Task Force On the Future of the University of Florida May, 2002 A Report to the President * Gail Baker * Arnold Bleiweis * Robert Cousins * Roland Daniels * Brian Dassler * Kathleen Deagan * Joseph Delfino * James Dufty * Manny Fernandez * Ken Gerhardt * Joseph Glover, Chair * Eleanor Green * Marcia Isaacson * Pramod Khargonekar * Christiana Leonard * Virginia Maurer * Colin Sumners * Craig Tisher * Debra King, Research Liaison * David Duncan, Research Liaison EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report contains 32 recommendations of the Task Force on the Future of the University of Florida. The Task Force was appointed by President Charles Young and adopted as its mission imperative the following statement. "Through an analysis of academic programs and administrative structures, the Task Force will identify paths the University of Florida may take over the next decade to become a truly great university." Through this evolution and in consonance with the goals for education adopted by the Legislature and the Governor in SB 1162, UF will help meet the state's need to provide excellent educational opportunities, to build Florida's economy, and to resolve critical problems and challenges facing the state, the nation, and the world. The Task Force has identified the paths UF should follow and accords highest priority to the following five areas: * Recruiting the very best faculty, retaining its productive faculty, and insuring professional development of faculty (Recs. 1-5) * Consolidating the focus and effort in the biological sciences to achieve maximum impact (Recs. 10-13, 23, 24) * Fostering interdisciplinary research and education (Rec. 12) * Expanding and strengthening graduate education, especially at the doctoral level (Rec. 6) * Strengthening key areas in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering (Recs. 10, 11) These areas are key to achieving UF's goal to rise into the top tier of universities. Other major recommendations include the following: * Creating a university writing program (Rec. 7) * Forming a new college devoted to health promotion and rehabilitation based, in part, on the common and complementary components of the College of Health Professions and the College of Health and Human Performance (Rec. 14) * Changing Natural Resources and the Environment from a virtual College into a School reporting to the Vice President for Agriculture and Natural Resources and the Provost (Rec. 16) * Examining the use of dedicated teaching, clinical, and supervisory positions to address specific needs (Rec. 17) * Collaborating with Santa Fe Community College in establishing select four-year degree programs in information technology, teacher training, and nursing (Recs. 20, 22) * Reapportioning responsibility for teacher training in critical-need areas (Rec. 21) GENESIS AND MISSION OF THE TASK FORCE President Charles E. Young convened seventeen members of the Presidential Task Force on the Future of the University of Florida on January 23, 2002.1 In his initial memorandum, he stated, "It is the responsibility of this Task Force to help us plan for the University's future in a manner that will ensure its continued advancement and its place among the leading public research universities in this nation." In an accompanying document A Strategic Approach to Accomplish the University's Goals and Its Long Term Success, he wrote, "No university can do everything and be a national leader. A clear focus and carefully defined priorities distinguish the best universities in the country from their counterparts. The best universities are also advantaged by careful planning, a commitment to excellence by faculty, staff, alumni, and donors, and by a determination to invest in those university priorities that enhance quality - even when it means saying no to other important constituents and to some innovative ideas." After stating his conviction that UF can become a truly great university, he asked the Task Force to advise him on the academic priorities, planning, and reorganizations that must be undertaken to raise UF to this status. At its first retreat on February 16, the Task Force adopted the following mission statement. Through an analysis of academic programs and administrative structures, the Task Force will identify paths the University of Florida may take over the next decade to become a truly great university. The Task Force will recommend how to consolidate the university's resources to invest in the future, how to structure programs to ensure a high quality educational experience and a meaningful degree for students, and how the university may continue to address the needs of the state and nation. The Task Force will balance and maintain the university's current mission as the major Research Extensive, public, land-grant university in the state of Florida. The Task Force will identify and analyze the ascent of great universities whose programs bear comparison with the University of Florida. Unique characteristics and strengths of the university's programs will be compared with significant opportunities and challenges awaiting society and higher education in the next two decades. Units that are fundamental to the university's mission and goals to meet these opportunities and challenges must be developed more fully. To achieve this focusing, the Task Force will recommend areas that should be strengthened, consolidated, redeveloped, reconstituted, or de-emphasized. The Task Force also identified 19 characteristics of truly great universities. These characteristics should be considered in the development of a strategic plan and in the implementation of Task Force recommendations. 1. Its faculty are recognized internationally for their scholarship and engagement in the public sphere 2. Its alumni are recognized for outstanding accomplishments and leadership 3. It attracts outstanding undergraduate and graduate students 4. It fosters a dynamic excellence-oriented culture 5. Its faculty and administrators have vision, exhibit extraordinary leadership, and participate fully in shared governance 6. It fosters institutional flexibility and is responsive to challenges and change in interdisciplinary opportunities 7. It has exceptional research facilities 8. It fosters continued growth in external research funding 9. Its Ph.D. students find faculty positions in truly great universities 10. It has multiple centers of excellence, whose achievements are externally validated 11. It has an excellent endowment 12. It offers competitive salaries to faculty and staff 13. It has a state of the art physical plant 14. It fosters a vibrant campus life in and outside the classroom 15. It exhibits a rich diversity among students, faculty and staff 16. It is accountable to all its stakeholders 17. It maintains a balance between the arts and the sciences 18. It is dedicated to public service and social justice 19. It has a wealth of international programs WHY TRULY GREAT? UF is Florida's first land-grant institution and the state's first public university. It has benefited from continued state, federal, and private investments and the creativity, industry, and vision of its talented faculty, staff, and students. Thanks to the strategic allocation of these resources, the university is premier in the state and is a select Research Extensive2 university nationally. Its rapid evolution is perhaps best illustrated by its admission in 1985 into the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU). Since the University of Florida enjoys a unique position as the leading intellectual force in the state, it has accompanying responsibilities to the State of Florida that include: * Providing