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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Hi Dave<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Thanks for your thoughtful reply. I’m pleased to learn progress has been made, and though ill-equipped to comment on all the thoughts you express below, I would like to remain focused on the discussion i
believe we should be having as a unit and why. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Universities around the country are reviewing and responding to the coming shifts in student demographics, including a renewed focus on trade schools. Other data suggest impending declining student enrollment
in higher education, while other predictions point to growth – though i don’t claim to be a guru in this arena and depend on what the real experts are forecasting. One thing is for certain, the enormous changes we have witnessed as the result of the pandemic
tell us people can and do change rapidly, and more rapidly at certain times/circumstances, over others. My preference is to be ahead of the wave and not be caught scrambling to catch up. In addition to changes experienced by the rest of the world, we are experiencing
a micro-change, so to speak, at UA driven by the unexpected budget shortfall and fallout still underway.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">In lieu of the budget shortfall, Dean Burgess has asked CALES units (and campus-wide) to consider strategic solutions for increasing revenue associated with course enrollment. The ‘ask’ is
<u>not directed</u> to, nor is it about, a single individual, but rather is directed to all units equally, depending on how they may best be able to respond. The ‘ask’
<u>does not</u> imply or infer that SPLS faculty teaching their maximum load -or more- are not pulling their weight. It is recognized that our teaching/research specialties are necessary but do not garner large numbers of students as do some other degree programs
in CALES. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bottom lines driving change: <o:p>
</o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">As FTEs are lost by faculty retiring or voluntarily leaving UA AND no new hires expected for some time (?how long), how does business-as-usual look? Further, loss of a key expertise means some courses simply
cannot be taught. Consider the math: given current and future FTE losses, does SPLS have sufficient FTEs to teach all SPLS courses presently offered? Despite two recent PLP hires, at least 5-6 more new faculty are needed to offer a quality PLP degree; even
if that goal were met, the PLP capacity would represent 50% less FTEs than even a decade ago. With impending retirements alone, PLS has/will soon have insufficient FTEs to teach our undergraduate and graduate programs, as we know them. A choice to teach all
existing courses would mandate increased teaching load and not necessarily guarantee more SCHs is not a tenable option. This becomes a practical matter and presents SPLS with several challenges. What options are available and what are the best solutions for
addressing these challenges? In this light, I have asked the curriculum committees and all faculty to prepare for and conduct a review of the curricula: undergraduate PLS/shared degree programs and graduate program. Clearly, for 400-500 courses both committees
are responsible. It is the faculty’s responsibility to deliberate and create the path forward. This is a time to consider your vision for a future SPLS – what do you want to look like. We have enormous responsibilities to SPLS/Land Grant university stated
missions in teaching, outreach, and research - in support of the agricultural sector in Arizona and the nation.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">How can we accomplish our teaching mission most effectively and efficiently? Given the many moving parts in our profession, it may not always seem to be a highest priority, however, developing and executing
curriculum is the single most important responsibility of university faculty. This role sets us apart from that of teachers in lower (primary and secondary) education who do not develop and teach curricula, but teach to standardized, pre-determined curricula.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">We each have a timely opportunity to participate and create a bright future for our School.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">To your other points, please reach out to our deans.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Thanks<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Judy<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Excuse typos and autocorrections, please.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">There are a plethora of resources that may be of interest. Please consider searching for other sources of information; below are several hits i turned up.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/education/our-insights/reimagining-higher-education-in-the-united-states">https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/education/our-insights/reimagining-higher-education-in-the-united-states</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><a href="https://www.educause.edu/ecar/research-publications/higher-education-trend-watch/2023">https://www.educause.edu/ecar/research-publications/higher-education-trend-watch/2023</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">from the link above<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b>Shifts in Workforce:
</b>The Great Resignation continues, with many institutions reporting significant turnover, especially in leadership roles. Recruitment is a big challenge for many institutions, with declining budgets and a very competitive job market. In response to the increasing
number of retirements among upper-level positions, respondents observed that leadership positions are being filled by individuals with less knowledge and experience. Another consequence of resignations is a shift in the workload. Respondents reported having
to take on the extra work of those who left, projects being stalled or canceled due to turnover, and an increase in contracting and outsourcing.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b>Shifts in Culture:
</b>Staff, administrators, faculty, and leaders are retiring or resigning because of burnout, unhealthy or unsupportive workplace cultures, and/or the ability to find more desirable work conditions elsewhere. People are leaving for better salaries, the opportunity
to work remotely or hybrid, and better work/life balance. Few institutions are engaged in strategic planning that targets recruitment, retention, succession, and offboarding. Those institutions that are working on strategic planning in these areas are reviewing
salaries, developing succession plans, identifying non-monetary incentives, and considering cultural changes such as offering hybrid/remote work arrangements.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b>Shifts in Technology:</b> While respondents did not report any direct technological shifts due to the resignation of leaders and staff, they did report difficulties in retaining
and hiring technology staff and leadership. Thus, moving forward, this challenge has the potential to lead to indirect effects on technological processes managed by the IT department—for example, technology that is more difficult to maintain and upgrade and
delays with technological support due to understaffing and/or loss of institutional and departmental knowledge.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><span style="font-size:13.5pt">How are institutions responding to More calls for data-informed decision-making and reporting?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b>Shifts in Workforce:
</b>Many institutions are adding new positions, teams, and cross-functional work groups and committees devoted to data analytics, though respondents reported difficulties in retaining and recruiting qualified individuals to support big data systems and analytics.
Some institutions are redesigning existing positions to focus on data reporting and visualization needs, while others are merging existing teams and workgroups with those that intersect with data analytics (e.g., enterprise tech groups and data science and
analytics groups). Some institutions have begun offering training on analytics (e.g., student success analytics) to their faculty and staff.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b>Shifts in Culture:
</b>There is increasing awareness of the value and need for data across all functional areas of the institution, including recruitment, retention, student success, budgeting and fiscal performance, and business operations. Institutional leaders are pushing
for more data-informed decision-making, but the need remains for growth and improvement in the areas of data governance, cybersecurity issues, data literacy, and access (i.e., making data easy to report and interpret via dashboards).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b>Shifts in Technology:
</b>Institutions are adopting and/or upgrading their data infrastructure and tools (e.g., dashboarding platforms, warehouses, analytics programs, reporting and integration platforms, CRMs), while also utilizing more of the data from their existing technologies
and platforms (e.g., LMSs, ERP systems). Due to increases in the awareness of data privacy and security issues, many of these institutions have adopted security systems and network monitoring solutions to allow for safer data collection.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><span style="font-size:13.5pt">How are institutions responding to Continuation and normalization of hybrid and online learning?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b>Shifts in Workforce:</b> Institutions have increased their number of fully online instructional design staff, in addition to adding leadership positions focused on online learning
and instruction. Many institutions are providing more funding and training efforts so that faculty members can improve their instruction and course delivery.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b>Shifts in Culture:
</b>Despite the widespread adoption of hybrid and online learning, respondents reported conflicting preferences. For example, most students want these options, yet faculty and leadership have mixed preferences. With many institutions already having adopted
hybrid and online courses for undergraduates, efforts are now shifting toward moving graduate programs to these formats. As institutions continue to offer hybrid and online programs, issues surrounding equity and accessibility, along with the ability to balance
flexibility and the quality of the teaching and learning experience, are and continue to be in discussion.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b>Shifts in Technology:
</b>Many institutions have upgraded or renovated their classrooms and other learning spaces and will continue to do so (e.g., making spaces hybrid-capable with updated AV equipment and integration with Zoom). Some have implemented new student engagement platforms
(e.g., CRM, online tutoring, advising, wellness tools) and/or adopted additional support technologies and tools (e.g., lecture-capture technology, plagiarism-detection tools, analytics tools and platforms, vertical market products). Institutions have largely
shifted away from desktops in favor of laptops and have adopted or are in the process of considering different LMS options that work well with hybrid and online learning methods.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><span style="font-size:13.5pt">How are institutions responding to Expansion of the digital transformation of higher education?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b>Shifts in Workforce:
</b>While many institutions are in the process of planning for and implementing digital transformation, respondents reported that the traditional Dx concept needs to be augmented with remote workforce management, effective hybrid workforce support, and new
work ethics standards. Further, due to the Great Resignation and the state of the job market, retraining existing staff and filling new positions created as part of the Dx process remains a challenge.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b>Shifts in Culture:</b> Digital transformation is necessary for institutions to survive and to sustain operations in the face of enrollment pressures, declining budgets, and changes
in students' expectations. Institutions are increasingly focused on the Dx process for all functional areas of higher education—not just academics but also athletics, HR, finance, and administration. Institutions are working on strategic plans that incorporate
digital transformation, though they face a number of challenges, including keeping up with fast-paced technology changes and stakeholder buy-in.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b>Shifts in Technology:</b> Institutions have adopted new CRM tools for monitoring the student life cycle and advancement, as well as for managing collaborations, communication,
and workflow. There has been widespread adoption of cloud-based services to facilitate hybrid/remote work and learning arrangements, and the focus now is more on accessibility, equity, and the challenges of getting equipment to all who need it. More institutions
are adopting technologies to support the processes of digitizing, automating, and streamlining (e.g., digitized procurement and hiring processes, implementation of digital signatures, big data and storage tools, ERP tools).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><span style="font-size:13.5pt">How are institutions responding to Rising costs of higher education as public perceptions of its value are declining?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b>Shifts in Workforce:</b> Many institutions<b>
