In 1998, we received the first request by the Office of Higher Education for an institutional academic plan. What follows here is the 1999-2000 update of that plan. It is divided into four sections. The first provides a compilation of actions taken during the 1998-99 academic year. The second section provides an update and status report on those initiatives which are ongoing. The third section includes the University’s new initiatives. The last section, requested by the Office of Higher Education, includes information about the University’s collaborative efforts with Rhode Island College, the Community College, K-12 education, and our external partners.

The underlying assumptions presented by the Office of Higher Education and in the University’s 1998-99 academic plan (last year’s plan, pp. 2-6) still obtain. While the State’s economy appears sound, increasing demands, especially in the technology area, continue to provide significant challenges to higher education. The purchase and implementation of PeopleSoft, for example, is a necessary but an almost all-consuming expense. Space issues present a growing challenge because of our need to take buildings "off line" during periods of renovation. Ballentine Hall, for example, will be vacated at the close of the 1999-00 academic year. This means that in addition to relocating all of the classes in that building, we need to find appropriate space for about 100 faculty, staff members and graduate students.

This year’s plan continues to address the issues we have identified internally as well as those highlighted by the University’s ten-year reaccreditation report from the New England Association of Schools and College (NEASC) and the Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education. The University continues to use its focus areas and its Liberal Arts Core as overriding themes and as a basis for driving resources toward excellence.

As the members of the Board of Governors fully realize, goals for one division of the University cannot and should not be considered separately from the goals of the other divisions or the goals for the University as a whole. Consequently, some sections of this plan will continue to refer to areas technically considered outside of Academic Affairs. For example, the role of technology is referred to repeatedly in this plan because it is inextricably bound with the present and future of Academic Affairs from pedagogy to curriculum development.

However, it is important that the University report specifically on the progress made based on the infusion of funds resulting from the bond referendum. Consequently, it was agreed that the technology report would remain separate both last year and this year. Once the overall infrastructure of technology is completed, future iterations of the academic plan will incorporate more deliberately plans for technological advances.

Once again, in formulating the plan for this year, the University reviewed its mission and vision statements, revisited its final report as a result of its ten-year accreditation review by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), and other planning documents, and conducted a half-day deans’ meeting to review and refine the plan. The draft plan is once again posted on the Web with a direct link to the Provost inviting comments. If our work as an institution continues as it should, the plan will continue to be a work in progress.

The guiding principle of the plan continues to rest with the academic goals of the University as follows:

Academic Goals

This past year has underscored last year’s assertion that:

…any workable plan is dynamic and must change as circumstances change. While those of us responsible for academic planning can make certain assumptions about higher education and about the University, in many areas we probably cannot even imagine what changes will take place. As those changes occur, ongoing evaluation and adjustment in the plan will be necessary. The one assumption we can confidently make is that change itself is a central challenge.