Academic Vision

My participation in the 1995-96 review of the College and my experiences during the first year as Dean (1997-98) made it clear to me that the College has a tradition of innovation and excellence but that it needed greater visibility and an independent identity within as well as outside the University. The College also needed to focus its energies and resources on progress toward specific, crucial goals.

During that first year I began forming a very successful administrative team. Recognizing the excellence of Raúl Curto in his role as Associate Dean for Faculty, I redefined his position to that of Executive Associate Dean. In this position, he continues his responsibilities for faculty recruitment and welfare while expanding his responsibilities in other areas, in particular collaborating with me on budgetary oversight. At the same time, after a semester-long search conducted by the College's Executive Committee with full faculty involvement, I appointed Frederick Antczak as the new Associate Dean for Academic Programs. From August 1998 through December 1999, Dean Curto and I executed the responsibilities of a third associate deanship in the College, for research and development. In January 2000, again following the College's procedures for associate dean searches, I appointed Michael O'Hara as Associate Dean for Research and Development. All three of the associate deans had previously served very successfully as DEOs in the College. Many of the successes described in this report derive from the Associate Deans' initiatives, their careful implementation of those initiatives, and their clear communications and productive interactions with DEOs and faculty. Our work is expertly supported by our staff, whose insights, skill, knowledge of and responsiveness to our departments, and memory of how policies and procedures have developed are essential in this complex College. (For the Dean's Office organizational chart, see Appendix A.)

Early in the fall 1998 semester, working with Deans Curto and Antczak, I drafted a "vision statement" for the College. This statement was organized around a "few achievable goals," which were re-iterated, with slight modifications, in the Strategic Plan that was finalized through extensive faculty consultation in 1999-2000 (see Appendix F). The goals as stated in the Strategic Plan are

1. to articulate, with pride and confidence, a vision of the liberal arts [and sciences] that demonstrates the centrality of our research to our mission,

2. to shape, strengthen, and develop our undergraduate and graduate curricula, making the best use of teaching resources and emerging technologies,

3. to creatively support excellence and diversity in our faculty and staff;

4. to design initiatives that support international and interdisciplinary education, and

5. to develop and nurture a culture of collegiality, service, and good citizenship.

I have established a practice of reporting to the faculty on our progress toward achieving these goals (in a message to the faculty dated June 1, 1999, and in State of the College addresses in April 2000 and May 2001). These texts, as well as the 1998 Vision Statement, are available on our website (http://www.clas.uiowa.edu/reports/). In this part of the self-study, I summarize the actions the College has taken in respect to our crucial strategic planning goals over the past four years.

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