TCAC Homepage
August 1999 Report Index
In his February 9, 1998 memorandum to deans, directors and chairs, and to faculty leaders at UW Bothell and UW Tacoma President McCormick announced the "establishment of a fund of seed money for multi-campus initiatives". Following this message Vice Provost Louis Fox and Associate Provost Debra Friedman, in their March 3, 1998 letter to UW colleagues, noted that "the three campus fund is one of the new 'tools for transformation'. Further, they clarified "the purpose of the fund" and specified "the process of applying for support".
Just over a year later we already know that Tools for Transformation has both fostered and promoted Three Campus initiatives by self-assembled groups of faculty across the campuses. These groups have spontaneously established inter-campus scholarly communities centered around the common intellectual interests of the group's members. Such communities are especially important because they will provide to the faculty and students on any one of the UW campuses greater ranges of perspective and knowledge surrounding those common interests than a single campus alone can provide. Group members who are untenured faculty will gain ready contact with senior faculty from the other campuses and benefit thereby a) from the variety and content of the intellectual stimulation inherent in the collaborative interactions, b) from the encouragement they receive from several sources for their own professional activities and/or c) from the mentoring they receive from a wider range of senior colleagues. Additionally, all involved faculty will benefit through increased access to opportunities for collaboration, including, of course, partnerships on specific research and teaching projects.
As the previous comments indicate our perception is that the policy decision to devote a portion of the Tools for Transformation fund to three campus ventures was an excellent one. In fact, early evidence suggests that this policy is very successful. Multi-campus programs currently funded include: UW Restoration Ecology Network ($364,500), Human Rights Education and Research Network ($271,806) and Service and Research-based Learning in Labor Studies ($50,966). It seems apparent that groups of students and faculty at all the campuses will benefit from ventures of this sort, thereby strengthening the three campus university as intended. Further, given the self-assembly aspect of these initiatives, it can be assumed that an automatic fit exists between the goals of the venture and the strategic plans of the participating units. Also, it should be noted that Tools for Transformation ventures, like the ones cited above, have a component of institution building for UW Bothell and UW Tacoma. Finally, it is not too strong a statement to say that the benefits of three campus initiatives exceed a simple summing of those which would accrue if each campus were to do only "its component by itself". Accordingly, the TCAC recommends that the three campus portion of the Tools for Transformation fund be renewed and increased, thereby assuring the continuation of funding of outstanding three campus initiatives. In making this recommendation we assume, of course, that the ongoing evaluation of Tools for Transformation remains positive.
The kind of three campus initiatives initially funded through Tools for Transformation, mentioned in the previous section of this report, tend to be long-term with expected lifetimes measured in years or even decades. A second category of collaborations is also important. The latter, however, typically have lifetimes of one to three quarters. Examples include but are not necessarily limited to the following:
If, in examples 1) and 4) mentioned above, it is possible to simply exchange faculty between campuses on a course for course basis, or staff on a job for job basis, then no resource problem exists. However, if one campus would like a faculty member from another campus to offer a course (of great potential benefit to the students and the academic program because of that faculty member's expertise) and if no faculty exchange can be made in the other direction, then paying for the appropriate portion of the faculty member's salary may be a challenge, thereby severely restricting such opportunities. A similar situation obtains when a faculty member on one campus is asked to make an extended commitment to mentoring graduate students on another campus.
Example 2) cited above is more complex. If, for instance, a new program is to be offered at one of the new campuses and if there clearly are insufficient faculty in appropriate disciplines at the new campus to mount the development of that program, then faculty at UW Seattle (typically one or two senior faculty) could be asked to assist. The resulting institution building most likely will be very intensive, particularly if the principle of strategic complementarity is to be applied to the new program. A consequence is that the component of the work taken on by the visiting faculty member well may exceed the workload of a typical committee assignment in his/her home unit. To recognize the magnitude of that workload and the importance of performing highly effective institution building at the new campuses, some relief from normal duties is appropriate for the visiting faculty member.
The committee recognizes that challenges of the sort mentioned in this section of the report have existed on the UW Seattle campus for years. Obviously, many UW Seattle units have struggled to find the resources simultaneously to discharge the ongoing responsibilities of their academic programs and to participate in the development of new worthwhile initiatives with another program, across college/school boundaries, in the honors program, etc. Thus, the advice from the committee offered below merely emphasizes the importance of finding ways to effectively manage and facilitate valuable short-term, cross-unit collaborations while effectively discharging ongoing program responsibilities (all in an environment of restricted resources).
The Tri-Campus Advisory Committee recommends that a fund be established, within the Office of the Provost, to support short-term, multi-campus collaborative efforts. Further, we recommend that the faculty, students and staff, who are selected to receive support from this fund, be designated as UW Inter-campus Fellows for the duration of the funded period. A number of ways of managing this fund can be envisioned, including, but not limited to, the possibilities cited below.
The fund could support a full-time, one-year fellowship awarded to a senior faculty member from UW Seattle thereby, enabling him or her to work intensively at one of the other campuses in developing a new academic program. Also, it is conceivable that, in some circumstances, the Provost and the Chancellor would agree to share the cost of that fellowship. Regardless of whether or not the cost is shared, a reasonable requirement for awarding a fellowship should be receiving favorable recommendations about the venture from faculty at UW Tacoma or UW Bothell, the senior faculty member in question and his or her department chair.
Another strategy involves the competitive awarding of trans-campus teaching fellowships (from the Office of the Provost) for faculty, teaching assistants or staff. It is presumed that all the parties interested in a particular fellowship would provide a proposal outlining the benefits to be gained from that given award. Again, some circumstances can be envisioned where the Provost and Chancellor would share this expense.
The message from the central administration, which would be sent by adopting and publishing an inter-campus fellowship program, is clear: effective cross-campus collaboration is deemed important enough to the welfare of the three campus university that another routine process has been instituted for supporting it.
TCAC Homepage
August 1999 Report Index