first-rate undergraduate and cutting-edge graduate education * Helping to build Florida's economy * Helping to resolve critical problems facing the state, nation, and world. UF has made outstanding contributions in these areas throughout the twentieth century. UF's graduates are highly sought nationally. UF's economic impact on the state has been profound, especially in the areas of agriculture and medicine. UF expertise assists regularly in addressing social and scientific problems in the state. Florida faces large challenges at the beginning of the 21st century. They include: * a burgeoning population that is increasingly urban * problems involving children and families, increasing immigration and multiculturalism, and growing problems linked to an aging population * the need to broaden its economic base, to attract industry, particularly high-tech industry, and to supply industry with highly trained workers * the need to preserve the state's natural resources and fragile ecosystems. Other states compete intensely to attract industry and talented personnel. States with truly great universities have a tremendous advantage over other states in this competition. The truly great universities in this nation are educational and economic machines of awesome magnitude. Examples include UC Berkeley, Stanford, University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin, University of Illinois, and MIT. They attract the brightest talent to their states through their exciting research and educational programs. Through the creation of new knowledge, and through production of highly educated graduates, they help lure new economic opportunities into the state. A vibrant research enterprise affords a depth of resources to attack critical scientific and societal problems in the state and nation. UF has the capacity to become truly great, and this is how the university can contribute to realizing the state's goals for education and the economy. In SB 1162, the Florida Legislature and the Governor adopted four goals for the state education system: * Goal 1: Highest Student Achievement * Goal 2: Seamless Articulation and Maximum Access * Goal 3: Skilled Workforce and Economic Development * Goal 4: Quality Efficient Services A truly great university will afford every student and every faculty member the opportunity for maximum achievement. The university is committed to seamless articulation and maximum access and to working with community colleges in addressing the state's critical needs. As UF energizes its research and technology transfer enterprise, it will boost economic development in the state and train the highly skilled workforce the economy demands. Finally, UF is dedicated to optimizing its use of resources for highest achievement: that is the purpose of this strategic planning process. In this report, the Task Force offers the President some advice about the journey to be undertaken in this quest. Faculty members have offered a great deal of input during this semester, and the Task Force has come to understand that the prospect of change is not always a comfortable one. But change happens in any case. This university is different from what it was fifty, twenty, or even ten years ago. Planning for this inevitable change and optimizing the use of our limited resources promises large rewards for the state and the university. The following recommendations are the result of our deliberations. TOWARD A UNIVERSITY CULTURE OF EXCELLENCE In moving a university to excellence, the question of resources comes to mind, and usually financial and material resources come to the forefront of the discussion. But an excellent, productive, and well-supported faculty is certainly the key resource of any great university. In fact, when he was asked what had fostered the rise of the nation's great universities, one of the external consultants commented, The faculty developed a culture of excellence. If they perceived a weakness developing, they moved to correct it. If the weakness was allowed to persist, they absolutely rebelled ... Consequently, this report begins by addressing this fundamental cornerstone. Recommendation 1. UF must strengthen its recruitment of the very best faculty members and retention of its productive faculty members in high priority areas through attention to critical elements in the discussion below. Among the areas needing attention are: * Faculty Recruitment. Departments must recruit the very best faculty nationally. Careful attention must be paid to the quality of the faculty member's work and, especially in the case of junior faculty members, the strength and reputation of the programs in which they completed their degrees. * Salaries. UF currently ranks 28th among the 32 AAU public universities in faculty salaries. Even after adjusting for cost of living, UF still ranks 16th. Low salaries are an impediment in recruiting and retaining high quality faculty members. College deans should have as much flexibility as possible in addressing counteroffer and retention issues. The relatively new Salary Performance Pay Plan is a welcome first step in addressing UF's faculty salary problems. * Sensitivity and flexibility in family concerns and issues. UF should address systematically a host of issues in this category. Examples include, but are not limited to: employment of a trailing spouse, catastrophic health issues, promotion and tenure considerations for new parents, etc. * Shared faculty governance. The faculty was heartened by the President's encouragement of greater faculty participation in shared governance. This initiative needs to continue and become permanently integrated into the culture of the university. Faculty members who feel a certain ownership in the university will more willingly invest themselves in advancing the institution. * Institutional promotion of faculty. UF must take every opportunity to assist faculty members in obtaining national and international recognition for their work. Both faculty and administrators should highlight exceptional work of colleagues in meetings and publications and should nominate them for appropriate awards and recognitions. Part of any university's reputation is built on faculty members who have achieved nationally recognized distinctions such as membership in national academies. The university must foster faculty productivity by providing optimal faculty support and by removing impediments to productivity. This includes maximizing efficiency, consistency, and quality of administrative and support services and streamlining bureaucratic requirements. Operational budgets should be closely scrutinized so that maximum resources can be made available to academic programs. A culture of faculty support should be fostered across campus through these efforts. In nurturing an outstanding faculty, the university must remain conscious of conflicting forces that affect the academic culture. In particular, faculty members often feel tugged between loyalty to their academic disciplines (and, in particular, to their professional societies) and the needs of the university. Faculty members have a duty to participate in the development of the university by forming a community of scholars, instead of remaining isolated in islands of scholarly activity. The university has a duty to assist faculty members in developing scholarly programs leading to recognition in their disciplines and in developing a heightened sense of university priorities and community. Recommendation 2. All colleges should improve mechanisms to develop leadership skills among faculty. The university's development depends crucially, but not exclusively, on faculty excellence in scholarship