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A Strategic Partnership for Innovative Research and Education (A-SPIRE):

An Academic Plan for Syracuse University

April 2001

Developing an Academic Plan

In September 2000, Vice Chancellor and Provost Deborah A. Freund was charged by Chancellor Kenneth A. Shaw and the Board of Trustees with developing a multi-year academic plan for Syracuse University.

In the early stages of the planning process, a primary concern was to ensure broad community input from all the schools and colleges, including students, faculty, staff, alumni, and supporters. Our goal was to bring forward the very best ideas about how to advance the University's national and international standing while improving quality at all levels. Particular attention was given to identifying current strengths as we assessed our needs for the future.

Community input was gathered in four ways: through a series of campus-wide meetings with the Vice Chancellor; via an online survey; through meetings and events organized by the deans at the school, college, and department levels; and by direct e-mail or post to Vice Chancellor Freund. Eleven "town meetings" were held from mid-January to mid-February 2001 for students, faculty, staff, and administrators. Special additional sessions were scheduled for undergraduate student leaders and graduate students, to maximize opportunities for input from these communities. Fliers placed in student mailboxes, e-mail announcements, campus radio announcements, newspaper advertisements, posters, and memos to faculty and staff were designed to facilitate maximum involvement in the planning process. Alumni and supporters were encouraged to participate through the online survey and through contact with the Alumni Relations office.

The Academic Plan that follows is the beginning of a process of redefinition and revitalization. It contains a set of goals and initiatives representing our best ideas about how to claim our place as the nation's leading student-centered research university. Continuous feedback and new ideas will influence the plan in an ongoing fashion. [1] Following a campus-wide public comment period from April 18 to May 2, clear directives from the Vice Chancellor and Provost will be issued in follow-up strategic implementation meetings. Some implementation will occur at the academic department level; however, much of it will occur across departments, schools, and colleges to maximize strategic partnerships for change. While a great deal of the daily work of individual schools and colleges will continue, this plan is fundamentally about new initiatives we will accomplish together.

A History of Firsts

Since admitting its first 41 students in September 1871, Syracuse University has established a proud tradition of educating young men and women. In the early years, the University included a College of Liberal Arts, a College of Medicine (formerly Geneva College, where the first woman physician in the country was trained), now SUNY Upstate Medical University, and a College of Fine Arts with programs in architecture, art, and music. Syracuse University began a long list of firsts by awarding the nation's first bachelor of fine arts degrees in 1877. Steady growth over the years brought new colleges: Law, Applied Science, Nursing, Education, Agriculture, Forestry (now the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry), Home Economics, and Business Administration. The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs was founded in the 1930s-the first school of citizenship in the country.

After World War II, the University welcomed returning veterans, erecting temporary structures and adapting programs and curricula to meet the needs of a new contingent of students. An unprecedented growth surge on campus ensued. Over the next 40 years, prominent graduate programs in Arts and Sciences, Engineering, and Social Work were added to already strong undergraduate colleges, providing significantly expanded opportunities for faculty scholarship and research. In addition, the School of Architecture split from the College of Fine Arts in 1957. This combination of institutional growth and research excellence led Syracuse to be welcomed into the prestigious Association of American Universities in 1967. Also during that time, new buildings were constructed, including residence halls and centers to support a variety of student activities. The Schine Student Center, the Goldstein Student Center, and the Carrier Dome-the first domed athletic stadium on a university campus-were planned during these decades.

During the 1970s and 1980s, the academic landscape changed, as schools and colleges were realigned and renamed to reflect new directions in academic disciplines and the broader culture. Buildings were constructed and renovated to accommodate these new academic centers. The College of Fine Arts was renamed the College of Visual and Performing Arts (including art, music, drama, and speech communication). Radio, television, and journalism came together in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, one of the nation's first schools of journalism and the first in the nation to offer a master's degree in television.

The College of Home Economics became the College for Human Development (including retailing, child and family studies, nutrition, and interior design). The School of Library Science was refocused as the School of Information Studies, becoming the first in the nation to combine the study of information science, information management, and information technology with the traditional library science. The School of Business Administration became the School of Management, later taking advantage of emerging technologies to become the first in the nation to offer a fully accredited, independent study, undergraduate business administration degree. As these schools and colleges were established, innovative research centers emerged-the New York State Center for Advanced Technology in Computer Applications and Software Engineering (CASE), the Northeast Parallel Architectures Center, the National Academy on Aging, and the Keck Center for Molecular Electronics, among others.

While we celebrate our many firsts and other areas of distinction, it is time to look to the future-a future that builds on our traditions of excellence, one in which we set new standards for higher education. We want to be the undisputed leading student-centered research university. Realizing this vision will require that we build on what we have accomplished, identify institutional strengths as well as challenges, and prioritize key areas of strategic investment for the future.

