Remarks of James D. Herbert, Interim Provost Drexel University Convocation, Oct. 7, 2014 Good morning friends, colleagues and students. Let me begin by saying how honored and deeply humbled I am by the opportunity to serve as Interim Provost for the coming year. I’d like to express my sincere thanks to President Fry for the vote of confidence in me. I would also like to express my appreciation to Mark Greenberg for his guidance, collegiality, and friendship over the past summer as I transitioned into this role. We all owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Mark for his able and transformative leadership over the past six years. The progress we will realize over the coming year – and indeed for years to come -­‐-­‐ will be due in no small part to the foundation laid by Mark. I extend warm greetings to our distinguished trustees, the senior university leadership, my fellow faculty members, the professional staff, and our students. I’d like to extend a special welcome to the faculty from the College of Medicine, who join us today for the first convocation as full and unqualified members of the Drexel University faculty. I was asked to share some thoughts on my plans for the coming academic year. I will keep my remarks brief, but will try to give a sense of my vision for tackling some of the key issues facing us over the coming months. Having previously served in another interim leadership role at Drexel, there is something I have learned about this place: It is far too dynamic and forward-­‐moving for a leader –interim or otherwise -­‐-­‐ to be content merely to “keep the trains running on time.” We are all far too ambitious for such an approach, and we are compelled to move forward boldly and decisively. Consequently, I plan to work closely with my faculty colleagues, our students, President Fry, the deans and other senior administrators, and our Board of Trustees to advance key initiatives in our visionary strategic plan. I will elaborate briefly on just a few of the initiatives that I believe to be most critical for the coming year. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, but just some of the key priorities that I look forward to pursuing with you. Academic success –in terms of both research and scholarship as well as teaching – requires adequate infrastructure. We have made important progress over the past few years in establishing academic spaces commensurate with our aspirations, including such impressive projects as the Papadakis Integrated Sciences Building, the URBN Center, the renovated Stratton Hall, and the spectacular Gerri C. LeBow Hall. These projects are complemented by the construction of new non-­‐academic spaces, such as the Chestnut Square complex and most recently Perelman Plaza, all of which enrich the overall quality of life on campus for us all. Despite these gains, however, we still have too many faculty and students working in outdated laboratories, and we face an overall shortage of research, office, and classroom space. To begin to address this critical issue, the Provost’s Office will work with the deans, University Facilities, and others to identify needs, and to develop and prioritize projects to meet these needs. While planning for new and renovated space, we must also ensure that we are using our current space in the most efficient possible way. Where necessary, rational reallocations of existing space must be undertaken to this end. My team will examine the Program Alignment and Review project to determine any changes that need to be made to make the process more efficient and effective. We will also work to refine the action plans generated through the process, and will continue to implement these plans. This will include expansion of the faculty in some units, changes in leadership and cultural practices, and in some cases significant structural reorganization. As one example, I look forward to working with Dean Murasko and her colleagues in the College of Arts and Sciences to reorganize the humanities and social sciences programs. This process will set the stage for these programs to achieve great things both in the context of their traditional disciplines as well as across disciplinary boundaries. In an effort to ensure that Drexel retains a leadership role in undergraduate education, we will work with the Faculty Senate and others to explore a number of curricular innovations. These include accelerated bachelors programs, expanded travel embedded courses, greater use of online and hybrid courses, and growth of our Global Classroom initiative, among others. Although we have made important strides in building a more diverse faculty and student body, much work remains to be done. Together with Vice Provost Janet Fleetwood, I will work with each faculty search committee to strengthen our efforts to recruit faculty from underrepresented groups. We will also explore ways to ensure that all of those who join our faculty are given the tools and support needed to succeed and flourish. A world-­‐class research university is known for its scholarly productivity, and great research requires robust graduate programs. There is much work to be done to build on the strengths of our current graduate programs. We are currently working on a new streamlined system for funding PhD students that will not only provide a more stable funding model, but will facilitate the growth of doctoral programs in key areas. There are many opportunities to take advantage of the legal consolidation of the College of Medicine within the university to develop more interdisciplinary research and teaching programs across our campuses, toward President Fry’s vision of “One University.” We will also study a report of a joint Senate-­‐Administrative committee on leadership of our graduate programs with an eye toward significantly expanding the graduate studies leadership role. A number of important changes in the way the university does business will unfold over the coming year. Working closely with our Chief Financial Officer Helen Bowman, the academic enterprise will join the rest of the University in adopting the new responsibility center management (RCM) budgeting model. This new process will foster unprecedented transparency in the budgeting process, and will empower colleges, departments, and programs to take more direct ownership of their destinies. We in the Provost’s Office will work closely with Helen’s group, the deans, and the faculty to ensure as smooth a process as possible. Another key change involves the way we recruit, admit, and retain students. Over the past few weeks I have had the honor of getting to know our new Senior Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Success, Randy Deike. Randy and I have already begun working closely together to overhaul the way students are recruited to Drexel, as well as ensuring that we are better meeting the needs of those who do matriculate so that they will actually succeed, graduate, and move on to become proud Drexel alumnae. We must also ensure a strong connection between all of our activities and our core academic mission. To this end, I am pleased to announce that Randy and I are currently in the process of conducting a thorough analysis of the Drexel network, including both our partnerships with local community colleges and our satellite campus in Sacramento. Our goal is to ascertain the viability of the current network programs and their alignment with Drexel’s mission and strategic aspirations. Randy and I will offer recommendations to President Fry regarding the future of the network going forward. We must also work to strengthen the link between our academic programs and civic engagement through our community partnership initiatives. I am convinced that there are opportunities for synergies in this area that have yet to be fully realized. Each of these initiatives connects in one way or another with our ambitious University Strategic Plan. I look forward to working with my faculty colleagues, President Fry, and others on a “refresh” of our strategic plan. In summary, my overarching goals for the coming year are to advance the academic mission of the university, and to set the stage for the recruitment of a strong provost who will work closely with the faculty, President Fry, the university leadership, the professional staff, and the students to move Drexel forward to new and greater heights. We can only make progress toward this goal, and indeed any of the initiatives I’ve outlined this morning, by working together. It’s fitting that this year’s convocation celebrates the faculty. We the faculty – and yes, I still count myself as among our ranks -­‐-­‐ are the heart of the university. No initiative can be successful without the commitment of the faculty – and that includes the entire faculty: tenured, tenure-­‐
track, teaching, clinical, research, and adjunct. The Drexel faculty is characterized by a unique blend of creativity, entrepreneurial spirit, collegiality, willingness to cross disciplinary silos, and sheer work ethic that I am convinced does not exist elsewhere. I wish you all a healthy and successful year, and I look forward to working together to make Drexel an even greater place to learn and innovate. Thank you.