COLLEGE OF FOREST RESOURCES
FACULTY MEETING
October 15, 2002
3:30-5:00 p.m.

Dean's Comments

Future of the College

ONLY THE FACULTY OF THIS COLLEGE CAN CREATE AND CONTROL THE QUALITY OF OUR PROGRAMS

Our vision is to promote excellence in teaching, research and outreach.

We must emphasize quality of the educational experience and we must strive to be the best world-class collegiate program emphasizing the stewardship of natural and managed environments and the sustainable use of their products and services.

We must provide world-class, internationally recognized knowledge and leadership for environmental and natural resource issues.

Using the unifying concept of environmental and resource sustainability, we have embarked on a transformation of the College but we are not yet finished.

We focus on the sustainability and functionality of complex natural resource and environmental systems using an interdisciplinary approach across multiple scales.

Our wide-ranging programs of teaching, research and outreach transcend our regional presence to attain global significance.

We must involve all members of the College community to help us fully realize this vision and continue to:

  • review, clarify and assign responsibility for achieving our vision and our strategic goals
  • improve our work place culture leading to improved organizational health

    Progress on both activities is crucial to attaining the common vision we hold.

    We face challenges in achieving the preeminence and quality inherent in our vision.

    We must address these challenges and engage all members of the CFR community in creating solutions for meeting them.

    The challenges we face exist not only in our disciplinary and professional fields but in our relationships to the University and within our College culture.

    To be successful, we MUST -

  • transform and reenergize College programs while defining a new identity that better serves the University and our diverse clients;
  • provide high quality programs of study for undergraduate and graduate students seeking professional employment upon graduation as well as those seeking a broad scientific understanding of forest ecosystems and forest environmental and amenity services;
  • address our professional educational needs while simultaneously increasing our service teaching contributions;
  • base our programs on the ecological, social and economic sciences underlying sustainability;
  • fully utilize our world-class outdoor laboratory to provide unparalleled experiential learning experiences;
  • change how we package and deliver educational material to our clients and how our programs are funded;
  • become more efficient at delivering our educational programs;
  • think more holistically and adopt a more integrated view across a wide spectrum of natural resources common to urban and forest ecosystems;
  • address the principles and concepts inherent in the stewardship of natural and managed environments while providing unsurpassed technical competency;
  • develop additional links with other campus programs; and
  • revitalize our research programs to provide new knowledge and information for our clients.

    WHILE THE FACULTY CONTROLS COLLEGE QUALITY, THE PROVOST HAS A LARGE SAY IN COLLEGE QUANTITIES

    Last week, we met with the Provost and his team to discuss their reaction to our strategic plan. This plan accompanied our request for permission to recruit for faculty vacancies and for additional resources to meet the market costs of those recruitments. In our meeting, we emphasized that our College engages in a diverse array of professional and service programs designed to support our mission and vision.

    The Provost recognized the hard work and energy we have devoted to strategic planning but he challenged us to do more and better with fewer resources.

    1. Budget -

    The anticipated state shortfall is $2-$2.5 billion to impact $7 billion in discretionary spending. While the state economy will recover, lost funding will not likely be restored - the legislative climate does not favor higher education.

    The UW is planning for a cut at least as large as last year's 2% across-the-board cut. Many factors that impact the size of the potential budget cut are as yet unknown (i.e., the Governor's budget request; additional tuition increases (if any); health of the State economy).

    UW leadership favors targeted and perhaps vertical cuts over horizontal cuts at this time. Horizontal cuts harm "stressed" programs disproportionately.

    The Provost believes that CFR does not indicate the "stresses" that other programs display, in SCH or research activity.

  • Enrollment at the UW is up 13%, SCH are up 12%.
  • CFR majors and enrollments are stable, not up.
  • Average research dollars per faculty are $300,000 across campus. Only 7 of our faculty exceed that level.

    We face an uncertain future with respect to the College's state funding.

    UW enrollment is growing; the College enrollment is flat; the state budget is shrinking; CONCLUSION: the College budget will shrink.

    In short, we must do more with less. We are certain that we will lose vacant faculty lines and we likely will face additional budget cuts.

    The Provost envisions us as a smaller, better, more entrepreneurial College.

    2. Structural Issues -

  • The Provost believes we are less "stressed", as a faculty, than other UW colleges, schools and departments measured in student credit hours and research dollar expenditures per faculty member.

  • The Provost asks that we review our undergraduate plan to ensure that it is "truly" a transformation and that it is well integrated and efficient. He also asks that we simultaneously examine our graduate programs.

  • We cannot rationalize or defend our current inefficient use of resources (i.e., too many courses with low enrollments) and too many specialized courses for under subscribed curricula.

  • We must further streamline our undergraduate curriculum. Five UG majors for 70 graduates per year appears neither sustainable nor efficient. Can ONLY implement if we demonstrate efficiency in use of instructional resources across ALL degree programs.

