Provost's Report to the Faculty Senate
Academic Year 2000-2001

May 2001

During the past year, there have been a number of changes and initiatives that I have shared with you at the Faculty Senate and in numerous discussions with departments and other groups.  The following seeks to briefly summarize some of this year's activities.

Changes in Resource Management

A variety of changes have occurred that strengthen the resource base within Academic Affairs, provide greater stability to departments, and allow responsiveness to changing needs.

• Summer Revenue Sharing in Summer 2001-With the support of the President, we instituted a plan that allows departments to share increased revenue from higher summer enrollments.  In previous years, shortfalls in summer have created budget issues in the fall.  Hopefully, this incentive program will make a shortfall less likely.
• Carry Forward-Again with the support of the President, we will implement a system that both rewards units for fiscal management that results in unexpended funds at year end and holds units responsible for any overspending.
• Responsibility with fiscal constraints-Although it has been difficult for many units to manage the curricular requirements of their programs within existing budgets, the requirement is essential for competent university management at all levels.  To assist units with stresses caused by planning that was outside of budgetary capacity and to soften the impact on current adjuncts, the Provost provided additional funds during the year to assist critical areas.  One example was additional funding for areas within the College of Arts and Sciences, such as Mathematical Sciences ($36,640), Computer Science ($26,202), FLL ($12,871), Communication Studies ($11,668), NAS ($8,689), FIGS ($6,851), Economics ($3,679), Anthropology ($2,400).
• Requirement to provide courses for student needs-In the past three years, revenue shortfalls and the resulting budget reductions have resulted from the loss of students (Chart A).  In order to reverse this cycle, it has been necessary to ensure that we offer the courses students need.  In addition, we must continue to increase quality and to communicate that quality to students and citizens.
• Performance Funding in Summer 2000-Some units in Academic Affairs (Fine Arts, Pharmacy, Continuing Education and the College of Technology) received additional funds this year due to higher enrollments in Summer 2000. This allowed these units to supplement their existing budgets in addressing costs this year.
• Reallocation Process-Last Fall we began a new process for allocation of resources that required Deans to prioritize and justify requests for funding.  As a result, the Provost committed over $1.3 million in additional funds to department, school and college base budgets (Chart B).  Criteria for these allocations primarily focused on enrollment pressure, strategic program growth, program quality, budget corrections, and overall equity between schools and colleges.  For example, the College of Arts & Sciences received slightly more of the allocations than their current proportion of the Academic Affairs budget.  This reallocation process will continue each year so that we may address funding issues across Academic Affairs.
• Budget Planning for FY2002-In various stages of planning scenarios this year, revenue and expenditure budgets were projected.  As information from Legislative actions became clearer, it appeared that we would face a substantial shortfall next year.  Due to strong support from the Executive Planning Council, and creative solutions developed by Vice President Rosi Keller, Academic Affairs was spared from confronting substantial budget reductions.

Information-Driven Decision Making

We are working to provide clear and accurate data that can inform the community and decisions.  After requesting data on changes in class sizes, it became clear that a change was needed in how departments list classes in the course schedule.  Currently, the many variations make it difficult and very labor intensive to derive good information.  For example, in Spring 2001 the lecture sections of Math 117 were not listed as such in the course schedule; instead only discussions sections were listed as classes.  In order to capture the lecture sections, Institutional Research personnel had to sort through days and times to determine larger lecture sections and their size.  As a result, we have designed a format for departments to use that will result in clearer data stored in our computer systems.  Another reason for making changes in the initial encoding of data is the state data warehouse that is being formed.  It will require us to design and maintain data collection processes that yield more accurate data along a number of dimensions.  Consistent with Senate concerns, I will meet with Fred Reed, Bill McBroom and Bill Muse to discuss how we can facilitate the monitoring of scheduling problems so we may identify ways to address them.

Academic Planning Council

In January, we began an academic planning process.  The progress of this council is listed on the Academic Affairs website.  This planning process will provide greater specificity for future directions and change as needed to fit new challenges.  Seven academic trajectories are listed (Chart C) and initial action plans will be available by the end of the month.  The Academic Plan will dovetail with the University Strategic Plan but with greater specificity for the Academic part of the institution.

