ENHANCING INSTITUTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS:
ACTION INITIATIVES
The 1994 self-study has identified a widely held view that NCSU is at a
critical juncture in its history, aware of the challenges that lie before
it, yet conscious of great achievement in the past and great opportunity to
come. The goal of this self-study has been to take stock of current assets
and liabilities, but also to challenge the University to fulfill its
aspirations to go forward. As the first comprehensive self-study in twenty
years, the self-study has sought to help get the institutional house in order,
but also to stimulate the kinds of enhancement activity that help NCSU realize
its visions and ambitions.
Each chapter of the self-study identifies specific aspects of institutional
activity to which NCSU needs to direct its attention and resources
(according to a broad consensus of faculty, administrators, and students).
In each case, recommendations suggest approaches to institutional
enhancement.
The steering committee believes that many of these recommendations support and
reinforce one another, and it proposes five key action initiatives that NCSU
should undertake in the next decade. By implementing these initiatives, the
University will be more effective in fulfilling its mission and will move
closer to achieving institutional preeminence.
Initiative 1: NCSU should develop a well-defined, shared vision for the
future.
There is a high level of consensus within the University community that
North Carolina State University should aspire to preeminence. The challenge
now is to give that aspiration a clearer definition. The vision must be clear
and compelling, and the University community must share it fully. This
initiative includes:
- A compelling vision of the future that involves taking
leaps forward; dynamic leadership among faculty and administrators;
affirmation of three-part mission for all faculty; vision-driven goals that
lead to strategic goals in all units; resources and rewards allocated
accordingly.
- Effective integration of faculty into planning and
decision making; implementation of structures for shared responsibility
among faculty, students, and administrators for institutional goal setting,
decision making, program development, and evaluation of effectiveness.
- Enhanced internal communication of processes and
effectiveness; enhanced teamwork and trust across the institution, leading
to achievement of goals and higher morale.
Initiative 2: NCSU should renew its commitment to serving the people of
North Carolina.
NCSU's land-grant commitment is to serve as a partner with the people of North
Carolina in achieving their educational, professional, cultural, intellectual,
economic, and natural-resource goals. This initiative includes:
- Communicating with the people of North Carolina;
determining their needs and facilitating their use of NCSU's resources.
- Strengthening the continuum between research and
outreach and between research and teaching, so that NCSU's resources are
immediately useful.
- Developing partnerships among NCSU, public agencies,
industries, and civic and cultural leaders to solve pressing issues and
enhance the quality of life.
- Facilitating interdisciplinary teaching, research, and
outreach programs to respond to increasingly complex economic and social
problems.
- Developing innovative technologies for delivery of
services to establish a "virtual presence" throughout the state.
- Developing North Carolina as a center of a national
and international network for economic development and for creative and
intellectual interchange.
Initiative 3: NCSU should address issues of racial and gender diversity more
comprehensively.
To serve NCSU's many constituencies and to develop strong leadership for the
North Carolina's future, the University community is becoming more diverse and
inclusive. NCSU must continue its efforts to promote respect, recognition,
and communication among students, faculty, and staff. The richness that
results from diversity must be sought, and imbalances in equity must be
righted. This initiative includes:
- Achieving a richer, more diverse student body through
enhanced recruiting activities and increased financial aid.
- Achieving a richer, more diverse faculty through
enhanced recruiting and salary equity.
- Supporting academic success for all students and
professional advancement of all faculty and staff.
- Alerting the University community to the effects of
racism and sexism on every individual, and resolving issues effectively as
they arise.
- Helping all students, faculty, and staff learn how to
function effectively in a diverse academic setting and in the broader
community.
- Addressing the tension between diversity and
community.
- Stimulating and celebrating a diverse intellectual and
cultural University community.
Initiative 4: NCSU should provide an excellent infrastructure to support
teaching, research, and extension and outreach activities.
North Carolina State University must support faculty, students, and staff in
their work by providing an excellent infrastructure of policies, facilities,
and services that support teaching, learning, and scholarship. This
initiative includes:
- Establishing one or more centers for teaching and
learning to promote faculty and student development through needs
assessment, skill development, and information resources.
- Supporting NCSU Libraries so that it can achieve high
standards in the quality and comprehensiveness of monograph and journal
collections, size of the staff, and size and quality of space for use of
resources.
- Providing high standards for quality, safety, use, and
maintenance of classrooms, instructional resources, laboratories and
laboratory supplies, and computing.
- Facilitating students' transfers among colleges
without their losing progress toward degrees.
- Promoting a supportive and intellectually stimulating
campus atmosphere outside the classroom.
- Providing better financial support and learning
resources for graduate students.
- Effectively rewarding faculty for teaching, advising,
University service, and extension and outreach activities.
- Providing faculty, staff, and administrators with more
opportunities for professional development and thoroughness in performance
review.
Initiative 5: NCSU should achieve an appropriate balance among programs and
activities.
As the University adapts to change, its organizational structure, array of
programs, allocation of resources, and rewards systems need to be adjusted.
This initiative includes:
- Reaffirming the importance of teaching and extension and
outreach activities, along with research, as essential components of the
University's mission.
- Reducing competition among the University's schools
and colleges and between them and the University, so that internal competition
for resources gives way to an organized effort to go forward together.
- Recognizing the importance of the arts and sciences as
well as the technical and applied disciplines to all aspects of the mission of
a modern, comprehensive, research intensive university in the land-grant
tradition.
- Ensuring that research, teaching, and outreach are
mutually enriching activities.
- Facilitating interdisciplinary programs and activities
to respond to the complex social and economic needs of NCSU's diverse
constituencies.
Self-Study Table of Contents