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UUP's response to BU Draft Strategic Plan
September 29, 2004
Mary Ann Swain
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Provost Swain,
The Binghamton University UUP Chapter Executive Board is pleased to provide you the following response to the Draft Strategic Plan, Sustaining Excellence in a Climate of Change: Our Roadmap for the Future. Our comments stem partly from the results of our own Vision Survey and partly from our own perspectives of the draft. We would be happy to provide further information if you wish.
Our comments follow the sections of your report.
Responding to the winds of change
- We agree our university provides opportunities for faculty mentoring and individual student interactions. Our survey results clearly confirm the importance Academics place on providing services to students including career counseling and academic advising.
- Balancing appropriate resources and graduate education is another area UUP members feel strongly about. Most believe the percentage of graduate students should increase modestly if appropriate funding were available.
- The statement "small enough to want to grow" in this section (along with the statement "In order to be able to increase the ranks of faculty through hiring, we should continue to increase enrollments in existing programs" in Strategic Goal 7) is at odds with what our members tell us: 52% of us want to be about where we are now, with a minority (27%) wanting us to be slightly larger (15,000-17,500 students). The Strategic Plan needs to be more specific on just how large the enrollment must grow to accomplish the goals set forth in the plan.
A mission with a vision
- Academics and Professionals plainly agree that more full-time faculty must be hired if we are to succeed – over 62% expressed this feeling.
- They also agree that we need to be more integrated in the local community.
Strategic Goal 1:
- The focus of this section is on research activities with an apparent relegation of teaching to a secondary role. This is in direct opposition to the feelings of UUP members who indicated, almost 2:1, that Binghamton should be known for its “teaching.” This difference must be resolved before the university can move forward.
Strategic Goal 3:
- The statement "resource allocation to the Graduate School should be increased" is not clear. Our members have stated that infrastructure dollars should be allocated to teaching; that the percentage of time devoted to teaching should not change much from the present allocation; and that Binghamton should be known for its teaching. Depending on what it is, the resource allocation may be against what our members see as the future of this university
- Again, the focus here is on increasing research through investment in infrastructure. Survey results indicate more emphasis on teaching infrastructure – fewer than 10% indicated research space is a priority while almost 40% indicated some type of teaching related infrastructure should be areas for university investment. Again, this difference must be reconciled before the university can proceed.
Strategic Goal 4:
- Almost half of UUP members responding to our survey indicated that incentives should be implemented to increase interdisciplinary collaboration.
Strategic Goal 7:
- Over half of the respondents to our survey indicated our current size, an enrollment between 12,500 and 15,000, is the ideal size. To have a prevailing assumption that "the University must consider when to open a new school or program, not whether to do so" is not the sentiment our members expressed in the survey.
Strategic Goal 8:
- Nearly ninety percent of those responding to a survey question regarding the ideal student/faculty ratio indicated our current student/faculty ratio of 19:1 was too high! Over half indicated it should cluster around 15 or 16 to 1. In addition, our research indicates we are right at the average of our peers in terms of this ratio. Increasing this ratio could have dire consequences.
Strategic Goal 11:
- Several respondents agreed with the spirit of this goal with comments that indicated Binghamton University should take a more proactive role in the local community.
Strategic Goal 12:
- Survey results also support this goal with suggestions that we should provide more volunteer work in the local community and act as content experts there.
Strategic Goal 14:
- While the specifics outlined here were not addressed in the UUP Vision Survey, they reflect suggestions made in various venues for a number of years, e.g., recognition of and reward for excellent performance, flex-time, supervisory training, addressing health and safety concerns in the workplace, and responding to maintenance concerns. We wholeheartedly agree with this goal.
- Our members welcome the goal of creating "an environment that brings out the best in everyone," and hope this will translate into consideration of UUP member's concerns when decisions are made, for example, to decide who can park in newly created parking lots.
Strategic Goal 15:
- Survey results identified specific professional development activities for both Academics and Professionals. Academics indicated travel and Title F/Sabbatical leave were essential. Professionals indicated travel and training were essential for them. We support any moves by the university to provide these.
- “Job-swapping” is an idea previously suggested on campus by various groups. Implementation of this could assist an important segment gain skills as well as provide opportunities for advancement.
- Promotional opportunities is another area UUP has been interested in for a long period of time. We will separately forward a proposal through appropriate channels that could address this in an innovative way.
- We agree with the need for the university to review criteria for positions to ensure promotional opportunities are attainable.
Strategic Goal 16:
- It is unclear to us exactly what is being contemplated here. Is this an expansion of the very successful recognition breakfasts and luncheons instituted a number of years ago? Is this a change in focus for the negotiated Discretionary Salary Increase program? Is this a new plan to utilize a portion of allocated state funds for salary increases based upon a new set of criteria? Or something else? We look forward to a more full explanation.
Strategic Goal 17:
- We applaud this goal of tying this strategic plan to departmental and program activities.
General comments on the Strategic Plan:
We offer the following comments as a reflection on the whole of the document as opposed to specific thrusts noted there.
- The UUP Vision Survey results clearly indicated that teaching is important in how we identify ourselves. This document focuses primarily on research. Reconciliation of this seeming inconsistency must be sought. If the university is to focus more on research, UUP members, both Academics and Professionals, must first be convinced that vision is the correct one.
- There is no reference in this document to the Libraries. While we understand the role of libraries in a university setting has changed, they are still central to what makes a university a center of learning. We are concerned that their purpose was not addressed here and would strongly suggest it should be.
- This Strategic Plan emphasizes the need to be “entrepreneurial” in our response to the external environment we face. This model can lead to programs that are not successful being degraded or discarded without a full understanding of their importance to the whole of what makes a university a university. For example, a language program could be closed because little external funding is available and they do not generate funds in other ways. A large mainstream department like English, History or Mathematics could be relegated to the status of a service course provider for the same reasons. In all these instances, faculty and staff there could be very productive by all measures other than external funding.
- Related to this, many of the recommendations appear to build on RAM/BAP, a failed funding model no longer being employed by SUNY in its allocation of funds to the campuses. Those models also led to campuses making curricular decisions based upon expected funding that never materialized. We caution the university to be wary of the many pitfalls associated with this. For example, a multi-year hiring plan to expand full-time faculty based on promises of reallocation of money to Binghamton is risky.
- Many of the recommendations are in response to external changes, state support, changing technologies, and the needs of our community. As you know, UUP Binghamton has been very much involved in advocating for our members in these areas in settings external to the university. We believe that a coordinated effort between UUP Binghamton and the University in this advocacy would have much more impact that our efforts done singly. We welcome discussion with you on ways to expand coordination of our joint advocacy efforts.
- We recognize that there are winds of change in public higher education, and that Binghamton must rig its sails accordingly. The general tenor of the draft Strategic Plan suggests that we are tacking toward growing our graduate and research program. Our members tell us that we should be tacking toward shoring up our traditional strengths. The Strategic Plan needs to address the University's strategy to maintain and enhance our core teaching mission.
- Finally, we applaud your calling for response to a ‘draft’ before finalizing this plan. Nearly sixty percent of UUP members indicated the president should consult widely with individuals before identifying a vision of Binghamton. Your call for comments is just that. Over forty percent stated they should be consulted before changes are made. Again, your call satisfies this. We might suggest that the annual reviews envisioned in Strategic Goal 17 should also allow for review by more than just the senior administration. Implementation of this suggestion might go a long way toward fulfilling Strategic Goal 18.
Thank you again for this opportunity for input. We would be pleased to continue this dialogue in whatever way you wish.
Sincerely,
Darryl M. Wood
Chapter President
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