College of Fine Arts 2009-2013 Strategic Plan, July 23, 2008, pg. 1 College of Fine Arts Strategic Plan 2009-2013 DRAFT 7/23/08 Introduction and Overview The College of Fine Arts at the University of Arizona continues to embellish its world-class reputation. Our accomplished faculty and alumni contribute to our identity as a distinguished destination of learning and creative inquiry. Our success is built upon our community of artists and scholars in art, dance, media arts, music, and theatre arts. Each member of our faculty maintains strong enthusiasm for cultivating the greatest possible potential for students who study with us, as well as pursuing excellence in their individual and collective areas of creative and research expertise. The College of Fine Arts is structured to be mindful of our land grant responsibility to be actively engaged with our communities. The College is comprised of five professional schools and is also home to the Peter Treistman Fine Arts Center for New Media and the Jack and Vivian Hanson Arizona Film Institute. Each of our five schools, along with the UA Museum of Art and the Center for Creative Photography contribute to the University s mission by improving life for the people of Arizona and beyond through education, research, creative expression and community engagement. Each year, more than 300,000 people attend our numerous exhibits, performances, lecture series, special events, galas, conferences, public seminars, open houses and K-12 educational outreach programs. Our community outreach arts spaces within the College include the Marroney Theatre, Crowder Hall, Holsclaw Hall, Stevie Eller Dance Theatre and the Joseph Gross and Lionel Rombach Galleries. As a contributing unit in a land-grant university, the College of Fine Arts plays a vital role in building a quality of life to promote a thriving state. The College offers the highest quality education, excels in creating new art and new knowledge that has world wide impact, and provides leadership and collaboration to address challenging issues. During 2006, the College of Fine Arts undertook a comprehensive review and update of its shared governance planning document (previously adopted for 2002 2007). Members from the College s faculty, students, staff, and community board members enthusiastically engaged in discussions from which the revised strategic plan emerged. For a year we worked with an external consultant to apply Jim Collins Good to Great strategies for excellence to sharpen what we can be or are best at and to develop a navigational document for the next five years as we continue to chart our course towards becoming a premier College of Fine Arts, comprised of five professional schools. Each August, the College Executive Committee engages in a two day retreat to refine its three-year goals and strategies. This August we will refine both our qualitative and quantitative benchmarks. Quality begets quantity; either we flourish with quality or perish with mediocrity. Our plan is devised through a conceptual analysis for what constitutes excellence in the arts that resulted in this document that honors the University of Arizona core values and blends them with a particular passion and vibrancy that is the hallmark of the arts. As creators, educators, research scholars, and practitioners in the arts, we embrace creative and artistic intuition and connoisseurship as modes of creative inquiry equal to scholarly or scientific research. Our
College of Fine Arts 2009-2013 Strategic Plan, July 23, 2008, pg. 2 studios, rehearsals, seminars, and classrooms are our laboratories where we allow our work, and that of our students, to develop and flourish with all the risks and rewards that define a Research I institution and accompany the creative process. We recognize that the power of the arts resides in giving voice to individual ideas and dreams, yet, we also aspire to cultivate the strength that comes from our collective wisdom and energy. By committing ourselves to an overall goal of making excellence our standard of practice and performance, we can nurture the development of the artist or scholar of the arts disciplines and specialized programs embraced by our professional schools. This plan illustrates our vision to be among the best state universities that integrate a conservatory approach partnered with a research based liberal arts education that is studentcentered and one that prepares students for a successful life in the arts. The Mission of the College of Fine Arts To prepare students for a successful life in the arts. Our primary mission is to prepare students to create, to teach, to participate in, to understand, and to value the arts, sustain excellence in teaching, creative expression, and research in the arts and to be a source of art creation, knowledge, and inspiration about the arts for Arizona and the nation. We also promote the arts as a means to understand our diverse and pluralistic world and teach the value of artistic intelligence as a mode of thinking, problem