Preface for 2021-22 APR Request
As we enter a post-COVID world, our role is to envision a way forward, perhaps rethinking our approaches to teaching and research, but also rebuilding and resuming faculty recruitment and striving to build a more vibrant, resilient, diverse and stronger Arts and Science.
Annual Planning Report submissions this year should be focused and aligned with the Strategic Plan that departments have submitted. 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 last year.
We have reintroduced section 7.0 on the Global Network University as there appears to be more interest in, and engagement with, the study away sites. We need to ensure coordination and all the deans need to understand implications of department proposals.
This year, the University Administration is focusing on metrics (research activity, OTPS spending, and staffing ratios) as well as sustainability (including space efficiency). We welcome your thoughts, ideas and suggestions on these and other areas that can help redeploy those resources for investments in our academic programs. Guidance from the University on the budget appears cautiously positive, but uncertainty remains; therefore, we ask that departments focus requests on the most critical needs and ensure that they are aligned with strategic plans.
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 and program.
Guidelines
The APR is required of all Arts & Science 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. This year especially, it should align with the Strategic Plan (including faculty hiring) that departments and programs have been asked to complete.
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 these reports.
As previously discussed at the recent Chairs meeting, you may add the Faculty Teaching Loads and Curricular Assignment data request as an appendix to the APR.
The deadline for APR submission is Friday, April 23, 2021. 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: 22APR[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 2021-2022
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 FAS budget is finalized with the University Administration, but our intention is to have responses released by late June or early 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 will 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 19-20 and 20-21 Activities and Accomplishments
While we recognize that the pandemic has impacted the traditional activities of departments and programs, we believe that many have found creative and innovative ways to maintain progress and momentum in teaching and research and we would appreciate hearing about them.
Identify three to five (3-5) major accomplishments of the department in the past two years. 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 In the case of departments that were permitted to conduct a search in 2020-21, 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 during this search. Indicate any additional information or resources that would have facilitated this work.
2.2 Request faculty lines for the next recruitment cycle (including paused searches and pre-approved lines), indicating rank and sub-field for each line and whether positions are replacements/conversions or incremental. For paused searches, you need only indicate whether or not you wish to continue the search; for other lines, 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.
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 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 In OASIS 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/cancelling 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.
Departments that have met with CAS Dean Jarrett and Associate Dean 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.
3.3 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
Proposals for new courses on campus for 2021-2022 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.
3.7 Please describe efforts to mentor undergraduate students in your department, and any new initiatives (or any 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, at al861@nyu.edu, and Lynne Haney, Professor of Sociology and CAS Faculty Director for Curricular Initiatives and Innovation, at lh28@nyu.edu.
4.0 Technology in the Curriculum
Provide information on the use of technology and innovation in the curriculum.
Provide a current assessment of the curriculum and technology use
Provide information on the future direction the faculty envisions for technology use
Submit proposals for courses (changes in modality for groups of courses, etc.) in this section
Submit requests for technology (hardware or software) that would be used to meet your vision for technology in the curriculum
Provide context for use of hybrid and/or online modalities in the curriculum post-COVID
5.0 Graduate Programs
If you are planning new graduate degree programs (Masters Degree, Certificate, On-Line), please include those in section 3.5 above and 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.
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 provide links from professional associations that provide data or reports on diversity, placement and time to degree for master’s degree programs.
5.3 Please describe efforts to mentor graduate students in your department, and any new initiatives (or any 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 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 Global Network University
Please provide a brief commentary on the department or program's current participation as part of the Global Network University (GNU).
In order to ensure a coordinated effort and communication among offices, please provide information on:
Faculty circulation in the GNU. List all teaching assignments in Abu Dhabi, Shanghai or any of the Global study away sites. Include all planned assignments for 2021-22 and all proposals for 2022-23 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 GNU
Graduate student circulation in the GNU
Be advised that all staffing and curricular changes must first be approved by the FAS 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 FAS 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 diversity 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 for DEI-related programming or information provided by that organization.