and teaching. It depends also on the ability of faculty members to develop a vision for departments, colleges, and the university, and on their ability to formulate strategies and encourage colleagues to achieve the goals. Continued development of leadership skills among faculty is needed to insure the vitality of shared faculty governance, to foster the development of interdisciplinary projects and programs, and to refresh the leadership of academic and administrative units. All faculty members must be afforded opportunities to develop leadership skills. Due to slow turnover of administrators in some departments and colleges, these opportunities are not always evident. However, it is important in the retention of faculty and in renewing the university's pool of potential leaders to make these opportunities available. Chairs and deans should encourage and enable junior and senior faculty members to gain experience on campus and through state and national professional organizations. Chairs and deans should be evaluated, in part, on their success in fostering faculty development in this arena. Leadership skills can also be developed through formal training opportunities. University administrators should enlarge the number of faculty members afforded such opportunities. Three examples of these currently in use are the chair and dean training seminars, formerly held at Howie-in-the-Hills, the Provost's Fellow Program, and Academic Affairs' nascent Chair Orientation Seminar. As authority increasingly devolves to the university from the state level, the university must assume responsibility for developing and continuing these programs. Recommendation 3. * The Provost must insure that the deans have appropriate leadership skills and motivation to implement the vision and mission of each college. * The dean must insure that each chair has appropriate leadership skills and motivation to implement the vision and mission of the unit. Chairs should be appointed for three to five year renewable terms, with periodic review and substantive evaluation by faculty and administrators. Financial and material resources are important in building a department, but the will, skill, and leadership abilities of the chair are equally important. Chairs must be actively engaged, visionary, and deft managers of resources to assist the department in rising to the next level of excellence. The dean must insist the faculty join in choosing a chair who will further department and college goals. The dean and Academic Affairs must assist the chair in further developing leadership skills and in gaining an understanding of the department, college, and institutional missions. Chairs who optimize the resources they have inspire confidence in their ability to put new resources to optimal use. Recommendation 4. The President should continue to raise the standards for tenure and promotion at an appropriate pace. These standards should be documented by Academic Affairs, discussed with deans, department chairs, and the faculty, and reflected in college and department documents. As mentioned earlier, an excellent and productive faculty is key to developing the university. Two of the most important types of decisions made about faculty are those having to do with promotion and tenure: they are the principal means by which the quality of the institution is maintained and developed. UF's written criteria for tenure have not changed in over a decade: "Tenure requires distinction in at least two areas, and those areas should be teaching and research, unless the faculty member has an assignment that primarily reflects other responsibilities." The current requirement of "distinction" should be compared with the criteria of other research extensive universities. UF seeks many qualities in its faculty, including a national and international presence, leadership in the field, demonstrated impact, recognition via awards, success in grant funding, and successful mentoring of doctoral students. Criteria for tenure and promotion should be reviewed regularly and reflected appropriately in documents. Recommendation 5. Untenured faculty who will spend 5 or 6 years in rank should receive a comprehensive 3-year review. Ideally, the review would take place at the department level with the advice of a college-wide committee. The tenure and promotion process can be daunting in its complexity. As they develop their professional careers, junior faculty need appropriate guidance to realize the goals set by departments, colleges, and the university. Consequently, effective mentoring of junior faculty by chairs and senior faculty is especially important. This recommendation is intended to help insure they receive this guidance. These faculty members should be asked to construct a tenure and promotion packet (probably without internal and external letters of evaluation) that should be evaluated by department faculty, the chair, and, in appropriate circumstances, by a college-wide committee. Concrete assessments of progress and of areas needing improvement should be provided through this mechanism to assist faculty in making a "course correction" if necessary. Recommendation 6. UF should continue to expand and strengthen graduate education, especially at the doctoral level, and specifically address the issues raised below. In units with postdoctoral opportunities, these comments apply as well. The university's quest for excellence must be reflected in its graduate programs and its graduate students. Not only is the future prosperity of the state significantly influenced by the size and quality of UF's graduate program, but the university's reputation and success depend heavily on it as well. In the long run, graduate students will have a substantial and, in relation to the total university student population, disproportionately large, effect on the university's scholarly reputation and success. Key issues to consider in strengthening the graduate program are listed below. Issues accorded highest priority include out-of-state tuition charges, health insurance, and stipends. * Recruiting. While some units recruit graduate students effectively, other units need assistance in developing these skills. Success in recruiting depends largely on the motivation, enthusiasm and active participation of faculty in the units. Personal and active contact with potential recruits is key. * Stipends and health insurance. UF must support the needs of graduate students, particularly those who contribute to the research and teaching enterprise, through increased stipends and benefits, including health insurance. * Mentoring. Faculty must welcome graduate students and postdocs into department life, assist them academically as they engage in research, help develop their teaching skills, and guide them as they begin to navigate the professional culture in their chosen disciplines. Faculty should receive appropriate credit for their work in mentoring postdocs. * Retention. UF should not lose graduate students through neglect or inattention. Colleges and the Graduate School should assist units where there is a retention problem or where time-to-degree is unreasonably long. * Doctoral student population. The university's reputation will be influenced heavily by the quality and health of its doctoral programs. Emphasis should be placed on growth and health at the doctoral level. * Interdisciplinary programs. Graduate programs must remain flexible to encourage students to work at the boundaries of disciplines. * Out-of-state tuition charges to graduate students, federal grants, departments, and colleges, is of serious concern and needs attention. * Outcome assessment. To improve the