April 17, 2018

William Kaempfer, Sr. Vice Provost
The University of Colorado Boulder
40 UCB / 2055 Regent Drive, Room 360
Boulder, Colorado 80309-0040

Dear Bill,

Thank you for your service to the University of Colorado Boulder, not only as Senior Vice Provost for Budget and Planning but also as former Interim Dean of the Leeds School of Business and Professor of Economics.

As you know, the Academic Futures initiative has brought forward many creative ideas about the purpose, structure, and future of our university. Among those is the potential reorganization of the College of Arts & Sciences, discussed most notably through, but not limited to, the white paper authored by John Cumalat and Keith Julien. The Academic Futures committee requested that such a reorganization be addressed by my office and the Arts and Sciences Strategic Planning Committee chaired by David Brown.

This letter is to name you as Chair of the Provost Committee on Academic Reorganization and detail my expectations for this Committee. Within your capacity as Chair, I expect you to work closely with David Brown, relevant student, faculty, and staff governance bodies, and to operate in total transparency and with representation from affected stakeholders.

Specifically, I charge you and the Committee as follows:

  1. Examine and make recommendations regarding proposed alternative academic structures. I expect you to begin with the “Cumalat/Julien” paper but do not be limited to it should alternative organizational structures arise.  
  2. Within the examination of any proposed organizational change, I expect the analysis to contain “why” such a change would be beneficial to our faculty, students, and staff, including the benefits and costs (including non-monetary) of making any change. The benefits and cost analysis should consider, but not be limited to, Arts & Sciences as a unit, individual units and divisions within Arts & Sciences, other academic units not affiliated with Arts & Sciences (e.g., other colleges or institutions), and campus administration.
  3. If the Committee chooses to examine units outside of the College of Arts & Sciences, I expect you to notify those units as quickly as possible so that they can have their voices heard in any discussion.
  4. If, after these analyses, the Committee determines that a reorganization is appropriate, within its recommendations it should note specific areas on which we should focus moving forward, including recommendations for additional committees (e.g., curriculum, advising, space, budget, personnel, advancement, etc…).

You may add additional charges as necessary to accomplish the general goals outlined above, providing that I receive a written request, which if approved, would be posted to our website.

As you are aware, I have named Jim White as Interim Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. I have made this interim appointment so that the faculty, students, and staff may redefine, if they choose, their current organization without undue pressure or influence from academic administration. Timing for a national search or searches for the next Dean or Deans will occur based on the Committee’s recommendations regarding any reorganization.

So that all stakeholders can feel comfortable and at ease with this process, I do not request that you or the Committee consider closing any programs. While those discussions may occur independently of this Committee and per our currently established processes, this Committee is limited to a discussion of reorganization, not closure.

I request that you have your report and recommendations be made available by November 2, 2018 and provide a 28-day comment period for campus to provide any additional reactions. I will receive your report, and all of the comments on November 30, 2018. Depending on the Committee’s recommendation(s) we will move forward in an open and transparent manner to begin implementing those recommendations, in alignment with the second year of Academic Futures.

I appreciate your willingness to Chair this important committee and look forward to receiving your report.

Sincerely,

Russ

Russell L. Moore, Provost
University of Colorado Boulder