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Provost provides report card on academic progress
The report [www.udel.edu/provost/AcademicProgress.pdf] evaluates progress in achieving the previously affirmed academic priorities in the University’s four mission areas: undergraduate education, graduate education, research and scholarship and public, community and professional service. The provost said that the statement of academic priorities and measures of success adopted in 2003 is a working document and that senators should expect evaluations at periodic intervals. “The University of Delaware today embodies a much higher standard of academic quality than in the past,” he said, “and it also embodies a much higher level of expectation about the future. “What’s most important is not to lose sight of the bigger picture,” Rich said, “and to keep our focus on the five key ingredients for continued academic progress: excellent faculty, successful students, high quality, affordable programs, superior research and service and outstanding facilities.” Excellent faculty Progress: Larger in number and more accomplished than ever before, the faculty are nationally recognized for excellence in teaching, scholarship and service, Rich said. There are more than 100 named and endowed professorships, a low reliance on part-time/supplemental instructors and consistent hiring of the first-choice candidate to fill faculty positions. Priorities: The University will continue to strengthen faculty quality and diversity, the provost said. While filling hundreds of positions, mostly at the junior level, and some hiring will be coordinated across departments and colleges. Promotion and tenure standards will be raised, and faculty who can integrate teaching, scholarship and service will be recruited and rewarded. “We will evaluate the impact of the faculty on student learning, on the creation of new knowledge and on the improvement of communities and constituencies UD serves,” Rich said. Successful students Progress: Attracting more academically qualified and more diverse students than ever before, the University of Delaware is the institution of choice in the mid-Atlantic region, Rich said, with 22,000 applicants competing last year for 3,400 positions in the freshmen class. Retention and graduation rates exceed national standards for highly selective universities. Full-time graduate enrollment has increased 70 percent since 1990, and graduate admission is very selective, he said. Priorities: Current undergraduate enrollment will be maintained, while student academic qualifications, retention and graduation rates will continue to improve, the provost said. “Incoming classes will become increasingly diverse--racially, culturally, ethnically, regionally and intellectually,” he said. Graduate enrollment will grow to 4,000, and graduate degree completion rates will increase. High quality, affordable education Progress: The University of Delaware now has a distinctive identity as a teaching and research university that provides an undergraduate education that ranks among the finest offered by any university in America, public or private, the provost said. All of the University’s 125 undergraduate and 148 graduate programs meet the highest accreditation standards, the provost noted. UD is nationally recognized for its undergraduate research, study-abroad programs, problem-based learning, instructional technology and Honors Program. “All of these programs have been enhanced in recent years,” he said, “and more students and faculty are now supported to participate in these programs than ever before.” The University is consistently rated a ‘best value’ in higher education, and no student pays the full cost of a UD education,” he said. Since 1990, undergraduate financial aid has more than quadrupled, and graduate student funding has more than doubled. Priorities: “The University will focus on improving academic program quality, rather than increasing the number or size of programs,” Rich said, “allowing it to strengthen its identity as a research institution that is also an outstanding teaching university.” He said that a UD education will remain affordable, with undergraduate financial aid continuing to increase and graduate stipends and benefits remaining competitive. Superior research and service Progress: Faculty research and scholarship are more extensive and better recognized and supported than ever before, the provost said, noting that annual funding from external contacts and grants has increased from $31 million in 1990 to $135 million. “UD is an ‘engaged’ university,” Rich said, “one that makes a sustained contribution to improving the communities it serves. The University provides more public and community services than public universities in larger states.” Priorities: The University will diversify funding sources and institutional partners for research, develop new interdisciplinary research programs drawing from many departments and colleges, expand research facilities and sustain investments in technology and library resources, Rich said. It also will seek to establish a new partnership with the state of Delaware for public service programs that better reflect mutual expectations and resource requirements. Outstanding facilities Progress: According to the provost, since 1990, the University has invested more than $700 million in facilities, including 34 new buildings and 1,400 renovation/renewal projects. It soon will complete the renovation or replacement of all laboratories, classrooms and residence halls and has replaced deferred maintenance with scheduled maintenance. UD is a national leader in electronic library resources and in instructional technology, he said. Priorities: The University will maintain a 2 percent minimum annual investment in campus facilities that are now valued at $1.4 billion, while increasing investment in facilities that enhance academic programs such as the Center for the Arts and an undergraduate laboratory building, Rich said. In addition, UD will expand research space and continuously upgrade equipment and core research facilities and continue to improve library resources and services and instructional technologies. The provost concluded with an overview of academic priorities in the four mission areas: undergraduate education, graduate education, research and scholarship and service. “We intend to fully implement the general education reforms, continue to expand access to undergraduate research, study abroad and service learning programs and strengthen interdisciplinary study programs, ” Rich said. Other undergraduate education goals include sustaining UD leadership in instructional innovation and continuing outcomes assessment. Improved productivity will be the goal in both externally sponsored and departmentally sponsored research, he said, and increased investment will be sought for interdisciplinary research programs in areas where the University has a comparative advantage. He added that contracts and grants management will be strengthened and research resources and collections will be enhanced. Service partnerships should be strengthened in all sectors, the provost said, and new models for service, such as the Early Learning Center (ELC), should be explored. He noted that 20 academic departments now participate in the ELC. The integration of service values with education and research programs should be improved, he said, and recognition and support for excellence in service should be strengthened. To learn how to subscribe to UDaily, click here. |
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