On The Steinhardt Strategic Assessment Committee and Task Force Report

To the Steinhardt Community:

Today the President and Provost have released the executive summary and the full text of the Strategic Assessment Committee's (SAC) report. The summary, recommendations, and the full text of the SAC report can be found on our website. Hard copies of the report are available from Brady Galan in my office.

The President and Provost today also have released their own recommendations, based on a careful and thoughtful review of the university-wide task force reports and many discussions with other deans and members of the University leadership team regarding Art, Music, Communications/Journalism, and Health/Nursing at New York University. These reports and recommendations are the culmination of the work of many faculty, staff and administrators who have met for well over a year to examine the Steinhardt School, its mission and its offerings, and have discussed opportunities for cross-school collaboration among units at NYU with overlapping curricula in the areas of art, music, communications, and health.

The Provost and President's recommendations for Art, Music, Communications/ Journalism, and Health/Nursing are consistent with the SAC report and together they create a platform on which we faculty, staff and students can build a more integrated and focused Steinhardt School. The Provost's and President's recommendations, as set forth in the documents are available at www.nyu.edu/provost/reports.html. They are a validation of John Sexton's vision of a common enterprise university -- one that is deeply collaborative, interdisciplinary, and focused on achieving excellence.

The Provost and President's recommendations are also a validation of the Steinhardt School's holistic vision of humanity -- as complexly cognitive, social, physical, creative, and affective. This view is deeply manifest in our work on local, national and global levels, to improve learning, development and engagement in the world.

Furthermore, the recommendations of the President and Provost and the recommendations of the SAC, affirm Michael Steinhardt's commitment to supporting a School that is dedicated to providing professional education that is useful and visionary, holistic and interdisciplinary. The mission challenges the Steinhardt School to be, in a familiar phrase, "in and of the city."

The recommendations empower us to continue what so many of us are already doing -- building bridges and tunnels among our programs within Steinhardt and across the schools within New York University to help us develop superior academic programs, to support innovative faculty and student research that will draw on the enormous riches of this University, and to create partnerships with schools, communities, hospitals and agencies throughout the city that reflect the University's -- and our -- commitment as a private university in the public service.

The Provost's and President's specific recommendations regarding separate university-wide coordinating councils for art, for music, and for communications/journalism/media studies will provide important networks for our faculty to explore new and dynamic collaborations and initiatives. They will challenge us to clarify our missions, to enhance teaching, research, and creativity, to create joint events and promotional materials, and to seek external funds to support such efforts.

The Provost's and President's recommendation to merge the Division of Nursing into the College of Dentistry is an institutional reorganization designed to take advantage of the potential synergies between these two professional fields. I regret that our long-time colleagues will no longer reside under the Steinhardt banner and we will miss their many academic, professional, and personal contributions to the immediate life of our School. Nonetheless, this merger will provide many new opportunities for research, teaching, innovation in clinical practice, and service for Nursing faculty and students both with their new colleagues in Dentistry, but also with Steinhardt's health, psychology and education programs as well as with Wagner, Medicine, and Arts and Science. I truly believe that even as Steinhardt separates administratively from the Division of Nursing, we will have opportunities to create new synergies and connections in health that will support and complement Steinhardt's holistic vision.

The faculty, administrators and students who participated in the many conversations and deliberations are to be commended for their commitment to the review process, for their openness to different perspectives and opinions, and for their careful consideration of the complexity and diversity of interests that make up Steinhardt and NYU. We thank you all for your service.

We also extend our great appreciation to the University administration for the tremendous energy, time and resources they have devoted to this review process. It reflects a deep commitment on the part of the University to the work we do in the Steinhardt School.

I expect that many of you will have questions and reflections about the specifics of the report and recommendations that may be addressed by either myself or other members of the SAC. To that end, I have scheduled town hall meetings--see dates and times below--to meet with faculty, staff, and students. I will be asking other members of the SAC to join me at these meetings. In addition I will ask the Provost to join us at our December 13th faculty meeting. I ask Senate leaders to conduct discussions in their meetings. Finally, I ask that Department Chairs schedule meetings to discuss the reports and recommendations in the departments.

Given that space will be limited, please RSVP to steinhardt.rsvp@nyu.edu if you plan to attend one of these town hall meetings. Should interest exceed space capacity, we will schedule additional town hall meetings.

Faculty Meetings:

Dean Mary Brabeck