsetted”, while under-performing centers will be

helped to develop a pathway to renewed activity

Prime Examples:1) From Psychology, Economics, Philosophy and Religion Studies and other Humanities/Social

Science Departments: Create center devoted to the craft of Interdisciplinarity.2) Establish Centers of Excellence, such as: Study of Ethics, Science, and Technology in

Environmental Science and Policy3) From Political Science: Establish an Institute on Democracy, Development and Conflict

Resolution 4) From Mathematics: Work with the Department of Biology and the Department of Computer

Science and Engineering to develop a joint program in scientific computing. Discussions on this topic have commenced with the participation of members of the department interested in applied mathematics and computing.

5) From Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics: Continue to establish strong collaborative ties with UNT College of Engineering.

ACTION ITEM 1.6. Encourage dialogue across disciplines by creating relevant courses, degree programs, centers and departments.

By Whom: See Action Item 1.2

By When: 2011

Cost: $63,000 annually for one pilot program. Once such programs or majors have been proven viable, commit to funding staff positions to perform most of the administrative work associated with running a major interdisciplinary effort.

Source of Funds: CAS, UNT, State, Federal and private (business) funding

Assessment: Request each department to identify courses and research collaborations with other units as part of their annual report and include success, obstacles and future plans.

Prime Examples:1) From Biology, Political Science, & Philosophy and Religion Studies: An Ethics in Science

course on the science and politics of Evolution as a team-taught interdisciplinary course2) From Communication Studies: Consider establishing a school of communication within CAS

involving the Departments of Communication Studies, Journalism, and Radio, Television and Film

3) From Economics: Promote Interdisciplinarity through the creation of a joint Statistics Program with the Mathematics Department

4) From Foreign Languages and Literature: Create a major in Middle Eastern Studies, using the resources available at UNT (interdisciplinary sequence)

5) From Biology: Department of Biological Sciences will work with the College of Engineering to plan teaching and research programs in biological engineering and environmental engineering

6) From Chemistry: Assemble multiple research faculty doing research in forensics chemistry and, in cooperation with the Departments of Biological Sciences and Criminal Justice, establish a forensic chemistry program

7) From Biology, Geography and College of Engineering develop teaching and research programs in biological engineering and environmental engineering

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8) From English: Create a new administrative unit to optimize interaction between linguists and technical writers – e.g. a Department of Linguistics, Rhetoric and Technical Communication

9) Create a seminar entitled “Peace and reconciliation after war: consideration of political, economic, linguistic, psychological and historical dimensions

ACTION ITEM 1.7. Develop a creative, contemporary solution for calculating teaching loads for professors who team teach interdisciplinary courses

By Whom: Undergraduate Curriculum Committee and College administrators, working with individual departments

By When: Fall, 2007

Cost: (measured in personnel time expenditure)

Source of Funds: N/A

Assessment: Positive assessment will be demonstrated by acceptance of the workload solution by department chairs, the UNT academic administration, and ultimately by the Faculty Senate.

Prime Example: From CAS Dean’s Office: Use Delaware Study data base and Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences network to determine best practices for policies that have been field tested in large, public, student-centered research universities.

CAS GOAL #2. INTERNATIONALIZATION: Improve quality and relevance of curriculum by integrating international perspectives and opportunities into teaching as well as scholarship, service and outreach.

Rationale: Encounters with diverse international traditions and intellectual perspectives in classroom and research/creative environments will enhance student learning and produce faculty scholarship that is more rigorous, encompassing, and valid.

Linkage to UNT Academic Plan

Core Values: A. Students and Learning; B. Opportunity and Inclusiveness; C. Scholarship and Research; D. Community and Connectivity; E. Partnership and Outreach

Themes Addressed: I. Diversity and Inclusiveness; II. Partnerships.

ACTION ITEM 2.1. i. Conduct college-wide assessment of efforts to improve "internationalization"

and make recommendations for College and Department curricular and research issues involving international activities.

