AAPC - Newsletter, October 2004

A Note from the Provost
What you will find in this newsletter
Confront the Emerging Challenges
Control the Issues
Creative Innovative Solutions
What Lies Ahead
A Success Story!
Frequently Asked Questions

A Note from the Provost

Challenging times lie ahead, and we intend to meet those challenges head-on. We will create a future UWGB that is healthy, dynamic, and responsive to the needs of our students, faculty and staff, and region. Most important, we will create the teaching and learning opportunities that Northeast Wisconsin needs to thrive.

This won't happen overnight, and it won't happen without occasional setbacks, but it will happen. We'll make it happen. Planning is hard work — like plodding across a field of thick, waist-high grass — but it gets you where you want to go. We will engage in an ongoing, systematic process of analysis, planning, action, evaluation, and renewal to enable us to move forward, together, toward a common vision and common goals.

We have started the process to actively build our future — not by relying on the state to give us all the resources and direction we need — but by taking control of our own destiny. We are a rich, complex community of diverse interests, talents, and roles. Working together, we can move forward to a bright and dynamic future.

We will issue this newsletter from time to time to keep the campus community informed. This first "Update" is rather long; in the future, they'll be briefer. We invite your interest, input and feedback. Our planning and actions will evolve over time as we get more input and experience.

Tell us when we've got it wrong. Encourage us when we get it right. If you have questions or suggestions, please let us know. Feel free to contact any member of the committee, or use the anonymous electronic suggestion box on the Provost's Web page. We welcome your comments, and we'll keep you posted.

As always, thanks for your interest and input.
Sue K. Hammersmith, Provost

What you will find in this newsletter

The Academic Affairs Planning Committee (AAPC) was formed in Spring Semester 2004 to reinvigorate the planning process by drawing together all the budget divisions reporting to the Provost. Members include faculty, staff, and administrators from Liberal Arts and Sciences, Professional and Graduate Studies, Student Affairs, Information Services, Outreach and Extension, and the Provost's Office as well as a representative from Associated Student Government.

The committee's charge is straightforward: "Develop and use an integrated planning process to guide decision making, allocate resources, and act in a coordinated fashion."

After over 25 hours of difficult and thoughtful discussion, a consensus emerged that UWGB must:

Confront the emerging challenges that face higher education today.
Control key issues so we can have greater influence over our own future.
Create innovative solutions to our issues.

We are committed to openness, integrity, and accountability. This first "Update" is designed to keep you informed about our thinking regarding the serious issues UWGB faces in 2004. The Q&A section addresses the questions we're most often asked, including, what difference will it make for me.

Future "Updates" will 1) inform you of our discussion highlights, 2) provide insight into the new invigorated planning process, and 3) offer a few success stories. We also will post our minutes and works in progress on the Provost's Web page, www.uwgb.edu/provost/.

	The first task of the committee was to understand the internal and external challenges the University faces. Here’s a sampling of what emerged from that discussion:
Confront the Emerging Challenges	Challenge	Relevant Fact
	Resources are dwindling.	In 2004 only 28% of UW funding comes from the state allocation. A recent state audit suggests, and many legislators believe, that the university system is inefficient and can afford more reductions in staff and services.
	Demographics are changing.	Northeast Wisconsin is becoming more ethnically and culturally diverse. In Brown County, one in ten school children speaks a language other than English at home. The number of high school graduates is predicted to decrease over the coming years and the number of returning adult students to increase. By contrast, UWGB's student body has become increasingly full-time, young (18-22 years), and female. Minority student enrollment has not increased in five years, and international student enrollment has decreased.
	The marketplace is changing.	New technologies and delivery systems enable students to receive their education at any time and any place. Contemporary students increasingly view education as a product to be purchased. They look for convenience customer service, and "just in time" delivery of services. Nontraditional, for-profit colleges and universities have become a market presence in Northeast Wisconsin.
	Technology is changing at an ever-increasing pace.	Today's students expect the latest in technology and information resources, including 24/7, on-line access to information, services, and resources. Changes in technology demand both professional development and curriculum changes to stay current. Our traditional ways of doing business are becoming outmoded and inefficient.
	Coordination and communication have been persistent problems at UWGB.	There is a widespread perception that we could do a better job of clarifying policy, procedures, and who's responsible for what; of communicating; of following through; and of confronting and resolving problems.

