Right Questions – Organization
Visioning Session
September 24, 2014
Recruiting grads – Need ways to improve recruiting that are not constrained by current dept. boundaries
Product clutter is a problem – too much overlap between areas of study
One model – UC Davis – Grad Program independent of UG Depts. – Degree is in Grad Program of X, Y, Z
Process – where did the 6 topics come from for these visioning sessions?
Being nimble. Are we already? How? Linked to resources? Need a five year commitment to do
something vs. changing too quickly
We already have Centers/Institutes and other informal organizations – look at these as models and
allow depts. to be flexible that way
Critical Mass: What’s the #? How to sustain
Might do the org plan in steps
Physical plant needs to be involved early on in processes. Before new faculty hires are made, physical
plant should be consulted on various questions: can we house equipment, reorganize, how does it
happen physically and financially?
We have not yet done any prioritization; Business plan process not linked between budget and priorities
and dept/ academic plans – Need evaluation process to check on expenditures and admin outcomes
Offer incentives to indiv. Grads – 3 yr. funded scholarships (college, program/dept, Ind. Fac) 1 yr each
Faculty governance structure-currently voluntary-takes more time-there needs to be a better decision
making structure. Fac Gov and Admin? What is the decision making structure in ESF? Dept? Fac?
-Rewards & Recognition
-Top down transparency re: budget/finance
-Need Facilities
Resource planning – bottom-up with top down blessing
Organization of Admin and decision-making? Deans vs Provost .How many layers of administration are
necessary? A single person (provost) may not be most effective means for distribution and decision
making. Under the current structure, chairs have responsibilities of deans despite uneven sizes of
departments. Also despite the organizational responsibilities, authority delegated to them through the
provost. Is a flat structure the best structure for ESF?
-Balancing decision authority with nimble org ideas
-Properly set authority levels
Org of admin units is not considered when we are looking at academic plans/programs. Supporting
departments such as physical plant, IT computing, library-necessary to support the structure of the
school. These supporting groups need to be involved in campus decisions.
Change in org with lower $$, we need to manage expectations
No voice (not adequate) for admin in Faculty Governance, need corollary to Faculty Governance –(How
to make cabinet work better?) – Cost – savings – Better way to coordinate – Should someone sit in on
AC?
Need better links between admin & academic
Larger units (fewer of them) this could help assess needs with Admin and Library – better use of
resources
Sustainable resource utilization-a number of faculty could fit under this umbrella and be organized into a
structure.
Missing communications organizations between administrative decisions and faculty
Educators/Faculty could be reorganized into classes that Specialize-in research, teaching, service
ESF could offer emersion experiences where faculty and students could spend an entire semester on a
project or away from traditional classes: grad students and faculty
Reaching for the Stars
Educators/Faculty could be reorganized into groups that specialize-in research, teaching, service
Gen Ed teaching faculty may need to be hired to teach these courses.
ESF could offer emersion experiences where faculty and students could spend an entire semester on a
project or away from traditional classes: grad students and faculty
Is semester best way to organize? Quarters? Different System? Multiple ways? Some classes could be
offered under shorter time frames and others over longer time frames.
Student concern for transfers with different credit structure
Relationship between how we talk about org when we have to deal with changes due to finances
Need to link budget to goals and SP must clearly speak to these links
We need to do planning, all the time, as a base
Need cultural change organizationally – too territorial; Need to look beyond departmental boundaries;
campus space committee would help
Current students are much more electronic information savvy. Could we take advantage of this based
on the way courses are organized? Electronic student based.-should this conduit be used for gen eds?
It is unclear to faculty what resources we do have? The allocation of these resources leads to territorial
disputes between departments with current organization.
Should we be a transfer only institution? Or no freshmen?
Linkages across admin and academic units: efficiency
Resources are too linked to individual depts.
Use of SU – Need to maximize linkages; General education at SU then to ESF
Organization is affected by transfers vs. first year admittance
Distribution of Grad Assistants is unequal and highly incentivized. In order to give a consistent message
to grad students, there should be standardized packages for limited numbers of students.
Avoid perverse incentives, streamline with consistent policies
Management-oriented programs could be developed so that there are more paying graduate students
Multiple degree programs within a unit; Should it be a program-based structure?
Proliferation of AO’s is problematic – focus is needed.
Need structural form to be together physically – faculty, students, service and support
Need to take care of accredited and professional programs
Can there be a hybrid structure? Departments and schools?
Thematic groups could have prof. programs associated with them (need to maintain the diversity of
program organizationally)
What is faculty “critical mass”? >20 <50 (30-50) Enough people for class size; enough classes
Structure that handles leadership development to train within to move through organizational
Faculty can affiliate in different groups
Need to protected professional degree programs – maintain units around them
Department merging may be an option; Merge engineering depts.? Schools of Eng., Landscape
Consolidation of departments may save some money-consolidate services (secretaries, redundancies);
this may also help with economies of scale
Bringing in outside experts to evaluate and assess the best organization of the institution could help