What Does the Future Hold?
What will the College of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering be like 10 years from now? According to the College’s proposed plan, it will be slightly larger, more diverse, have a more global perspective, and be home to new signature programs that will make Rochester an even more attractive academic destination for faculty and students.
“The kind of programs in the first year (of the Humanities Project) allowed us to think in a pan-humanistic spirit from the traditional to the cutting-edge. It made crossing boundaries possible.”
- Thomas DiPiero, Senior Associate Dean of Humanities
Plan Summary
Our future as one of the nation's leading private universities depends on the caliber of the faculty in Arts, Sciences and Engineering, and the breadth and impact of their research programs; it depends on the caliber of the PhD students we attract, and our success in training them for prominent research or professional positions; it depends on the caliber of the undergraduates we attract, and our capacity to transform them into powerful, flexible intellects equipped to make an impact on the world.
To attract and retain the very best faculty and students we must strengthen and enlarge our research profile, fortify and energize our PhD programs, and broaden and strengthen our undergraduate programs. Since these goals are inextricably linked, our strategic plan charts a path to achieving all of them.
The initiatives described represent our pick of the best investments for achieving our goals during the next ten years. To provide for the new programs, and to strengthen our academic departments generally, we must enlarge our faculty. We foresee growth of about 25%, taking our faculty from about 320 to about 400. To maintain an appropriate balance between numbers of faculty and numbers of students, the number of undergraduate students would grow from about 4000 to about 5000, and the number of PhD students from about 900 to 1125. This growth will require commensurate investments in academic and student life support services and in new space for academic and co-curricular life.
The initiatives that comprise our plan will drive us in a balanced way towards strengthening our research, our graduate programs, and our undergraduate programs. Briefly, these are:
The World Beyond the United States
Regional and global issues present some of the most significant problems with which we must be engaged, both in research and in the curriculum. To become more involved in the world beyond the United States, we will:
- Develop a new undergraduate major in International Relations
- Create new area studies programs
- Institute a new program in environment change
- Greatly increase participation in study abroad
Signature Programs that Connect Humanities to Science and Engineering
We have the opportunity to capitalize on a unique constellation of strengths—in the College, at the Eastman School, and George Eastman House—to develop compelling “signature programs,” in Music and Sound, and in Images and Light, that could not be matched by other universities. A third program, in Archeology, Architecture and Engineering, will extend this distinctive signature.
Science and Engineering Partnerships
Four science initiatives capitalize on special strengths or on opportunities for partnership with other units in the University:
- Computational and physical biology
- Discovering the functions of genes
- Nanoscience for medicine
- Alternative energy
Pre-Professional Education
We will start two distinctive undergraduate programs that build on significant institutional research strengths, are grounded in our liberal arts curriculum, and serve the many undergraduates eager for programs with a pre-professional flavor. One, covering business and to be offered in partnership with the Simon School, will have at its core a new major in Economics and Business Strategy. The other, covering the broad domain of public health and to be offered in partnership with the School of Medicine and Dentistry, will offer five new majors.
Professional Education
In many fields, a specialized Master's degree or a graduate certificate is becoming the entry-level professional qualification. These programs can provide important migration paths for undergraduates, and often can be offered at marginal cost. We expect to offer a greatly expanded array of programs of this kind.
Undergraduate Academic Life
We will be taking vigorous steps to strengthen undergraduate academic life through an expanded focus on undergraduate research, through strengthened academic support services, and through efforts to increase the diversity of the undergraduate body.
Life Beyond the Curriculum
Campus life beyond the curriculum is tremendously important. We are justifiably proud of our programs, but some of our facilities are substantially sub-par. We need to make major investments in facilities for the performing arts and for athletics.