PLANNING

STRATEGIC PLANNING

2015-2016

Established by the Office of Academic Affairs in 2015, the founding vision for the Global Arts + Humanities Discovery Theme was to integrate the arts and humanities in a shared focus on societal challenges and to support programming as well as faculty hires — with cost sharing from colleges that would support this purpose. Distinct from other Discovery Themes, the Global Arts + Humanities was defined not solely as a hiring initiative, but rather as one that would support cross-disciplinary programming and faculty research. $2.5 million in annual-rate funding and another $2.5 million in one-time cash supports these efforts. Guided by the innovative work of four faculty fellows, the Discovery Theme entered the first phase of the strategic-planning process. This phase included a call for cross-disciplinary proposals from faculty in the Division of the Arts and Humanities for two-year pilot projects that emphasized the human dimensions of pressing concerns and challenges.

2017

Building on the 11 funded pilot projects (with expenditures of $1.1 million), Lead Dean Peter Hahn invited faculty to submit proposals that expanded the scope and scale. A faculty steering committee reviewed all proposals and recommended the Migration, Mobility and Immobility Project as the first area for investment. Faculty hiring was part of this investment. In consultation with leadership (a newly-formed advisory committee, new faculty director and lead dean), two additional scaledup proposals — Livable Futures and Public Narrative Collaborative — were identified as meriting investment.

2018

The Global Arts + Humanities Discovery Theme underwent an external review, which reaffirmed the need for greater faculty participation and transparency in the development of the initiative. Recommendations from the external reviewers, faculty working groups and division-wide faculty retreat (April 2018) aided in the refinement of the initiative’s mission, vision and core-goals. After extensive faculty consultations, the initiative’s leadership and advisory committee identified three additional

areas for future investment: Community, Livability, and the Methods and Practices Amplifier. (The first focus area was renamed Im/Mobility to account for situations of immobility that people experience stemming from social, cultural, political, environmental and economic factors.) Several new grants programs, informed by these focus areas, were developed, including Arts Creation, Community Engagement, Discovery Field Schools, Mobile Methods, and Graduate Team Fellowships, among others. Focus areas and grants opportunities organized around critical societal challenges helped to facilitate collaborations and formation of cross-disciplinary research communities.

2019

The Global Arts + Humanities Discovery Theme participated in a strategic plan review spearheaded by the Office of Academic Affairs. The review process built awareness of the program across the university, communicated impact and future plans to key stakeholders, and solicited feedback that was incorporated into the strategic plan. Reviewers included administrators and faculty from across the university and yielded a rigorous audit of opportunities and barriers as part of a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis, including administrative structures that encumber collaboration across departments and performance metrics that do not sufficiently account for cross-disciplinary collaborations.

The review also spotlighted the initiative’s efforts in building institutional capacity for faculty-led collaborative research through its robust grants and fellowships programs and praised its focus on the arts and humanities as modes of inquiry and discovery, and its development of mentoring protocols and qualitative performance and assessment metrics. In line with the University’s strategic directives, the review also noted the initiative’s commitment to ethical resource management and stewardship. For example, research allocations rely on criteria including mission alignment, project efficacy, embeddedness in institutional ecology, qualitative leadership and diversity.

In response to this review, Global Arts + Humanities heightened the impact of its portfolio of grant programs by leveraging and amplifying programs run by existing university centers and entities (including the development of Center and Institute Grants) and cost sharing (with the Office of Research and Office of Diversity and Inclusion), while also seeding new and innovative cross-disciplinary research opportunities.

Subsequent consultations with leadership and faculty about the 2019 strategic plan and accomplishments also pointed to the need for the

Diversity, inclusion and equity are at the heart of every program and a driver of every decision.

development of additional resources to support existing interdisciplinary programs as well as individual faculty research within a multidisciplinary context.

2020

The Global Art + Humanities launched its signature Society of Fellows Program, which brings faculty across the disciplines together to explore a common theme. In addition to increased support for individual faculty, the Society of Fellows supports individual student research and creative productions. This diversification also included the development of Innovative Interventions rapid response grants to support faculty-led research and creative practices that facilitate arts and humanities critical engagement with the challenges that COVID-19 has made visible, including pandemic related disparities.

2020-21

Next, throughout the 2020-21 academic year, Global Arts + Humanities conducted an internal review process to refine its 2019 strategic plan based on an assessment of achievements, current programming, and investment priorities. This multi-year strategic planning and review process yielded four key strategic goals that guide the activity of the Global Arts + Humanities and its commitment to advancing diversity, inclusion and equity.

STRATEGIC GOALS Goal One Global Arts + Humanities will build intellectual community and capacity across the university through cross-disciplinary research and creative practices that respond to critical societal challenges. Goal Two Global Arts + Humanities will deepen student engagement in the arts and humanities through cross-disciplinary research, experiential learning and professional development opportunities. Goal Three Global Arts + Humanities will strengthen the university’s capacity for transformative community-engaged partnerships through arts and humanities methods, orientations and interventions. Goal Four Global Arts + Humanities will increase Ohio State’s national recognition as a leading land-grant institution and distinction of excellence in integrated arts and humanities through crossdisciplinary collaborations.

The remainder of this document reviews these four goals and the strategies that advance their development and implementation.