Input sought for CLAS Strategic Plan

Thursday, February 5, 2015

The College of Liberal Arts & Sciences is engaged in creating a Strategic Plan to replace its current plan, which expires in 2015.

The 14-member Strategic Planning Committee, co-chaired by Associate Dean Joe Kearney and Professor of Physics & Astronomy Michael Flatté, seeks input from faculty, staff, students, and alumni.

A web page has been created for the purpose of gathering input and providing updates on the strategic planning process. All comments are welcome, and in particular the committee requests ideas and thoughts on these two issues:

  • A list of the 4-6 highest priority goals that should be incorporated into the CLAS Strategic Plan. Big ideas and ambitious goals are encouraged, but also try to consider the environment in which we expect to operate over the next five years. It would be helpful to have goals that are not too broad (e.g., “Student Success”) and not too specific (e.g., “Develop a course on X”).  
     
  • A list of 4-6 areas for strategic enhancement. The areas should address pressing challenges to Iowa and the nation. They should provide a basis for guiding future hiring decisions and programmatic investment. The aim is to identify interdisciplinary areas in which to build synergies that cross departmental and collegiate boundaries; areas in which CLAS and UI can make a mark.

The Strategic Planning Committee requests that all who are interested in providing input do so through the form found at http://clas.uiowa.edu/deans-office/strategic-planning-committee-suggestion-form. The form is anonymous, with the option of self-identifying if the commenter would prefer.

The committee aims to complete the new Strategic Plan by the end of summer 2015; it will coordinate its work with the efforts of a committee formed by the Provost to write the next University Strategic Plan.

The University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences offers about 70 majors across the humanities; fine, performing and literary arts; natural and mathematical sciences; social and behavioral sciences; and communication disciplines. About 15,000 undergraduate and nearly 2,000 graduate students study each year in the college’s 37 departments, led by faculty at the forefront of teaching and research in their disciplines. The college teaches all Iowa undergraduates through the college's general education program, CLAS CORE. About 80 percent of all Iowa undergraduates begin their academic journey in CLAS. The college confers about 60 percent of the university's bachelor's degrees each academic year.