An Assessment of Our Current State

Our Strengths

When Kenneth A. Shaw became the 10th Chancellor of Syracuse University in the early 1990s, the campus faced many challenges, including a weak economy, shifting demographics, and reductions in funding for faculty research. These challenges led him to recommend a restructuring of the University and to articulate a new vision of Syracuse as a "student-centered research university." Over the past decade, the institution has focused its efforts on improving quality, particularly at the undergraduate level. Many programs and initiatives have supported the progress we have made toward becoming a student-centered research university.

Today, we face an era of unprecedented opportunity. The 1998 Middle States Accreditation report described an institution that is academically and financially strong. We are smaller and more focused than at other times in our past; we are more selective; our students are academically stronger than ever before; and, at the undergraduate level, we are a leader in providing a high-quality educational experience in an increasingly competitive research environment. Our liberal arts core is strong, and ripe for even greater improvement. Our professional schools-several of which are among the best in the nation-offer small and personalized undergraduate experiences taught by exceptionally well-qualified and talented faculty. We believe that we provide the best undergraduate experience of any AAU university. Indeed, we should all take great pride in our accomplishments at repositioning SU as student-centered.

Our Vision and Challenges

It is clear that we must build from our strengths, distinguishing our research foci as well as the educational experience of our students from even our most prestigious peers. We must diligently protect our student-centered excellence while dramatically expanding research opportunities and productivity in select strategic areas. And we must become even better at what we do best-shoring up our foundation as a national leader in blending liberal arts and professional education while creatively meeting the scholarly and educational demands of a new century.

We envision a University whose image denotes distinction, where people know the excellence of our faculty as well as the effectiveness of our graduates worldwide, because of the scholarly opportunities that exist on our campus. With few exceptions, the image of the University is so diffuse that it does not accurately reflect our academic quality. We are better than many of our publics know, and we must vigorously strive to improve our reputation for research and teaching excellence.

We envision a University that is clear and focused in its overall research profile and graduate training. Currently, we have an externally sponsored research profile that is inadequate; our growth in sponsored research over the past decade has been flat. This must be addressed to maintain our historic identity as an AAU institution. Furthermore, the quality of our graduate programs at the Ph.D. level is not uniform. Alongside some truly excellent academic and professional programs, we have others that are middle-of-the-pack. We are convinced that our faculty and administrative leadership can do better, and we are prepared to commit focused resources to attain our goals.

We envision a University where the best and most interesting students in the country come to learn and succeed-where they are challenged and supported in ways that distinguish their experience. Despite significant increases in the quality of our student body, our retention rate is disappointing. Many students who leave the University do so in good academic standing. Our best students are asking us to provide more rigorous intellectual challenges. We must continue to improve the academic culture by enhancing learning in and out of the classroom, through expanded symposia, living-learning experiences, community- and corporate-based learning, and expanded opportunities to engage in research. We imagine a more vibrant intellectual climate for our students, one that leads the country in theoretical rigor, praxis, and personalized attention.

We envision a University where diverse groups of faculty, students, and staff come together as one community of scholars to learn from each other and to prepare for and contribute to an increasingly global and diverse world. For too long, diversity has been viewed as something we do for short-term political or sentimental reasons-as a false choice between academic quality and political necessity. We are determined to see improvement in this area, and we must all work together to challenge these perceptions and make Syracuse a place where all people are respected for their ability, potential, and contributions.

Further, we envision a University that has the financial resources and academic space to realize its highest aspirations. Currently, we are too tuition-dependent and the size of our endowment provides insufficient financial flexibility to try new things. As we define academic priorities, there is no question that we will have to become even more aggressive in the next fund-raising campaign to meet our academic needs.

A Plan for the Future

How do we attain our vision? Institutional planning and input at all levels have yielded considerable consensus around three institutional priorities.

First, we must continue to secure our institutional foundation in research and teaching excellence. Second, we must build upon our student-centered research excellence to provide distinctive, world-class "signature" academic experiences for our students that are unparalleled by our aspirational peers. Third, we must increase our research excellence in selected areas and support focused strategic research partnerships that will lead to national and international acclaim.

These priorities require a number of things to be successful. They require that we build from strength, maximizing SU's comparative advantage, while eliminating inefficiency. They require that we raise and leverage resources effectively as we form strategic partnerships that are directed yet flexible. And they require that we change the culture by breaking down internal barriers that prevent our continued progress.

Three sections of the Academic Plan outline these imperatives, which will guide our future: (1) initiatives that secure the foundation of our student-centered research mission; (2) signature experiences that will further distinguish a Syracuse University education; and (3) strategic partnerships for focused investment in research and teaching.

Securing the Foundation

In the first phase of the plan, four initiatives and 18 accompanying strategies have been identified to strengthen our foundation. They are designed to:

• ensure greater faculty success;
• ensure greater student success;
• refocus graduate education for the future; and,
• enhance the intellectual climate through diversity.

Initiative One: Ensure Greater Faculty Success

Our faculty have continually demonstrated their outstanding scholarship and their commitment to teaching through their publications, their research, and their focus on improving teaching and learning. We have created the Meredith and Trustee Professorships, and the Strategic Development Fund as first steps in rewarding excellence. We must do more. The following strategies will help us support greater faculty success as we move ever closer to our vision.

