ACADEMIC PRIORITIES 2006-07

The priorities central to the mission of the University of Oregon remain the same year after year:

• The education of each of our students, undergraduate and graduate,
• The creation and promulgation of research and scholarship in support of that education and in support of the intellectual infrastructure of Oregon and the larger world it is part of,
• Service to our communities: local, regional, national, and international.

These enduring priorities are addressed through the excellence we achieve in our academic departments and programs, in our research institutes and centers, and through our many outreach efforts.  So, the focus of most of the energy of most new faculty and officers of administration will, most naturally, center on teaching and scholarship and service.

Nonetheless, there are several academic priorities complementary to these enduring priorities that will receive considerable emphasis across campus.  For AY 2006-07 some of the academic priorities are.

ACADEMIC QUALITY. All major research universities sustain an enduring commitment to improving steadily the quality of their academic endeavors. There is a time, however, in which this enduring commitment to excellence benefits from more concerted and focused attention. The new Provost, Linda Brady, has asked all of us to take advantage of current changes in key administrative appointments to review our academic and administrative efforts with the aim of emphasizing academic quality in our faculty, our academic programs, and our individual teaching, research, and service activities. During this academic year the UO also will undergo a 10-year accreditation review by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU).

DIVERSITY. The University of Oregon is committed to a campus environment that is enriched and informed by the personal, cultural and intellectual differences of its students, faculty, staff and visitors. The UO Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity (OIED) plays a central role in fulfilling that ongoing commitment through leadership on issues that enhance institutional fairness and equality, eradicate discrimination and celebrate the strengths of a multicultural community.  The University, including the President, the Provost, and all senior administrators, under the immediate direction of Prof. Charles Martinez, Vice Provost for Institutional Equity and Diversity, will continue work towards improving diversity at the UO.

NON-TENURE TRACK FACULTY (NTTF).  The UO employs a considerable number of non-tenure-track faculty (NTTF) in both instructional and research appointments.  After several years of thoughtful work by the Senate's NTTIF committee, the UO will press forward again this year with efforts to increase the transparency and care with which NTTF appointments are made and to review and improve NTTF academic appointments in all of their dimensions.  For more information on this effort, please see the Senate committee's site or the new  NTTF information site in Academic Affairs.  

INTERNATIONAL MATTERS: UO EAST ASIA INITIATIVE.  Grounded in extensive disciplinary excellence in languages and cultures, literature, history, art and the social sciences, and coupled with academic entrepreneurialism aimed at extending UO academic efforts into East Asia, the UO has embarked on an initiative to make the UO a key resource in the State and the region for developing projects, both academic and non-academic, that seek to engage China and other parts of East and Southeast Asia, including Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand.  For more information on this effort, please contact Dr. Chunsheng Zhang, Vice Provost for International Affairs and Outreach.

PORTLAND. The UO has had a continuous and long standing commitment to Portland traceable to its inception in 1872 when by an act of the Oregon legislature the charge was 'to serve the educational needs of the entire citizenry of the new state of Oregon'.  In 1884 the University of Oregon approved a new curriculum in law, creating a UO Law Department that had its first residence in Portland - in fact, in the very same building that many of our current programs are housed in today. From that time forward the UO has had an ongoing, if not always highly visible, presence in the greater Portland area. Today in Portland the University has graduate degree programs in architecture and journalism, a growing presence in the area of law, a robust executive MBA program offered jointly with OSU and PSU, and numerous administrative and support offices including AHA International Study Abroad Programs, the Career Center, the Development Office and the Office of Continuing Education. Current objectives include identifying the means to increase both the quantity and capacity of our current academic offering in Portland, as well as consolidating our presence into a larger "UO Portland Center" in the next 3  to 5 years.  For more information on developments in Portland, please contact Terri Warpinski, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs.