School of
Humanities and Social Sciences
Performance Plan for FY04
John P. Harrington, Dean
December 5, 2002
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
Executive Summary
2
Institute-Wide First Year Highest Priorities
4
A. Initiatives in Biotechnology and Information Technology
B. First Year Experience
C. Electronic Media and Performing Arts Center and Programs
4
5
7
Other Portfolio High Priorities
8
A. Expand Research, Scholarship, and Creative Production
B. Graduate Education
C. Undergraduate Education
8
10
11
Performance Measures
13
Resource Plan
16
Fundamental Undergirding Requirements
18
Appendices
20
A. Tables and Figures
Table 1.
Table 2.
Table 3.
Figure 1.
Figure 2.
Figure 3
Figure 4.
Research Grants Submitted and Awarded
Representative Sponsored Research Activity
Full-Time, Tenure-Track Faculty in H&SS
H&SS Faculty Headcount
Projected Growth in Sponsored Research
Credit Hours Taught by H&SS Faculty
Growth in H&SS Dual Majors
B. Doctoral Program Proposal for Cognitive Science
C. Program Goals: M.S. in Human-Computer Interaction
D. Rensselaer Community Outreach Partnership Center (COPC)
20
20
21
21
22
23
23
24
53
56
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Section I. Executive Summary
After substantial internal change, and significant investment by the Institute, the School
of Humanities and Social Sciences is poised to become a major contributor to the
Rensselaer Plan’s ultimate objective of transforming the Institute into a "top-tier worldclass technological university with global reach and global impact." The School of
Humanities and Social Sciences Performance Plan for FY04 applies the premise that
“research potentiates education” to the unique roles that humanities and social sciences
disciplines play in all university settings. Education and research have been inextricably
linked in the school’s long-standing mission statement: introduce all Rensselaer students
to humanities and social science disciplines and also create innovative undergraduate and
graduate programs. Now H&SS is prepared to launch a world-class research enterprise
that fuels learning and enhances the Rensselaer profile for students, faculty, and
communities. H&SS will add diversity to research and teaching enterprises at Rensselaer
and so create true university status.
Each part of the H&SS FY04 Plan, including Institute Highest Priorities and Portfolio
Highest Priorities, combines research and teaching into related practices that address both
excellence in core institute strengths and breadth required for university status. Hence
the H&SS Plan for joining the Biotechnology and Information Technology initiatives
combines an aggressive funded research plan in Cognitive Science, a platform for
scholarship on implications of emerging technologies, and a plan for developing further
"communiversity" projects that already link departments in H&SS joint endeavors. Each
further part of the plan similarly includes balanced initiatives in funded research—our
overarching goal—with intellectual examination and pragmatic application. This, we
believe, is how “research potentiates education.”
Taking our direction from Rensselaer's core strength in interdisciplinary work, this plan is
organized around research and education functions rather than around individual
departments. The Institute Highest Priorities addressed first are the Biotechnology and
Information Technology initiatives; First-year Experience; and the Experimental Media
Performing Arts Center. The Portfolio Initiatives addressed subsequently are the
Research Agenda; Graduate Education; and Undergraduate Education. Each function
includes contributions from all departments, and so the H&SS FY04 Plan is a schoolwide vision of the contribution that the humanities and social sciences can make to a
technological university.
Each of the five H&SS departments, however, is also committed to ambitious goals
linked primarily to it. The Arts Department is prepared to become artistic collaborator
with EMPAC. The Cognitive Science Department is prepared to launch a new Ph.D.
program. Tthe Economics Department is prepared to diversify the scope of funded
research it conducts, establish editorial homes for scholarly journals and host several
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conferences on-campus. The Department of Language, Literature, and Communication is
prepared to open a new research facility in the Gurley Building in downtown Troy, create
a new "ubiquitous" campus sense of communicative performance, and internationalize
the curriculum by institutionalizing the study of foreign languages. The Department of
Science and Technology Studies is prepared to push forward new research centers,
extend several research projects on the impact of digital technology in the City of Troy,
and begin the process of recruiting a new chair. These initiatives —and performance
measures to chart them—give the School of Humanities and Social Sciences an expanded
sense of connection with faculty and students across the Rensselaer campus, as well as
with colleagues and communities external to Rensselaer.
In order to realize these goals, the H&SS FY04 Resource Plan begins with reallocation
and redirection of resources. The plan commits resources to raising the compensation
levels of vacant faculty positions and to making substantial contributions to graduate
student financial aid. Both will require complementary austerities, but both will insure
that faculty positions and graduate programs in H&SS are competitive. The resource
plan further commits the school to a budget plan that will use internal resources for a
variety of curricular and research projects that will insure a cutting-edge intellectual
culture for teaching and research purposes. In return, the School must rely on Institute
support for short-term graduate student support to provide a transition to a new research
model without damage to the recruiting potential of these programs for faculty and
students alike. A number of compelling research and education areas including
Biotechnology and Information Technology are presented as additional initiatives for
support.
