May 7, 2001
Campus forum spotlights initiative process; deans outline budget proposals
By Louise Donahue
A budget-planning initiative that will produce a 10-year blueprint for UCSC is a
process that will continue to benefit from faculty and staff input, members of the
campus community were told at a forum this past week.
"Everything should be up for grabs--every way we do business," said Campus
Provost John Simpson, who launched the initiative process this past winter. "This
is meant to be an all-inclusive planning process." He encouraged members of
the audience at Classroom Unit 2 to contact him or vice provost for academic affairs
George Brown, or work through their own divisions, to offer suggestions on how UCSC
can improve the quality and efficiency of its delivery of service.
At the forum, the deans of each of the five academic divisions presented abbreviated
versions of the executive summaries that accompanied the draft 10-year plans they
recently submitted for consideration by Academic Senate and administrative committees--the
first step in the process to develop a 10-year plan for the campus.
The deans put forward a number of ideas, such as proposals that they add and strengthen
departments, add undergraduate majors, and increase the number of faculty members.
While each department had specific goals, interdisciplinary efforts were also mentioned
frequently. The role of UCSC in improving K-12 education, for instance, came up in
more than one divisional presentation. Many preliminary plans for cross-divisional
graduate programs were also introduced, addressing such issues as the environment,
health, and technology.
"On this campus, [interdisciplinary activities] are really a very easy thing
to do," Humanities dean Wlad Godzich said at the forum, adding that such attempts
are often difficult at other campuses. "On this campus, we have a culture of
collaboration," he said.
Simpson's planning initiative, with its call for collaborating across divisional
lines, has encouraged more communication, observed David Kliger, Natural Sciences
dean. "People think it's natural to think of interdisciplinary programs,"
he said.
Simpson urged the audience to follow the budget process by checking the project web
site (see below).
He also explained the upcoming steps in the process:
- The Academic Senate's Committee on Planning and Budget and the administrative committees review the academic and administrative proposals and forward their comments to Simpson.
- These comments, along with specific feedback from the campus provost, will be returned to the academic and administrative divisions in June, providing a preliminary campus assessment of their draft plans. As part of the next steps, divisions will be asked to set priorities.
- Division administrators are to provide detailed plans to Simpson by December 3.
- The campus's comprehensive plan, incorporating these submissions, is scheduled to be completed by April or May of 2002.
The next campus forum will be held late in the spring quarter and focus on broader
issues of campus growth, it was announced. The time and place are not yet known.
_____
Additional information on the budget planning process is available at the
following web sites:
Campuswide Long-Range Planning Process,
including divisions' executive
summaries
Resource Planning
and Budget Allocation process
Currents article,
announcing the project's second phase (April 16)
Currents article, introducing
the initiative process (January 29)
