98-10-16: CASTEEN TAPS LEADERS TO PLAN U.VA.'S FUTURE Staff Report At the Faculty Senate meeting Oct. 8, President John T. Casteen III announced the faculty members who will lead three of four major planning initiatives for long-range strategies to elevate the arts, basic sciences, international activities and public outreach. Robert Chapel, chair of the drama department, will lead the planning commission on the fine and performing arts. Anita Jones, professor of computer science, will head up planning efforts focused on science and engineering. Overseeing the commission on public service and outreach will be Rebecca Kneedler, associate dean for academic affairs in the Curry School of Education. The chair of the fourth commission focusing on international activities will be announced in the next few weeks. A fifth commission will be readied a little later to take on any other concerns or opportunities that arise. "I am grateful for these individuals' willingness to assume this important responsibility and to provide leadership in coordination with the provost, deans and others throughout the University community," said Casteen, noting that the planning will be a two- to three-year process. "The long-term benefits of their work will be more powerful teaching, better prepared graduates, greater impact on the communities we serve and greater value in all University degrees." The four areas -- fine and performing arts, international activities, public service and outreach, and science and engineering -- have been identified for special attention because they have yet to achieve the distinction of U.Va.'s recognized centers of excellence. Planning commissions for each of the four areas will be charged with assessing current programs and establishing benchmarks for building excellence in the first part of the 21st century. Recommendations are expected to include priorities and timelines for implementation, including strategic investment in personnel, facilities and support services. Progress reports on the commissions' work will be available on the Web at http://www.virginia.edu/pres/plan/index.html Robert Chapel Robert Chapel, who will head the Fine and Performing Arts Planning Commission, has been chair of the Drama Department since his arrival at U.Va. in 1990. He serves as producing artistic director of the summertime Heritage Repertory Theatre. Chapel is responsible for putting into place the student fee-supported ARTS$ program, which encourages students to attend performances at lower ticket prices, and for redefining the curriculum in the Drama Department. Chapel is already a member of the Arts Precinct Planning Committee, a group charged with assessing program and facility needs for the fine and performing arts at U.Va. The committee worked with architectural and landscaping consultants on a recently completed feasibility study for locating an arts precinct on Carr's Hill. Seeking a diversity of opinions from the University community, Chapel is looking for commission members from the Darden and Curry Schools, Medicine and Arts & Sciences departments, as well as the chairs of the three art departments, he said. Anita Jones Computer Science professor Anita Jones will chair the Planning Commission for Natural Science, Health and Engineering Research. Former chair of her department, she was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1994. From 1993-1997, while on leave from the University, she served at the Department of Defense where she was responsible for defense research and engineering. "We have a strong statement from our president that we are to identify strategic actions that will bring about further excellence to the University. This is a great opportunity for the University as a whole, and I want to be a part of that," Jones said. She plans to name her committee members and have them in operation by the end of the calendar year. Rebecca Kneedler Rebecca Kneedler, who earned her Ed.D. at the Curry School of Education and began teaching there in 1975, will lead the Commission on Public Service and Outreach. Along with teaching special education, Kneedler is currently associate dean for academic affairs in the Education School. She chaired a Faculty Senate task force on public service in 1991 that reported many of the Universityıs activities. She went on to serve as Faculty Senate chair in 1996-97. "The magnitude of what U.Va. does in public service has not been visible to most of us or to the citizens of the Commonwealth. Here is an opportunity to identify what we already do, to study where we [want to] go in the future and to tell the story of public service at U.Va. in ways we have not been able to do before," Kneedler said. She envisions a three-tiered approach: selecting commission members experienced in outreach efforts, consulting additional experts to inform the commission and establishing focus groups to study difficult issues such as rewards for public service and structures for improved communication.