Annual Academic Planning Report
Academic Affairs
University of Colorado at Boulder
April 14, 2006
The planning that is necessary to deliver the academic mission of the University of
Colorado at Boulder is a combination of programmatic planning and review and budget planning. Both processes are currently under revision. A fresh look at programmatic planning and review has been commissioned by the Office of the Provost and is currently underway by means of a task force on program review through the Office of Faculty
Affairs. The revisions to the budget planning process in Academic Affairs are at a more advanced state. In the summer of 2005, the Budget Office and the Office of the Vice
Provost implemented a new Management Information and Investment Opportunity process in order to direct the allocation of temporary funds for the campus. That process was a good start for developing a complete systematic budget cycle. As a result we are now implementing a similar process that will allocate both temporary and continuing resources fairly across the campus by linking together the various parts of the budget process and the strategic plans of the schools and colleges. The ultimate goal is to operate in a context in which plans lead to budgets rather than having budgets dictate plans.
Program planning and review
Academic Affairs is currently reviewing the Program Review Process with an eye to connecting more closely the evaluation of programs and units, strategic planning, and budget requests. The PRP Task Force is examining ways to aggregate similar units under the review process so as to facilitate coordination of planning. All units would be reviewed within a six-year cycle, leaving the seventh year of the PRP cycle for a campuslevel planning discussion. In addition, the PRP process will report automatically into the budget planning process in order to link program review with budget. The PRP Task
Force will report to the Provost by the end of the current semester.
Budget Planning
The proposed new budget planning process for Academic Affairs intends to accomplish the following:

Strategic plans for each school, college or division by summer 2007 including separate plans for the three existing divisions of the College of Arts and Sciences rather than a single strategic plan for the entire College. Several colleges already have strategic plans or are in the process of developing one.
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
Initial “mini strategic plans” by each college/school for the start of fall 2006.
These mini plans will articulate programmatic priorities and will link those priorities with overall performance metrics and delivery.
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Programmatic priorities based on the potential for creation of excellence for the campus as well as establishing visibility for that excellence. In addition programmatic development will highlight cross-campus synergies, efficiencies and economies of scale as appropriate. The performance outcomes of these planned programmatic developments will be tied into the overall “deliverables” for a school, college or division.
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Outcomes and success measures for investment of resources in both new and ongoing programs in a unit. There are at least six areas in which such returns might be expected: undergraduate education, graduate education and research, diversity, performance relative to peers, faculty development, and administrative effectiveness. Some specific examples of the kinds of measures that might be delivered in either the short run or long run include:

Undergraduate education— academic quality and rigor; student credit hour production; honors programs; new majors or certificates; new or enhanced
RAPs; graduation rates; retention rates; student and program awards; enhanced student services; non-classroom learning experiences etc.
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Scholarship/Creative works and graduate education—graduate enrollment and graduate tuition generated; time to degree; retention rates; new degrees and certificate programs; student awards; sponsored research awards; publications, performances, creative works, etc.
 Diversity—various measures of diversity of students, faculty and staff; enhanced effectiveness of diversity programs; performance of diversity programs; etc.
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Performance relative to peer institutions—faculty and program awards; rankings tools; metrics developed based upon specific performance criteria such as citation indices, publication indices and other scholarly excellence recognition; research award indices; fundraising measures; etc.
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Faculty development—faculty satisfaction; retention; outreach; faculty recognition (internal and external); etc.
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Administrative effectiveness—data collection; data quality; service; compliance; staff development and enhanced skill performance; etc.
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The timeline for the proposed new budget process is as follows:
Beginning of October year 1—Mini strategic plans, hiring plans for year 2; budget requests for year 2; performance reports for year 0 and hiring performance reports for year 0 all due.
October and November year 1—Review of plans and performance in Academic
Affairs including interviews with deans.
December and January year 1—Provost prepares Academic Affairs request for
Chancellor.
February and March year 1—Provost and Chancellor negotiate on budget requests.
May and June year 1—Adjustments to hiring plans for year 2.
July year 2—Budget allocations for year 2.
August and September year 2—Colleges, Schools and Divisions prepare plans and requests for year 3. Hiring plans for year 2 implemented.
There will also be some consideration to budget requests that lie outside of the regular budget process, for instance, retention, spousal hires, special opportunity, matching, etc.
Academic Affairs is currently developing appropriate tools and templates for undertaking this kind of budget cycle request and reporting process.
Academic Rigor
The Boulder campus continues to develop initiatives, programs, and student activities that enhance academic quality and rigor. Three examples of such efforts are discussed below.
College of Arts and Sciences has issued the 'Colorado Challenge', an initiative that aims to specifically strengthen and enhance the intellectual rigor and value of the undergraduate A&S curriculum. The initiative is broad and encompasses many components but sample recommendations include: Encourage colleagues to enforce "2 hr homework per hour classtime" guideline. Encourage students to develop a "Learning
Portfolio" to encourage focus on learning rather than grading, and use the portfolio as an entry ticket for thesis and honors programs. Evaluate course content to reduce repetition/redundancy of courses generally taken in sequence.
The College of Engineering has developed a brand new Honors Program designed to attract and retain the best and brightest students, and provides faculty of the College the
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opportunity to work with these students. The presence of the Engineering Honors
Program and its students will help distinguish the College for undergraduate academic excellence, and the community of scholarship created by the program will provide a source of innovation that enriches the educational environment of the entire college. The new Engineering Honors Program will be phased in during the Fall 2006 semester, and will be fully implemented by Fall 2007.
The College of Music has just instituted a mandatory, graded course entitled Sophomore
Proficiency which will guarantee all students have passed this important barrier to junior and senior level 3000/4000 performance levels. Music has also added new undergraduate courses in the Alexander Technique--which helps the College get in line with upcoming changes in requirements in the National Association of Schools of Music guidelines.
New Academic Initiatives
New potential academic initiatives are constantly under discussion within the colleges, schools, and units. This past year the College of Arts & Sciences solicited ideas for new opportunities through cluster faculty hiring. The College of Engineering has also identified some key new areas for development. In addition the Law School, the School of Journalism, and the Libraries have or are developing strategic plans that identify new opportunities. The following three initiatives represent opportunities that are moving forward or are under consideration at the time of this report.
(a) The Colorado Initiative in Molecular Biotechnology (CIMB): The CU Boulder program.
The leaders of this initiative are Profs. Leslie Leinwand, Natalie Ahn and Kristi
Anseth. Briefly stated, advances in biology are leading to rapid expansion of new information related to life and life-science issues at the molecular level. The plan/initiative is to harness that knowledge to diagnose, treat and prevent disease.
The goal is address the overall issue from the viewpoint of system-biology by understanding all aspects of the human condition. Efforts include, tissue engineering, regenerative engineering and science, genetic basis for heart disease, etc. This is a truly cross- and interdisciplinary effort involving Chemistry and Bio-Chemistry,
MCDB, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Computer Science etc. The effort is currently entirely research-based; however, academic degree planning is following closely. An important part of the planning is for a new Biotechnology Building on
East campus, which will house related research and educational activities as well as the Dept. of Chemical and Biological Engineering and the biochemistry component of the Dept of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
(b) The CU Energy Initiative: Renewable and Sustainable Energy.
The Faculty Director of this initiative is Prof. Carl Koval, and the initiative includes faculty from social science, law, business, natural sciences and engineering, and it is really cross-cutting if not inter-, multi, and inter-disciplinary. The focus is on
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development and management of renewable energy systems, including solar, wind, biofuels, integrating renewable energy sources for electric power into distribution systems and energy storage, etc. Collaboration with federal agencies such as DOE with NREL is pursued. It is expected that several faculty lines will be invested in this initiative, and the energy initiative, which may transition into an institute in the future, will also be looking to developing an integrated research and education building. In the future we expect to develop interdisciplinary graduate degrees and/or certificates within this institute/initiative.
(c) Computational sciences
At present, the lead for this effort is Stein Sture. CU-Boulder is proposing collaboration with NCAR for the development of a national-level highperformance/tera-scale and peta-scale computational facility as well as research and educational program. It is envisioned that the computational science and engineering facility would be housed on East campus adjacent to the US West/Qwest building and would initially have a footprint of 150,000 sq.ft. Site preparation, financial models for construction and operation, as well as electric power and cooling are major concerns that are currently being studied. Nearly 100 faculty have expressed an interest in becoming part of this initiative, which will serve disciplines such as geosciences, computer science and engineering, physics, space physics and engineering, sociology, and business.
(d) Residential Campus
A task force has prepared a report that argues for a new fresh look at enhanced learning through the development of a residential campus. This would be a major transformation in the educational experience for our undergraduate students – accomplished through new/enhanced RAP program development in conjunction with phased renovation of our residential halls. Students will be fully engaged as active learners and expected outcomes include enhanced academic standards, retention, and personal responsibility. The program would be accomplished by integrating faculty and students in a living and learning community with engagement over a multi-year period. Plans for renovation of Kittredge are underway and an expanded Honors
Program may be the first to move towards this concept. A competition for new programs or an expansion of other existing RAPS is planned for the next opportunity in the Residential Campus. Key contacts for this initiative are Ron Stump, Todd
Gleeson, and Deb Coffin.
Anticipated New Degree Requests and New Academic Programs
Currently, the Office of the Provost is developing a new degree approval process that will bring all actions under one administration. The new degree program process will involve department, college/school, graduate school if relevant, and the Provosts Office in the development of the degree proposal; the system VPAAR office, the Regents, and CCHE
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in the approval process; and registration, admissions, and Planning, Budget and Analysis for implementation. A streamlined flow chart is being formulated. Bernadette Langbein in the Provost Office has been identified as the key contact for all new degree requests.
Current requests in various stages of development, review, and approval are:

The College of Engineering anticipates a new Bachelor of Science degree in
Chemical and Biological Engineering to start in Fall 06. This request has already been approved through all campus levels and was presented to the Regents in
April. In addition the College will start an Engineering Honors program in the next academic year.

The College of Music has added a new track in their Masters of Music Theory program, but that is a change that only requires approval from the UCB Graduate
School.
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A new professional doctorate in Audiology (Speech Language and Hearing
Science) has been approved in this academic year and is now being implemented.
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A new MFA in Creative Writing was approved by the Regents at the April meeting.
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Additional degrees in approval process, but not to the level of Regential approval for this year include the ATLAS doctorate in Technology, Media and Society and a professional MA for TESOL teachers in Linguistics.
Program and Degree Discontinuance
The UCB Policy for Academic Program Discontinuance has been approved by the
Chancellor and President and is awaiting posting on the web site of the Office of Faculty
Affairs.
Degree discontinuance is monitored by the Office of Planning Budget and Analysis and follows the procedures and practices of the Colorado Commission of Higher Education.
No degrees have been discontinued since Fall 2003. At this time some are being monitored but none are planned for discontinuance.
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