  • Organize curricula delivery to remove teaching inefficiencies. Reduce total number of courses that CFR must offer to meet degree requirements. We must do more with fewer resources while striving for excellence.

  • We must continue to demonstrate University citizenship through a commitment to, and increase in, SCH through service teaching.

  • We must be more entrepreneurial. More research funding, more self-sustaining teaching programs (i.e., professional MS; graduate certificates; evening degree programs; partial tenure appointments.

  • Released faculty resources can then be directed at the development of excellence in the research enterprise and service teaching program development.

  • We will proceed with the recruitment of a senior faculty member for the CUH/WPA directorship.

  • We will proceed with strategic research faculty appointments.

  • Open faculty positions are recaptured by Provost.

  • The ATI - PFC directorship recruitment request is denied - for now.

  • Our ATI proposal, and precision forestry, is perceived as narrowed beyond its original vision and definition and may be moved to another college. Cross-campus collaboration is lacking.

    3. Response to Provost -

    We will develop our responses to these issues and present them to the Provost for further consideration.

    Working with the EFC we will explore and evaluate our options on all issues. We will also seek the advice of our staff and students. We must fully explore all reasonable possibilities.

    We will recharge (and rename) the Undergraduate Curriculum Implementation Team. We must respond to the Provost's concerns and our reduced resource base. We will appoint a team to review and rationalize the graduate curricula and develop an integrated plan with the undergraduate curricula group. The outcome must be feasible given reduced resources.

    We will ask the Chairs, Associate Deans, and faculty to take the lead in organizing our response to the Provost.

    We will engage concerned parties in the development of a compelling argument for the retention of and recruitment for the ATI position.

    The Director of College Lands position needs to be re-considered along with a new funding strategy.

    4. Organizational Culture -

    It is essential that we continue to focus on our core values in these tough times:

  • open communication
  • respect
  • accountability

    5. Mission/Vision/Goals -

    Our recently affirmed College mission and vision statements are repeated below.

    Mission

    The College of Forest Resources is dedicated to generating and disseminating knowledge for the stewardship of natural and managed environments and the sustainable use of their products and services.

    Vision

    The College of Forest Resources will provide world-class, internationally recognized knowledge and leadership for environmental and natural resource issues.

    Three-Year Goals (2002-2005)

  • Attract and retain the highest quality staff, students and faculty
  • Build and upgrade facilities and laboratories, especially Merrill Hall and the Northwest Environmental Forum, consistent with sustainable building practices
  • Develop and maintain dynamic, creative leadership throughout the College
  • Strengthen open communication, respect, accountability and sustainability of our organizational culture
  • Broaden and increase financial support
  • Implement and nurture the new undergraduate curricula and other science-based sustainability programs

    6. Concluding Comments -

    The College and University are under extreme budgetary pressure. While this alone does not account for the situation the College finds itself in, becoming more productive and efficient in meeting our teaching, research, and outreach goals will certainly help as we deal with reduced resources. I believe our challenge runs deep and is fundamental in nature. It is to transform and reenergize College programs while defining a new identity that better serves the University and our diverse clients. We must do this while preserving the core values of the University as well as our tradition as an outstanding leading edge College. We must remain a significant contributor to science-based knowledge related to the stewardship of natural and managed environments and the sustainable use of their products and services.

    How we redefine our programs to meet current challenges while providing world-class, internationally recognized knowledge and leadership for environmental and natural resource issues is central to our near-term well being. Our programs focus on the sustainability and functionality of complex natural resource and environmental systems using an interdisciplinary approach across multiple scales. Our wide-ranging programs of teaching, research and outreach transcend our regional presence to attain global significance. We must continue to define our programs in this context and we must continue to foster closer ties to the programs in other campus units.

    We must continue to provide high quality programs of study for undergraduate and graduate students seeking professional employment upon graduation as well as those seeking a broad scientific understanding of forest ecosystems and forest environmental and amenity services. We must continue to address our professional educational needs while simultaneously increasing our service teaching contributions.

    To best prepare students for the workplace of tomorrow and/or to be well-informed citizens, our programs should:

  • be based upon the ecological, social and economic sciences underlying sustainability;

  • be well integrated across a wide spectrum of natural resources common to urban and forest ecosystems;

  • utilize our world-class outdoor laboratory to provide unparalleled experiential learning experiences;

  • address the principles and concepts inherent in the stewardship of natural and managed environments while providing unsurpassed technical competency; and

  • develop additional links with other campus programs.

    By carefully examining what we do, how we do it, and how we fund our programs, I believe we will uncover entirely new ways to shape our undergraduate and graduate programs and accomplish our goals much more efficiently.

    My challenge to the faculty, staff, and students of the College is to think outside of the box in helping to develop a strategy that responds to the issues raised above. When I meet with the Provost later this autumn, I will present a strategy for responding to his concerns. I ask for your help in crafting this plan.

    B. Bruce Bare, Dean

    To Return to:Prof Bare's Page, Dean's Office, College of Forest Resources