graduate program, UF needs to understand the quality of preparation, professional development, and placement of graduate students. * Postdoctoral experience. Postdoctoral positions are a requirement for employment in a growing number of disciplines. Postdoctoral scholars are among the richest sources of creativity in our system of university-based research, and they have become an important part of the U.S. scientific workforce. UF should enhance the postdoctoral experience, formalize the educational experience of postdocs, and provide appropriate compensation, including health benefits. Attention should be given to professional development and placement and integrating postdocs into the campus community. The quality of the undergraduate experience - academic and otherwise - is central to the reputation of any truly great university. The undergraduate student body can be enhanced by insuring it reflects the diversity of the state and the nation and by encouraging students to take advantage of the following opportunities. * Studying abroad * Conducting research with faculty members * Engaging in leadership activities in the university community * Providing service to the university, community, state, and nation * Participating in appropriate internships with business, government, and the not-for-profit sector Programs that prepare new students for academic success and orient them within the university community, such as First-Year Florida, should be encouraged. The university administration should utilize the information gathered in the SACS accreditation review process focusing on internationalizing UF to identify effective international programs that can make a significant contribution to UF's goal of excellence. Truly great universities offer undergraduate and graduate students a rich educational experience. As the Task Force considered ways to enhance the undergraduate academic experience, it considered the critical issue of writing, a skill absolutely central to student development and success at all levels. While various departments and colleges teach writing, UF has no broad and coherent writing program to which all students are exposed. Recommendation 7. Interested deans and the Provost should marshal university resources to create a university writing program. A well-constructed program would significantly enhance the freshman-year experience, provide added value to the upper division experience, and elevate the national reputation of the university. The Task Force did not investigate in depth the possible models for such a program. One possibility could be based upon the existing Dial Center for Written and Oral Communication, if its scope were enlarged to become university-wide. It could centralize other writing-intensive units, including OAT's Writing Center, the Summer Bridge and AIM programs, and writing programs in several colleges. This may require shifting the Dial Center's attention away from the needs of high school teachers and students and more toward the needs of undergraduate writers, graduate students, and faculty. These changes would render the UF Writing Center comparable to the writing center model pursued at many major research universities, which are not reserved exclusively for remedial or developmental writers and generally act as a resource to both students and faculty alike. Recommendation 8. UF should organize and institutionalize efforts to identify outstanding doctoral students from underrepresented groups at universities around the nation, foster ongoing relationships with them, and provide occasions for them to experience the wealth of opportunity a position at UF affords. UF understands a diverse faculty brings strengths, backgrounds and viewpoints that enrich the academic culture of the university community and that improve the educational experience for all students. Through their teaching, research, and outreach, minority faculty members serve as role models, expand and enhance scholarly perspectives, and reaffirm the value of higher education. In certain areas, including science and engineering, women are underrepresented among the faculty, and they are needed in these areas for the same reasons. This recommendation is intended to establish a pipeline from top-tier doctoral programs into the university faculty ranks to enrich the scholarly community. No institution can achieve true excellence without a commitment to the highest ethical standards, including honesty, integrity and caring. Not even the noblest of goals can justify the use of ethically questionable means for achieving them. Efforts should be made to openly examine and critique the ethical dimensions of university activities. The concern for ethical responsibility should be expressed and exemplified in every classroom, studio, laboratory and administrative office. CRITICAL UNIVERSITY PRIORITIES In his document to the Task Force, President Young stated, "A clear focus and carefully defined priorities distinguish the best universities in the country from their counterparts." The Task Force endorses this statement and echoes it in the following recommendation. Recommendation 9. Deans of colleges must specify and prioritize the departments most critical to enhancing the scholarly reputations of the college and the university. The Provost and deans must provide appropriate resources to the most critical departments. Identifying departments most critical to the national reputation of the college and the university is crucial. Faculty, chairs, and deans must have a frank discussion about this. The Task Force recognizes that such discussions may be counter to the culture in some colleges. While the Task Force does not question the intrinsic worth of any discipline, it recognizes that some departments will be able to make a greater contribution than others to the very specific goal of raising the national status of the university. Some departments will be fundamental to this effort, and those departments must be enhanced. Other departments may not be absolutely fundamental, but may nevertheless be able to have substantial national impact. These departments must be mobilized in pursuit of the goal. Following that line of thought, the Task Force believes UF has no hope of becoming a truly great university unless the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) and the College of Engineering enjoy high national rankings. These two colleges in the educational core are highly visible and easily comparable with analogous colleges in the great universities of this nation. Their work is fundamental to the educational mission of the institution. Key disciplines in CLAS and in the College of Engineering must be among the nation's leaders in research. The Task Force offers in the recommendations below its assessment of the priorities in those two colleges and underscores the high priority it accords to these two recommendations. Recommendation 10. The following areas must be strengthened in CLAS: * Sciences: physics, chemistry, biology (in coordination with IFAS and COM), mathematics * Humanities: English, history * Social Sciences: psychology, political science, economics While rebuilding and strengthening the physical sciences is an expensive proposition, UF must make the resources available if it wishes to become truly great. The development of the physical sciences must not lag behind the development of the biological sciences. It is tempting, in this century of biology, to devote maximal effort in the biological sciences, but the physical sciences continue to play an enormous role in modern science and are central to UF's efforts in various domains, including the College of Engineering. The