The AHUM Future State Initiative

An initiative to reimagine, reinvent and restructure the arts and humanities at ÌÒÉ«ÊÓƵ for long-term sustainability, thriving and well-being.

Overview

The context of higher education has changed dramatically in the past decades due toÌýsignificant shifts in demographics, finances, technologies, and public perception. The Arts and Humanities especially finds itself in a vulnerable place as scores of local, national and international issues emerge that strain our resources and impact how we function, adapt, develop, and sustain. In order to help AHUM students, faculty, and staff thrive and in order to collectively design our shared futures in this precarious moment, the Future State Initiative aims to mobilize shared governance to lead and inspire the reimagination, reinvention, and restructuring of AHUM at ÌÒÉ«ÊÓƵ.Ìý

Given today's challenges, the AHUM Future State Initiative specifically seeks to identify and develop constructive pathways forward to help ensure our collective future success. While not comprehensive, the first phase of this initiative identified the following questions as being at the heart of this inquiry::

  • What curricular reforms can we imagine and what new programming can we design to uphold the values of arts and humanities and help sustain its viable future?
  • With deep understanding of student needs and interests in mind, how can we diversify and enhance experiential and applied learning experiences in AHUM to intensify students’ abilities to study, grow, and develop as thinkers, writers, artists, scholars, citizens, and professionals?
  • How do we recruit students into AHUM earlier in their academic careers and create flexible and supportive pathways to retain students and enhance chances for their success?
  • How do we make visible the personal, creative, and professional value of the Arts and Humanities for not only students but also parents, administrators, donors, and the public at large?
  • How can we make structural changes to create a thriving community for all students, faculty, and staff and generate meaningful systems of support to foster success and well-being for all?

With these questions in mind, AHUM is embarking on a multi-year and multi-phase project to reinvigorate the arts and humanities for a sustainable and thriving future.Ìý

Phase 1: Fall 2024-Spring 2025 - Completed

  • Establish Working Committee of Faculty and Staff from across the division
  • Identify Goals and Principles to guide the collective design of AHUM’s future state

Phase 2: Fall 2025 - Spring 2026

  • Create Small Design Teams of Faculty, Staff, and Administrators from across the division and college
  • Identify and prioritize strategic actions (pathways, structures, systems of support, curricular reforms, and branding elements) for future implementation

Phase 3: Spring 2026 - Spring 2027

  • Create Future State Fellows and Ambassadors
  • Design, fund, and put into action prioritized strategic actions

Outcomes of Phase 1: AHUM Goals and Principles for Design

  • Uphold, amplify and illuminate the personal, creative, and professional values ofÌý the Arts and Humanities and the diverse and rewarding learning opportunities offered in the division
  • Generate badging and micro-credentialing opportunities; flexible pathways andÌý cross-divisional systems for wayfinding; and responsive systems of support such as cohort learning in order to help students more easily navigate through their majors and minorsÌý
  • Deepen scaffolding for community-engaged learning, community-building, and career-growth within and beyond AHUM, the college, and the ÌÒÉ«ÊÓƵ campus
  • Create more accessible avenues and structures of support to recruit and retain both traditional and non-traditional students
  • Encourage a strong sense of collective identity and solidarity in AHUM and encourage curricular and programmatic reform within departments to align with future state vision and goals
  • Reexamine hiring practices/resource allocation in AHUM to reinforce division-level future goals and cultivate more shared governance and transparency into hiring decisions
  • Address inequities (labor, salary, etc.) within the division and cultivate structures of support and wellbeing for all faculty and staff
  • Design of 5 Future State Teams focused on Hiring, Curricula Reform and Guidance, Student Support and Community Building, Bounding Students into AHUM, and Rebranding AHUMÌý

Outcomes of Phase 2: AHUM Strategic Actions

Strategic actions will aim to double our incoming declared majors and transfer students through curricular and programmatic reforms that, among other things, provide all AHUM students with flexible pathways and applied learning opportunities to learn transferable and durable skills and translate critical, creative, and humanistic inquiries into viable careers paths.

Specific strategic actions to come.

Announcing Phase Two: Design