By Whom: CAS Dean’s Office, Ad hoc faculty committee, UNT International Office

By When: Spring 2007

Cost: $17,000 ($500 for purchase of studies conducted on this topic by American Council on

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Education, $2,500 consultant or speaker, $8,000 release time for committee chair and $6,000 for site visits to well known established programs.

Source of Funds: CAS curricular budget

Assessment: Final report to CAS Dean’s Office with specific recommendations for initiatives and implementation

Prime Examples:1) Develop guidelines for considering internationalization in promotion and tenure review2) Increase the opportunities for interaction outside classroom between US and international

students3) Synchronize languages taught within areas of international study in CAS, COBA and other

UNT colleges 4) Increase number of languages taught5) Increase visibility of international education opportunities and programs (study abroad,

internships, etc.)6) Establish faculty workshops to help improve “internationalization” of curricula7) Increase funding allocated for study abroad opportunities, visiting international lecturers, and

international travel for faculty to pursue research and education opportunities8) Undertake a detailed inventory of international activities study to evaluate whether RTVF could

collaborate with other departments to determine if short-semester courses with an International focus would be feasible.

9) Raise private funds to provide tuition scholarships for select Study Abroad programs.

ACTION ITEM 2.2. Establish a limited number of high activity, high impact partnerships with foreign universities in Mexico, Spain, Canada and other countries.

By Whom: CAS Dean’s Office and program Directors/Chairs working with International Programs

By When: Throughout duration of Strategic Plan

Cost: Estimated $45,000 per year for international travel (20 individuals per year from UNT and other foreign universities)

Source of Funds: Budgets of CAS, International Programs and VPAA’s Office

Assessment: Establishment of viable exchange programs; exit interviews of student and faculty participants. Review of annual reports on participation with recommendations for improvements to increase access and participation.

Prime Examples:1) From Department of Radio, Television and Film: Develop a Spanish Language Media Institute2) From Journalism: develop a partnership with the Autonomous University of the State Mexico for

undergraduate and graduate programs3) From Philosophy: Continue development of the UNT field station in southern Chile as part of the

Center for Environmental Science, Philosophy, and Policy (CESPP)

ACTION ITEM. 2.3 Encourage internationalization of all departmental activities by creating a fund to reward relevant courses and degree programs.

By Whom: CAS Dean’s Office, working in collaboration with International Studies and Provost’s Offices.

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By When: Fall, 2008

Cost: $25,000 annually

Source of Funds: CAS curricular budget; External Partners and fundraising activities

Assessment: Successful creation of Internationalization Fund, with annual distributions to departments and programs. Annual reports from departments and programs on usage citing success, problems, and proposals for future projects.

Prime Examples:1) Distribution of funds to support the development of courses that are international, interdisciplinary

and can satisfy the core component of Globalization2) From Philosophy and Religion Studies: Extend current Department of Philosophy research

projects in India, Europe, and South America so as to continue global leadership in environmental philosophy and ethics

.

CAS GOAL #3. PARTNERSHIPS: Greatly enhance and continue to develop external partnerships to foster highly recognized scholarship, education and service.

Rationale: Developing partnerships with local, regional, national, and international entities allows the university to respond to these communities’ needs for an educated workforce and access to relevant knowledge. In turn, these partners respond to the university’s need for funding to recruit, retain, and train qualified undergraduate and graduate students, to conduct relevant scholarship, and to engage in community outreach activities.


Core Values: A. Students and Learning; C. Scholarship and Research; D. Community and Connectivity; E. Partnership and Outreach; E. Integrity and Stewardship

Themes Addressed: II Partnerships; III Interdisciplinarity.

ACTION ITEM 3.1. Increase fundraising efforts through faculty member training and clear branding to promote identification with CAS and its constituent departments. Develop mechanisms for individual departments to access untapped alumni base to increase involvement which will benefit departments, the college, and university through increased extramural giving, partnerships, and internships.

