THE JUSTICE
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012
STRATEGIC PLAN TASK FORCE REPORTS
REPORTS: Task forces provide specific details
Academic Innovation The task force on Academic Innovation urged the strategic planning committee to ensure that the plan focuses on distinguishing the University and letting “Brandeis be Brandeis.” The group recommended that the University offer more twice-weekly classes in order to “free up Fridays” for field trips or workshops. It also recommended a shift to “constructive feedback” as an alternative to grading, in the mold of schools like Hampshire College, which offers “narrative evaluations” instead of grades, according to the Hampshire website.
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Integrated Arts The Integrated Arts committee wanted to “reimagine the arts at Brandeis for the future and to further restore them to prominence in the university’s identity,” according to cochair Scott Edmiston, the director of the Office of the Arts. Specific ideas largely focused on facilities, with suggestions including renovations to the Rose Art Museum, new spaces on campus for studio arts students to work and the creation of a Center for Creative Collaboration. The task force also wrote about integrating the arts into more corners of campus, from connecting with alumni to putting on Lydian String Quartet concerts at faculty meetings.
Benchmarking The Benchmarking task force focused on comparing Brandeis to similar schools, including schools like Tufts University, Brown University and Washington University in St. Louis. They discovered that most of the University’s peers have had huge increases in applicants in the last 10 years, while Brandeis has grown modestly. The task force’s recommendations included big events to get the University noticed nationally and improving the graduate and professional schools. The committee noted that Brandeis was the only school studied that did not have a medical school and one of only two that did not have a law school.
Faculty, Scholarship and Research
Facilities and Campus Evolution The report from the task force on Facilities and Campus Evolution was rife with specific suggestions of special interest to students weary of crowded residence halls and sometimes questoinable facilities. The report mentioned creating a physical social justice hub on campus, creating outdoor art installations, setting minimum standards for academic buildings and residence halls, adding two parking garages on campus and making the loop road two-way, creating a piazza in upper campus and adding 150 new rooms for students in North Quad or East Quad.
strategic planning team expressed the thought that this is an important step in the process. “Brandeis loves a good, big, complicated debate. This kind of open conversation is, in part, what helps us get closer to the ideal of justice,” said Scott Edmiston, director of the Office of the Arts and cochair of the task force on Integrated Arts. “I think its fantastic how much the community cares about this plan and the passion with which they are discussing it.”
All of the task forces put forth both broad and specific ideas,. The next step for the planning committee is to gather feedback from the community about the framework in order to start working on the final draft of the plan. “There are many terrific ideas in the task force reports,” said Daniel Terris, director of the International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life and one of the cochairs on the Global task force. “Now the challenge is for the broader strategic plan to capture the zest, specificity, and imagination of the process. This will mean making tough choices—but I am certainly optimistic that we have the intellectual firepower within our community to make this a success.”
9FORCES TASK
The task force on Faculty, Scholarship and Research aimed to give the faculty every opportunity for discovery and research, while still ensuring that students are given the best possible education. According to Prof. Robin Feuer Miller (RUS), a senior adviser to the provost and one of the cochairs of the task force, one of the most important details in their report was the effort to efficiently and productively use faculty time. The report also emphasized the need to recruit and retain talented, top-tier faculty and to increase the diversity of the faculty, to allow for unique voices from different backgrounds on campus.
INSPIRATION: Provost Steve Goldstein ’78 shows his enthusiasm while talking about the strategic plan at a feedback session last week.
Flexible Education Through Technology
The Flexible Education Through Technology task force was tasked with “transforming Brandeis so that it will take advantage of radical and disruptive changes in technology while fulfilling its mission of excellence and access,” according to the task force report. Specific recommendations included forming an online summer school, raising the school’s online profile through joining sites like iTunes and partnering with a community college to offer Brandeis online courses to community college students.
Alumni and Community Building
The task force on Alumni and Community Building recommended doubling involvement of young alumni and friends in the next five years, capitalizing on the new figure of University President Frederick Lawrence. The task force also highlighted the need to “train” young alumni to ensure their commitment to future giving.
Global The Global task force was tasked with turning Brandeis into a “global public square,” according to task force cochair Daniel Terris, the director of the International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life. “We also laid out goals for extending the Brandeis global reach by developing a concentrated set of partnerships and relationships in a limited number of key regions, building on a successful start in Israel and India,” he said. Specific ideas included increasing the number of students who study abroad and who attend the University from abroad.
Learning Communities and Student Experience Finally, the Learning Communities and Student Experience proposed that “a central vision for strategic planning should be that Brandeis students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends will be connected to and infused with pride for the institution,” according to the report. They suggested creating a physical social justice center, in agreement with the Facilities and Campus Evolution task force. They also suggested more investment in athletics, the arts and competitive teams like mock trial or ballroom dance. The task force also emphasized recruitment and branding, suggesting an “aggressive Brandeis awareness campaign.” Photos by Joshua Linton/the Justice Design by Nan Pang/the Justice
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