99-01-22: VIRGINIA 2020 COMMISSIONS READY TO FOCUS ON THE FUTURE By Dan Heuchert The heavy lifting in the University's effort to build its future is under way. Now officially dubbed "Virginia 2020," the planning commissions charged with raising U.Va.'s national status in four key areas -- the sciences and engineering, fine and performing arts, international activities, and public service and outreach -- are finalizing their rosters and sizing up the task ahead. University President John T. Casteen III has chosen a faculty member to head each commission. The commissions will report to the University Planning Council, an oversight body made up of senior administrators. To facilitate the process, Vice President and Chief Information Officer Polley A. McClure drafted a six-step "Framework for Information-Based Planning," which she describes as a "common sense" approach. "The work that the commissions are undertaking is enormous in breadth, depth and scope," Casteen said. "Structure is important, but so is flexibility. The 'Framework for Planning' offers a guide that each commission can tailor as the work progresses." The framework's six steps include: -- Defining the scope of each commission's work. Should the engineering and science commission look at social sciences? Or computer science? What role should foreign language instruction play in the international commission? -- Identifying "aspiration groups," nationally respected universities "that represent the very best of what we might aspire to be." In the process, commissions should also identify criteria that define their preeminence. -- Once chosen, McClure suggests putting the aspiration groups under a microscope to determine what factors led to their positions at the top of the academic heap -- for instance, internal and external funding, the presence of key personnel, facilities, or the culture of the institution itself. -- Once key factors are identified, the commissions can then measure U.Va. against the same criteria. -- The next step is to analyze the gap between U.Va. and the aspiration groups and identify potential areas of improvement. -- Finally, the commission should draft strategies for closing the gap, including estimates of the time and costs involved. "In truth, planning is what happens last," Casteen said. "Not until we have established clear definitions, aspirations, and areas for improvement can we develop the specific plans for change to occur.' This week, Inside U.Va. will focus on the commissions on the fine and performing arts and international programs (see adjacent membership rosters). The other two commissions will be profiled in an upcoming issue. Fine and performing arts This commission has a head start: preliminary plans are already in the works to establish an an "arts precinct" on Carr's Hill with expanded facilities for drama, music and studio art. Buildings are only part of the equation, said commission chair Robert Chapel, who also chairs the Drama Department. At a Dec. 15 planning session, he recalled an earlier comment from Darden School dean Edward A. Snyder. "[Snyder] said that no matter how grand buildings might be, without programs in those buildings which are excellent and which have vision, the buildings would be -- just buildings," Chapel said. U.Va. does not start from zero in that regard, Chapel said, although its programs lack national or even regional reputation. "In regards to the Department of Drama, I believe we are a very strong program that has been a well-kept secret to the Commonwealth and the nation. I suspect that is the case with the other arts programs," he said. Part of raising the profile of U.Va.'s programs may include boosting their performance aspects, he said. While classroom work in fields like ethnomusicology or art history will continue to be important, "I do believe that the great theater and music programs in America are performance-oriented programs, and the great art programs are strong in the teaching of painters and sculptors and photographers, etc.," he said. At the request of Vice President and Provost Peter W. Low, one question the commission will tackle is whether the art departments should remain within the College of Arts and Sciences or form their own school with a separate dean. While the arts currently enjoy the firm support of Arts and Sciences Dean Melvyn P. Leffler, Chapel noted that "as you look at the list of the top arts programs in the country, the majority of them are housed in their own school or college of fine and performing arts." International programs Inventorying the University's international efforts may be the largest task facing the international activities group, according to its chair, Government and Foreign Affairs professor Brantly Womack. "The very diffuseness of U.Va.'s current international activities suggest that the first task is to get as broad a picture of dimensions and opportunities as possible," he said at the Dec. 15 planning meeting. Womack applauded the international achievements that the University has already realized, noting the work of several University faculty members abroad, the growth of undergraduate and graduate programs in international fields, and a 25 percent increase in the number of foreign students studying here over the past few years, he said. He also outlined many "blank spaces and difficulties." There are no courses in the languages, history and current affairs of Southeast Asia, a region of more than 400 million people. The Center of South Asian Studies is U.Va.'s only federally funded area studies center; formerly, there were three. The International Studies Office lacks the capacity to oversee the University's many activities. There is little encouragement for students and junior faculty members to study abroad. Womack mentioned several topics for exploration, including creating a central framework for coordinating and promoting international activities for students and faculty; enriching international education on Grounds, including the expansion of international content in non-foreign language courses; providing improved support for international students and scholars; and developing programs and policies for international institutional contacts and projects. Womack expressed appreciation for McClure's suggested outline, but said his commission's task will go beyond simply following its recipe. "Our project cannot be reduced to its empirical, problem-solving elements," he said. "It must begin with a large dose of consciousness-raising, both within the commission and more broadly throughout the University. ... "International activities have always been at the periphery of the University's field of vision, and it will take considerable work to attract attention, refocus, and then move in other directions." Womack set a goal of having recommendations ready for implementation by May 2000.