Provost's report

Provost's Letter

In my letter last year, I spoke of the cycles of faculty hiring, and I am delighted to say that this year we have one of the largest classes of new faculty hires in recent memory, and, if the budget is passed with our Growth Agenda intact, next year’s class should be even larger.

I also spoke of the word quality and how it would drive our efforts during the course of the academic year. I am proud to say that we lived up to this promise, and that our work was validated by a 10-year reaccreditation endorsement from the Higher Learning Commission. While the HLC team noted areas that still need our attention, our campus was one of few in the University of Wisconsin System that was not required to follow up with two-year progress reports. I thank everyone, both on and off campus, who contributed time and effort to help make the reaccreditation process a success.

As we look forward to the year ahead, a number of new and continuing academic initiatives promise to make it a busy, yet rewarding time. The most important program undoubtedly will be the Liberal Education Initiative, which is being moved forward by the Liberal Education Reform Team (LERT). In light of the recommendations of the HLC, will focus on general education reform and the development of a campus wide assessment plan. The team will also examine the broader issue of liberal education in the new global environment. 

Related to these developments will be a discussion of the campus’s involvement in the new Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA) program to assess student learning outcomes.

The HLC recommendations, the Liberal Education Initiative, the VSA program and our campus Growth Agenda will all affect the priorities of our long-range Academic Program Plan and, thus, lead us to revisit our goals and timetables for this plan.

During the course of the upcoming year, the results of the Equity Scorecard Project will be disseminated and discussed, and a Diversity Workshop, conducted by the firm Critical Measures, will be held.  Preparation for the Campus Climate Survey is now underway, with the actual administration of the survey in the spring semester. Also in the spring, we will participate in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). 

Ongoing projects include implementing the college initiatives funded last year and developing high school-to-college transition and first-year experience programs. The Sustainability Team and Academic Building Committee will continue its important work, and a new LGBTQ Center will be established on campus.

We also are at work developing a plan to reward productive full professors with a pay raise after eight years in rank and modifying both Salary Equity and Program Review based upon faculty recommendations.

In addition, a number of academic events helped launch the fall semester. The annual 9/11 commemorative event, featuring the photographic artist Jonathan Hyman, was followed the next day by the grand opening ceremony of the Center for Scholarly Teaching in the Pollock Alumni House. In September, three outdoor performances of Shakespeare’s The Tempest by London’s AandBC Theatre Company took place along the river next to the Aquatic Research Laboratory, adding a fascinating twist to our annual Shakespeare on the Fox festivities. During the week of Oct. 8, the Provost’s Summit on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning was held, with Debra Humphreys, the AAC&U vice president for communications and public affairs, giving the keynote address on the Liberal Education Initiative.

In closing, I would like to speak to the importance of the performances of The Tempest.  Nothing better represents liberal education than a live performance of Shakespeare made possible by campus and community collaboration (The Fox Cities Performing Arts Center and the Grand Opera House of Oshkosh deserve special recognition). A 125-year old Shakespearean textbook from the Oshkosh Normal School Library contains a passage in its introduction that is just as relevant today as it was then.

[Every student] should have a thorough knowledge of at least one
play of Shakespeare before leaving school. It would be one of [life’s]
best lessons….Shakespeare used the English language with more power
than any other writer that ever lived…; he made it speak in a more original way; and his combinations of words are perpetual provocations and invitations to originality and to newness of insight. 
(J.M.D. Meiklejohn, “General Notice,” Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, 1882)

While the University constantly strives to adapt to and better serve an ever-changing world, “perpetual provocations,” “invitations to originality” and “newness of insight” still remain central to our campus mission.

Lane Earns,
Provost and Vice Chancellor