Strategy 1: Strengthen our sponsored research profile

The University's investment in research and scholarly activities must be more than matched by funds we bring in from external sponsors. Work of high quality attracts resources to the University and leverages the investment we are already making. We need an aggressive effort to increase our sponsored program activity. We have set a goal of acquiring in the next decade at least twice as much as we have in the past decade. In order to do that, we must add an average of $5 million each year to our sponsored program volume. If we meet this goal, and we believe we can, then our sponsored program volume will be $90 million in the year 2010, and we will have raised over $670 million in sponsored funding.

Strategy 2: Aggressively recruit and retain the best research and teaching faculty

Our faculty are one of our strongest attributes; however, fiscal resources have not always been available to reward and keep the very best among us. Dramatically increasing the number of endowed and named chairs while prioritizing fund-raising to support these efforts is critical. Within the next five years, we will raise funds to dramatically increase the number of endowed and named professorships, resulting in more than 100 new endowed professorships for research and teaching excellence.

In addition, we must consistently work to keep exceptional faculty at all levels through our Trustee Professorships, Alumni Professorships, and other programs. Approximately 20 Trustee Professorships will be awarded to our best researchers over the next five years.

We must increase the Strategic Development Fund to keep other accomplished faculty and to provide more flexibility to reduce salary compression.

Strategy 3: Create a new rank to facilitate continued teaching excellence

In a number of departments, we have the opportunity to enhance our faculty with professionals who may not fall into the usual tenure-track faculty category. Such faculty provide our students with a combination of theory and practice that might not otherwise be available to them. We must develop a way to incorporate these outstanding faculty into our departments to provide the best learning opportunities for our students. Accordingly, we will create the rank of "Professors of Practice" to recruit outstanding faculty who combine theory with "cutting-edge" applications in the marketplace. The first step in this process is to work with the University Senate to pass enabling legislation for this new faculty rank.

Strategy 4: Reward the teaching excellence of high-quality part-time faculty

We also have a large cadre of highly qualified, part-time, non-tenure-track faculty who teach in their areas of expertise throughout the University, as was documented in an extensive internal study conducted by the University Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Part-Time Faculty. This study concluded that we must do better with this important segment of our instructional staff. Many of these individuals have elected to extend their services to us for many, many years-some for as long as 10 or 20 years. We must reward their commitment and excellence. Therefore, we will extend the University's fair wage policy to part-time faculty and improve their working conditions by implementing recommendations from the Senate Ad Hoc Committee report.

Initiative Two: Ensure Greater Student Success

In the past decade, we have made great strides in improving the quality of the learning environment and the quality of students who are attracted to Syracuse University. This has all happened, of course, because we put students at the center of our purpose, looked after their welfare, and committed ourselves to sustained improvement in many of our scholarly areas. We have improved the quality of our entering class, reduced our class size, developed freshman forums, provided more training for our teaching assistants, improved our orientation program, improved our academic advising, provided more practical experiences for students, included service learning in our courses, and built partnerships between Student Affairs and Academic Affairs to provide a more integrated experience for students.

Over the last several years, our retention rates have improved. Our six-year graduation rate has increased from 70.3 percent to 74 percent. Our first-year drop-out rate has decreased from a high of 14.6 percent to 10.2 percent. In addition, we have narrowed the gap considerably between the drop-out rates of our majority students and students of color. But we still have a long way to go to be competitive among our 12 aspirational peers. [2] We are tied for ninth place among these schools for first-year retention and we are 11th for six-year graduation rates. To move to the next level of excellence, we must find ways to retain our students to graduation at a higher rate. The Center for Support of Teaching and Learning and the Center for Retention Studies have collaborated with other departments on retention studies aimed at understanding not just how many students are leaving, but what subpopulations are leaving and why they leave. Such studies will lead to interventions aimed at supporting student retention, particularly in high-risk populations.

Over the years, we have implemented many successful initiatives to improve the academic culture, but quality improvement is work that is never done. We must continue to respond to the needs of our students as well as to the needs of a changing world. Our success in this area must continue to yield new opportunities and challenges to make SU an even better experience for our undergraduates. Our task is to further distinguish an SU education as one that is excellent, substantive, and innovative. The following set of strategies will move us toward that goal by focusing attention on attracting and retaining strong students and providing academic support for all students at our institution.

Strategy 1: Improve our undergraduate-student quality profile

The incremental process of improving our undergraduate-student quality profile is dependent on several factors. First, there is a strong relationship between the quality of our students and the rigor of our academic culture. Strong students contribute to and build upon our national and international reputation. Improving the academic environment requires our continued progress in seeking and retaining students of the highest academic motivation and preparation. This, in turn, will contribute to an academic culture of excellence as we challenge our best students.

The other important relationship is between the quality profile and our retention rates. Substantial revenue requirements of the University depend on a stable undergraduate enrollment, so it is important to be vigilant about the size of the freshman class while maintaining quality. With increased retention, the revenue focus moves from new students to continuing students. This will allow us to be more selective, by not admitting students in the lower portion of the quality range.