By Whom: Departments working in conjunction with the CAS Development Office

By When: Phased across the life of the strategic plan (2006-2007: Departments create or update alumni databases; establish Alumni Relations Committees comprised of faculty, students, and alumni; and identify department activities in which to include alumni; 2007-2008: CAS Development Office conducts workshops with Alumni Relations Committees on friend-raising and fundraising techniques; 2008-2009: Alumni Relations Committees make initial contacts with potential donors, inviting them to participate in departmental activities; and 2009-2011: Fundraising offensive)

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Costs: $17,000 ($500 to purchase NSFRE course, $4,500 to send 3 faculty to workshops, and $3,000 each for 3 departments a year to do mailing, research, develop brochure, and have a special event.) Faculty time: Fundraising requires a substantial commitment of time. Time devoted to fundraising necessarily involves tradeoffs in areas like research productivity.

Source of Funds: CAS Development Budget provides start up costs. Once established, Alumni Relations Committees retain a percentage of funds raised for the department to fund future activities.

Assessment: Each department will document funds raised in the three years prior to the implementation of the strategic plan to establish a benchmark. Increase in percentage of funds raised will serve as the primary measure of success. CAS can reward major successes by sharing costs for renting the UNT Luxury Coach for a departmental fundraising event.

Prime Examples:1) University Development Office will provide training on

various topics such as Planned Giving, Getting the Initial Appointment, Fact Finding on the Initial Visit and Foundation Relations.

2) From CAS Dean’s Office: CAS Development Office will provide requested training, information resources and event planning.

ACTION ITEM 3.2. Forge department-specific partnerships by establishing mutually beneficial relationships with businesses, not-for-profit organizations, schools, and government agencies, exploiting our position in but not limiting our focus to the North Texas region.

By Whom: Departments working in conjunction with CAS Development Office, UNT Development Office, and UNT Public Affairs

By When: Phased across the life of the strategic plan (2006-2007: Departments establish External Relations Boards comprised of faculty, alumni who work in each of the types of targeted organizations, and students; Board researches potential organizations to determine potential fit and mutual benefits; 2007-2008: Boards coordinate with Development Offices about protocol for contacting organizations; make initial contacts with organizations that include presentations about mutual benefits of a partnership with the department (e.g., sponsorship of department activities in exchange for faculty consulting); and 2008-2011: Board assesses the productivity of existing partnerships, notifies Public Affairs of striking successes, and continues working to establish new partnerships).

Cost: $18,000 ($1,000 per CAS academic department and Aerospace in 2007-2008 to defray the cost of developing presentations, creating brochures, and hosting a reception for potential partners.) Faculty Time: This commitment will trade off with other faculty commitments (i.e., research)

Source of Funds: CAS Dean’s Office, Central Development.

Assessment: External Relations Boards will be charged with assessing their productivity on an annual basis, beginning 2008-2009, utilizing a standardized reporting form created by the CAS Administration. Assessment should include quantitative and qualitative data that addresses benefits to partnering organizations and CAS departments, and include tangible benefits (i.e., internships, sponsored events, consulting sessions) as well as less tangible benefits (i.e., increased community visibility for CAS and its constituent departments). Each Board will then use the assessment data to formulate strategies for improvement of productivity and to develop their agenda in line with goals for the coming year.

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Prime Examples:1) From Political Sciences. Peace Studies should investigate collaboration with the Dallas Peace

Center and other human rights organizations with offices in the DFW metroplex.2) From Radio, Television, Film: investigate collaboration with local media outlets and production

companies.3) From Journalism: should investigate partnerships with public relations firms as well as

mainstream and alternative print media.4) From Dance and Theatre: investigate partnerships with major arts organizations. This might be

something Development and the UNT Public Affairs Office could work – identifying these partner institutions; discussing with them their needs, and relaying that information back to the relevant departments – some sort of systematic study, and one that is not dumped onto the departments.

CAS GOAL #4. RESEARCH FUNDING: Increase extramural funding for research as a means to enhance both the quality and quantity of scholarship of our faculty and graduate students.

