Transformation Update: Feedback on White Papers Will Help Shape Deliberations

Transformation Update: Feedback on White Papers Will Help Shape Deliberations

By Meredith HayUniversity of Arizona Provost
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Provost Meredith Hay
Provost Meredith Hay

Seventy-five white papers have been submitted for reorganizations and consolidations of units from across campus. We have received proposals on how to merge and reconfigure colleges, recommendations on how to realign advising and outreach operations, and suggestions outlining innovative ways to strengthen top-ranked programs and build on our potentials in other areas. The vision and rigor of the proposals are impressive, and they are going to provide us with a terrific set of discussion points as we continue our deliberations upon how we can strengthen our core mission and streamline our operations.

 

The white papers are now available on the Transformation Web site. As proposed by the Faculty Senate, the Web site is set up to allow people to offer feedback. The dialog box after each proposal asks for respondents to identify themselves, but responses can also be submitted by e-mail if people would prefer not to be identified on the Web site or to the proposers and the SPBAC subcommittee that is reviewing the proposals.

These online responses will help to shape our deliberations on the white papers. Some of the white papers call for combining departments, and faculty, staff, and students in those programs will want to express their assessments of the proposed consolidations. The SPBAC subcommittee will review the white papers, and then the proposal teams for the selected white papers will be required to hold public forums on the reorganizations. These provisions are laid out in the Transformation timeline.

The imagination and commitment that people have brought to this process have been crucial in enabling us to get some ideas out so that they can be broadly discussed by faculty, staff, students, appointed personnel, and our various constituencies. We have some innovative ideas to work with as we continue the process of assessing how we can best address the financial challenges and institutional potentials we face. One thing that this process has already demonstrated is that one of our greatest resources is the creative and forward-looking leadership of the staff, faculty, students, and appointed personnel who have made this university a national leader. As this process moves forward, we will continue to do all that we can to capitalize on this resource.

(The Transformation was mentioned today on The Chronicle of Higher Education's Web site.)

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