Increase in Tenure Track Faculty

A number of searches were initiated this year, some of which have resulted in new hires while others are in their final stages.  If a search fails, I have guaranteed deans and departments that the line will be retained.  This change should provide greater predictability for departments since the department does not have to fill an authorized line to keep it.  Hiring tenure track faculty is one of the most important responsibilities that we share and it must be taken very seriously.  Each new hire both represents a 30-year investment of resources and defines our vision of academic quality.

Assessment and Retention

Several initiatives this year, led by Assistant Provost Betsy Bach, were designed to increase the understanding of the relationship between maintaining high academic quality and continuous assessment of outcomes, and recognizing outstanding performance of academic units.  An Assessment award of $1000 was given to the Department of Curriculum and Instruction for their excellent work and $3,000 bonuses for Student Engagement projects were competitively awarded to Geology (George Stanley and Ian Lange), Biological Sciences (Carol Brewer and Lisa Mills), and Social Work (Cindy Garthwaite).  A series of five workshops on assessment was developed and held for department chairs.

Evaluation of Upper Division Writing Proficiency

The Provost's Writing Committee continued its work to implement the upper division writing proficiency requirement for graduation.  Several initiatives were accomplished as part of the implementation: a website along with on-line registration was created; an appeals procedure was developed; a standardized format for developing prompts was devised, and arrangements were made with ACT for scoring the essays.

Increased Communication

Despite new efforts to provide accurate information about changes and directions, misunderstanding is common.  This year, we created a web page on which is posted Academic Affairs information.  I have visited with each department chair and each department and will continue department visits each year.  This Spring I sponsored three "Informal Conversations with the Provost" for faculty so we may directly discuss issues, ideas, and concerns.  Additional efforts are being planned for next year.  I appreciate the many emails, notes, and conversations because every one helps me better understand your challenges and accomplishments.

Personnel Changes

As a result of the impending departure of Associate Provost Fritz Schwaller, a number of other changes have occurred. Dean Don Robson has accepted the position of Associate Provost on an interim basis and Professor Bobbie Evans has agreed to serve as Interim Dean of the School of Education.

In anticipation of Dean Dennis Lerum's retirement, a search is underway to find a new Dean of Technology. Interviews of candidates will be held in the next few weeks and hopefully, a new Dean will be hired through this process.

Administrative Processes

In addition to new budgetary processes described above, we are in the process of designing and redesigning personnel and curricular processes in ways that are clear and efficient.  This year, I became aware of difficulties in the curricular process.  In collaboration with ASCRC and Graduate Council, new forms and timelines have been developed that should avoid unnecessary delays and result in stronger, more convincing proposals for presentation to the Board of Regents. Currently, a number of personnel processes are being revised to accomplish similar goals.

Showcasing Academic Affairs

An important accompaniment of high academic quality is the importance of letting others know about academic accomplishments at UM.  We have a location on our website that will change periodically with recent faculty and unit accomplishments.  The first annual Provost's report was published and distributed widely this Spring.  Too often, we think that everyone should know what we do and why we are proud of our activity.  In truth, showcasing our accomplishments extends our influence by informing those who are unaware of our notable accomplishments, and crystallizing our worth in the minds of those for whom the information is a review.  My office will increase activity in this regard in our continuing efforts to attract greater interest in and support for the University.  In addition, we increased funding for summer school publicity on a one-time basis.

Expanding Distance Learning

As most of you know, Requests for Proposals to develop web courses have been issued this year and faculty have been provided with supplemental support to develop courses. The response has been good, but our target is to increase the availability of programs (certificate, minors, majors) on-line. UM is a member of the Northwest Academic Forum and one of the forum's projects is a plan for universities in our region to collaborate in the offering of programs on-line. I recently became aware that the University of Alaska is interested in receiving a graduate program in Educational Leadership; we currently offer a M.Ed. in Education Leadership on-line. Opportunities to reach more students via this instructional approach will continue to grow and I think it is important that we increase our involvement so we may be part of an intellectual frontier in teaching and learning by offering that option to prospective students in addition to current approaches.

Office of the Provost
Vice President of
Academic Affairs

University of Montana
Missoula, MT 59812
(406) 243-4689
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