Rationale: The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s designation of the University of North Texas as an emerging research institution reinforces the need for the College of Arts and Sciences to continue its tradition and to enhance its critical role in generating research funding, particularly extramural federal dollars. Acquiring such funding will ensure the university’s growth as a student centered research institution.

CAS will increase research funding by providing training and resources for all of its faculty able to garner federal funding, increase graduate student stipends, differentially invest in science and interdisciplinary programs most likely to lead to increased federal funding and funding critical staff positions throughout the duration of this plan.

CAS targets a minimum 5% per year increase in funding among current faculty, and additionally increasing funding through all hires, including a minimum of two senior research scientists per year with current funding of at least $200K per year. Through this combined strategy, we will increase current external funding in CAS by a minimum of 50%% by 2011 (See Appendix 2) This target using a “faculty position by position” approach is forward-looking but realistic given uncertainties in the federal budget and increased competition as more universities mandate increased funding levels from their faculty. In parallel, the College will pursue a strategy of hiring large clusters and possibly even entire departments. This will have an enormous impact, albeit one difficult to model or predict in size, scope and costs. Pursuing either strategy will require significant and sustained university investment in research infrastructure, hiring new science research faculty and providing attractive start-up packages for new hires.


Core Values: A. Students and Learning; C. Scholarship and Research

Themes Addressed: II Partnerships; III Interdisciplinarity.

ACTION ITEM 4.1. Hire additional research faculty, through a combination of replacement positions as well as new hires at junior and senior levels.

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By Whom: Hires will be made into departments best positioned to leverage research investments and produce the highest possible rates of extramural research funding for faculty and student research projects.

By When: Annually throughout the life of the plan

Cost: $5,000,000 annually, including salaries, equipment and renovation.

Source of Funds: UNT Academic Affairs. Eventually to include indirect substantial cost monies generated at the department and college level.

Assessment: Based on numbers and quality of undergraduate and graduate students trained and mentored, on annual rate of increase in research funding generated, and on scholarly publications produced.

Prime Examples: 1) From Geography: Hire an atmospheric senior scientist to complement existing interdisciplinary

cluster in water/air relations. 2) From Psychology: Hire experimental psychologists with opportunities for NIH/NIHM funding to

provide balance into the department’s research activities.3) From Biological Sciences: Hire 5-year term research scientists in addition to tenure-track faculty.4) From Physics: Hire key senior faculty positions that compliment existing research clusters as well

as bridge to research groups in Materials Science in Engineering..5) From Mathematics: Hire applied mathematicians to participate in interdisciplinary collaborations

with faculty from other departments.

ACTION ITEM 4.2. Fund critical staff positions (three annually) to improve faculty productivity, following a prioritized plan building on existing strengths.

By Whom: CAS Dean’s Office will review applications from departments and programs for new staff lines or upgrades to current staff positions. Utilizing productivity figures for departments and projections by departments of potential productivity, the Dean’s Office will allocate resources.

By When: Departments and programs will conduct assessments and submit applications during each academic year covered by the strategic plan. Funds will be awarded at the conclusion of the first and each subsequent year to fund hires for the following academic year.

Cost: $100,000.00 annually

Source of Funds: UNT Academic Affairs

Assessment: Based on increased quality and quantity of faculty productivity over the course of the strategic plan. Benchmarks from the period prior to funding positions should be used to measure impact of staff hires and/or upgrades.

Prime Examples: 1) From the Sciences: Hire science technicians to provide support for increasingly specialized

equipment acquired as part of UNT push to Research University status2) From CAS Dean’s Office: Hire shared support staff for CAS interdisciplinary programs such as

Women’s Studies, Jewish Studies, and International Studies Programs.

ACTION ITEM 4.3. Increase graduate student stipends to recruit outstanding

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students.