physical sciences and the biological sciences remain inextricably intertwined, and the university's focus in biology emphasizing molecular and cellular biology must be developed in the same college as physics and chemistry, as is the case with the best biology departments in the country. On the pedagogical level, there needs to be integration of the biological sciences studies program in cooperation with other colleges, notably CALS. Economics is not a department in CLAS, but is a department in the Warrington College of Business Administration, which is shrinking the size of the department. The Task Force suggests consideration be given either to opening an economics unit in CLAS or to transferring the economics unit into CLAS, in order to bolster the social sciences. CLAS is currently pursuing the creation of a center for the humanities. The Task Force supports this goal, especially if it is accomplished with private donations, but feels creation and support of centers is secondary to the strengthening of the fundamental humanities departments mentioned above. Recommendation 11. The following areas must be strengthened in the College of Engineering: * Biomedical engineering * Electrical engineering * Computer science and engineering * Mechanical engineering The College of Engineering enjoys a strong national reputation. Certain departments in the college are ranked very highly: materials science and engineering, environmental engineering sciences, nuclear and radiological engineering, and agriculture and biological engineering. However, for the college to achieve the next level of excellence, certain central engineering disciplines need to be made much stronger. In particular, electrical engineering, computer science and engineering, and mechanical engineering need substantial strengthening. Indeed, the best strategy may well be to build on the existing strengths to achieve excellence in these fields. Biomedical engineering is a newer discipline in engineering and has become a major focus of activity nationally in the field of engineering. With the presence of a very strong medical school and the current graduate program in this field, it is clear that biomedical engineering offers an excellent opportunity for UF to develop nationally prominent educational and research programs in this field. The College of Engineering has already taken the first step by approving the formation of a new academic department of biomedical engineering. Recommendation 12. Interdisciplinary research and education are fundamental components of a Research Extensive university. UF should develop administrative structures, mechanisms, and rewards to promote and expand interdisciplinary research and scholarship. In particular, develop a mechanism to facilitate information flow, coordination and cooperation among colleges and departments, especially in the biological sciences and the physical sciences. Over the course of the semester, the Task Force returned repeatedly to discuss interdisciplinary research and education. All members endorse the great importance of this subject, and various feelings were expressed that UF may have cultural and administrative barriers to this kind of work. Anecdotal information about articulation problems among the physical sciences and engineering and among the biological sciences lend credence to this view. UF devotes a large percentage of its resources to the biological sciences. Faculty members who work in this area sometimes do not know when related work is being conducted on this campus. Coordination of activities and information flow in this area of research may be insufficient currently to insure resources are utilized most effectively. The Task Force does not have many concrete suggestions to offer to fulfill this recommendation. An ideal solution would be one that would facilitate the creation of interdisciplinary teams of researchers (e.g. the water institute proposal from the College of Engineering, IFAS, and CLAS faculty) poised to respond to Requests for Proposals from federal research agencies. All too often, administrators and faculty must cobble together these teams after the RFPs appear. Recommendation 13. The Task Force touched on the problem of consolidating the focus and effort in the biological sciences on this campus to achieve maximum impact. It feels this is an issue to be accorded very high priority in developing a comprehensive strategic plan. Administrative procedures and policies associated with the following topics can impede interdisciplinary research and education: * Sharing of indirect costs * Faculty assignment reports * Allocation of FTEs University-wide mechanisms to deal with interdisciplinary funding must be established so such efforts do not become college or department burdens. A related problem affecting undergraduate education is UF's lack of an integrated educational program in biology. UF has an array of programs and expertise in the biological sciences, but this is bewildering to undergraduates who wish to study "biology". In addition, UF has a wealth of faculty expertise that could enrich undergraduate education in biology. A portion of this expertise is located in units that do not have undergraduate teaching responsibilities currently. A structure should be established that organizes and rewards interaction among faculty in different units for the purpose of undergraduate education. This structure may mesh with the one suggested in the recommendation above. A program in biology should be developed to meet undergraduate student needs. There are models at other universities that should be explored in detail in resolving the recommendations above. These include: * The Penn State Consortium in the Life Sciences, launched five years ago with a budget of $5 million and 50 faculty lines. It considered interdisciplinary proposals in education and hiring. * The cluster hiring initiative at the University of Wisconsin * The Life Sciences Institute at the University of Michigan MAJOR RESTRUCTURING PROPOSALS President Young emphasized the need to set priorities and consider ways in which reorganization of units can help propel the university toward excellence. He stated, "As the Task Force starts its work, it must identify those units that are most critical to the University's mission and its academic goals. In those colleges that are fundamental to our mission and future goals, we will need to identify ways to develop them more fully. We also will have to decide how we consolidate our resources to invest in the future, how we structure our programs to ensure a high quality educational experience for our undergraduate and graduate students, and how and in what ways we continue to address the needs of our state and nation. This process will require us to concentrate our focus and consolidate existing programs. ..." In this section, the Task Force offers recommendations to reshape the College of Health Professions, the College of Health and Human Performance, the College of Natural Resources and Environment, and the campus programs in psychology. Both the College of Health Professions (HP) and the College of Health and Human Performance (HHP) have been succeeding in their missions, with continual improvements in the past decade. However, in the context of the mandate to the Task Force, there do not appear to be opportunities within either College to significantly advance UF's goal to become a truly great university. This observation is not meant to diminish the current drive for excellence in these units. Rather, it is based on the small sizes of these colleges and their relative isolation from the larger university-wide initiatives that are more