Administration // Browsing posts in Administration
Students’ Role
As I wind up my service as provost, I think, obviously, about various ventures that have had incomplete success. Interest in involving students more fully in University governance is a case in point. I hasten to add that I’m not sure that we have a problem here that needs to be fixed, but there are […]
Academic Reorganization: A New Policy School
Changing the structure of any big organization is a complex process. Academic reorganization may be particularly challenging, because our procedures are broadly if imperfectly consultative, which means that top down directives don’t work. Extensive faculty involvement and input are essential. I’ve been involved in several restructurings at Mason (and there were many others in the […]
Teaching Load
In consultation with the Deans and others, we have decided to clarify a few minimal standards concerning teaching loads. Three preliminaries, and then then rest of the blog simply sets forth the policy. First, as noted below, different units have different specific policies, and it would be counterproductive to pretend to unify them too closely. […]
Enrollment Shifts
At Mason, and nationally, student choices are changing. The shifts offer both promise and problem, and they deserve some systematic attention. First, of course, there is a steady increase in students interested in science, engineering, and health professions. This is probably a largely good development, though it stresses faculty and facilities that are relatively expensive […]
Wellbeing
This offering features some musings about wellbeing, and specifically the commitment in our Strategic Plan to make Mason a “wellbeing university”, possibly the first ever (though discussions of wellbeing in colleges are gaining ground elsewhere). The musings go in several directions, all reflecting my relative unfamiliarity with this goal (in contrast to our other strategic […]
Transitions
This will be my last semester as Provost. At the end of June I will return to faculty (I’m not retiring at this point, just changing roles). Presumably my successor will be selected by March, and I’m told that the search pool is very good. So for me and in some ways for the University, […]
Consultants
I didn’t have much contact with the world of educational consultants before I became Provost. As department chair and then dean, I certainly benefited from outside advice, but this came mainly in the form of external reviewers from other schools who could provide some independent perspective on programs. A bit of money changed hands but […]
Mason Songdo
We’re moving into a new phase of Mason’s Korea project – at last, an active implementation phase – but the preliminaries were sufficiently complex and prolonged that it’s worth commenting again on key highlights of the project. We’re now committed to opening two programs for freshman in March of next year – in Management and […]
Teaching Spaces
This is not one of my usual categories, but it may be time for some radical proposals, based on things we already know. To wit, a number of faculty are already usefully combining class sessions with online, in hybrid offerings that, properly arranged (and this is a registrar challenge in part) can relieve pressure on […]
Quality
I had a great discussion recently with Deans about aspects of our strategic planning. They, and some of their faculty, grew legitimately concerned that in our enthusiasm for growth and innovation we did not place enough emphasis on the quality of our outcomes. I do think the reminder is salutary, though I don’t think it […]
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