Preface for 2023-24 APR Request
Arts & Science has emerged from the past three years stronger, more resilient, and ready to make the next leap forward. We welcome your thoughts in this next planning cycle on how we can improve student success, support targeted development, and maximize the impact of faculty scholarship on society.
Annual Planning Report submissions this year should be focused and aligned with the Strategic Plan that departments submitted in 2020. Given the time that has passed since the last request, this may be an opportune time to start discussions in your department/program to take a fresh look at your strategic plan. The deans are available to help facilitate these discussions and provide support. If you would like to revise or update your strategic plan, please submit your revised strategic plan as an appendix. If submitting a revised plan, please clearly indicate how it differs from the original document that was submitted previously. If a department/program never submitted a Strategic Plan, please discuss this with your Divisional Dean.
As in the past, please be judicious in your resource requests, seriously consider alternative funding sources, and ensure that you can account for resources provided to document the successful development of your department or program.
Guidelines
The APR is required of all Arts & Science degree-granting departments, programs, institutes, and centers each year unless an exception is made by the Dean's Office. Working in tandem with your department’s strategic planning document, the APR serves as a progress report and an opportunity to provide additional strategic input in planning for the development of units by the Deans.
Preparation of the APR is a collaboration between the unit administrator and the chair or director of the unit.
For your reference, a report known as the 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 the information in these sources or the reports.
The deadline for APR submission is Friday, April 21, 2023. An electronic copy (Word document) should be sent as an email attachment to Randall Say in the Deans' Office.
Additionally, we ask that you adhere to the following formatting guidelines:
- Please use the following naming convention: 24APR[unit name].doc.
- Title APR at the top left corner of the first page as such: [Department Name] Annual Planning Report 2023-2024
- 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 10 pages, single-spaced, exclusive of addenda
The timing of responses to the APR depends in part on when the Arts & Science budget is finalized with the University Administration, but our intention is to have responses released in the first half of July
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 should serve as a summary of your strategic planning document. Please discuss any substantive changes with your Divisional Dean and note the changes here.
1.1 Report on 22-23 Activities and Accomplishments
Please identify three to five (3-5) major accomplishments of the department in the past year. Examples might include the publication of an important book or article, new curricular innovation, notable doctoral placement, notable efforts to improve equity and inclusion, etc.
1.2 Rank and Priority of APR Requests
Provide a short, bulleted summary of the department’s highest priority requests (including relevant cost information). Please rank your requests in order of the highest importance first. Note how they meet strategic goals identified in your strategic planning document and if internal resources can be redeployed to fund (all or in part) these needs. Requests will only be considered if they are prioritized in this section.
2.0 Faculty Staffing
2.1 Please provide a brief commentary on the results of faculty searches, indicating reasons for success or failure and any changes in recruitment strategies that may be suggested by the experience. Please include a discussion of diversity and inclusion recruitment strategies employed and any additional information or resources that would have facilitated this work. As an addendum, please provide an outline of the processes in your department that govern faculty search decisions (these may include excerpts from department bylaws or handbooks).
2.2 Request faculty lines for the next recruitment cycle (including pre-approved lines), indicating rank and sub-field for each line and whether positions are replacements/conversions, incremental, or part of a cluster hiring proposal.
As a reminder, cluster hiring proposals must first be approved by the Arts & Science Dean's office and then by the Provost's office. Approval for hiring of specific lines within a cluster must be approved through the APR process. Cluster hiring proposals should be included in full as addenda to the APR (see instructions at: https://cfa.hosting.nyu.edu/recruitment/cluster-proposals/).
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.
2.4 Please name the schools whose departments represent peers and aspirational peers for your department. (Please present this as a simple list without additional commentary).
3.0 Curriculum & Enrollment Planning (All Terms)
Course Enrollments
[Data entry in OASIS is required as the basis for supporting the adjunct budget request of a unit. Arts & Science 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 carefully compare course staffing budgets and expenses from prior years to ensure OASIS represents the full course staffing need for the next academic year (faculty, 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 This year, the deans have asked departments to conduct a strategic review of the curriculum and its staffing early this spring. The goals of this exercise are threefold:
A. Alignment towards our goal of having all undergraduate courses taught by full-time faculty. This is especially important in departments with high-demand courses. In rare cases where this is not possible, departments should provide justification of the need for alternative staffing models.
B. Discussion of staffing models for masters and doctoral courses.
C. Review of all low enrolled courses, along with an evaluation of the feasibility of various mechanisms to achieve greater curricular efficiency (i.e., elimination/reconfiguration of courses, streamlining the number/canceling courses that are not well enrolled, etc.)
The results of this curriculum and staffing review with the deans this spring should be included in this section.