The H&SS FY04 Resource Plan foregoes establishing new internal structures and offices
for greater campus partnerships. Undergraduate program goals have been planned with
the Office of Undergraduate Programs and the Office of Enrollment Management. The
plan for transition to a new model for Graduate Programs has been developed in close
consultation with the Office of Graduate Programs. Developing the new H&SS potential
in funded research, scholarship, and creative projects is proposed on the basis of closer
working relationships with the Office of Vice President of Research and the Office of
Individual and Organizational Advancement. The H&SS Dean, in particular, is
committed in the plan to much more development work, including the capital campaign,
as directed by the Office of Institute Advancement.
The essence of the H&SS FY04 Plan is to make the technological university both more
technological, by development of areas such as communication, cognitive science, and
ecological economics that are fundamentally social science disciplines, and also to make
the technological university more of a university, by development of humanities
disciplines that have primary impact on general education, on arts, and on communities.
In this dual role—genuinely H and SS—the School plans to contribute to Rensselaer as a
whole by enhancing its scientific, academic, and public profile.
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Section II. FIRST YEAR HIGHEST PRIORITIES
A. Initiatives in Biotechnology and Information Technology
In the previous two performance plans submitted, faculty in the School of Humanities
and Social Sciences have crafted a plan of action that has enabled the School to realize
“the most significant transformation” identified by The Rensselaer Plan: the need to
“create a research portfolio of substantially greater size, quality, prominence, and
impact.”
H&SS has worked to achieve this transformation primarily by enhancing research and
scholarly work in the Institute’s high-priority areas of information technology and
biotechnology. We have pursued an ambitious agenda from an intellectual perspective
unique to the interdisciplinary composition of the five departments that comprise H&SS.
We have been successful in increasing the overall level of externally funded research in
ways that enhance the stature of H&SS as a school and the prominence of Rensselaer as a
technological university (See Tables 1 and 2 in Appendix A). This success has served to
strengthen confidence and cultivate within H&SS a sense that “we can do this.”
Goal Statement:
With this important foundation now secure, we will intensify our research effort in FY04
in order to:
create a distinctive intellectual identity and prominent research profile for the
humanities and social sciences in information technology and biotechnology.
Strategies:
We will work together as a School to achieve this goal by pursuing the following
strategies:
1. Move to a nationally leading level of sponsored research in Cognitive Science
(See Appendix B).
2. Develop collaborative research focusing on the human, social, and economic
implications of emerging biotechnologies and information technologies, and
create forums to promote them.
3. Move school-wide “community-based” IT research initiatives to the next level of
visibility and impact (See Appendix D).
Action Plan:
1.1 Survey comparative cognitive science departments to establish research related
benchmarks.
1.2 Canvas relevant federal agencies, foundations, and corporations to determine
annual funding pool available for non-neuro Cognitive Science research.
1.3 Develop yearly targets and projections for funding levels in Cognitive Science
Department as a percentage of the available pool.
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1.4
Institutionalize expectations for externally-supported research for all new
faculty hires in Cognitive Science.
2.1
Organize and convene IT and BT “roundtables” that allow faculty to showcase
current or proposed work, engage with potential research collaborators from
outside Rensselaer, and incubate proposals for external funding, especially by
use of emerging research areas and centers such as HCI, technology-mediated
communication, cultural design, ethics in complex systems, and social robotics.
Develop a proposal for an IT-H&SS Constellation in Cultural Informatics.
Establish editorial office for Journal of Technology Transfer within the
Economics Department and publish a special issue that showcases H&SS
research related to BT and IT.
2.2
2.3
3.1
3.2
3.3
Coordinate community-based research and teaching with community
development projects on and off campus.
Work with Rensselaer’s Director of Community Relations to develop a strategy
that will ensure the long-term sustainability of the Community Outreach
Partnership Center (COPC).
Link Arts Center in Troy to DCC for broadcast/cablecast of community/arts
department events and faculty/student projects.
B. First Year Experience
The H&SS First Year Studies Program has made great strides forward in establishing
important working partnerships with a range of relevant units across campus devoted to
enhancing the quality of the “first year experience” for students new to Rensselaer.
H&SS faculty involved in the First Year Studies Program engage on an ongoing basis
with the Office of First Year Experience, the Office of Diversity, and the 9/11 Open
Response Committee to organize a series of lectures that introduce students across the
Rensselaer campus to a diversity of perspectives on issues of timely interest and
relevance. The First Year Studies Program will continue to strengthen its scholarly focus
in order to become recognized as a distinctive and valued academic counterpart to
activities sponsored by the Office of the First Year Experience. Existing programs to be
sustained include the extensive first-semester course offerings, a Fall Lecture Series, and
a summer pedagogy workshop designed to provide those teaching in the program with
new direction and a sense of pedagogic mission and solidarity. The First Year Studies
program also plans on advancing new initiatives to develop new courses and curriculum,
seek external funding for pedagogic experimentation and research, develop programs for
the Spring semester, and begin initial planning for a TA Training Program centered on
effective university-level pedagogy.
All these actions will be in coordination with the other offices to provide academic
orientation noted as a need in the draft plan from the Dean of Undergraduate Programs
and the “significantly more robust H&SS offerings” planned by the Dean of Enrollment
Management.