Control the Issues

The committee realized that we couldn’t tackle all the challenges at once. So we decided to conduct a SWOTT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats, and Trends) which resulted in an illuminating and invigorating exercise discovering 37 Strengths, 85 Weaknesses, 40 Opportunities, 26 Threats, and 33 Trends.

We then focused the discussion on underlying issues. We sought to isolate the most pressing concerns that we in Academic Affairs should confront and manage in the next year.

Toward that end, the AAPC has identified three issues that we want to address first. These issues have to do with the health and well-being of the organization, with our learning/work environment, and with empowering us to be creative, nimble, and responsive to changing needs. We want to create an organization that encourages people to be creative and empowers them to thrive during change. To be empowered, we need resources, we need freedom, and we need connections to the community.

Consequently, the committee unanimously decided that the three most pressing issues for 2004-05 are:

Diversify and increase our funding sources. We cannot rely solely on state funding to provide the resources we need for high-quality, innovative teaching, learning, and operations. We need other sources of revenue that we can develop and control ourselves—e.g., grants, contracts, self-funded programs, revenue-generating activities.
Develop and expand community partnerships. Partnerships provide many opportunities for learning, scholarship, and professional development. They inform us about changes needed in our curriculum and programs. They enable us to serve our region. They provide a valuable base of public support for the institution. Local, regional, and international partnerships all offer great benefits in a changing world.
Eliminate “outcome inhibiting processes”—the ones that frustrate people, don’t make sense, hinder achievement, and result in untimely decisions. Over 25% of the identified weaknesses focused on some kind of internal process that frustrated the faculty/staff in accomplishing their goals. Moreover, the educational needs of a rapidly changing society require timely, data-driven decision-making.

The committee recognizes that these three issues are not the only ones that need to be confronted. The aim is to repeat the planning process every year and see what new issues/challenges bubble up on the priority list.

	The committee recognized that many units already HAVE started tackling these issues. Here's a sampling of some — among many — of the initiatives in each area.
Creative innovative solutions
	Issue	Initiatives
	Funding Sources	Outreach activities generate surplus revenues, which then help support academic operations. Theatre program "First-Nighters" Friends of the Library fund-raising activities Grant-funded scholarship and services
	Funding Sources
	Community Partnerships	Institute for Learning Partnership Campus Compact Small Business Development Center NEW Partnership for Families and Children New Leadership Development Institute
	Outcome Inhibiting Processes	The faculty and staff recruitment/hiring policy and procedures have been streamlined. UC is reviewing the curriculum approval process.
	Initiatives like these can yield great benefits, empowering and providing resources for our creative faculty, staff, and programs. In future Updates, we will provide more details about how various departments are managing these three critical issues.

What Lies Ahead	Challenging times lie ahead, and we'll get through them together. Creative opportunities lie ahead, and we'll pursue some of those together. We've just begun the course. AAPC has identified some over-arching issues for us to address on the institutional level. These are the key issues for Year 1. Each year, issues will be reconsidered, revised, added, or dropped as appropriate to our progress, emerging needs and opportunities, and our changing environment. The individual budget divisions that report to the Provost (Information Services, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Outreach and Extension, Professional and Graduate Studies, and Student Services) all have an interest and role to play in helping us move forward on these issues. AAPC's charge to everyone in all of our units is this: Think about these issues and challenges, and how you and the people in your unit can manage these issues. In addition, we expect each budget division to engage in its own planning process based in collegial conversation and broad-based input. Each budget division is different, and naturally each will have its own distinctive issues, goals, and action plans. We recognize and value that diversity within Academic Affairs. At the same time, as planning process progresses, we will move forward as a community with common goals and shared well-being. As planning progresses through the year, we will hold some open forums so that anyone who is interested can directly comment or ask questions about our priorities, plans, or understandings. As Provost, my decision-making will be guided by the values, priorities, issues, and goals that emerge from our planning process. I would expect each division head to operate similarly, faithful to the priorities and goals identified through his/her division's planning process and to our shared, institutional goals. I expect planning to achieve tangible results, not just rhetoric. It is time to seize our future. We've just begun the journey. Welcome aboard.