In addition, we must provide incentives for the best qualified students to attend Syracuse University. The Coronat Scholars Program is designed to attract, retain, challenge, and support the highest quality first-year students at SU. Each year, 10 entering first-year students will be chosen to be part of one of the most comprehensive award programs in the University's history. It is intended that students selected as Coronat Scholars will be among the nation's best, most promising undergraduates. A primary focus of this program will be to prepare students to compete for Rhodes and Marshall scholarships.

Strategy 2: Retain our very best students while increasing academic support for students at risk

As mentioned in the previous strategy, increasing our retention rate will allow the revenue focus to change from new to continuing students. We want to retain strong students who leave in good academic standing while providing support for those students who may be experiencing academic difficulties. A comprehensive five-year retention plan outlining partnerships across the Syracuse University community necessary to improve our retention rate is being developed by the Retention Council and will be available in late April 2001. The plan aims to increase the six-year graduation rate to 80 percent in five years and 85 percent in 10 years.

Strategy 3: Develop and implement a process to assess student learning outcomes

Under the direction of the University Assessment Council, we will implement a variety of strategies to assess learning outcomes and students' progress toward achieving the goals and objectives of courses and programs. Schools and colleges will be asked to make more explicit their expectations for student learning and to explore performance standards and measures appropriate to their disciplines and programs for purposes of ongoing improvement. To support these assessment efforts, each unit in Academic Affairs and Student Affairs will submit progress reports on the implementation of their assessment plans to the University Assessment Council for review.

Strategy 4: Increase the number of opportunities for students to actively participate in faculty research

One way students develop critical thinking skills is by learning different investigative methodologies. Undergraduates at research universities have the opportunity to be actively engaged in the research process alongside faculty. As part of our student-centered research mission, we will enhance the integration of faculty research with the learning experiences of students. We will expand opportunities for student research in select areas while exploring strategies that encourage the integration of research and teaching in the tenure process.

Strategy 5: Increase the exposure of all students to information technology throughout the curriculum

Cognizant that the information revolution is more than just technology-that information extends human capabilities and is ultimately for use by people-we will create an information component for all our majors. We will strive in the next five years to assure that any student who leaves this University is prepared to undertake the challenges of this new age regardless of his or her major field. We will develop a Minor in Information Sciences and Technology, available to all students, promoting partnerships among schools, colleges, and departments that will integrate technology into their programs and curricula. This capability at the undergraduate level will be a distinguishing strength of the University, just as leveraging our interdisciplinary partnerships in research and graduate education can define this University as a leader in the information field.

Strategy 6: Expand opportunities for intellectual discourse and community by increasing the number of University-wide lectures and symposia

Major gifts from generous donors have supported the Milton Freshman Lecture and The University Lecture Series. Students, faculty, and staff must have even more opportunities to engage in intellectual discourse through lectures and symposia. Current offerings are limited by the lack of space to hold large lectures. This is one barrier that must be addressed. The newly formed Office of University Lectures will work with student groups, academic units, and individual faculty to explore opportunities to bring our community together more often for these activities.

Strategy 7: Expand the number of internship and community-based learning opportunities for undergraduates and graduate students

Our students who participate in internships or community-based learning speak about these experiences as one of the highlights of their academic life. A number of our school and colleges, including Newhouse, Education, and Human Services and Health Professions, require professional internship participation and community-based learning as part of their degree requirements. Students within the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Management, the Maxwell School and other schools and colleges have opportunities to contribute and learn in a variety of settings through the SU Internship Program and the Center for Public and Community Service. Our goal is to expand these opportunities in places where they are currently underutilized and to create new opportunities throughout the curriculum. Further, where appropriate, we will encourage faculty to facilitate the integration of theory, practice, and service in the curricular experience of students. Consistent with our core value of service, we will work to secure federal matching funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to expand student learning and service in communities around Syracuse. As part of these initiatives, we expect that over the next five years the majority of our students will have an internship or community-based learning experience as part of their educational experience upon matriculation.

Strategy 8: Expand living/learning opportunities for undergraduates by increasing learning communities and theme housing linked to academic coursework

Learning communities provide powerful learning experiences for students, staff, and faculty. The research literature on learning communities has shown that participants benefit from the increased interaction, involvement, and learning that occur both inside and outside the classroom. From the pilot of two learning communities two years ago, this effort has grown so that in Fall 2001 there will be 15 new learning communities on campus, 13 of which will be residential and two of which will be non-residential. Some of these learning communities are for first-year students, while others are for upper-division students, while still others include both first-year and upper-division students. Within 10 years, we expect that 50 percent of our entering undergraduate students will have a learning community experience sometime during their academic careers and we are committed to providing resources to expand these experiences.

Initiative Three: Refocus Graduate Education

There has been considerable discussion around the country and at Syracuse University about the nature of graduate education, particularly the Ph.D. Across the higher education community, there is increased cognizance of the need to refocus and reorient graduate programs to meet the demands of changing market conditions in an increasingly competitive world. Graduates must be prepared for work outside the academy, for supply exceeds demand in many academic areas.

