Preface/Guidelines for 2020-21 APR Request
At this time, the funding situation for 2020-21 remains unclear. That said, we would like you to complete an abbreviated APR, with the possibility of a more fulsome version at a later date. While it remains unclear whether or not we will be permitted to launch faculty searches, we would like to get a sense of your highest search priorities. Any faculty search request must be aligned with the Strategic Plan that departments have submitted. In addition, we ask that you complete the curriculum information requested in section 3.0.
New this year are reports on adjunct usage and low enrollment courses that are discussed in Section 3.1.
Lastly, we also welcome creative ideas on how we, collectively, can overcome the current financial situation we face; either with new revenue opportunities (i.e. new summer courses or programs, expansion of existing MA programs, etc.) or expense efficiencies.
For your reference, a report known as your Department Profile is available within OASIS. Data are compiled from a variety of sources including University census snapshots, Albert, Workday, UDW+, student surveys, OASIS, and information provided by the department. Reports on adjunct use in lecture courses and low enrolled courses are also included in OASIS. Please contact the Director of Institutional Research, Dan Thilman, if you have any questions regarding these reports.
The deadline for APR submission is Friday, May 1, 2020. An electronic copy (Word document) should be sent as an email attachment to Randall Say in the Deans' Office. Please use the following naming convention: 21APR[unitname].doc.
Additionally, we ask that you adhere to the following formatting guidelines:
- Title APR at the top left corner of the first page as such: Department Name Annual Planning Report 2020-2021
- Follow the numbering system provided in the guidelines
- Use Times New Roman, 12 point, black only
- Set 1" margins (left and right) and justify paragraphs
- Unless you are proposing new training programs, please limit your text to no more than 5 pages, single-spaced, exclusive of addenda
The timing of responses to the APR depends in part on when the FAS budget is finalized with the University Administration, but our intention is to have responses released by June 30, 2020.
1.0 Executive Summary
Provide a brief abstract (no more than 200 words) highlighting the Strategic Plan for the department or program in achieving its academic goals. This will serve as a summary of your strategic planning document, submitted earlier in the spring.
2.0 Faculty Staffing
2.1 Provide a brief commentary on the results of any faculty searches conducted in the previous year, indicating reasons for success or failure and any changes in recruitment strategies that may be suggested by the prior year experience. In cases of paused searches, please indicate the stage you had reached and the steps remaining for the search to be concluded. Please include a discussion of diversity and inclusion recruitment strategies employed during this search. Indicate any additional information or resources that would have facilitated this work.
2.2 Request faculty lines, including their priority, for the next recruitment cycle (including pre-approved lines and those searches that were paused in 19-20) indicating rank and sub-field for each line and whether positions are replacements/conversions or incremental. As indicated in the preface, we do not know if we will be authorized to launch faculty searches next year. Should you wish to include nominal requests for searches we ask that you provide a brief justification for each position as well as an explanation of how the line(s) contributes to the University achieving world class status by articulating with your strategic goals, and for its potential to contribute to the distinct excellence of your department, address diversity and inclusion, and provide synergies with other schools and units throughout the GNU. Please include any proposals for joint hires involving the Abu Dhabi and Shanghai portal campuses or the Global study away sites. If necessary as part of a particular recruitment, provide an estimate of startup funds and identify contributions of departmental funding sources that can be made.
2.3 Provide information on potential departures and describe any significant impacts on the department's curriculum, administration, and research profile. As with all faculty hiring, replacements for faculty departures are not automatic and must be proposed and approved as part of the APR process.
3.0 Curriculum & Enrollment Planning (All Terms)
Course Enrollments
[Data entry in OASIS is required as the basis in supporting the adjunct budget request of a unit. FAS Fiscal Affairs will be in contact later in the Spring term with the deadlines to establish adjunct budgets. Information should be kept up to date as enrollment projections and course offerings change throughout the spring and summer terms. As a best practice, please be careful to compare course staffing budgets and expenses from prior years to ensure OASIS represents the full course staffing need for the next academic year (adjuncts, graders, class assistants, etc.) and for all terms (Fall, Spring, January, Summer). Also, please add to OASIS any appointments for ‘other-duties’ such as thesis advising and tutoring so budgets may be established for these expenses.]
3.1 New to OASIS this year are reports for the current use of adjuncts in undergraduate and graduate lecture/seminar courses and low enrolled courses (defined as 10 students or less). In concert with the Strategic Plans that departments have been asked to develop, the deans are requesting the review of these courses to understand how the curriculum would be affected by these new priorities and plans and whether there is savings from curricular efficiency (i.e. elimination/reconfiguration of courses, streamlining the number/canceling courses that are not well enrolled, etc.) that can be used to help fund strategic priorities.
3.2 The adjunct budget provided to departments and programs for the coming year will be based on historical three-year average spending, but adjusted following review of section 3.1 with the respective dean(s). Please provide relevant information and justification for exceptions as appropriate. Please include updated CVs of all current and proposed adjuncts.
3.3 If your department wishes to propose a new undergraduate regular term curriculum, as indicated in your strategic planning document, please contact CAS Academic Affairs (Armanda Lewis) to discuss requirements for a program proposal (see CAS Curricular Planning Document) that must be submitted along with the APR.
3.4 Summer offerings are comprised of individual courses at Washington Square, programs both in New York and away, and the special pre-college sections for the NYU Precollege program (NYC). Please keep in mind summer is the only term where graduate students are given the opportunity to teach stand-alone courses.
Please provide relevant information related to proposed changes to the historically funded activities for these programs.
3.5 If your department is planning to offer any new summer or special sessions courses or programs at Washington Square, please provide the following information:
- Existing or proposed Course Number (new course proposals must be vetted by the UCC/GCC) and course description
- Justification for why you think this course will generate interest and minimum enrollments
- Anticipated costs involved in running the course (include instructor's salary and information on faculty staffing for the course)
- For new program proposals, suggested list of co-curricular activities and anticipated costs
- How the proposed changes build upon the creative restructuring of courses/programs developed in light of the exceptional circumstances of Summer 2020.
Proposals for new courses on campus for 2020-2021 must be included in the APR in order to be considered.
Please include proposals for new degree programs (Masters Degree, Certificate, On-Line) in this section.
Study away programs should be reflected in your department’s strategic planning document; they require more extensive planning and additional administrative responsibility on the part of the program or department. In addition, the viability of any proposals for new study abroad summer programs (which must first demonstrate a high potential for success) will be evaluated in the context of University plans for the global study away sites. If your department wishes to propose a new undergraduate study away program and has included a rationale in the strategic planning document, please contact Noelle Marchetta to discuss requirements for a program proposal that must be submitted along with the APR.