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Goal Statement:
In the coming academic year, we will build on existing strengths and introduce new
initiatives in order to:
raise the First Year Studies Program to a national level of recognition.
Strategies:
H&SS faculty will work to achieve this goal by pursuing the following strategies:
1. Develop programmatic and curricular emphasis in three areas: (i) Global
Citizenship, (ii) Pluralism and Diversity, and (iii) Creativity and Innovation.
2. Coordinate FYS initiatives with the Office of First Year Experience, the Office of
Undergraduate Programs, and the Office of Institute Advancement.
3. Conduct an assessment of the program and use the analysis as basis to make
revisions to the program.
Action Plan:
1.1 Work with Office of Diversity, 9/11 Open Response Committee, and Office of
First Year Experience to present lecture series on “Preparing the Global
Citizen.”
1.2 Pilot (in Spring 2003) the course, “Nature, Society, and the Global Economy”
as a model of ways to engage undergraduates in cutting-edge research and
explore how the pilot can serve as a model for a second semester “honors”
section of the FYS program.
1.3 Pilot FYS course on diversity, including issues of race, class, modes of
thinking, and learning styles.
1.4 Provide support for at least one FYS faculty member to attend a conference on
pluralism (such as the annual conference at Harvard).
1.5 Pilot ways to integrate concept mapping and creative problem-solving into
FYS courses.
1.6 Continue to develop FYS courses that build partnerships across the Institute:
“Design, History, and Society” (with the School of Architecture), “IT
Revolution” (with IT), “Contemporary Issues in Global Citizenship” (with the
School of Engineering and ABET guidelines).
2.1
Involve Office of the First Year Experience in the FYS Summer Seminar.
3.1
Refine assessment instrument piloted in AY03 in conjunction with results of
participation in the National Benchmarking Survey developed by the Policy
Center on the First Year of College
Implement revised instrument to determine whether the program is meeting its
stated goals, especially with regard to promoting critical thinking, developing
personal interaction between faculty and students, and improving writing and
speaking skills.
3.2
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3.3
Use results of assessment to focus faculty summer seminar on ways of
improving FYS program.
C. Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center
The Arts Department in H&SS has been successful in laying the foundation upon which
to establish itself as one of the leading centers for the creation and study of electronic
arts. Under the direction of a new department chair, and with the realization of EMPAC
coming into sharper focus, the Arts Department must position itself as the scholarly and
creative complement to EMPAC by exemplifying the new kind of “marriage between
science, technology, research, and the arts” that Rensselaer’s focus on experimental
media is intended to showcase to the world. While the Arts Department completes its
physical move into West Hall, the need to rehabilitate this space becomes even more
important in order to assure its capacity to support the academic demands of a growing
department, accommodate an ambitious plan to seek external support for creative
production and IT-oriented research, and provide any facilities that cannot be housed by
the new performing arts center.
Goal Statement:
We will expand upon the progress that has been achieved over the past few years to
identify and pursue an integrated approach to creative production and scholarship in the
electronic arts in order to
Establish Arts Department as a core artistic collaborator with the Experimental
Media and Performing Arts Center.
Strategies:
The Arts Department will move toward establishing this symbiotic relationship by
pursuing the following strategies:
1. Define an integrated research agenda in Experimental Media and Performing Arts
with planned, phase-in to EMPAC opening.
2. Integrate planning and production of performances and residencies to complement
EMPAC activities. Develop program concepts for 2004 performing arts
presentations with EMPAC along thematic lines, and in co-sponsorship with Arts
Teaching programs.
3. Complete re-development of West Hall for joint EMPAC, Arts Department, and
collaborative visions.
Action Plan:
1.1
Pursue externally-funded research in three interrelated areas: (i) Performance
Interfaces; (2) Perceptualization of Data; and (3) The new
museum/archive/library.
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2.1
2.2
3.1
Seek broader base of funding for iEAR residencies and expand iEAR
residencies to artists outside of New York State jurisdiction.
Develop an intern/research assistant/teaching assistantship policy to facilitate
Arts Department graduate student involvement with EMPAC projects.
Develop 3 year timetable for completing deferred maintenance and repairs of
West Hall, consolidating DCC studios in West Hall, and accommodating
EMPAC black-box theatre and Artists-in-Residence spaces into West Hall.
SECTION III. OTHER PORTFOLIO HIGH PRIORITIES
A. Expand Research, Scholarship, and Creative Production
Over the past several years, faculty throughout H&SS have persistently worked to
increase the level of research activity supported by external funding (See Tables 1 and 2
in Appendix A). Our success in increasing the number of proposals submitted on an
annual basis, increasing the dollar value of proposals submitted, and in raising the total
amount of externally-funded research indicate that H&SS has much to contribute to the
goal of elevating the research profile of Rensselaer as a technological university. This
success is due, in part, to past efforts to create an infrastructure that encourages growth in
this priority area.
