UNC steering committee to release first public draft of new academic plan

As the University prepares to release the first public draft of its new academic plan, steering committee members say they are concerned about the image the plan will project to the people of North Carolina.

The success or failure of the plan — a blueprint that guides the development and implementation of major policy and funding initiatives — will ultimately depend on the financial support that the University receives from tuition and state tax revenues, making public perception a pressing concern for the committee.

“I’m worried about the moral context of this plan,” said Dr. Warren Newton, committee member and chair of the department of family medicine, during a meeting of the committee on Friday. The plan is expected to be released for public comment in less than four weeks.

“The state is devastated, and we have to ground this plan within the needs of the state,” Newton said.

That could include a reorganization of the plan’s language to better reflect the tangible economic and cultural benefits the plan and the University will provide the state as well as shifting faculty concerns to a later portion of the 26-page document, committee members said.

Faculty development is the second in an unordered list of six thematic topics that guide the plan, and the call for improved faculty benefits — spousal hiring practices, competitive compensation packages and revision of promotion policies, among other changes — caused several committee members to urge caution at Friday’s meeting.

“We can’t come across as whining,” said committee member and psychology professor Gina Carelli. “The last thing we want to do is antagonize the state.”

As the talking points of the plan bounce around the public sphere in the coming months, the committee says it wants to emphasize themes other than faculty development.

“The inclusion of big-ticket items will come across as self-serving, and it will be hard to hear the rest,” said committee member Stephen Farmer, director of undergraduate admissions.

In language that sometimes sounded borrowed from a political campaign, committee members debated the best way to “sell” the plan to the residents of the state and the University.

“We cannot make it look like we are focusing solely on ourselves,” said committee co-chairman Bill Andrews, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

From the veiled wording used during Friday’s meeting, there might be much for the wider public to appreciate in the new plan.

It is likely that the University will develop an accelerated dual degree program as a result of this new plan, as both the academic plan and the recently released “Innovate @Carolina” innovation road map call for some variation of a fast-tracked master’s degree.

Although Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Bruce Carney — whose office will ultimately implement the plan — suggested the plan might explore ways to change the cap on out-of-state enrollment at the University, committee members said Friday that this is not a listed goal.

“It’s not a priority,” Andrews said. “We’re not fond of the idea that the quality of our student body needs to be bolstered.”

Additionally, members of the committee said that the goals outlined in the new plan are meant to be carried out feasibly within the 10-year prescribed time line.

The original academic plan, released in 2003, was more than 40 pages long. Many of the suggestions outlined in that first plan still remain undeveloped.

“We need to show that we’ve made progress — and that we’re going to make more,” said committee member and biostatistics professor Lloyd Edwards.

Committee members also expressed concern over the innovation road map, which has aims similar to the academic plan. But committee leaders ultimately called for the committee to remember its place within the University experiment.

“There’s only one tent,” committee co-chairwoman Sue Estroff said. “We all need to outline our best thinking about where we’re headed and how we’re going to get there.”

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.