likely to attain national recognition for the university. A second observation is the apparent close relationship of programs within each college to the missions of other colleges at UF. For example, it is not uncommon to find some of the HP programs organized elsewhere as a division in colleges of medicine, while Clinical and Health Psychology and Communicative Disorders are often found in colleges of arts and sciences. Recreation, Parks and Tourism programs might more naturally be found within IFAS, and ecotourism faculty might be found in units such as CNRE and the School of Forest Resources. The management of fitness facilities (Lake Wauburg, Living Well) could be under the Athletic Association. In part because of these observations, there have been a number of proposals over the years to disband, merge, or reorganize the two colleges in various ways. The Task Force recognizes that each college has achieved successes that should be protected in any restructuring. During the course of the semester, the Task Force considered a variety of proposals from deans and faculty. Included in certain of the merger proposals were additional components: a school of psychology uniting the psychology units around campus, a school of public health, and components of the Institute on Aging. While the Task Force believes it is premature to make specific recommendations regarding the composition of a new college based on the common and complementary components of HP and HHP, it does recommend serious consideration be given to the following. Recommendation 14. A new college should be formed from HP and HHP, but not by simply combining all of the parts. A Task Force should be charged to explore bold new initiatives, based on the consolidation of these two colleges, in the formation of a new college whose mission includes health promotion and rehabilitation. The new Task Force should be charged to provide suggestions on consolidation and redistribution between units from each existing college. Suggestions should make programmatic sense, enhance interdisciplinary interactions and strengthen the academic and research efforts currently ongoing in the two colleges. There are key questions to consider in studying this topic: * What are the potential significant gains? * What are the problems that might occur and how will they be offset? * Can resources be invested to insure the success of the new initiative? Recommendation 15. A mechanism to unite the campus units in psychology into a virtual or real school or institute should be explored. The chairs of Clinical and Health Psychology in HP and the Department of Psychology in CLAS desire closer interactions and collaborations among faculty and existing centers. This could be accomplished by formation of a School of Psychology within the new college, but at the expense of moving a large program out of CLAS. Alternatively, it could be accomplished as a university-wide institute, with the existing departments remaining in their traditional colleges. The advantages of each alternative need to be explored. Recommendation 16. The College of Natural Resources and Environment (CNRE) should become a School (SNRE). The SNRE should retain its interdisciplinary degree programs and its cross-campus role and scope. The SNRE should report to the Vice President for Agriculture and Natural Resources in his university-wide capacity for natural resources and to the Provost. A SNRE Council representing the deans of CALS, CLAS, the College of Engineering, and the College of Design, Construction and Planning should be appointed to advise the Vice President on SNRE strategy and programs. Natural resources and the environment continue to be among the most important issues in Florida. Many top tier AAU land grant institutions have programs related to the environment, and the field is recognized by important federal agencies. Consequently, UF must maintain a presence in the field. CNRE was established as a virtual college and is essentially a "delivery system" for courses and degrees. The resulting cross-campus, interdisciplinary programs are rich in scope and quality, and it is the Task Force's strong recommendation that the interdisciplinary nature of this unit be preserved and enhanced. But the program must access faculty and administrative resources in order to make further progress. As the details of this implementation unfold, the Task Force urges the university to guard carefully the interdisciplinary richness achieved in CNRE through wide faculty participation and to insure the unit has sufficient resources to carry out its mission. In particular, faculty should be encouraged to continue to affiliate with the School. The reorganized unit should adopt among its mission imperatives: * Develop a research program to answer major questions in natural resources and environmental sciences with assignment of faculty lines that do not duplicate efforts in other units * Strengthen the curriculum of the unit * Develop an outreach program to resolve real-world environmental problems of local, state, national, and international concern. EXPANDING OPPORTUNITIES As President Young wrote, "The best universities are also advantaged ... by a determination to invest in those university priorities that enhance quality - even when it means saying no to other important constituents and to some innovative ideas." While the Task Force did not delve into a comprehensive examination of university resources, it does offer several recommendations for refocusing resources to substantially enhance the scholarly enterprise. Top tier universities, such as the University of California, make strategic use of dedicated teaching positions to assist in delivering instruction in large undergraduate survey, language, and writing courses. Can UF adopt this model to deliver high-quality instruction efficiently in specific situations and free faculty to deliver advanced instruction and pursue research? Recommendation 17. Appropriate administrators, including the Provost, deans, and department chairs, should examine the use of dedicated teaching, clinical, and supervisory positions to address specific situations. UF believes that its best scholars must be in the classroom influencing the minds of undergraduates. But there are at least two models in which systematic use of teaching positions can make sense without compromising the quality of the education offered or the guiding precepts of a Research Extensive university. (1) The first model occurs when a long-term instructor adopts responsibility for a large service course. Specific duties may include teaching and coordinating the course, guiding other instructors and teaching assistants in the course, attending to student problems and needs, developing pedagogy, curriculum and materials, and delivering the course via distance education. This model has been used successfully in at least one department on campus for twenty years. (2) Research faculty do not always have the opportunity to introduce their research expertise and accompanying enthusiasm in courses due to course content, level, and structure. This might occur, for example, in an elementary language course, where limited student facility may prevent a specialist from indulging in any discussion of literature in the foreign language. By using instructors thoughtfully in appropriate courses, a department can deliver high quality instruction, thereby freeing faculty to concentrate on more advanced courses and research. Instructors should not displace graduate students, however. To insure long-term success of this model, it is important to integrate instructors into department life and to recognize their value in