Strategic Priorities of the College of Arts and Letters
From late 2016 through 2017, the faculty and staff of the College embarked on a series of planning exercises to define a vision for our shared future.
This collaborative effort resulted in the College's Five Year Strategic Plan, which encompasses our goals for academic years 2018-19 through 2022-23. The strategic priorities of enrollment, faculty, curriculum, reputation, and research & creative activity were identified through this process. Details on how each of these areas of focus will help the College evolve and prosper can be found below.
The College of Arts and Letters will increase the number, quality, and diversity of undergraduate students enrolled in major programs of study in the next five years. The College's growth aligns with the goals of the Stevens Ten-Year Strategic Plan - “The Future. Ours to Create.” - which plots an ambitious trajectory of growth in our undergraduate student population.
Through course offerings in the humanities and social sciences, the College plays an important role in the undergraduate curriculum for all Stevens students. In addition to continuing to serve our undergraduates, our strategic priority is to grow with respect to enrolled majors. Our enrollment goals are to attract new majors, increase the quality and diversity of majors, and increase our space capacity for continued growth in the future.
Our growth will be developed through a three-prong approach: grow majors in the College's current programs of study; improve quality and diversity of applicants to the College's programs; identify and build new teaching facilities.
The College’s faculty members are passionate about teaching and dedicated to our mission. Hiring scholars, creators and educators who enhance our impact and strengthen key areas is an essential aspect of our strategic plan.
Following the retirement of several senior faculty members in 2016, the College has already experienced significant academic renewal. In AY 2016-17, the College filled seven faculty positions with world-class scholars and educators, including the first dedicated research position in our history. We will continue to recruit excellent faculty members who will further our strategic agenda, while we also improve support, mentorship and incentives for current faculty. The following goals correlate with our strategic priorities with regard to the College's faculty.
The College of Arts and Letters plans to continue developing its faculty by: recruiting and retaining catalytic faculty; improving governance; Supporting and mentoring hired faculty
A major goal of this strategic plan is to launch a new undergraduate degree that will capitalize on the College’s strengths, attract new majors, and grow enrollment. We will leverage our interdisciplinary breadth and Stevens’ successful career placement infrastructure to create a degree program situated at the intersection of computing, data science, and the liberal arts.
Expected developments in the College's curriculum include:
The creation of a new undergraduate degree program that will be situated at the intersection of the social sciences, humanities, computing, technology, and data science and be designed to effectively prepare students for the job market and successful career placement upon graduation
Building new graduate programs, starting with an eye on the strong potential of a master’s program in music and technology
Ensuring that our degrees are critically enrolled and aligned with our educational mission and resources
The College has already demonstrated impressive growth in funded research activity. We are poised to continue growing and to contribute to Stevens’ upward research trajectory.
Our strategic priority is to increase the quantity and quality of our research and creative activity, which includes funded research. At the same time, artists and creators in the College stand to contribute something qualitatively different from funding: they bring public attention and recognition to Stevens and stand to heighten the world’s awareness of the creative, innovative output of our faculty and students.
To further develop these efforts, the College is committed to: growing sponsored research; enhancing collaboration amongst faculty and students within the College and Steven; building new spaces for research and creative activity.
A strategic priority for the College of Arts and Letters is to strengthen our brand. To achieve this, we must measure our impact and develop a strategy to increase our prestige and visibility, both within our community and externally.
As our faculty are increasingly recognized for accomplishments in their fields, we have the opportunity to build on this growing visibility and grow our regional and national reputation. Our goal is to achieve increased prestige for our faculty and programs, and greater awareness of our innovative position at the intersection of technology and the liberal arts.
In addition, the College will continue to build strategic partnerships. In the past three years, the College has worked with Nokia Bell Labs on several collaborative initiatives centered around creativity, art and technology. These initiatives have included the Artist-in-Residence program and the Human Digital Orchestra, a multimedia performance showcased at an event held on the Bell Labs campus in Spring 2016 celebrating the legacy of Claude Shannon. Building on the example of the collaborative partnership, we will find and develop three additional strategic partnerships with external organizations. The goals of potential partnership initiatives will include enhanced outcomes for research in the College, creative production by our faculty and students, and opportunities for our students to learn and be engaged in research, creative activity and professional opportunities.