By Whom: CAS Dean’s Office, CAS Development Staff, and CAS Department Chairs

By When: Fall 2006, and throughout duration of CAS Strategic Plan

Cost: $1.2 million annually (for strategic raises for TA, TF, RA, GSA)

Source of Funds: UNT Academic Affairs

Assessment: Quantitative measure of increase in funds available for graduate tuition and fees

Prime Examples:1)Increase strategically identified Masters and Doctoral stipends to within second quartile of those

offered by benchmark departments2) Allow faculty to retain a larger share of indirect costs to be used toward graduate student support

ACTION ITEM 4.4. Allocate resources to specific science programs assessed as most likely to lead to increased federal research dollars.

By Whom: CAS Dean’s Office, working in conjunction with an advisory committee (faculty, staff,

members of advisory boards), will assess the potential of each of CAS’ science programs to attract federal research dollars

By When: Given the urgency of meeting UNT’s goals for federal research dollars, program review will

begin at the inception of the Strategic Plan and continue for its duration.


Source of Funds: N/A

Assessment: Annually, the College will assess efforts to increase research funding through the analysis from reporting units of information collected from annual reporting, including: number of external proposals submitted; total and average dollar value of the proposals submitted, and number and dollar value of proposals funded, with special reference to proposals funded after resubmission.Whenever possible, assessment data will be compared to research activity of external benchmark units, both peer and aspirational.

Prime Examples:1) From Mathematics, Biological Sciences, and Computer Science: Computational Biology;

Bioinformatics2) From Biological Sciences: Plant Lipid Biochemistry; Developmental Physiology and Genetics3) From Chemistry: Computational Chemistry; Catalysis; Forensics4) From Geography and Biological Sciences: Environmental Modeling; Epidemiology5) From Physics; Condensed matter materials characterization; Complexity/chaos/non-linear

physics

ACTION ITEM 4.5. Utilize existing resources and provide additional training to assist faculty members from all areas of the college in obtaining federal funding for scholarship.

By Whom: UNT Research Office, CAS staff and Department Chairs

By When: Fall 2006 and through remainder of Strategic Plan period

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Cost: $20,000 annually

Source of Funds: AS and UNT F&A (Indirect) funds

Assessment: Annually, the College will assess efforts to increase research funding through the analysis of the following information collected from reporting units: Number of external proposals submitted Total and average dollar value of the proposals submitted Number and dollar value of proposals funded, with special reference to proposals funded after

resubmission Whenever possible assessment data will be compared to research activity of external benchmark

units, both peer and aspirational.

Prime Examples:1) From Departments: Investigate “best practices” at universities demonstrably more successful

than UNT2) From CAS Dean’s Office: Utilize services of UNT Research Office for fundamentals of grant

writing workshops for departments that currently are not proficient in obtaining external funding, 3) From CAS Dean’s Office: Identify scholars in particular areas who have been exceptionally

successful in capturing federal research dollars and bring them to campus to conduct intensive analyses of faculty strengths and to identify potential funding agencies for faculty research.

4) From CAS Dean’s Office: Create a streamlined process for peer review of proposals from new faculty prior to federal submission

5) From CAS Dean’s Office: Provide Assistant Professors in key growth areas with travel to a professional meeting for at least one year with future funding contingent on presenting at the meeting

6) From CAS Dean’s Office: Assistant Professors in key growth areas receive $500 supplement to travel funds upon their publication of research credited to UNT for a maximum of $1000 per year

CAS GOAL #5. EVALUATION/PRODUCTIVITY/REWARD: Improve evaluation of faculty and staff performance to better recognize, reward, and stimulate productivity, to achieve a level of excellence comparable with the finest model programs.

Rationale: To continue to retain and recruit the most qualified faculty, students, and staff, the College of Arts and Sciences must devise more consistent, fair, and holistic systems for evaluating and rewarding productivity.


Core Values: A. Students and Learning; C. Scholarship and Research; F. Integrity and Stewardship

Themes Addressed: n/a

ACTION ITEM 5.1. Develop a faculty productivity evaluation system that is objective, equitable and cognizant of the diverse departments in the College, and complements UNT’s existing Faculty Workload Policy. This system should allow for comparisons both within the College and with like departments in a peer group (see Appendix 2).

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By Whom: Faculty Council, CAS Chairs and CAS Dean’s Office

By When: Fall 2007


Source of Funds: n/a

Assessment: Creation and implementation of evaluation policy that is both broadly used by the college Personnel Affairs Committees of CAS Departments and readily honored by College and University administration

Prime Examples: 1) From Psychology: Establish committee representing all faculty demographics to restructure the

reward/merit system in accordance with department strategic plan. Reward system to be based on rewarding desired behavior. The system should include points for facilitating others’ work as well as rewarding the diversity of approaches valued by the Department, keeping the quality of the work salient.

2) From Psychology: Examine approaches used in successful psychology departments.

ACTION ITEM 5.2. By department identify peer departments and programs at nationally or internationally recognized universities that they aspire to emulate.

By Whom: Departments

By When: December 2006

Cost: $59,500 (One course release for one semester to a faculty member in each department who will gather and organize data)


Assessment: Departments use aspirational data for self evaluation and develop plans and benchmarks to achieve the desired characteristics. Relative improvement of the program will be compared to peer institutions over the life of the plan.

Prime Example:1) Departments will provide both data on individual faculty productivity over time (e.g. a three year

window) showing how faculty have performed in various self-identified measures of research and teaching productivity. Departments would also provide either the results of external surveys ranking such programs across the country, or provide data comparing their departmental productivity with the productivity of other, self-identified (to an extent) departments/programs.

2) From CAS Dean’s Office: Identify traits and practices that make each department successful and combine with “gap analysis” to determine measures need to be taken to improve.

ACTION ITEM 5.3. Continue to pursue salaries and course loads matched to productivity at levels comparable to those of benchmark institutions (see Appendix 3).

By Whom: All CAS Departments

By When: Duration of the Strategic Plan

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Cost: ~$2,000,000 of base pay salary, plus subsequent annual increases once salary benchmark levels are reached

Source of Funds: TBD

Assessment: Departmental improvement in national rankings

Prime Examples:1) Support travel to a grant-writing workshop for one to two assistant professors per year within two

years of their employment and after completion of doctoral studies.2) From CAS Dean’s Office: Provide assistant professors with $1000 for travel to a professional

meeting for at least one year with future funding contingent on presenting at the meeting3) Supplement assistant professors travel funds by $500 upon their publication of research credited

to UNT for a maximum of $1000 per year4) Support special requests from junior faculty to help them be more productive5) Develop a disciplinary specific database with faculty productivity in teaching, service and

research comparing peer group institutions.

CAS GOAL #6. INFRASTRUCTURE: Improve the condition of teaching and research facilities by continuing both non-capital and capital projects to modernize our facilities, equipment and technology.

Rationale: To remain competitive and to continue to retain and recruit the most qualified faculty, students, and staff, the College of Arts and Sciences must have more and better facilities for teaching, scholarship, and creative activities. New and improved existing facilities must incorporate technologies necessary to encourage interdisciplinary scholarship and pedagogy, to foster partnerships with external constituents, and to attract extramural research funding.


Core Values: A. Students and Learning; C. Scholarship and Research

Themes Addressed : II Partnerships, III Interdisciplinarity

ACTION ITEM 6. 1. Develop and fund a five year plan to guide facility, equipment and technology modernization based on a combination of curricular needs, research and scholarship potential, and strategic initiatives outlined in departmental strategic plans that consider innovative ways of funding through partnerships and privatization. Present a hierarchy of plans to the university administration.

By Whom: CAS Dean’s and Associate Deans; CAS Faculty Council; CAS Chairs

By When: Spring 2007

Cost: Estimated costs of $2,000,000-$4,000,000 annually for non-capital improvements to existing infrastructure, with ~$50,000,000 for creation of new science capital construction

Source of Funds: UNT/State, NSF-NIH Infrastructure and private sources.