tangible ways. These may include: * Opportunities for professional development and promotion in an instructional track * Assignment of substantive responsibilities to foster interest, a sense of ownership, intellectual excitement and challenge * Potential for long-term employment, either through multi-year renewable contracts or permanent status Recommendation 18. The Provost should redirect lines vacated through retirement pursuant to a comprehensive long-term plan for strategic resource reallocation. The Task Force did identify one large pool of resources that becomes available over the next few years. In 2003-2004, an unusually large number of faculty members will retire, due to the Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP) incentive. By redirecting these lines strategically, the university can refocus resources and build substantially in high priority areas. The Provost should maintain control of these lines as they become available and reallocate them in line with strategic priorities. Implementation of a strategic plan must involve colleges and departments so that they can plan for their future staffing and curricular needs. Recommendation 19. The Provost should look to the UF Research Foundation for support in advancing the university's strategic priorities. The purpose of the UF Research Foundation is to invest in strategic initiatives in university research and development. As UF launches an initiative to implement a strategic plan, the resources offered by the UFRF assume a new importance. CRITICAL STATE PRIORITIES The future of higher education will include creative and non-traditional instructional delivery mechanisms. Distance education via the Internet, off-site programs, branch campuses, and continuing education courses may all play a role in delivering instruction and curricula to students and to working professionals. Through these mechanisms, the university can meet state needs and have added impact in communities around the state. Recommendation 20. * The College of Engineering should work with Santa Fe Community College (SFCC) to establish a four-year degree program in computer science or information technology-related areas on the SFCC campus. * CLAS and the College of Education should work with SFCC to establish a four-year degree program to train secondary school teachers in mathematics, foreign languages, and the physical sciences on the SFCC campus. * CLAS, CALS, and the College of Education should work with SFCC to establish a four-year program to train secondary school teachers in biology. These colleges should also consider working with other community colleges that express an interest in doing this. The state is experiencing shortages of trained personnel in several critical areas, including computer science and information technology-related areas. Secondary school teachers in mathematics, foreign languages, biology, and the physical sciences are also in extremely short supply. Community colleges across the state are considering establishing four- year degree programs on their campuses to address these shortages, and UF should assist in this effort. The Task Force makes no recommendation about the nature of these four-year degree programs. They could be awarded by UF, or they could be awarded by SFCC. They could be on-book programs or off-book programs. There would have to be substantial negotiation of all of these details. Another way UF can assist with the secondary school teacher shortage is contained in the following recommendation. Recommendation 21. * CLAS should share leadership responsibility in the training of secondary school teachers in mathematics, foreign languages, and the physical sciences with the College of Education. * CLAS and CALS should share leadership responsibility in the training of secondary school teachers in biology with the College of Education. The number of students pursuing these degrees in the College of Education is small. This presents two problems. First, it is not cost-effective for the College of Education to deal with these small numbers. Second, UF has a responsibility to assist the state in filling this critical need. It is a standard national model to have these degrees based in the disciplines. It gives the students a strong disciplinary base of knowledge, it provides them with another career choice, and disciplinary departments are better positioned to encourage many students to consider a teaching career. CLAS has a fledgling program "Pathways" that can be further developed to implement this recommendation, but initiating the program will require a cultural adjustment by the associated departments. The Provost and the Deans should create a center crossing the College of Education, CLAS and CALS to assume responsibility for this initiative. Recommendation 22. * The College of Nursing should work with SFCC to establish a four-year program to train nurses and should explore the possibility with other interested community colleges. * Establish strategic alliances with other state university system nursing programs to identify "fast track" students with high potential to enter UF graduate programs in nursing. * Explore distance-learning programs to provide specialist training nationally. Nursing is another area of critical need in the state. The College of Nursing faces challenges in addressing the critical shortage of nurses at all educational levels from the bachelor's to the doctorate. Its fundamental mission is to educate professional nurses to serve the needs of the state. There is a variety of ways the College of Nursing might be able to help in alleviating the situation. It may be advantageous to slightly reduce the number of on-campus bachelor-level students in nursing and redirect the resources to increase graduate-level students in the College. COLLEGE PRIORITIES The majority of our colleges and their programs are functioning very well and with careful consideration of resources. In this last section, we collect recommendations about several colleges that have not been discussed previously. The College of Medicine (COM) ranks among the top 50 university medical centers in the nation. As one of the largest and most visible units on campus, the success of this college is critical to the university achieving truly great status. The college has made a number of substantial improvements over the past decade. It has increased its extramural NIH funding, it has recruited top-notch scholars, and it has invested resources in areas of critical concern to the state of Florida. These areas include aging, cancer, genetics, neuroscience and diabetes. These strategic investments have helped the college to attract top-ranked faculty members and to secure funding to improve its facilities. Because of its size, scope and demonstrated interest in interdisciplinary activities, the college is well positioned to play a key leadership role in fostering an environment of collaboration in teaching and research at UF. Recommendation 23. The College of Medicine should continue its interdisciplinary effort in areas of critical concern including: genetics, neuroscience, cancer, biotechnology, and diabetes. The following recommendations address COM's relationship with the rest of the university: * Increase investments in the Department of Health Policy and Epidemiology. * In conjunction with campus-wide planning, explore offerings in public health. * Increase collaboration of the Institute on Aging with other colleges. * Encourage COM faculty participation in undergraduate and graduate education in other colleges, especially in the biological sciences. Recommendation 24. IFAS should increase its integration with other colleges