A Success Story!	Congratulations to a team who addressed some outcome-inhibiting problems in the hiring process. Starting this fall, we have a Web site that provides the procedures, checklists, and forms needed to conduct a faculty or staff search, all on-line, in one spot, at the click of a button. Special thanks to: Twila Marquardt, Marie Stephenson, Sarah White, Jancie Swiggum, Jan Snyder, Mary Fischer, and Melissa Jackson. Congratulations and thanks!

Frequently Asked Questions

How will my life be any different because of this committee?
Planning provides a method for us to focus our energies and create an empowering environment. If we succeed, you should feel empowered, free to be creative, and in greater control of your work and your programs. As we eliminate the outcome-inhibiting processes, for example, you should feel free to focus your energies on getting results, not red tape. Faculty should feel freer to focus on teaching, learning, scholarship, and relevant activities. Staff should feel freer to focus on their respective responsibilities and serving their customers. We all should feel more sense of cooperation, collaboration, empowerment, and satisfaction.

What makes this approach any different than past planning efforts?

This time the locus of control is different. We're focusing on what we control ourselves. In the past, planning meant making a case to System or the State and hoping they would give us resources. It was like writing a grant proposal. When it was funded, we could move forward. If it wasn't, we were demoralized. This time we're looking at what we can do, ourselves, to build our future.
We're not trying to establish the solutions from above. We've identified some important issues, but not the solutions. The solutions will come from dialogue and involvement by everyone. They have to be on-going, practical, and realistic. That means we need everyone's participation and help - faculty, academic staff, classified staff, administrators. Everyone.
In the past, people tell me, planning seemed like a competitive exercise, a zero-sum game. It was felt that if one group's plan was approved, other group's resources would suffer. This time, we're all looking for solutions together, for a healthy institution where everyone benefits.

Why did you only focus on 3 issues?
We recognize that there are many issues. Focusing our attention on a few at a time will enable us to move forward with limited resources. We decided to address these three issues first for the overall health and well-being of the organization. Each year we will reassess where we are and what issues we need to focus on next. If your favorite issue didn't get included this time around, please don't give up on us, as it can be included later.

Why the urgency?
We can't afford to wait. If we don't take control of our future, someone else will. If we don't take control of these issues, we won't be free and able to move forward toward longer-range goals in the future.

What's wrong with the way we've previously operated?
Our past approaches may have worked in the past, but we have to make a fresh start now. We can't assume that System or the State will provide the future we need. We ourselves have to create the solutions to our problems and the paths to our future.

Will everyone be involved in this process?
Everyone can be involved. Some solutions are huge and require a lot of people's participation. Some solutions are small and can be initiated by a smaller group. We're going to do both. Everybody has a stake, big and small, in managing these issues.

What can I do?
Think about the issues. Talk with your colleagues. If you see a solution, act on it. Communicate the results.

Why were the people chosen for the committee?
The committee members were selected to bring together a special, balanced mix of colleagues. They include faculty and staff from across the divisions reporting to the Provost. They represent a mix of professional expertise and areas of responsibility. All were selected for their ability to see "the big picture" and their ability to represent the best interests of the whole institution, not just their respective areas of responsibility or interest. Finally, all have the interpersonal and communication skills needed - as well as the commitment - to work as a creative, straightforward, and effective team.

How does the AAPC relate to the Strategic Budgeting Committee, the Senate Committee, or the annual budgeting process?
The AAPC operates within the context of, and in support of, the Chancellor's priorities and the larger UWGB planning and budgeting process. Our focus within Academic Affairs is to move forward together for our common good. The AAPC helps us do that, with representation from all of our budget divisions and the student body. This will allow us to participate in a more coordinated and informed fashion in the campus wide planning and budgeting processes. The AAPC is also one important means of ensuring that we meet the Chancellor's and SBC's expectation of an open planning process with bottom-up input and participation.

Office of the Provost

AAPC - Newsletter, October 2004