However, we see our current success as simply a good “first step.” We will continue to
invest time and resources to engage an ever-widening range of H&SS faculty in pursuing
externally-supported research. We project this will dramatically increase the level of
external funding for H&SS research and scholarship (See Figure 1 in Appendix A). We
will also cultivate an appreciation of humanities scholarship and creative production as
important dimensions of the research enterprise in H&SS. For example, an important
part of Rensselaer media relations and academic planning is differentiation between
voluntary community service—which does not require specialized knowledge—and the
deliberate application of the disciplinary expertise and perspectives of arts and
humanities scholars to real world problems. As is recognized by the Office of Institute
Advancement, Rensselaer media and academic relations are improved by engaging with
the community in addressing problems that exist in the “living lab” represented by the
City of Troy.
Goal Statement:
We will renew our efforts to help Rensselaer achieve world-class status as a top-tier
technological university in research and scholarship by
Strengthening existing and creating new mechanisms to expand externally-funded
research, highlight scholarship, and boost creative production throughout H&SS.
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Strategies:
We will accomplish these goals by pursuing the following strategies:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Provide systematic support for establishing research alliances/partnerships
with collaborators outside Rensselaer.
Maximize use of the Social and Behavioral Research Lab as a showcase for
H&SS research presence.
Lay foundation for creation of a Rensselaer Center for the Humanities.
Establish greater resources to sponsor departmental colloquia, and to increase
faculty participation in national and international research conferences.
Action Plan:
1.1
1.2
2.1
2.2
Co-sponsor and co-organize (with the International Centre for Corporate
Social Responsibility at the University of Nottingham) a conference on the
“Economics of Corporate Social Responsibility” for Fall 2003.
Co-organize a workshop on “Science Parks and Incubators” (with the
Severino Center in the Lally School of Management and Technology and the
Institute for Enterprise and Innovation at the University of Nottingham) for
the Journal of Business Venturing , the leading scholarly journal in the field of
entrepreneurship.
Link HCI and the various Troy community-based research projects currently
underway as the basis for SBRL as a multi-use facility.
Plan public opening of SBRL, first research projects, and first links to Troy
community activities.
Develop a Humanities Center with technological themes by following the plan of lectures,
research seminars, and endowed center formulated by the Consortium of Humanities
Institutes and Centers.
Make a Center for Humanities a priority of the Rensselaer Capital Campaign.
4.1
Use the Office of the Dean to promote faculty engagement with research
communities.
B. Graduate Education
As the research portfolio in H&SS continues to expand, the need to evaluate the graduate
programs in H&SS so as to assure continued relevance and coherence with the research
enterprise is an ongoing responsibility. H&SS will continue to review and to improve
existing graduate programs and create new ones that respond to the growth of our
research portfolio. We are currently in the process of constructing graduate program
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portfolios and surveying current graduate students and recent alumni to serve as the basis
for program evaluation and improvement. In parallel with ongoing efforts to create
innovative new programs and improve the quality of existing graduate programs offered
in H&SS, we will work with the relevant offices on campus to develop an approach to
graduate financial aid that is appropriate to H&SS and to meet goals for GFA set by the
Office of Graduate Programs. We will launch new Ph.D. programs that are described in
the draft plan of the Dean of Graduate Programs as areas that are "unique, serve strength
and niche markets, and will be strong attractors of excellent students and faculty." We
will also seek the support needed to help H&SS improve common spaces in order to
present a “public face” worthy of a top-tier technological university.
Goal Statement:
An expanded research portfolio in H&SS makes it imperative to take a new look at
graduate education in H&SS. In an effort to provide world-class educational programs
that complement the world-class research portfolio we are seeking to build, we will
Make our graduate programs more competitive by improving their quality and by
establishing a sound basis for competitive graduate financial aid
Strategies:
We will achieve this goal by pursuing the following strategies:
1. Build enrollments by creating more effective mechanisms for student recruitment,
student orientation, and student placement.
2. Define and introduce competitive graduate financial aid structure for H&SS
3. Expand graduate program offerings that will contribute to the School’s effort to
build a distinctive presence in high-priority areas of the Rensselaer Plan.
Action Plan:
1.1 Organize school-wide recruitment events; expand and improve web presence;
seek capital improvements to the public spaces in Sage Lab.
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
Complete surveying of current graduate students and recent graduates in order
to benchmark competitiveness of programs.
Provide support for development of fellowship applications by graduate
students, as described in the draft plan of the Office of Graduate Programs.
Provide necessary matching funding for HASS Fellowships.
Build a research portfolio that will attract and support superior graduate
students.
Develop Ph.D. in Electronic Arts program proposal.
Conduct, with Dean of Graduate Programs, external review of MFA program
in FY04.
Complete the review process for the Ph.D. in Cognitive Science and begin
recruitment of entering cohort of students.
Develop educational exchange between doctoral program in ecological
economics and University of Nottingham.
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3.5
3.6
3.6
3.7
3.8
Conduct ecological economics module at University of Nottingham as pilot
recruitment effort for exchange program.
Submit proposal for external funding that will provide support for new doctoral
students in ecological economics program.
Complete approval process for the M.S. in Human-Computer Interaction
degree and EWP applications of it.
Plan LLC graduate offerings around a department-wide focus with ties to
emerging interdisciplinary areas, such as media studies.
Plan, with Office of Graduate Programs external review of LLC graduate
programs in FY05.