to maximize the use of resources for undergraduate and graduate education and the initiation of novel directions in interdisciplinary research. IFAS departments whose research and teaching areas overlap with those of other colleges in psychology, biology, education, engineering, economics, sociology, and the environment should initiate discussions on the benefits and costs of consolidation. An outstanding college of agriculture is an essential component of a truly great land grant university. IFAS, which contains CALS, is charged with maximizing the use of Florida's agricultural, natural, and human resources in a sustainable fashion. Florida has a unique ecosystem and a dynamic population. It could serve as a national model for responsiveness to changing stakeholder demands. IFAS needs to be poised ahead of the curve, educating students and conducting research that will be as valuable tomorrow as today. Recommendation 25. The Colleges of Nursing, Pharmacy and Health Professions should work closely to centralize non-academic functions in their new building. Recommendation 26. The Warrington College of Business Administration should be encouraged to increase admissions requirements into the BABA program, improve the learning environment for undergraduate business majors and seek to increase graduate student enrollments in selected programs. This College plays an important role in the university. While its programs are robust and its graduates are well-placed, the College can be strengthened by continuing to increase the size of its MBA program and the size and quality of its PhD programs and by addressing problems caused by extraordinary growth in the undergraduate program. The Frederic G. Levin College of Law plays an important role in addressing the needs of the state and nation. It can be strengthened by reducing the student/faculty ratio. A lower student/faculty ratio is an important consideration in the algorithm for national rankings of law schools and to improve the quality of the educational experience for the students. By empowering the College to increase tuition to levels commensurate with peer AAU public institutions, the added tuition will offset the decline in enrollment. Recommendation 27. Plan to reduce the student/faculty ratio in the Frederic G. Levin College of Law. Empower the College to increase tuition to levels commensurate with peer AAU public institutions. Law faculty should be encouraged to increase research and scholarly activity, resulting in a greater number of published articles and books. In recent years, the faculty has done well in increasing scholarly productivity. However, further improvement in the quality and number of publications should be emphasized for the College to increase its academic standing in the national rankings. It would also be advisable to allow the College to increase the percentage of students admitted from out of state, thereby increasing its visibility. With the initiation of two new law schools in the state, Florida residents should not be hampered in gaining admission to an in-state law school. The Colleges of Dentistry, Pharmacy and Veterinary Medicine in the Health Science Center all have as their fundamental mission the education of professional students. All enjoy high national rankings and contribute in fundamental ways to the state and consequently bring important attention to the university. Recommendation 28. The university should continue to sustain these valuable programs in Dentistry, Pharmacy and Veterinary Medicine. The College of Design, Construction, and Planning has built its reputation on the quality of its graduates due primarily to the outstanding teaching efforts of the faculty. It is a young college (established in 1975), and the students from this College successfully compete with students from older, more established programs for acceptance to graduate programs, recognition in competitions and prestigious employment opportunities. The Task Force notes that this is a College undergoing change: * Tenure and promotion criteria are under discussion, as is the College's fundamental mission in professional preparation of students. * The College is in its own strategic planning process. Recommendation 29. In light of these observations, the Task Force chooses to let the internal process run its course and makes no recommendations for structural change in the College of Design, Construction, and Planning at this time. The visual and performing arts are essential components of top tier universities, providing a balance for the science, engineering, social science and humanities disciplines and promoting the university locally, nationally, and internationally. A truly great university not only maintains this balance, but also fosters a vibrant campus life in and outside the classroom. The Task Force does not recommend restructuring the College of Fine Arts, but does recommend: Recommendation 30. Consider providing the College of Fine Arts with resources needed to improve faculty and to raise graduate assistant stipends. The Stellar Artists-in-Residence Program is an intriguing concept that would promote the College and the University. As a highly desirable step toward improving campus cultural life, additional means should be found (especially through development and private fund-raising) to support the arts. Recommendation 31. * The College of Education should establish thoughtful partnerships with community colleges, CLAS and CALS to educate teachers and should strive to maximize teacher production in critical shortage areas. * The College should develop service and outreach programs to fulfill its role in K-12 education in the state of Florida. * The College should identify the "strongest" graduate programs and concentrate its resources there. The mission of the College of Education is at least three-fold. One component is the production of well-trained classroom teachers at the primary and secondary levels through the undergraduate degree programs. The state has critical needs for teachers in various areas. As has been discussed, secondary school teachers in science, mathematics, and foreign languages are badly needed. Other areas of shortage include special education teachers. The second component of the mission is service and outreach to the public school system in the state of Florida. The third is advancement of the field through research and training of the next generation's leaders. One of the main challenges for the COE is how to balance the tripartite mission above. No part can be abandoned in favor of another. Recommendation 32. The university should sustain the College of Journalism and Communications. The College is a national leader in the education of future journalists and communications professionals, as well as in the preparation of teacher-scholars. The College appears to be highly ranked nationally and among AAU institutions. The College built its reputation on the effectiveness of its undergraduate programs and the preparation of future journalism and communications professionals. Although the discipline is not traditionally considered as "core" to a major land grant university, its success positions it to potentially be one of the showcases of excellence at UF. 1 An eighteenth member was added later. 2 Research Extensive refers to the Carnegie Foundation Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. A Research Extensive university typically offers a wide range of baccalaureate programs and is committed to graduate education through the doctorate. During the period studied, each Research Extensive university awarded 50 or more doctoral degrees per year across at least 15 disciplines. 25