solving and discovery. The Vision of the College of Fine Arts To be a leader, stimulating a more vibrant, passionate, and humane community, through excellence in the practice of, training in, and creative inquiry into the arts. The College is about quality, discovery, inventiveness, and opportunity to better serve future generations and to assist the University of Arizona to be one of the ten best public research universities. Core Values and Priorities that Guide Us CREATIVITY and AUTHENTICITY in the Development of the Artist s Personal Voice INTEGRITY in faculty first, then student; developing personal instincts, feelings and artistic intuition; CHALLENGE based on comfort with Risk Taking; STIMULATION of the new RIGOR for the, HIGHEST STANDARDS not a place for anyone. SELF-CONFIDENCE and COURAGE to be different COMPASSION, EMPATHY, CONNECTON artist to artist; artist to art, meaning, society; one-on-one mentoring/support, nurturing, fostering, developing DISCOVERY the Artistic Learning and Inquiry Process. The Journey to Knowledge of Self Academic Excellence: The College of Fine Arts must be a center for excellence in education and creative research. Our focus is always to serve our students and support our faculty,
College of Fine Arts 2009-2013 Strategic Plan, July 23, 2008, pg. 3 professionals, and staff. An outstanding faculty is the foundation for academic excellence to attract, train, and educate the best undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. Supporting our outstanding teacher/scholars is our highest priority. Access and Success: An education at the College of Fine Arts must prepare students for a productive life in the arts and must be accessible to all who are gifted and academically qualified. We engage, retain and graduate students in great numbers. Quality of Life and Societal Impact: In keeping with the University s land-grant mission, the College of Fine Arts must serve as a significant contributor for economic development. Each unit of CFA is a significant contributor for economic development through a myriad of alliances and partnerships with arts, business and community associations throughout Tucson and the entire Southeast Arizona. Each program and experience offered by CFA is a source of inspiration that enriches individual lives and advances the collective wellbeing of our community and society. The College of Fine Arts is a group of faculty, students and staff that models itself as a source of imagination. The human condition, in all its manifestations, is improved in the quality of life afforded each and every citizen of Southeast Arizona through the fine arts experience. College of Fine Arts Goals 2009 2013 1. Prepare Arizona s youth for a life in the arts and ensure access and opportunities of the highest quality. 2. Engage and graduate students who can contribute to the development of the arts in the state, the nation, and the world. 3. Provide innovative scholarship and research in the arts that improves the quality of life of people in Arizona and beyond. 4. Partner with arts organizations and educational entities to serve the people of Arizona Goal I. PREPARE ARIZONA S YOUTH FOR A LIFE IN THE ARTS AND ENSURE ACCESS AND OPPORTUNITIES OF THE HIGHEST QUALITY. (Increase student success) Access and learning opportunities are important to student success. Access is generally measured by the number of applicants who desire to attend a particular program and the number of students who actually enroll. Learning opportunities are often measured by the number of programs available to students and their enrollments. In the College of fine Arts access and student success is measured by different skill-sets that are paramount to nurturing of creativity and that cannot be measured through SAT scores or class rank. To increase student success, we will implement three actions over the next five years: Strategy I: Market the College as a college of five professional schools
College of Fine Arts 2009-2013 Strategic Plan, July 23, 2008, pg. 4 o Measure/quality indicators Talent and giftedness as measured by auditions, portfolios and artistic accomplishments (pre-ua awards, competitions, performances). GRE scores for graduate students Student inquiries, applicants, admits, and matriculants % of increase in total number of talented and gifted student inquiries, applications, admissions, and matriculations Strategy II: Foster the optimum size, diversity, and quality of undergraduate and graduate programs o Measure/ quality indicators Undergraduate Enrollment in selected programs and teacher education. Graduate Enrollment with the majority from out-of-state/international, to better focus towards top-tier status for this unit. CFA notes that the UA plan specifically mentions moving towards graduate and first professional students will comprise 25% of the student body. Student diversity and support for enrolled traditionally underrepresented students. CFA already has approximately 22% of its student body as a diverse group under UA definition of diversity. % of diversity in undergraduate and graduate programs % of increase in quantity of talented and gifted graduate and undergraduate students enrolled % of increase in certified teachers Strategy III: Enhance those arts areas/programs that have the potential to be the best o Measure/quality indicators Undergraduate endowed scholarships per FTE: CFA has over 170 endowed, pass-through, and awards, in addition to UA awards/scholarships. This improves our ability to recruit highly qualified students, and we continue to work with potential donors to increase funding to students Access to high-demand, high-quality courses through UA South and UA Continuing Education Student awards % of increase in undergraduate scholarships and graduate endowed and Medici Circle scholarships (endowed and others) Number of student awards
College of Fine Arts 2009-2013 Strategic Plan, July 23, 2008, pg. 5 Goal II. ENGAGE AND GRADUATE STUDENTS IN THE ARTS WHO CAN CONTRIBUTE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ARTS AT THE STATE, NATION, AND WORLD LEVELS (faculty success) The success to any program depends on the success of the faculty s ability to educate students to become creative, productive and engaged members of society. The College of Fine Arts does this by providing solid grounding in core skills, broad knowledge across disciplines, expertise in areas of special focus, and the ability to evaluate, integrate, and generate new knowledge. Creativity and the arts are interconnected at all levels, and the CFA programs offer both specific expertise in special focus areas such as painting, modern dance, theater lighting, just to mention a few. Program success depends on the students admitted, retained and graduated within a specified amount of time. Faculty success is often measured by these factors in addition to their own productivity. To increase (sustain) faculty success we will implement four actions over the next five years. Strategy I: Recruit, retain and graduate a diverse population of undergraduate and graduate students and prepare them for a life in the arts o Measures/quality indicators Number of applicants and admits to undergraduate and graduate programs Retention rates after first and second year across degree programs Graduation rates or degrees conferred % increase in number of applicants, admits and matriculants Improved in Retention rates and sustained graduation rates Strategy II: Gather and provide valid, reliable and timely information from data and assessment systems for short and long-term decision-making o Measure/quality indicators Develop and implement data and assessment systems Program recognition Faculty diversity - while currently at 11 (or 13??%) diversity, we continue to recruit with diversity always in mind. Recruitment, rewarding and retaining of excellent faculty at all ranks who are committed to both teaching and research. Successful academic audits by respected peers and National accreditation associations % of graduates placed in arts related jobs (alumni success) % of increase in diverse faculty hires and retention Strategy III: Obtain central support to address market and salary equity. o Measures/quality indicators Faculty salaries per 20068 Heads data would indicate that our faculty salaries fall in the 5 th and 25 th percentile a drop of 25% since 2005. There is a real need to increase these salaries to sustain quality programs.
College of Fine Arts 2009-2013 Strategic Plan, July 23, 2008, pg. 6 Bring faculty salaries to equity within at least the 50% Strategy IV: Increase the capacity and relevance of technology for teaching, learning and creative expression. o Measure/quality indicator Provide the tools and technologies needed for alternative and innovative delivery of courses, online learning spaces and collaborative learning models Development of online courses that might be offered to non-traditional audience to raise revenue Support the creation of new knowledge by increasingly and effectively securing our information assets and intellectual property. Work in cooperation with central IT to develop and implement consistent, standardized data systems that do not limit academic and research freedom. % of increase the offering of online and technology assisted courses Goal III. PROVIDE INNOVATIVE SCHOLARSHIP AND RESEARCH IN THE ARTS THAT IMPROVES THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF PEOPLE IN ARIZONA AND BEYOND (philanthropic success) Scholarship and research in the arts is defined not only by publications, but also by performances, exhibitions, and the development of creative products. These publications, performances, exhibitions, and creative products enhance the lives of the people Arizona by giving them a broader vision of culture. They also stimulate a more vibrant passionate and humane community. The College also improves the quality of the lives of people in Arizona through performances, exhibitions, music and dance events and some film events and screenings that are open to the community. These activities