Departments that have met with CAS Dean Wendy Suzuki and Associate Dean Armanda Lewis on high-demand courses are asked to provide your plans here to request additional one-time adjunct funding above the three-year average to meet expected high enrollments next year. This only applies to Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Psychology, Economics, Sociology, East Asian, French, Spanish, and Italian Studies.
3.2 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.
If you are planning new graduate degree programs (Master’s Degree, Certificate, On-line), please confer with the GSAS Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs, Allan Corns, and the GSAS Associate Dean for Graduate Enrollment Services, David Giovanella, in advance of submitting the request.
3.3 Outline summer offerings at any site. Summer offerings comprise 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 that summer is the only term when 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.
3.4 Propose new summer offerings at Washington Square. 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
Proposals for new courses on campus for 2023-2024 must be included in the APR in order to be considered
Please include proposals for new degree programs (Master’s 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.
3.5 Please describe efforts to support and enhance undergraduate student success, including equity and inclusion. How does the program mentor undergraduate students in your department; be sure to describe any new initiatives (and improvements to existing initiatives) that help address student success, particularly in terms of retaining students and helping them graduate on time. Please comment on efforts to enhance diversity and inclusion in your curriculum and to create pathways to careers for students traditionally underrepresented in your discipline (however these may be defined). If you have any questions on how to address the undergraduate matters of mentorship and diversity and to understand best practices, please contact Armanda Lewis, CAS Associate Dean of Academic Affairs.
4.0 Technology in the Curriculum
Provide information on the use of technology and innovation in the curriculum:
- A current assessment of the curriculum and technology use
- Details on the future direction the faculty envisions for technology use
- Proposals for courses (changes in modality for groups of courses, etc.) in this section
- Requests for technology (hardware or software) that would be used to meet your vision for technology in the curriculum
- Provide context for the use of hybrid and/or online modalities in the curriculum
5.0 Graduate Programs
New graduate degree programs (Master’s Degree, Certificate, On-line), should be included in section 3.2 above, following consultation with the GSAS Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs, Allan Corns, and the GSAS Associate Dean for Graduate Enrollment Services, David Giovanella.
5.1 Please provide links from professional associations that provide data or reports on diversity, placement, and time to degree for doctoral degree programs.
5.2 Please describe efforts to mentor graduate students in your department and any new initiatives (or improvements to existing initiatives) that help address student success, particularly in terms of professional development, retention, and time to degree. Please include efforts to create mentoring structures that integrate graduate student mentoring of undergraduates. Please comment on efforts to enhance diversity and inclusion in your graduate programs and to create pathways to careers for students traditionally underrepresented in your discipline (however these may be defined).
6.0 Operating Budget
6.1 Identify the two or three most critical needs of the department. Provide relevant quotes and/or cost information. Explain how funding will meet strategic goals and priorities and how success will be measured.
6.2 Departments and programs that have accumulated large balances (in excess of $250,000) in NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai funds are requested to provide a detailed 3-year plan on the use of these funds in this section of the APR. A minimum spend rate of 20% per year must be proposed. Describe how these spending plans can contribute to the needs identified in Section 1.0 and/or how they can complement them to advance the mission and goals of the department.
7.0 Engagement Global Sites and Campuses
Please provide a brief commentary on the department or program's current engagement with global sites and campuses.
In order to ensure a coordinated effort and communication among offices, please provide the following information:
- Faculty circulation at global sites and campuses. List all teaching assignments in Abu Dhabi, Shanghai, or any of the Global study away sites. Include all planned assignments for 2023-24 and all proposals for 2024-25 and beyond. Describe any budgetary impact and possible funding sources.
- Curricular initiatives/offerings that your department may be involved with in the integration with the global sites and campuses.
Be advised that all staffing and curricular changes must first be approved by the Arts & Science Deans, including circulation to portal campuses in Abu Dhabi, Shanghai, or any of the Global study away sites.
8.0 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
The engagement of departments, faculty, staff, and students in efforts to broaden diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in the Arts & Science is very much appreciated. Without duplicating text in earlier sections, please tell us about efforts and needs in these areas.
8.1 Briefly describe what enhancing equity and inclusion would look like in your department. (i.e., what is needed, and how will we know if we have achieved it) and share information on existing departmental structures in place to address issues of DEI. These might include committees but may also include changes to normative practice to enhance DEI. If these include a formal committee/liaison, please list that person here.
8.2 Briefly outline departmental activities in DEI over the past year.
8.3 Highlight proposed programming in DEI for the coming year in any departmental area (e.g., staff, students, faculty, administration). Please provide suggestions for information and programming that would facilitate departmental DEI work.
8.4 Please identify your national disciplinary organization(s) and provide the URL address for DEI-related programming or information provided by that organization.