And Penn Will Lead the Way
 

"We are faced with insurmountable opportunities."  Pogo  Last spring when I assumed office as Chair of the Faculty Senate I spoke to the Senate Executive Committee about the unique opportunity that the faculty had to lay out a vision of what the University of Pennsylvania could be.  I thank the Executive Committee for supporting me in this endeavor.  During my term as Chair I have used this column to give some of the details of such a vision.  For the most part the column has been based on the work of Senate and Council committees and on the many reports that have written over the past quarter of a century but in some cases I have gone beyond those reports.  It has not been my goal to deal with every issue in the University but it has been my goal to lay out for the new administration what I think are some of the major opportunities for the future.  Now, in this my last column as Chair of the Faculty Senate, I would like to bring these ideas together.  Undergraduate Education:  * Penn must create its own niche.  We can only succeed by building on those things that are special to Penn.  We must be the best that we can be.  To do this we must take advantage of the educational opportunities presented by the professional schools.  * The Senate Committee on Students and Educational Policy in its 1993-94 report (Almanac, April 19, 1994) lays out a bold plan for enhancing the intellectual and social life of undergraduates through the creation of residential colleges based on the living/learning model.  This plan can play an important role in implementing section D. of the Report of the Commission on Strengthening the University. Significant funding will be required to renovate and adapt our current residences to this new model. * Need blind admissions plays an important role in creating and maintaining diversity.  The 1993-94 report of the Council Committee on Admissions and Financial Aid speaks to this issue.  Need blind admission can not be continued while holding the line on tuition increases without significantly increasing the endowment for undergraduate financial aid. * There must be a systemic view of all of undergraduate education.  I have proposed my own solution, to this problem (One College that sees Undergraduate Life Whole, Almanac, March 15, 1994). * Any restructuring of undergraduate education must (1) facilitate the coordination and integration of undergraduate education across the schools, (2) address the integration of the current VPUL office with the offices responsible for the traditional academic programs and (3) create a new locus of responsibility that will address the critical day to day issues of undergraduate education at a lower management level than the President and Provost. Strengthening the Community: * Guided by President Fagin and Provost Lazerson the wounds inflicted by the water buffalo and DP incidents have begun to heal.  The Report of the Commission on Strengthening the University (Almanac, April 5, 1994) has identified many of the issues that need to be addressed and, in many cases, has proposed first steps that need to be taken.  During the past year the one fact that has impressed me over and over again is the surfeit of well thought out plans, put together by hard working committees of faculty, staff and students, that languish in file drawers.  We must not let the Commission's report join those plans in the dusty archives. One University: * The report of the ad hoc Senate Committee on Academic Strengths (Almanac, this issue) addresses the issue of the organization of knowledge and lays out a framework for the cultivation of nodal disciplines that may cross existing school and department boundaries.  Virtually every committee over the last two decades has stressed the fact that Penn's strength is the presence of professional and liberal arts schools in close proximity to one another.  This is an important component of our uniqueness that we must exploit more fully. * One way to foster interaction is through an academic development center.  I have written earlier (An Academic Development Center, Almanac, April 5, 1994) about the need for such a center.  This idea dating at least from the 1973 Development Commission Report should be reconsidered. Strengthening the Central University: * It is ironic that the 1993 Development Commission Report called for One University and simultaneously laid the groundwork for the financial federalism created by responsibility center budgeting.  Both my earlier column (Financial Tails, Academic Dogs, Almanac, April 12, 1994)  and the Report of the 1993-94 Senate Committee on Administration (Almanac, April 12, 1994) recommend that this system be modified. * In particular the provost must be restored to the position of chief academic officer by allocating more funds to the Provost's Office to enhance academic programs (Empowering the Provost, Almanac, March 1, 1994).  This is particularly important for disciplines that transcend the individual schools.  At the same time, the provost should be relieved from much of the day to day management that occurs because all issues of undergraduate education wind up on the desks of the president and provost.  Maintaining the Infrastructure: (Capital Thoughts, Almanac, April 19, 1994) * A strong library is essential for any top university.  Growth of our collections has been damaged because of inadequate funding.  Penn's libraries rate twenty-eighth among the schools we consider our peers.  We need to increase the endowment for the library so that we can remedy past deficiencies and keep future ones from occurring. * Renovations for many of our classroom, office and laboratory buildings must be done at the same time as we catch up on deferred maintenance.  * Plans for the Institute for Science and Technology should proceed either on the proposed site or elsewhere.  This facility is essential for us to maintain a competitive position among our peers. Health Sciences: * The School of Medicine has undertaken important new programs including the program in Bioethics and the Institute for Gene Therapy.  The School is also taking significant steps to improve its research infrastructure.  These programs need to continue and we need to build on such successes.  Strength in the health sciences is essential for both research and instruction throughout the University and is an essential component of our vision of One University. * At the same time Penn is taking bold initiatives to survive in the brave new world of health care.  As we proceed in this direction we must be careful to preserve the traditional balance within the University.   Penn must not become a medical center with a university attached.  Financial safeguards have already been established by the Trustees to protect the rest of the University from financial harm in the (unlikely) event of the collapse of the Medical Center.  The question of balance goes well beyond the construction of firewalls. It is, of course, much easier to draw attention to issues than it is to implement new programs.  President-designate Rodin will take office at a time when the University has demonstrated that it has the ability to raise the funds needed to support major new initiatives,  The greatest strength of the University is not, however, in its finances, though those are sound.  Instead it is in its faculty who care deeply about the University and its academic programs.  We are proud to be members of this faculty and we stand committed to working with President Rodin to ensure that Penn will lead the way.