Assessment: Funding and completion of plan with coordination from University Staff

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Prime Examples:1)From Biological Sciences: Establish a Research and Teaching Life Science Complex to relieve

pressure on undergraduate, graduate and research laboratory demands.2)From Dance and Theater: Establish a Theater Design Technology Center to provide quality

equipment to support academics and artistic development3)From Communication Studies, Journalism and Radio Television and Film: Funding from

combination of private, state and federal sources for new facility to house a more closely affiliated grouping of the communication faculty, broadly defined.

4)From Sciences: Obtain adequate workspace and electronic test equipment to better repair, design, and build electronic research equipment for departments on campus

5)From CAS Dean’s Office: Identify funds for regular replacement of CAS computing infrastructure.

ACTION ITEM 6.2. Continue to improve physical plant resource management by creating a College-based process for more efficient scheduling of teaching spaces (particularly large lecture classrooms).

By Whom: CAS Dean’s Office

By When: May 30, 2007 (in time for Spring 08 semester)

Cost: $45,000 (salary for staff to manage system)

Source of Funds: TBD

Assessment: Increase in classroom utilization efficiency

Prime Examples:1) From CAS Dean’s Office: Allow for scheduling of Lyceum in afternoons after 2 pm and use of

both Lyceum and ESSC 255 by large enrollment core course2) From Biological Sciences: Improve inventory of teaching laboratories for undergraduate courses.

Investigate means of consolidating Physics Department faculty to improve student access and collaboration.

APPENDICES

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APPENDIX – 1

CAS Enrollment Projections

As a part of the UNT Strategic Goal #1, Enrollment for Excellence in Student-Centered Education, the College of Arts and Sciences will develop strategies that increase the quality of programs as well as student participation, retention and graduation of students at both the undergraduate and graduate level.

At the undergraduate level, college staff will work with departments and admissions to develop models and strategies for programmatic recruitment. Recruitment activities with program expectations and requirements will assist students in optimum self-selection of a degree program. Successful efforts in programmatic recruitment should increase student participation and success. Over the next 5 years anticipated growth for undergraduates in the College of Arts and Sciences is projected to be 11.8% overall.

For individual undergraduate programs the projected increase will vary. Several programs implement a target reduction while others have the capacity to increase slightly. The programs specifically working on decreases in enrollment are Journalism, Radio, Television and Film and Psychology. The relatively new Science Teaching Program and the Forensic Science Program are expected to attract new students.

At the graduate level, the College of Arts and Sciences will work with the departments and Graduate School to increase support for graduate students. By the year 2011, UNT expects the graduate enrollment to increase by 26.8%. An increase of that magnitude in the Arts and Sciences will depend on faculty and program capacity, competitive research and teaching assistantships and tuition replacement money. Without these three vital infrastructure components, graduate enrollment will continue a slight decline or remain relatively static.

Given optimum increases in research and teaching assistantships and institutional support for tuition, Arts and Sciences programs will be able to compete nationally and increase the number of students in targeted programs. Increase in program quality and enrollment will be directly dependent on financial contributions through research and institutional support. Modest to strong financial support could increase graduate enrollment from 13.7% to 21.4%*.

Fall Enrollment Comparison for Undergraduates and Graduatesin the College of Arts and Sciences

Target/ProjectionFall 2002

Fall 2003

% +/- Fall 2004

% +/- Fall 2005

% +/-

Fall 2011

%Change 2006-2011

Undergrads 8,716 9,443 8.34 9,545 1.08 10,026 5.04 11,200 11.8Grads 1,209 1,257 3.97 1,278 1.67 1,163 -9.00 1,323 13.7*Total 9,925 10,700 7.81 10,823 1.15 11,189 3.38 12,523 11.9*