C. Undergraduate Education
H&SS has achieved an impressive record of success in developing, launching, and
attracting student interest in several key undergraduate programs—EMAC, Minds and
Machines, and Product Design and Innovation (See Figures 3 and 4 in Appendix A).
While we will continue to ensure that these programs remain leaders in their field, we
intend to expand the offerings at the undergraduate level to provide programs and
curricula that will broaden the appeal of Rensselaer to a wider range of prospective
students. The Office of Enrollment Management believes that the a uniquely
technological program in International Languages—in addition to our First Year Studies
program—can play a powerful role in attracting the most competitive undergraduate
students to Rensselaer, and the Office of Institute Advancement sees potential links
between foreign language offerings and Alumni travel programs. In order to meet the
widely-perceived need to improve the communication abilities of Rensselaer
undergraduates, we are proposing a comprehensive program that makes opportunities for
instruction in communicative performance ubiquitous on the Rensselaer campus. This
program will help Rensselaer undergraduates develop the ability to integrate written,
spoken, and visual information into effective communicative performances, whether in
the classroom, their careers, or their civic lives. Programs of this kind, key to the
Rensselaer Plan’s goal of achieving global reach and global impact, can only originate
from within H&SS.
Goal Statement:
Undergraduate education can play an important role in helping Rensselaer become a
“top-tier, world-class technological university with global reach and global impact.” In
order to help Rensselaer achieve true university status, we will:
Strengthen existing, and develop new, undergraduate programs that will position
H&SS as the preferred destination for students interested in innovative, cuttingedge education.
Strategies:
We can achieve this goal by pursuing the following strategies:
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1.
2.
3.
4.
Institutionalize program in International Languages and create links with
international programs in the School of Architecture and the Lally School of
Management.
Develop and implement program in Communicative Performance.
Review EMAC to preserve leadership in the field and to define qualities of
undergraduate success.
Work with Career Development Center to provide H&SS undergraduates with
expanded placement services.
Action Plan:
1.1
Create the position of Languages Coordinator in the Department of
Language, Literature, and Communication.
1.2
Develop international languages pedagogy that is uniquely technological.
2.1
2.2
3.1
3.2
4.1
4.2
Provide undergraduates with a strong foundation in communication skills
through interactive pedagogy comprised of courses that introduce students
to the fundamentals of communicative performance applicable in all media
and integration of those skills throughout the undergraduate and the
graduate curricula.
Expand technology-related course offerings in two undergraduate majors:
EMAC and Web Design and Analysis.
Appoint a joint Arts and LL&C EMAC review committee. This internal
committee may also have members from other departments in Rensselaer, as
needed. The committee will create an EMAC strategic plan in and
recommend lessons to be derived from the first five years of this successful
undergraduate, interdisciplinary, and interdepartmental program.
Invite an external review panel of 4-5 people in FY04 to evaluate the
proposed plan in the context of the existing EMAC program and models for
other undergraduate ones.
Organize a series of meetings to help Career Development Center staff to
better understand the needs of H&SS undergraduates, and identify
prospective co-op and internship placement opportunities.
Work with the Career Development Center to expand the range of H&SS
undergraduates served by the annual H&SS Career Fair.
SECTION IV. PERFORMANCE MEASURES
Initiatives in Information Technology and Biotechnology
1. Increase number of faculty members in the CS Department submitting proposals
for external funding.
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2. Increase the overall amount of externally funded research in CS Department to
$1.4M in FY04, $1.75M in AY05, and $2.55M in AY06, achieving the goal of
$3.6M annually in AY08 (assuming 15 full-time, tenure/tenure-track faculty by
AY05).
3. Organize and convene two information sessions for Rensselaer’s development
and research community.
4. Organize and convene two information sessions for potential collaborators
external to Rensselaer.
5. Develop and submit at least 5 proposals for external funding as a result of these
information sessions.
6. Convene series of organizational sessions between relevant participants in
Community-based research projects to identify and agree upon a more effective
organizational structure.
7. Develop and submit 3 proposals for external funding that contribute to the longterm sustainability of Communiversity initiatives.
First Year Experience
1. Send FYS faculty to Harvard’s annual conference on pluralism and establish
relationship between our FYS program and the Pluralism Project.
2. Participate in the National Benchmarking Survey developed by Policy Center on
the First Year of College.
3. Introduce and assess FYS courses developed to advance institute partnerships.
4. Continue to pilot FYS course offerings in Spring 04
5. Integrate FYS with FYE, especially in Navigating Rensselaer and Beyond
orientation programs.
Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC)
1. Increase number of performance-related proposals submitted to 4 in FY04, 8 in
AY05, and 10 in AY06.
2. Agree with Office of Administrative Services on plans for completion of deferred
maintenance of West Hall, completion of move from DCC, and EMPAC support
facilities approved by Institute.
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Expand Research, Scholarship, Creative Production
1. Increase number of proposals submitted by H&SS to 35 in FY04
2. Increase level of external funding for H&SS research to $2.5M in FY04, $3.0M in
AY05, and $3.5M in AY06.