At Syracuse University, we recently conducted an internal review of all doctoral programs to determine those that we want to strengthen and those that require refocusing. While some programs will be eliminated, there will be opportunities for other programs at the master?s and doctoral levels to grow, as new collaborative partnerships are developed to support strategic research excellence. In short, we plan to strengthen graduate education by building on our traditionally strong Ph.D. programs and by enhancing graduate training opportunities in focused areas of internationally recognized research excellence. To this end, increasing our faculty research success and prominence in select areas is crucial to the redefinition of graduate education at Syracuse.

As this Academic Plan is being developed, a University task force on graduate education is completing its report on the Graduate School. Its findings and recommendations will be added to the following strategies:

Strategy 1: Focus research excellence to enhance graduate education

The continued need to competitively place and train graduate students for careers inside and outside the academy will require that we reassess the quality and purpose of a number of graduate programs at SU. Over the next year, quality Ph.D. programs will be enhanced while others will be reoriented or eliminated to increase overall excellence.

Strategy 2: Increase the overall level of graduate financial aid as well as individual graduate stipends to make us more competitive in recruiting students

One issue common to all our graduate programs is the stipend offered to Ph.D. students. Based upon past performance and current projections, graduate stipends are too low to be competitive with our peers. In many programs, the low stipends limit our ability to attract the best domestic and international students. Addressing this problem will require selectively committing resources to those programs with the greatest potential for excellence while reallocating resources from other programs. In addition, more competitive and productive sponsored research activities are required to support increased graduate funding.

Strategy 3: Extend our strengths in select professional graduate programs

Where prudent, we will expand the number of professional master's degree programs and enrollment in existing programs to generate new lines of revenue, while expanding opportunities for students to combine bachelor's and master's degree experiences over four to five years.

Initiative Four: Enhance the Intellectual Climate Through Diversity

The strong argument for diversity at Syracuse is epistemological rather than sentimental. It is a process that expands and redefines knowledge within the academy as it prepares our graduates for success in an increasingly diverse and interdependent world. Whether that preparation involves developing and appreciating a variety of intellectual perspectives, acquiring personal skills in order to contribute and respond to future social and civic responsibilities, or refining professional tools to put to work in pursuing one's career, the process of diversity is an ever-present imperative for the future.

Furthermore, academic research on the subject has been incredibly clear-diversity in our student body, faculty, and staff has far-ranging and significant educational benefits for all-non-minorities and minorities alike. Students in diverse learning environments learn more, and have higher levels of satisfaction and greater degrees of civic engagement. They are better able to appreciate the ideas of others and they are better prepared to enter the world they will lead. [3] We have made considerable progress over the years in affirming diversity as a core value. Now, specific strategies are needed to achieve our educational goals. We are committed to enhancing the intellectual climate and experience of our students, faculty, and staff with the following strategies to increase campus diversity:

Strategy 1: Increase the number of faculty of color

We will dramatically increase the number of faculty of color by rewarding- through the University-wide reallocation of faculty lines-those departments that are aggressive in seeking, finding, and retaining excellent candidates and those programs that we focus on for greater development.

Strategy 2: Improve the intellectual climate of respect and inclusion for all members of the University community

We will explore, design, and implement programs of curriculum transformation and multi-cultural inter-group dialogue among students, faculty, and staff. University-wide incentives, such as the Vision Fund will be used to develop more inclusive curricula and pedagogy.

Strategy 3: Continue to increase the diversity of our student body

We will continue to aggressively promote the enrollment of students from widely different backgrounds, experiences, and identities, in order to assure the opportunity for a well-rounded educational experience for all students. Clear objectives and strategies have been developed by the Office of Enrollment Management to improve our efforts in this area, and we will continue to find resources to achieve our goals.

Taken together, these efforts will strengthen our research and teaching foundations while reaffirming our core values of quality, caring, diversity, innovation, and service. The following parts of the plan move beyond these concerns to further enhance our current strengths and unique expertise in teaching, research, and the creative enterprise.

Crafting Signature Experiences for Syracuse Students

The academic experience at SU has attributes of both large research universities-including those that are particularly well endowed-and small, elite, well-known liberal arts colleges. At the core of the University is the College of Arts and Sciences, including Maxwell, surrounded by eight professional schools and colleges. The College of Arts and Sciences and Maxwell offer a more personal, high-quality undergraduate liberal arts education and much more personalized, committed attention to students than that offered by most large university peers. Moreover, several unique strengths are derived from our best practices in undergraduate and professional education. The key to our future is to capitalize on our strengths and push them forward as we work diligently to improve the academic experience of our students. At Syracuse, four distinctive "signatures" will form our strengths as a student-centered research university. They are an emphasis on:

• the integration of theory and practice;
• the "blending" of liberal arts and professional studies;
• internationalization and inclusion; and,
• elegant writing.

