Summary of Student Success and START Task Force Work This Academic Year
Dear Colleagues,
With the academic year drawing to a close, I write to acknowledge the significant challenges we have faced and to thank you for your enduring and admirable dedication to the campus and our mission. Thank you for all you do every day to benefit individuals, our state and society as a whole. The positive impact of your efforts is beyond measure.
I would also like to update you on the work of the Student Success and Equitable Outcomes Task Force (SSEO) and the Sustaining Teaching and Research Task Force (START) during this year. Serving on a task force is a significant investment of expertise, energy, and time, and I am very grateful to the individuals involved for their commitment and collaboration.
Last year, I formed SSEO to develop strategies that will ensure that we meet our students ‘where they are’ with the resources and support they need to succeed. Based on the SSEO’s first round of recommendations, and in partnership with college deans, we have already made a considerable investment in hiring new advisors and advising staff. Additionally, we have formed a standing Advising Executive Workgroup to examine the best advising structures and practices, and to continue ensuring that our practices meet students’ needs.
There are many other recommendations from SSEO that I am considering, including targeted pre-matriculation programs and evaluation metrics for departments and leadership. SSEO recently wrapped up their work, and I would like to thank its members for their outstanding work, some of which will now transition to START for its committees to form detailed recommendations. Of course, recommendations will be shared with the Academic Senate for consultation as appropriate and detailed in a final report, which will be posted on the SSEO webpage.
With regard to START, its members are charged with assessing challenges, prioritizing strategies and recommending specific actions to bring about substantive improvements to our education, research and service models—all with the goal of enhancing our ability to fulfill our mission at the highest levels of achievement.
Each START committee is tasked with making recommendations in response to a list of issues I provided at their convening. These issues were shared with me by individuals across campus during my departmental listening tour, meetings with the Academic Senate and campus events, or were sent to me through START’s webpage. As my departmental listening tour continues, I will forward the comments and feedback to further inform the work of the START committees.
START held two virtual town halls this year. I opened the first town hall in February, which was attended by nearly 500 members of campus, with a broad overview of the charge to START and its individual committees. You can review committees and their members on the START webpage. The town hall included a presentation of START’s Future of Graduate Education Committee’s progress to date by co-chairs Jean-Pierre Delplanque, dean and vice provost of Graduate Studies, and Claire Waters, professor and chair of the Department of English. The committee’s top priorities currently being tackled are:
With the academic year drawing to a close, I write to acknowledge the significant challenges we have faced and to thank you for your enduring and admirable dedication to the campus and our mission. Thank you for all you do every day to benefit individuals, our state and society as a whole. The positive impact of your efforts is beyond measure.
I would also like to update you on the work of the Student Success and Equitable Outcomes Task Force (SSEO) and the Sustaining Teaching and Research Task Force (START) during this year. Serving on a task force is a significant investment of expertise, energy, and time, and I am very grateful to the individuals involved for their commitment and collaboration.
Last year, I formed SSEO to develop strategies that will ensure that we meet our students ‘where they are’ with the resources and support they need to succeed. Based on the SSEO’s first round of recommendations, and in partnership with college deans, we have already made a considerable investment in hiring new advisors and advising staff. Additionally, we have formed a standing Advising Executive Workgroup to examine the best advising structures and practices, and to continue ensuring that our practices meet students’ needs.
There are many other recommendations from SSEO that I am considering, including targeted pre-matriculation programs and evaluation metrics for departments and leadership. SSEO recently wrapped up their work, and I would like to thank its members for their outstanding work, some of which will now transition to START for its committees to form detailed recommendations. Of course, recommendations will be shared with the Academic Senate for consultation as appropriate and detailed in a final report, which will be posted on the SSEO webpage.
With regard to START, its members are charged with assessing challenges, prioritizing strategies and recommending specific actions to bring about substantive improvements to our education, research and service models—all with the goal of enhancing our ability to fulfill our mission at the highest levels of achievement.
Each START committee is tasked with making recommendations in response to a list of issues I provided at their convening. These issues were shared with me by individuals across campus during my departmental listening tour, meetings with the Academic Senate and campus events, or were sent to me through START’s webpage. As my departmental listening tour continues, I will forward the comments and feedback to further inform the work of the START committees.