3. Increase number of research papers presented by H&SS faculty at national and
international conferences in areas of strategic importance.
4. Achieve the active use of the Social and Behavioral Research Laboratory for work
by at least 10 H&SS faculty members in FY04.
5. Increase the amount of external research funding in HCI/CMC over the next three
years. This increase should support larger entering classes of Ph.D. students by
providing at least two years of funding, or approximately half of their degree
time, which is the target of the Office of Graduate Programs.
6. Increase the GRE scores and other standardized test results for all entering
graduate students from FY04 through FY06.
7. Increase overall faculty presentation of research findings at professional meetings
to an average of 1 presentation per year per tenure track faculty member in the
HCI/CMC area.
8. Institutionalize Humanities @ Rensselaer Lecture Series with one high-profile
lecture on-campus per month in FY04.
9. Establish Rensselaer Center for the Humanities as a priority for corporate and
foundation fund-raising in FY04 and add an externally-funded research seminar to
its activities in FY05.
10. Create a Rensselaer Center for the Humanities Advisory Board of off-campus
scholars and potential benefactors.
11. Use internal resources of the Office of the Dean, as well as institute instruments
such as sabbatical leaves, to raise the level of faculty engagement with external
research communities.
Graduate Education
1. Define with the Office of Graduate Education an ideal program size for all
existing and new graduate degree programs.
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2. Address all effects of two-year limit on PhD teaching assistants and one-year limit
on MFA teaching assistants; including credentialing of graduates, graduate
curriculum course offerings, undergraduate course sizes, core curricula, levels of
adjunct teaching, and position of programs within disciplines.
3. Create with Provost a policy whereby expectations for social sciences oriented
GFA is for external support and expectations for humanities-oriented GFA is for
internal support and phase-in GFA based on greater research expenditures.
4. Complete Ph.D. in Cognitive Science proposal approval process in Fall 2002.
5. Initiate recruitment cycle for Ph.D. in Cognitive Science in Fall 2002 for entering
class of Fall 2003.
6. Develop proposal for Ph.D. in Electronic Arts program and seek the necessary
approvals throughout FY04.
7. Initiate recruitment cycle for Ph.D. in Electronic Arts in Summer 2004 for Fall
2005 entering class.
8. Provide support for additional costs of Troy/EWP courses in HCI, from certificate
through MS.
Undergraduate Education
1. Define with the Dean of Enrollment Management admissions goals for H&SS:
numbers of applications, offers, yields, and academic measures.
2. Create a permanent plan for H&SS undergraduate recruiting which includes
events, publications, and web-support.
3. Assign to the Language Coordinator, the development of a plan for offerings in
international languages, including assessment of needs, off-campus options,
Institute’s international programs, technological pedagogy, and recruitment value
of program for all undergraduate students.
4. Develop curricula in communicative performance, and identify a plan to staff the
courses and integrate them into schedule of offerings.
5. Complete internal review of EMAC program and develop strategic plan by end of
Spring Semester (AY03).
6. Select members of external panel to review EMAC program in Spring 2003.
7. Schedule external review of EMAC program for Fall Semester (FY04)
8. Double the number of employers represented at the annual H&SS Career Fair.
16
SECTION V. RESOURCE PLAN
A. Internal Portfolio Redirect
Replacement Searches. Four replacement searches currently underway are
underfunded, which helps to explain why they became (and remain) vacant. Each will be
supplied with necessary salary and start-up fund supplements by rededication of existing
funds.
Graduate Financial Aid. By redirection of resources, H&SS will plan to provide
an increasing proportion of TA/RA support from external fellowships, from internallymatched HASS Fellowships, and from contract and grant funded research. Over a threeyear period, the H&SS will shift to a new research-model in graduate education. This
transition will include determining the optimal size for graduate programs in H&SS
without, by sudden loss of support, damaging their reputations and abilities to evolve
toward a new funding model. It will also require assessment of effects of TA term
limitations, roles for H&SS RA's, and effects on undergraduate programs enhanced by
longer TA appointments under the old guidelines. In the transition period, the School
will redirect renewable resources, adopt considerable austerity measures in order to do so,
and will still require new funds, particularly to spur the research agenda that will require
and will support outstanding graduate researchers.
Program Review. The review of Electronic Media, Arts, and Communication
(EMAC) program and any departmental retreats occasioned by new directions and
leadership will be funded by internal resources.
Center for Humanities. Preliminary development of the Center for Humanities in
the form of the lecture series Humanities@Rensselaer will be funded by redirected and
discretionary funds.
B. Increases in General Operating Resources
The H&SS FY03 replacement hiring plan was devoted to expanding funded-research in
key areas: cognitive science, economics, and the HCI initiative in the Department of
Language, Literature, and Communication. In FY04 and in FY05, to fully join the
Institute in the research agenda, H&SS will continue to require new faculty in areas with
the greatest likelihood of securing external support for research in IT/BT: Cognitive
Science, Economics, Computer-Mediated Communication, and Computer Visualization.