At the most general level, these signatures embody our identity as the country's leading student-centered research university. We ensure that all undergraduates have vibrant experiences in these areas of strength by the time they graduate. We want to distinguish the student experience at Syracuse University to such a degree that graduates benefit from our reputation of excellence and distinction in these areas.

Signature Experience One-An Emphasis on the Integration of Theory and Practice

Student learning is enhanced when meaningful, practical experiences relate to the learning that is occurring in the classroom. We have made a strong commitment to providing our students with enriching opportunities through the Syracuse University Internship Program, the Center for Public and Community Service (CPCS), the Division of Student Affairs, Hendricks Chapel, the College of Law's Applied Learning Program, and the hundreds of hours of community-based learning that are a part of curricula in the College of Human Services and Health Professions, the Maxwell School, and the School of Education. Through service learning classes, CPCS offers students the opportunity to apply theoretical course material to real-world situations. Our internship programs, which place students in summer internships and internships throughout the academic year, help students hone the understanding of their respective disciplines and professions, while making a contribution to society and learning about themselves. This tradition of integrating theory and practice in the concern for community is something in which we can all take pride. All schools and colleges will be expected to have programs that integrate theory and practice in their curriculum.

Signature Experience Two-An Emphasis on the "Blending" of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies

Students often choose Syracuse University because of our comparative strength in providing opportunities to mix a solid liberal arts foundation with exceptionally strong undergraduate professional training. Many students tell us that they come here because of the course integration available to them. However, we must extend this opportunity to more of our undergraduates. Students frequently report a strong desire to sample courses from which they are closed out. They often hope to transfer between colleges or become a dual major, only to find out that it is too late, or not possible given the curricular requirements of a particular school or college. We require better coordination of the core and major requirements among our schools and colleges to facilitate these possibilities for our students. Therefore, we will explore ways in which faculty and deans can form partnerships within and among schools and colleges to develop creative alternatives for providing students with opportunities to enroll widely in courses outside their major. We will also explore ways in which resources and space can support these efforts. Finally, we will examine ways in which student advising can better support this signature.

Signature Experience Three-An Emphasis on Internationalization and Inclusion

We live in a global community. Many of our graduates, whether from undergraduate or graduate degree programs, will go on to work for multinational businesses and corporations. Internationalization of our curriculum is vital in preparing our students for the future. We must infuse international concerns throughout the curriculum in all disciplines and programs so that students are exposed to the ideas and challenges of a global world.

Currently, 1,500 graduate students from more than 100 countries study at Syracuse University and SUNY ESF - and more than 20 percent of our undergraduates study abroad during their undergraduate years. This is one of the highest participation rates for private universities like us. In addition, our Division of International Programs Abroad (DIPA) is regarded nationally and perhaps internationally as the best in its class. A high priority is to internationalize our curricula, exposing students to the diversity of opinions that we find in the world's marketplace of ideas. Our goal is that in five years all students will have an international dimension in their curriculum and we must strive for a time when a study abroad experience is expected of virtually every undergraduate at the University. In the short term, we expect an increase in participation from 20 to 35 percent. But getting there will require additional resources to enable more students to study abroad, early advising on international opportunities, a careful examination of curricula and certification requirements that limit these opportunities, and expansion of our current programs to include students from all our schools and colleges. Finally, we must find the resources to provide financial support for those students who otherwise would not be able to participate in these experiences.

Signature Experience Four-An Emphasis on Elegant Writing

We have a strong commitment to writing and effective communication on this campus - from Newhouse to the Writing Program, Speech Communication, and the Creative Writing Program. Taken together, these constitute a potentially powerful curricular force in the University-one that should be more nationally recognized for the kind of students we produce. In terms of scholarship, professional expertise, and creative output, we have more nationally and internationally recognized areas than virtually any university-large or small. If we were to get organized-by examining our University-wide programs, identifying those courses that focus on discipline-specific writing, and forming partnerships to break down the barriers that divide us by schools and colleges-our students could come to be among the most polished communicators on average of any major research university in the country. This "signature," in turn, could attract the world's most famous communicators and writers to our campus to join our already distinguished faculty in key areas. But we are not at this level yet. Different perspectives on the purposes and processes of writing as well as on how writing should be taught prevent our writing units from working together as they might. We do not have a "Writing Across the Curriculum" component integrated into our academic programs. We have a nascent Writing Center to improve our students' writing skills, but it does not yet serve the entire campus. Opportunities for students to major or minor in creative writing do not exist and should. Teaching assistants and part-time faculty teach the bulk of our lower-division courses. We must work across department lines to enhance the role of writing and clear expression in the Syracuse University curriculum. Foremost, we must reconceptualize our student experience to let it clearly be known that this is a university deeply committed to successful writing and communication, in college and in the workplace. Key individuals on campus across the various schools and colleges will be empowered to lead us in developing the best writing program in the country.

Strategic Research Partnerships

Building upon the strength of our most prestigious and productive academic programs is a sound way to move to the next level of research and graduate teaching prominence. However, reaching our goals will require more than lofty aspirations about the increase in faculty research productivity. We have learned from past efforts that research and graduate education at SU cannot be facilitated or paid for through the unlimited expansion of undergraduate education. Rather, they can only be accomplished through initiatives that utilize our resources and comparative advantages in ways that are ahead of our competition.

Success in these areas will require tough choices about which research programs will lead to the greatest acclaim. It will require a vision and commitment to dismantle barriers that prevent collaboration among our students, faculty, and staff. And it will require that we establish clear priorities for focused investment in world-class research and graduate training.

Strong partnerships-ones that dramatically enhance what we do best in focused areas-have been a recurring theme throughout this plan. They are critical to our future in that they will increase our sponsored research profile, assist in the recruitment of faculty, improve graduate education, provide more opportunities for undergraduate research, and lead the curricular changes at the graduate and undergraduate level. Therefore, we will facilitate University-wide collaboration for research and teaching excellence within four areas that have the greatest potential for national and international prominence. Each of these areas was selected because of our comparative strength and ability to compete as a world-class center of excellence:

• Information Management and Technology;
• Environmental Quality;
• Collaborative Design; and,
• Citizenship and Social Transformation.

While the University will certainly undertake other initiatives over the next five to 10 years, these are considered the most transformational. It is important to note that the purpose of these designations is to facilitate University-wide collaboration for research and teaching excellence, not to reward or highlight any particular school or college. Start-up monies will support major strategies and initiatives, but eventually these will be base budgeted from fund-raising success to ensure fiscal responsibility. Over the next decade, we will commit close to $50 million programmatic, curricular, and research initiatives in four "signature" areas.

Information Management and Technology

We live on the cusp of a major revolution-the information revolution-that, in the 21st century, may offer the world promises and challenges similar to those faced in the industrial revolution of the 19th century. From pervasive information systems, through emerging networks, to the new interactive media, Syracuse University is poised to take a leadership role through our schools of Engineering and Computer Science, Management, Continuing Education, Public Communications, Education, Visual and Performing Arts, and Information Studies. With the first information school in the world and a strong partnership between the Library and Computing and Media Services, Syracuse University can leverage its other strong units to create interdisciplinary synergies in both research and teaching, and offer a strong information base at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.

Environmental Systems and Quality

One of the most critical challenges that the global community will face in the 21st century is environmental quality. Key issues relating to environmental quality invariably include a broad variety of disciplines in science, engineering, social science, public health, law, and management. We have considerable strength in many of the required areas, including biology, earth science, engineering, geography, architecture, and design. Further, our faculty have long-standing collaborative relationships with colleagues at scores of partner institutions, organizations, agencies, and firms.

One special partnership that we would like to highlight began in 1911, when New York State and SU jointly established the New York State College of Forestry at Syracuse University-one of the first colleges of its type in the world. In 1956, this college became part of the new State University of New York system. Today, it is the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF). This year, ESF celebrates a unique milestone: 90 years old, with exactly half of its life spent as a college administered by Syracuse University and half as a SUNY institution. It is with a combination of pride and admiration that we celebrate both halves of ESF's history, which is so intimately intertwined with our own.

Together with our colleagues at ESF-and our other local daughter institution, SUNY's Upstate Medical University (UMU)-the universities in Syracuse have a historic opportunity to develop new paradigms for analysis and design of complex environmental systems. Over the last five years, we have made significant progress through a variety of initiatives that originated in the College of Engineering and Computer Science and have grown to include the Maxwell School, the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Architecture, ESF, and UMU. Opportunities for continuing development and leadership include new multidisciplinary academic and research programs that combine our strengths, advance scholarship, and prepare new generations of graduates who create breakthroughs in integrated systems that improve human health and performance and environmental quality in a variety of settings. Through continued strategic investments in faculty hiring, facilities, and program support, we will cross the threshold of international leadership in synergistic areas, including air quality modeling, watershed science and management, indoor environmental quality, and sustainable urban ecosystems.

Collaborative Design

Design is a fundamental human activity encompassing the creation of products, buildings, and visual and sensory environments. The frontiers of design activity in the 21st century are inherently more complex than in the past, driven by expanding global markets and competition, advances in technology, and increased demand for personalized design solutions. Current trends create an opportunity that is ripe for innovation in academic and research programs and creative activities. Already, generations of Syracuse University alumni have given form and function to beauty throughout the world. Few universities anywhere can rival our strengths in industrial design, engineering and computer science, architecture, visual communications, and related areas. Syracuse University has the untapped resources to be a world leader in the field of collaborative design, in which teams of individuals who have expertise in multiple disciplines achieve breakthroughs in new designs and design practice. We will empower faculty in all design-related disciplines to collaborate in the planning of a University design center that will be recognized worldwide. Additional programs for joint creativity, scholarship, and curricula will be developed to ensure that our faculty and graduates are recognized as leaders in this area.

