From the Acting Dean
VOL. 113 NO. 3
Editor Jeff Hagan ’86 Senior Designer Ryan Sprowl Designer Nicole Slatinsky
T
he weekend before thanksgiving was a quiet one on the Oberlin campus. A November chill, accompanied by mist and light rain, kept many people inside. Much of the campus, no doubt, was focused on the work they would need to do over the few intense weeks left in the semester. But one remarkable group of 31 faculty members, students, staff, trustees, and alumni spent the weekend looking ahead to Oberlin’s third century. The steering committee of the Academic and Administrative Program Review (AAPR)spent the weekend immersing itself in a dizzying array of information— mission statements and financial models, survey data and focus group results, quality assessments, and trends in higher education. That may not sound like a recipe for excitement, but the energy in the room ran high, because the real agenda of this retreat was nothing less than building on Oberlin’s excellence for generations to come. The AAPR was established in March 2018 by Oberlin’s Board of Trustees, which directed President Ambar to launch a sweeping examination of the college, conservatory, and all administrative divisions. The world of higher education is changing quickly, putting particular pressure on small, private, liberal arts institutions. AAPR is Oberlin’s way of addressing those challenges head-on, employing the creativity and critical thinking we cultivate here to the future of the institution itself. The goal is to make significant choices about where Oberlin should invest in greater excellence, and how it can selectively scale back and redirect resources. To guide the process, President Ambar solicited nominations from across the campus, vetted the nominations with our General Faculty Council, and appointed the members of the steering committee. Over the summer, the committee organized itself into several working groups. The nature of these groups is telling: while one working group is focused 2
on long-term financial viability, others have zeroed in on potential student interests, the quality of our programs, and their centrality to the institution’s mission itself. Through the fall, the committee solicited and gathered a wide variety of ideas and perspectives from faculty and staff, students, and alumni of Oberlin. Academic and administrative departments and units provided essential information about their own activities via questionnaires and interviews. Outside experts are working with Oberlin staff to apply a rigorous analysis of our finances at institutional and unit levels, and work is underway to gather comparative information. As fall gives way to winter, the working groups are plunging into this deep collection of quantitative and qualitative information and beginning to make significant observations about what they see. Those observations will then be synthesized by the steering committee as a whole, teasing out the implications that will become the basis for AAPR recommendations, following an extensive process of campus consultation. Steering committee members look forward to engaging our community on the substance and merits of these opportunities in the months to come. But as the process gets underway, I want to highlight the tireless efforts of the committee so far, and especially the spirit behind this work. Our 31 committee members, drawn from all corners of Oberlin, have come together not as representatives of special interests, but as institutionalists who love Oberlin and are willing to put the long-term good of Oberlin above all other considerations. That powerful spirit has animated and shaped the work of AAPR, and it gives me great hope and confidence about the steps that lie ahead.
david kamitsuka Acting Dean, College of Arts and Sciences Chair, AAPR Steering Committee
Editorial and Photography Projects Manager Yvonne Gay Director, Print and Publications Kelly Viancourt Vice President for Communications Ben Jones ’96 Executive Director, Alumni Association Danielle Young The Oberlin Alumni Magazine (ISSN 0029-7518), founded in 1904, is published quarterly by Oberlin’s Office of Communications and distributed to alumni, parents, and friends of Oberlin College. EDITORIAL OFFICE
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JENNIFER M A NN A
Looking to Oberlin’s Third Century