In order to help diversity and strengthen the foundation upon which Rensselaer can claim
true university status, faculty positions and administrative support will be required in
areas essential to humanities and social science scholarship and undergraduate education,
particularly in Communicative Performance, in the development of an International
17
Languages Program, in the Directorship of a Writing Center in Folsom Library, in
expanding IT/BT-related course offerings, and in First-year Studies, all of which have
potential for faculty- and curriculum-development grants. This dual faculty hiring plan
will help H&SS demonstrate the ways in which “research potentiates education,” address
the growing need to recruit a superior undergraduate student body in current enrollment
management trends, and to address the staffing effects on class enrollments of a smaller
role for TA's with limitations on teaching. (See Table 3 and Figure 1 in Appendix A).
Faculty Positions. Priority areas for FY04 new appointments are in Performative
Communication, International Languages Coordinator, and Chair of the Science and
Technology Studies Department, which will complete the five-department process of
seeking outside leadership. Continuing efforts to position conversion will address
immediate needs in Computer Visualization and Faculty Director of the Writing Center.
Staff Positions. In order to develop its new research projects related to
“communiversity” initiatives and undergraduate education, H&SS requires new funding
for staff positions in the Social and Behavioral Research Laboratory in the Gurley
Building and for web personnel to aid efforts in recruitment of both students and faculty
members.
Collaborative Research. H&SS will provide for new alliances, research
roundtables on BT/IT initiatives, hosting of research journals, and support for faculty
colloquia and conference participation by redirection of existing resources.
Experimental Media Performing Arts Center. Throughout EMPAC’s
Development Phase—from ground-breaking to official opening—requires H&SS faculty
appointments ranging from full-time to part-time that will enable the Arts Department to
collaborate with EMPAC planning and for TA/RA relationships that will clearly link
EMPAC to the University.
As above, for a three-year period H&SS will require contributions from the
Institute in order to make a transition to research-model graduate education and to
determine the optimal size for programs without damaging their reputation.
C. Increases in Extramural Grant and Contract Funding
H&SS funded research has been increasing over a period of three years. In ’04 and
beyond the school expects to reach much higher levels with the opening of the Social and
Behavioral Research Laboratory, the evolution of several research Centers such as the
Center for Ethics and Complex Systems, the initial funding of new centers in areas such
as digital design and social robotics (See Figure 2 in Appendix A). H&SS will also be
aggressively pursuing fellowship support for both faculty research and graduate student
financial aid. In these endeavors, H&SS needs much more support from the Office of the
Vice President for Research and the Office of Individual and Organizational
Advancement, or resources for consulting assistance.
18
D. Revenue from Endowment and Capital Campaign Funds
In FY04, after an initial organizational year, the Dean of H&SS will make development
and capital campaign work a fundamental part of the position. Initiatives in this area will
follow direction from the Office of Institute Advancement.
In the coming year the funded Phelan Chair can be activated as an important faculty
appointment in Humanities and as a model for future endowed Chairs.
Additional gifts to the School within Institute funding goals can include endowed chairs,
graduate fellowships, program support in the form of named seminars, lecture series and
visiting professors. Naming opportunities exist throughout H&SS in the Sage Lab, in
Carnegie Hall, in West Hall, and in the Gurley Building.
SECTION VI. FUNDAMENTAL UNDERGIRDING REQUIREMENTS
Space Utilization.
H&SS has already made the following proposals for Capital Improvements:
1. Upgrade public spaces in Sage Lab to modernize, to create a building and school
identity, to create exhibition spaces suitable for recruitment of students and faculty and
also for cultivation of benefactors. To Be Estimated.
2. Complete Phase 2 (South Wing) of the renovation of Carnegie 3rd floor. FY04
estimate $260,000-275,000.
3. Renovate Economics Department offices and a conference room on 3rd floor of Sage.
Estimate FY04 $155,000-225,000.
4. Upgrade LLC conference room (Sage 4304) and colloquia space (Sage 2202).
Estimate FY04 $110,000-140,000.
5. Complete renovation of West Hall for Arts Department and accommodation of
EMPAC spaces no longer planned for the performing arts center building. To Be
Revisited. Completion of auditorium renovation in West Hall, currently proposed for
FY06, must precede the opening of EMPAC in FY06, thus providing requirements for it,
and not be planned as simultaneous with it. It is important to reach a consensus with the
Office of Administrative Services on a realistic timetable to address these necessary
infrastructural needs.
6. Ongoing deferred maintenance on Sage, West, and Carnegie buildings: annually
$750,000 FY04-FY06.
19
In addition, and not yet explored by Administrative Services, wire infrastructure projects
will create a network of faculty and graduate students actively involved in community
affairs and also create opportunities for research relationships in the emerging domain of
democracy and community technology. Current needs involve the technological means
for the dissemination of IT-Media-based programming from Rensselaer to local,
international, and internet communities.
20
Appendix A
Table 1. Research Grants Submitted and Awarded
Submitted
Awarded**
Average
Number
Amount
Number
Amount
Size
8
17
37
27
17
$8.6M
$11.6M
$15.4M
$9.2M
$4.3M
3
4
8
10
7
$1.4M
$1.6M
$2.2M
$0.6M
$0.2M
$468K
$400K
$275K
$60K
$28K
FY03*
FY02
FY01
FY00
FY97
* Figures based on data available through December 2002.