START held two virtual town halls this year. I opened the first town hall in February, which was attended by nearly 500 members of campus, with a broad overview of the charge to START and its individual committees. You can review committees and their members on the START webpage. The town hall included a presentation of START’s Future of Graduate Education Committee’s progress to date by co-chairs Jean-Pierre Delplanque, dean and vice provost of Graduate Studies, and Claire Waters, professor and chair of the Department of English. The committee’s top priorities currently being tackled are:
- Planning for graduate enrollment, building on the enrollment management toolrolled out in December 2023
- Realizing a student-employee marketplace that will facilitate better hiring and coordination of academic student employees and graduate student researchers across programs
- Considering the idea of increasing enrollment in existing master’s degree programs and increasing the number of self-supporting master’s degree programs (in-person and online), where it would benefit the graduate program/group and their prospective students
- Improving doctoral retention and expansion of discipline-specific professional development and career preparation for graduate students
- Exploring ways of funding graduate education, including support for programs and groups, fellowship allocation, and a graduate course buyout to facilitate teaching of core courses in graduate groups
The second town hall was attended by nearly 400 people and hosted by Michael Brown, the immediate past provost and executive vice president of Academic Affairs for the University of California, who is serving as convener for START. The town hall featured a presentation by the Future of Undergraduate Education Committee, co-chaired by Michael Bradford, vice provost and dean of Undergraduate Education, and Katheryn Russ, professor and chair of the Department of Economics and chair-elect of the Academic Senate. This committee is reviewing more than 100 questions and concerns expressed by faculty during my listening tour. Its top priorities are:
- Evaluating course units to ensure that they appropriately capture contact hours and faculty and student workload (carried over from SSEO)
- Examining metrics and other new tools (such as continuous improvement cycles already used by some units in Engineering and the College of Biological Sciences) that could be incorporated into the undergraduate program review process, and how recommendations could be more holistically integrated into campus budget and planning processes to make the reviews more impactful
- Identifying barriers in change-of-major and other administrative processes to aid retention
- Increasing access to summer and online courses
- Revising advising and placement processes for preparatory courses to help support student success and reduce time-to-degree
- Modernizing infrastructure and surveys for evaluations of teaching and student experience informed by the recommendations of the UC Davis Report of the Special Committee on Evaluation of Teaching and the UC Systemwide Academic Council Teaching Evaluation Task Force report
START’s Increasing Our Research Excellence Committee, co-chaired by Simon Atkinson, vice chancellor of Research, and Rick Grosberg, distinguished professor emeritus of evolution and ecology, will present on their ongoing work in a future town hall. Among the top issues they are considering are:
- Assuring access to state-of-the-art research computing resources including High Performance Computing, with appropriate coordination and access
- Expanding research opportunities by increasing awareness and recognition of UC Davis capabilities and signature areas of excellence
- Assuring planned campus support and oversight for critical research core facilities and research centers/institutes
- Streamlining research administration (pre- and post-award) and support staffing with necessary expertise and experience to reduce the burden on Principal Investigators
- Reimagining facilities and administrative cost allocation to support cross-campus collaboration and ensure costs of doing research are supported by sponsors to the greatest extent possible
Co-chairs Estella Atekwana, dean of the College of Letters and Science, and Ted Powers, executive associate dean of the College of Biological Sciences, are leading START’s Assuring Faculty Equity and a Sustainable Workload Committee. The committee is currently focused on:
- Prioritizing issues, starting with a survey sent in the spring to department chairs and chief administrative officers to rank a comprehensive list of challenges faculty face across the campus
- Exploring standardizing or integrating a calendaring system to save time on meeting scheduling
- Evaluating suggestions related to workload data improvement, handling student disability accommodation requests, and student requests for letters of recommendation
- Improving research administration support, including financial accounting and pre- and post-award management (working in partnership with the START Increasing Our Research Excellence Committee)
- Implementing transparent and equitable policies and expectations for teaching loads and service
START’s Optimizing Our Facilities Committee is co-chaired by Jared Shaw, professor of chemistry, and Kim Turner, executive director of Integrated Planning and Design. This committee is considering:
- Capital project development and funding – providing greater transparency about project priorities and the process for requesting and implementing capital projects
- Space allocation and utilization – exploring ways for campus constituents to more easily understand where and how space resources are allocated and have greater insight into actual utilization
- Space and project policies and procedures – evaluating existing policies and procedures around space and building projects, considering ways to provide more clear criteria and share that information broadly across campus
- Classroom and class lab scheduling – looking at ways to provide additional educational space by incentivizing space use changes and greater sharing
- Safety and security – evaluating different security and safety needs based on space types (i.e., classrooms, labs and offices)
Finally, START’s Improving Campus Support Services Committee, led by co-chairs Radhika Prabhu, assistant vice chancellor of Administrative IT in Finance, Operations, and Administration, and Cheri Ross, professor and chair of the Department of Comparative Literature, held its first meeting in June. This committee will start their work by identifying the top priorities from its list of issues to address, which includes reviewing current support services consolidation and leveraging technologies, including AI, for efficiencies.
START’s six committees will take a few weeks off this summer then resume meeting before the next academic year in order to maintain their momentum. Registration for virtual town halls will be shared with faculty and staff as soon as dates are set. As START’s work progresses and recommendations come forward, we will hold town halls on a monthly basis so we can receive campus input. Members of the campus community can continue to submit feedback and suggestions at any time via the START webpage, including specific issues that you would like to see addressed.
Many thanks to everyone involved in SSEO and START, from task force members to subcommittee and working group members. Your efforts are sincerely appreciated!
Again, thank you all for what you do each day to fulfill our teaching, research, and service missions. I hope you have a wonderful summer with the opportunity to relax, spend time with loved ones, and enjoy yourselves.
All the best,
Mary
Mary Croughan
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor