Tranformation Activities

Objective
The purpose of the initiative is to create new ways to organize and deliver knowledge, to encourage focused research, and to promote a new image of the campus. Its goal is to provide students with the most creative, thoughtful and up-to-date curriculum possible, to allow faculty to expand their pedagogical, disciplinary and interdisciplinary interests, to engage all staff and administrators in campus life and innovation, and to develop wide understanding -- across a broad public arena -- of the innovations currently under way on the campus. 

The Need to Change
The need to reinvent the campus proceeds from three related assumptions about social, economic and educational changes that will structure a revised landscape for higher education in Massachusetts and elsewhere in the coming years:  

1. The global context.  Rapid changes in technology, the creation of new goods and services, the restructuring of the international division of labor, the movement of peoples, and the degradation of old skills and creation of new ones demand a rapid and agile response.  While change is to be expected, it is the velocity of these changes that now raise significant challenges and opportunities for universities everywhere.  Institutions of higher education must address these issues if they are to provide the kind of research and education that will prepare students and researchers to meet the challenges of this global context.  It requires that teaching and research respond rapidly to a changing environment while maintaining a strong commitment to basic skills.
   
2. State and local level. In Massachusetts the dependence of public higher education on funding from the legislature poses a particular challenge for this institution.  The prevalence of numerous highly-regarded private universities overshadows UMass, and public support for public higher education is not strong.  The legislature has reduced funding over the last ten years.  The recent budget crisis showed just how vulnerable UMass and this campus are to fiscal downturns.  Our long-term success hinges on finding alternative sources of funding while at the same time articulating more clearly the University’s importance to the Commonwealth.  Because this is a five-campus system, Lowell has an opportunity to highlight our particular strengths both within the university system and more widely to the general public. 
   
3. Campus level.  If we are to respond to global change, attract a “deeper” pool of students, and enhance our revenue from major funding agencies we need to continue to refocus ourselves at the campus level.  Recent changes in faculty (many retirements, new faculty coming on board) and staff (new team of senior administrators, integration of a number of units) have built on changes begun more than a dozen years ago.  Critical to this task is increasing our administrative efficiency, improving our retention of undergraduate students, increasing our fundable research, innovate our teaching methods and attracting a broader range of students at all levels. 

This transformation is built on the mission of the campus, promotes the full integration of sustainability in all we do and advocate, and is dedicated to creating an institution that can promote a new and exciting image to other universities, potential students, funding agencies, legislators, and the public at large.  It will require additional resources and the reallocation of others.  Most of all, it will require the enthusiasm and talents of all members of the university community.

The four key goals of this plan are:

• Promote the sustainability of the physical, economic and social lives of the community in all areas of university activity
• Support all teaching activities and expand interdisciplinary teaching
• Promote interdisciplinary research and increase research output in all disciplines
• Extend and deepen our commitment to local communities and cultures
  

Further details of the plan, the organization of committees and teams, feedback and concerns are available at Transformation website.