** Figures represent cumulative totals for multi-year awards.
Table 2. H&SS Current Sponsored Research Activity
Date
Awarded
Fall 2002
Principal
Investigator
Lee, F.
Fall 2002
Project
Title
A Computational Theory of Psychological Time
Within a Cognitive Architecture Framework
Funding
Agency
Office of Naval
Research
Amount
Awarded
$266,293
Gray, W.
Computational Cognitive Modeling of Adaptive
Choice Behavior in a Dynamic Decision Paradigm
Air Force Office of
Scientific Research
$618,218
Fall 2002
Gray, W.
Interface Analysis Tools: Adapting to Soft
Constraints on Interactive Behavior
Office of Naval
Research
$519,399
Fall 2002
Gray, W.,
Bringsjord, S.
National Imagery and $1,227,850
Mapping Agency
October
2001
Eglash, R.
National Imagery and Mapping Agency’s Novel
Intelligence from Massive Data (NIMD) R&D
Program
Culturally Situated Design Tools
NSF
$543,000
September
2001
Zappen, Adali,
Harrison
Connected Kids: Designing Database Software for
Web-based Information Dissemination to Multiple
Audiences
NSF
$900,000
September
2001
Harrison,
Zappen
C and CT: Computers and Communication
Technology Summer Youth Opportunity Program
2001
Rensselaer County
Dept. of Employment
and Training
$28,000
September
2001
Bringsjord,
Yang
The eWriter Project: Stage 1
Educational Testing
Service
$152,000
September
2001
Eglash and
Rubenfeld
Learning Ethnomathematics
FIPSE
$359,000
August
2000
Gowdy,
Erickson
Modeling and Measuring the Process and
Consequences of Land Use Change
Hudson River
Foundation
$300,000
21
Appendix A
Table 3. Full-time, Tenure-track Faculty
Arts
Cognitive Science
Economics
LL&C
STS
96/97
4.5
14
6
17
15
97/98
7
13
6
18
14
98/99
8
13
6
16
14
99/00
9
12
5
17
13
00/01
9
10
5
18
12
01/02
11
11
4
17
14
02/03
13
12
5
16
16
Total
56.5
58
57
56
54
57
62
Figure 1. H&SS Faculty Headcount
95
H&SS Faculty Headcount
00
Existing
54
Replacement
3
New
Vacant
3
85
Total
60
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
50
5
3
5
53
6
5
4
64
4
5
69
2
4
73
2
3
76
2
3
60
63
68
73
75
78
81
3
3
75
Count includes
Duchin
Phelan
Goebel
Harrington
65
3
55
45
3
1
2
Note: 1
Oliveros is clinical
54
56
00
01
4
5
4
5
3
6
02
Existing
79
2
3
3
2
2
2
2
4
5
5
50
08
56
1
2
1
64
69
73
76
79
53
03
04
Replacement
05
06
New
Vacant
07
08
84
22
Appendix A
Figure 2. Projected Growth in Sponsored Research
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
$6,000,000
2002
2003
2004
$5,000,000
2005
2006
2007
$4,000,000
2008
$
333,000
354,000
181,000
131,000
611,000
1,209,000
1,449,000
1,834,000
2,734,000
3,334,000
3,834,000
4,334,000
existing
57
58
57
56
54
50
53
64
69
73
76
79
vacant
replace
new
5
4
5
6
4
2
2
2
2
16
3
5
5
4
3
3
$3.3 3
21
$3,000,000
$
total
1,449,000
1,834,000
2,734,000
$4.3
3,334,000
3,834,000
4,334,000
63
$4.868
73
75
78
81
84
avg level of funding
existing new & replace
5,842
6,103
3,175
2,339
$5.4
11,315
24,180
30,000
27,340
35,000
28,656 100,000
39,623 100,000
45,671 100,000
50,447 100,000
$2.1
$1.8
$2,000,000
Existing
New
$1,000,000
Vacant
Total
FY01
$1.6
FY02
FY03
50
8
5
63
$0.6
FY04
53
11
4
68
FY05
64
9
0
73
FY06
69
6
0
75
FY07
73
5
0
78
FY08
76
5
0
81
79
5
0
84
$0
FY01
FY01
1,584,850
FY02
6 11 ,01 0
FY02
FY03
1,800,000
FY033,280,000 FY04
4,260,000
FY04
2,080,000
FY05
FY06
FY05
4,820,000
FY07
FY06
5,380,000
FY08
FY07
FY08
23
Appendix A
Figure 3. Credit Hours Taught by H&SS Faculty
50,000
45,000
40,000
Credit Hours
35,000
30,000
25,000
20,000
15,000
10,000
5,000
86/87
87/88
88/89
89/90
90/91
91/92
92/93
93/94
94/95
95/96
96/97
97/98
98/99
99/00
00/01
Academic Year
Figure 4 Growth in H&SS Dual Majors
300
Number of Students
250
200
150
100
50
0
Fall '98
Fall '99
Fall '00
Fall '01
Fall '02
01/02
24
Appendix B, C, and D
available in hard copy only.