Driving Excellence and Impact update: September 11, 2019

Note: Dean’s Open Forum: 3:00-4:30 p.m.; Monday, September 30; Iowa Theatre (166 IMU)

Operational and Fiscal Management track:

  • Budgets and baseline semester credit hours will be emailed to departments on September 16.
  • The college is allocating all available resources to departments, and not withholding resources for special requests, as in the past.
  • Erin Herting, Director of Business and Financial Administration, and Christina Berthel, Senior Director of Human Resources, will meet with each department’s DEO, administrator, and accountant between September 17th and November 12th. These meetings are for individualized discussions on each department’s unique budget. In addition, the meetings are an opportunity for discussing ideas, questions, or concerns involving CLAS accounting/grant/HR support to departments, as well as the new Dean’s Office organizational structure as it relates to departmental oversight.
  • Budget workshops are in the planning phase and will be presented later this fall.

Dean’s Office Reorganization track:

  • A single search committee is being established for the positions of Associate Dean for the Arts and Humanities; Associate Dean for the Natural, Mathematical, and Social Sciences; and Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives.
  • A call went out to CLAS faculty and staff for nominations of potential search committee members. A total of 92 names were received; some nominations were from others, some were self-nominations.
  • Dean Goddard will decide on the composition of the search committee. The Transition Team gathered nominations, but the search committee composition and the job descriptions are solely Dean Goddard’s decisions.
  • Dean Goddard has announced the search committee chairs: Jerald Moon, Professor and DEO of Communication Sciences and Disorders; and Ana RodrÍguez-RodrÍguez, Associate Professor of Spanish and Portuguese.
  • The jobs were posted on the UI job line; visit https://clas.uiowa.edu/news/clas-seeks-candidates-associate-dean-positions for more information.
  • Dean Goddard will announce the full search committee in the next couple of weeks.

Policy, Procedure, and Practice track:

  • Kristi Fitzpatrick, Director, CLAS Grant Support Office, will work with the Transition Team to lead the Policy, Procedure, and Practice track.
  • The initial CLAS policy inventory has been completed; this entailed identifying all policies and assigning ownership of each.
  • From the policy inventory, Level 1 priority policies are being identified. These are the policies that are essential to the initial implementation of the college’s and departments’ operational and fiscal management changes; they will guide departmental and collegiate administrators in decision-making under the new model of increased departmental autonomy with accountability.
  • The Level 1 policies are being reviewed and revised by the Dean’s Office for consistency and clarity.
  • CLAS Policy Review Committees, comprising DEOs and ASG members, are being formed to ensure clarity from the departmental side. Those committees’ review of Level 1 priority items is to be completed by early November.
  • A policy website format is being developed; the site will go live before spring semester 2020. This site will provide “one-stop shopping” for information on CLAS Dean’s Office policies related to collegiate and departmental operational and fiscal management.

Strategic Planning track:

  • As noted above, the search is beginning for Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives. The position will be effective January 1, 2020.
  • The Office of the Provost has requested a first draft of a new CLAS strategic plan in February 2020. Dean Goddard is determining the process for drafting the plan. It will entail a diverse committee representing key CLAS constituencies.
  • Parallel to the CLAS strategic plan process, Dean Goddard has asked departments to draft strategic plans for their units. DEOs will assign a representative to lead their departments’ processes.
  • Support and training in strategic planning from the UI and CLAS will be available as the process develops.

Communications track:

  • The Driving Excellence and Impact website is continually updated (clas.uiowa.edu/excellence-and-impact).
  • An FAQ section will be added to the site the week of September 9.
  • Updates like this will be released on the 2nd Wednesday of each month via the DEO Mailing.
  • Please continue to send questions, ideas, and concerns to clas-transition@uiowa.edu. Dean Goddard values your input and engagement.