constitute the major part of our philanthropic efforts. We continually have relied upon multiple means to enhance performances and exhibitions and continue to move state operations to other profit revenue generators, the most significant of which is box office ticket sales for theater productions, music events, dance events, and some film events and screenings. In addition we offer for profit non-traditional workshops, group travel tours, gala fundraising events and membership friends groups. To motivate innovative scholarship, research and philanthropic activities we will implement three actions over the next five years. Strategy I: Promote and expand the College s focus on excellence and greatness o Measure/quality indicators Faculty productivity and awards Terminal degrees conferred Post MFA positions
College of Fine Arts 2009-2013 Strategic Plan, July 23, 2008, pg. 7 Number of faculty performances, exhibitions, publications, citations, and national and regional faculty awards Number of Doctoral and MFA degrees conferred Strategy II: Achieve a stronger financial foundation and make the College s case for resource reallocation o Measures/quality indicators Maximize the cost effectiveness and increase revenue for the various schools SCH productivity Undergraduate and graduate enrollment Student FTE Number of performance reviews by external critics % of increase in Box Office revenue % of increase in total SCH Strategy III: Identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward new and existing donors to provide funding for the College s top priorities. o Measures/quality indicators Programmatic/project support Endowed chair positions Facilities/technology support % of increase in cash gifts received each year % of increase in planned gifts Number of endowed chair positions % of increase in alumni contributing to the College % of increase of donors supporting the College % of increase in graduate and undergraduate endowed scholarships % of increase in Medici Circle scholarships GOAL IV. PARTNER WITH AND SERVE THE PEOPLE OF ARIZONA (Community engagement and outreach) Recognizing the mission of a land-grant university the College of Fine Arts embraces community outreach, which is measured by and through community participation in concerts, workshops, partnerships, performances, and programs. The arts are a window to the university, and through the performing arts and visual arts, hundreds of thousands of Arizona citizens experience the arts in their hometown community. In addition, all facilities and performance halls are used by outside arts/community organizations during the year. A vital arts scene is one of the hallmarks of a dynamic and economically viable place to live. To improve (sustain) our service to the people of Arizona the College of fine arts will implement two actions over the next five years.
College of Fine Arts 2009-2013 Strategic Plan, July 23, 2008, pg. 8 Strategy I: Extend the concept of a land-grant university to position the College of Fine Arts as a model for linking creativity to societal and community needs o Measures/Quality indicators Professional development opportunities for community members CFA outreach programs - The College has ongoing outreach activities with TUSD K-12 arts programs, including the OMA (Opening Minds through the Arts) Partnership, Wildcat Art, Theatre Arts Middle and High School Adventure Matinee program, Theatre for youth touring productions and Encore, work with Hispanic film makers, etc Over 200,000 attend our performing, gallery, and artistic events in person, with thousands more via radio and television broadcasts. We have approximately $700,000 in ticket sales to our local events from all 5 schools. Public recognition Number of outreach programs Number of people attending performance, exhibitions, etc. Strategy II: Promote cross-university collaborations and cultivate external partnerships with industry and alumni to advance program success o Measures/Quality indicators Interdisciplinary partnerships, projects and programs. CFA has begun relationships with engineering, medicine, and others. Visiting artists programs Partnerships with K-12 school district, public, private, and non-profit sectors to promote the arts and collaborate with educational partners (K- 14) to prepare students for University success. Increase in funding and expansion in the number of interdisciplinary and K-14 partnerships Summary The College of Fine Arts offers an exemplary history of supporting the University s mission by improving the arts and cultural life for the people of Arizona and beyond through education, research, creative expression and community engagement. We aspire to be among the best state research universities that integrate programs among our professional school and conservatory approach partnered within a rich research based liberal arts education that is student centered and one that prepares students for careers and life-long learning in the arts.
College of Fine Arts 2009-2013 Strategic Plan, July 23, 2008, pg. 9