</b>have frozen tuition and fees in an effort to keep costs at a minimum for students. In response to reduced budgets, coupled with declining enrollment numbers, institutions have put holds on increasing salaries and filling vacant positions and have started
exploring programs like retirement incentives to help reduce human capital costs.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b>Shifts in Culture:</b> Institutional leaders widely recognize the impact that rising costs have had on the perceived value of higher education, and they are focused on demonstrating
the value proposition of their institutions by improving graduates' career outcomes and employability while also reducing costs and providing financial assistance. To demonstrate value, institutions are expanding career services programs and aligning academic
programs with career, skill, and job market needs. To curb spending, institutions are limiting their budget growth and re-examining software contracts, pushing back on price increases, and/or dropping products. They are also exploring various financial assistance
options (e.g., additional need-based support), increasing advancement and fundraising goals to help close the gap from public funding, ramping up FAFSA applications and affordability conversations, and revisioning their financial support models to offer only
grant-based funding. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b>Shifts in Technology:</b> With an increased emphasis on student workforce readiness, institutions are investing in technologies that are comparable to or better than those in
students' future work environments. Advising platforms and academic planning technologies are helping maximize students' time and financial investment in their coursework, and some institutions are engaging in automating processes in the CRM and recruiting
functions and creating team and process maps to support enrollment. IT units are also prioritizing efficiency by reviewing the impacts of ERP systems on institutional flexibility, avoiding duplicative solutions, repurposing technology circulation pools, and
changing reserves policies and procedures. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><span style="font-size:13.5pt">How are institutions responding to Focus on increasing institutional resilience?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b>Shifts in Workforce:</b> Resiliency efforts in the workforce during the pandemic were singularly focused on budgetary concerns and the effects of faculty and staff turnover on
the ability of institutions to operate effectively. Now, some institutions are viewing turnover as an opportunity to rebuild their operational strategy and are increasing cross-departmental flexibility among staff to reduce the impact of turnover. Others noted
that the increase in workload and the decreased budgets—namely, the lack of salary increases and the reduction in backfilling vacancies—have taken a toll on faculty and staff.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b>Shifts in Culture:</b> Many institutions are working on shifting campus culture to focus on agility and flexibility to meet rapidly changing needs. Business continuity is an
important aspect of this work, as institutions are translating the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic into revised disaster recovery and process continuity plans to ensure they are ready to pivot to an on-campus or virtual environment at any given
moment. They are also increasing cross-unit collaboration and cross-training and identifying business models to tap new markets and students. Financial recovery planning is critical as well, and institutions are updating their health care benefits to rebuild
savings and shore up finances, consolidating courses, and exploring alternative revenue streams and earning options outside of traditional educational programs.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b>Shifts in Technology:</b> Aligned with institutional efforts to increase agility and flexibility, IT units are building institutional resilience by repurposing funds to modernize
data centers and disaster recovery facilities, utilizing a cloud-first approach to build resilience capabilities in security and disaster recovery, instituting new backup systems, and continuing end-of-life equipment replacement grounded in sustainability
through automated and scheduled updates and replacements.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div style="border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in">
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">From:
</span></b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">"Baltrus, David A - (baltrus)" <baltrus@arizona.edu><br>
<b>Date: </b>Friday, March 22, 2024 at 10:26 AM<br>
<b>To: </b>"Brown, Judith K - (jkbrown)" <JBrown@ag.arizona.edu>, "Plsfaculty@list.cals.arizona.edu" <Plsfaculty@list.cals.arizona.edu><br>
<b>Cc: </b>"Mclain, Jean - (mclainj)" <mclainj@arizona.edu>, "Staten, Michael E - (statenm)" <statenm@arizona.edu>, "Chorover, Jon - (chorover)" <chorover@arizona.edu><br>
<b>Subject: </b>Re: [Plsfaculty] SPLS Curriculum Review and Re-Imagining<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Hi all,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Thank you for sending out this document Judy, it does help to clarify things a bit.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">As a request, my personal opinion (and I don't think I'm the only one), until actually seeing and digesting the data my intuition is to inherently disagree that SPLS is "being subsidized" by other Schools to the
degree that feels like is being relayed in the communication. It's a common refrain by now to us, but we teach many majors and high enrollment classes that don't necessarily count as teaching SPLS majors. If I recall correctly, SPLS has/had one of the highest