Citizenship and Social Transformation

The United States has been engaging in an experiment in self-governance and mass democracy in the face of ongoing social transformation for more than two centuries. Our basic concepts of citizenship and related rights and responsibilities have been continuously challenged and altered in response to such factors as slavery, successive waves of immigration, and the changing role of women in society and will be increasingly challenged in the future by the growing pluralism of our population and newly emerging technologies, among other phenomena. Even more fundamental change is now under way around the world in the aftermath of the Cold War and in the wake of globalization, thus creating both the opportunity and need to rethink concerns of citizenship, civil society, and governance from the local to national to international levels. We are well-positioned as a university to contribute to a better understanding of the challenges to achieving more vital civil societies and successful self-governance and, consequently, to the contemporary dialogue on how to improve the human condition. Many of these concerns are already touched upon in courses and research in various units, including Arts and Sciences, Law, and Maxwell. But they should receive more explicit and concerted attention in our curricular and co-curricular arenas in conjunction with the kinds of activities outlined earlier with respect to an increased emphasis on globalization and the integration of theory and practice with a concern for citizenship.

Furthermore, we should also mount more focused programs of graduate study, especially at the Ph.D. level. This provides opportunities to expand research in the areas of governance, civil society, democratic transition, and political development with strong comparative dimensions. Many of these concerns are already touched upon in courses and research in the Maxwell School, the Women's Studies Program, African American Studies, and other units across campus. But they should receive more explicit and concerted attention in our curricular and co-curricular activities. Thus, we plan to build on strengths in traditional disciplinary areas of inquiry, as well as emphasize interdisciplinary study and sponsored research, in, for example, programs within and across Maxwell, Arts and Sciences, Law, and Management and under the auspices of the Global Affairs and Public Affairs Institutes.

Critical Needs for Implementation

Fund Raising

Some of the initiatives outlined in this Academic Plan can be accomplished through our own vision, ingenuity, and creativity. However, there are substantial capital costs to attracting and retaining quality faculty, strengthening and developing academic programs, and focusing our research excellence. Most of what we aspire to become as a great university can occur only with help from our strategic partners, key foundations, corporate partners, and most of all our trusted alumni and friends. Under the leadership of Chancellor Kenneth A. Shaw, Vice Chancellor and Provost Deborah A. Freund, Senior Vice President John Sellars, and the deans of the schools and colleges, we will establish a clear set of fund-raising priorities to fully support the initiatives and strategies of the Academic Plan.

Academic Space Needs

The All-University Space Planning Advisory Committee, chaired by Associate Vice Chancellor Michael Flusche, is completing a comprehensive set of recommendations for meeting the University's needs for academic and other space. The total cost of the proposed new construction and renovation will exceed $180 million. When we compare ourselves to other major private research universities, it is clear that we are operating with a severe space deficit-in classrooms, laboratories, studios, offices, and student activity and support space of all kinds. Almost all departments, schools, and colleges have less space for each student and faculty member than their counterparts elsewhere. But equally important to our understanding of space is its role in the creation of intellectual community. Many faculty and students do not have adequate space for intellectual discussions, dramatic and musical performances, lecture series and symposia, scientific laboratories, or practical small-group pedagogy and instruction. We must remedy this to continue to create the kind of experiences that will stimulate our students and faculty. The plan that is emerging will make significant progress toward remedying the space deficit. The Committee can now identify many of the key strategies for meeting our needs, but much of the plan?s final shape, which will emerge over the next few years, will be determined by the priorities of the Academic Plan. The construction will take five to seven years to complete and will ultimately improve the facilities of every school and college. Equally important, it will help build a greater sense of community by providing the kinds of spaces that stimulate and facilitate conversations, teamwork, and cooperation across academic and administrative boundaries. Our challenge and responsibility will be to realize the potential academic improvements that the additional space will make possible.

The current space plan, for which funds are already being raised, must be reviewed with the Academic Plan in mind to ensure that the spaces being planned are in line with the priorities we are setting for the academic future of Syracuse University. Partnerships with Alumni Relations, the Development Office, and the academic units of the University will be necessary as we move forward with funding the Academic Plan.

Accountability and Benchmarks

A critical component of the plan is the measurement of our progress toward achieving our goals. The responsibility for achieving these goals lies with the Vice Chancellor and Provost, the deans, several vice presidents, and various campus-wide councils and committees. Initial goals have been identified in the plan, and subsequent goals will be outlined in future years. Annual updates that include progress-to-date and goals for upcoming years will be expected by the Vice Chancellor, the Chancellor, and the Board of Trustees at the end of each academic year.

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[1] As new information becomes available, the plan will be updated to include revisions and additions. For example, some of the ideas that have been presented, but are not part of the current Academic Plan, are the formation of a new college for the performing arts, recommendations for ways to improve our research in the sciences, and the development of an interdisciplinary center for the humanities. These ideas and others will be evaluated in the future to determine their merit and feasibility.

[2] Boston University, Case Western Reserve University, Duke University, Emory University, Georgetown University, New York University, Northwestern University, Tulane University, University of Rochester, University of Southern California, Vanderbilt University, and Washington University.

[3] Bowen, William G. and Derek Bok, 1998. The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions; Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.