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APPENDIX – 2

CAS Research Funding ScenariosAn achievable target increase in funding based on current faculty and new junior

faculty hires is 5% annually (this is approximately what was realized from 2004 to 2005). As discussed below, the College is pursuing a strategy of hiring senior scientists as part of the Provost’s “cluster-hire” initiative. Several regional universities are following a similar strategy with the goal of increasing their research funding levels. Based on this competition and experiences so far in bringing senior scientists to UNT, a realistic goal is 1 senior scientist/research group hire per year over the next 5 years. (One senior scientist in Biology was hired and arrived in spring 2006.) The expectation would be that these scientists would bring approximately $200K per year in funding with them. Figure 4 shows funding level projections under three scenarios: 1) 5% per year increase in funding among current faculty and all hires (junior and senior) plus 1 senior hire per year bringing in $200K, 2) 5% per year increase in funding among current faculty and all hires (junior and senior) plus 2 senior hires per year bringing in $200K each, and 3) 10% per year increase in funding among current faculty and all hires (junior and senior) plus 2 senior hires per year bringing in $200K each among. By 2011 these scenarios project an increased level of funding over 2005 of $3.5M (scenario 1) to $8M (scenario 3) depending on how aggressive the assumptions.

Achieving any of these scenarios – in particular, the very aggressive scenarios 2 and 3 – will require significant and sustained investment in research infrastructure, hiring new science research faculty and providing attractive start-up packages for new hires. For instance, the Physics Building is in need of substantial MEP renovations. Similarly, the Science Research Building will require significant renovation of its air handling system to support planned chemistry faculty hires. Besides renovations, the proposed construction of a new Biological Sciences Research Building must occur to allow current researchers the modern facilities needed to increase their research productively and to provide laboratory space for new hires. Without additional research space and significant investment in personnel, the College and UNT will have difficulty in reaching its research funding goals.

Figure 1. Scenarios of research funding increases. Scenarios 2 and 3 represent a very aggressive version of a conventional strategy of increasing funding of existing strategy. Scenarios 2 and 3 are much more aggressive, and represent increasing levels of senior researcher hires. A fourth scenario (not shown), shows far more rapid advancement through the hiring of entire research units already in existence at other institutions. None of these scenarios will be realized without significant and sustained infrastructure and personnel investment.

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$0

$2,000,000

$4,000,000

$6,000,000

$8,000,000

$10,000,000

$12,000,000

$14,000,000

$16,000,000

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

To

tal R

esearc

h F

un

din

g

Scenario 1

Scenario 2

Scenario 3

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APPENDIX – 3

CAS Comparable and Aspirational Universities 1998, 2004

CAS Self-Identification of Comparable Institutions - 2004

INSTITUTION (Texas in Bold) Number of Reporting CAS Depts. Considering

Themselves Directly Comparable (Out of 16)

Percentage of Reporting CAS Depts. Considering

Themselves Directly Comparable (Out of 16)

Texas Tech 6 38%Colorado State University 4 25%Oklahoma State University 4 25%University of Arkansas 4 25%University of Houston 4 25%University of Oklahoma 3 19%Iowa State 2 13%Oregon State University 2 13%University of Cincinnati 2 13%University of New Mexico 2 13%University of New Orleans 2 13%University of Northern Iowa 2 13%University of Texas at Arlington 2 13%University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee 2 13%

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CAS Self-Identification of Comparable and Target Institutions – 1998

INSTITUTION (Texas in bold)

Number of Reporting CAS Depts. and/or Programs Considering Themselves Directly Comparable (Out

of 21)

Percentage of Reporting CAS Depts. and/or Programs Considering Themselves

Directly Comparable (Out of 21)

Texas Tech University 10 48%University of Houston 9 42%Colorado State University 8 38%Oklahoma State University 8 38%Kansas State University 5 24%University of Oklahoma 5 24%University of South Carolina 5 24%University of South Florida 5 24%Auburn University 4 19%Iowa State University 4 19%New Mexico State University 4 19%Texas A&M University 4 19%Kent State University 3 14%Ohio University 3 14%University of Nevada, Las Vegas

3 14%

University of New Mexico 3 14%University of North Carolina, Greensboro

3 14%

University of Texas, Arlington

3 14%

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