SCH/FTE ratios of any School in the College. While this exact ratio may have changed, I don't think many of us have seen lower enrollment in our classes or lower SCH since this problem first started being talked about.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">I think a first step in this process is to define what the actual problem is because (again, my intuition) is that we are teaching many high enrollment classes. Can we see the data that is being pointed towards
to make these decisions? Is this just that we have a low enrollment major compared to other Schools without considering the shared programs that we participate in? So I'll ask specifically for clarification and definition of the problem that the new committee
is tasked with fixing outside of "enrollment is decreasing" and does this take into account the work we put in for shared Majors?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Thanks,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Dave<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center">
<hr size="0" width="100%" align="center">
</div>
<div id="divRplyFwdMsg">
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black"> Plsfaculty <plsfaculty-bounces@list.cals.arizona.edu> on behalf
of Brown, Judith K - (jkbrown) <JBrown@ag.arizona.edu><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Friday, March 22, 2024 10:13 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> Plsfaculty@list.cals.arizona.edu <Plsfaculty@list.cals.arizona.edu><br>
<b>Cc:</b> Mclain, Jean - (mclainj) <mclainj@arizona.edu>; Staten, Michael E - (statenm) <statenm@arizona.edu>; Chorover, Jon - (chorover) <chorover@arizona.edu><br>
<b>Subject:</b> [Plsfaculty] SPLS Curriculum Review and Re-Imagining</span> <o:p>
</o:p></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black">Dear Ravi, Mark, Curriculum Committees [and SPLS Faculty],</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black">I appreciate your thoughtful feedback and additional questions. I have given your comments and questions genuine and systematic consideration. There is far too much information to cover the scope
in faculty meeting this week, so i will attempt to capture it here in this draft document, as a starting point. The committees may add to or revise the document as they move forward.
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black">The goal of this communication to charge the SPLS Graduate and Undergraduate curriculum committees to begin thinking about re-envisioning the PLS and PLP curricula for several timely reasons shared
below. I know others will have excellent ideas as to how to proceed. Finally, given the potential for miscommunication by email, even though i have tried to convey my thoughts effectively, if clarification is needed, please let’s speak in person.</span><span style="font-size:13.5pt;color:black">
</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black">I’m always open and pleased to meet with you and others as the process moves forward.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black">In the attached draft document, I have shared my current understanding of our charge, and information that may be helpful (or not?) for reviewing and potentially arriving at a revised curriculum.
Please also consider the supporting contexts and rationale, the proposed role and involvement of the <i>ad hoc</i> committee, which you will see is intended as a starting point, while also complementing the independent deliberations of the grad and undergrad
curriculum committees (CCs). Finally, several examples of possible remedies based on conversations with colleagues in other units facing similar challenges are provided. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black">In summary, though not much can be achieved before summer break, what is accomplished by mid-May, will position the full-blown kickoff for fall 2024. The goal is aim for Dec 2024 approval deadlines,
with launch in 2025-26. The CCs are charged with convening mini-retreats or other preferred discussion format.
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black">The end goal is to evolve strategic, effective solutions for reshaping PLP and PLS curriculum offerings, in the context of constraints imposed by the 14% fewer FTEs, while not compromising our
mission and commitment to high-quality education. These challenges cannot be met by one or even a few individuals. Everyone’s input is essential. Realizing this project will require time, there is no imperative to do other than establish careful, deliberate
well-defined processes at the outset to guide the teams/deliberators. However, given our new climate, it is important to complete the review as expediently as possible to guide next steps.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black">In our next three faculty meetings, the SPLS standing committee reports will have been presented, before the <i>ad hoc</i> ‘Curriculum Re-imagined’ Committee reports initial metrics/findings at
our May Faculty meeting. Your CC teams will not begin their hard work until after summer break but if you have time to put thought into any of this when your committee presents its’ report and next steps, touching on a plan for next steps would be timely,
to prepare the way for the initial reporting by the <i>ad hoc</i> committee at our May meeting. That said, more time and discussion will be needed to bring all ideas together, and we don’t expect to comprehensively digest the <i>ad hoc</i> committee report
and conclusions in 35 minutes. Please note the <i>ad hoc</i> committee is meeting for the first time this week, so it is unrealistic to expect great things (yet!), but a status update by Barry should be doable. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black">Please consider whatever information is most helpful to aid in the process in time.
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black">Best wishes,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black">Judy</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
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