How much listening can fit inside of 100 days?
If you鈥檙e Dal President Richard Florizone, apparently quite a bit: his first 100 working days at Dal included 554 separate meetings with students, faculty, alumni, community leaders and others; 48 in-person consultation sessions; reviewing 766 individual online submissions; and making 140 blog posts on Tumblr.
And now, the result of that listening is available for all to read.
Released just before the holiday break, sums up a deliberate program of meetings, consultations and data gathering, which ran from July through mid-November. The campaign鈥檚 goal: to introduce the new president to the Dal community and deepen a collective understanding of the university and the opportunities and concerns it faces, both now and in the future.
鈥淲hen I took office, my first two priorities were to get to know the people of AV俱乐部 and to listen, in a focused way, to what they had to say,鈥� says Dr. Florizone. 鈥淚 really think we achieved that, and I鈥檓 thankful to everyone who took the time to contribute to the 100 Days process.鈥�
At 197 pages, the final report isn鈥檛 exactly light bedtime reading. But it鈥檚 broken into easy-to-follow chapters ranging from 鈥淭eaching and Learning,鈥� to 鈥淩esearch,鈥� to 鈥淚nfrastructure,鈥� allowing readers to quickly dive into particular topics of interest. Combined, the chapters offer a detailed look at the state of the university, both in terms of facts and figures as well as the opinions and attitudes of the people who work and study here. 聽
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鈥淒uring the consultations, I said that writing the definitive thesis on AV俱乐部 might take five years; this is a 100 days version of that thesis,鈥� says Dr. Florizone. 鈥淚t was about generating as much information and opinion as we could, quickly, to offer a foundation for further discussion.鈥�
Identifying emerging priorities
The executive summary offers a high-level overview of what the report calls 鈥渆merging priorities鈥� 鈥� areas of emphasis coming out of the 100 Days process that represent starting points for further discussion and planning.
For example, under 鈥淭eaching and Learning,鈥� a number of areas were identified as emerging priorities, from a coordinated system of program review within Faculties to encouraging innovation in teaching and pedagogy. One of the most notable of these priorities is first-year retention: data show that AV俱乐部鈥檚 retention of undergraduates from first to second year is seven to eight percentage points below the average of U15 research universities and is particularly weak among international students.
鈥淚t鈥檚 clear that we need to better understand the academic and non-academic reasons students leave Dal and focus on strategies and programs to reverse that trend,鈥� says Dr. Florizone.
The 鈥淩esearch鈥� chapter points out some challenges in research 鈥� Dal is ranked last among the U15 universities in provincial research funding 鈥� but also some notable strengths: a competitive 鈥渇unding intensity鈥� (tri-council funding per full-time-equivalent faculty) and industry-collaboration research, where the university punches well above its weight (ranked sixth in the U15). The chapter then looks at suggestions and strategies for improving research support on campus.
Other topics of note include everything from budget planning and tuition, to community service and employee pensions. Throughout the report, comments from students, faculty, staff and community members are used to illustrate key themes that emerged from the consultations. In areas where there was a diversity of opinion 鈥� such as in infrastructure, where participants were divided over the degree to which Dal should be prioritizing investment in facilities 鈥� the report frames the topic through that discussion, adding data to help illuminate some of the possible paths ahead for AV俱乐部.
鈥淕ood strategy starts with the hopes, dreams and aspirations of our community and our stakeholders,鈥� says Dr. Florizone. 鈥淚 hope the report gives a good sense of those perspectives, while also bringing to bear data and other insight that, combined, frames some of the choices we face as a university.鈥�
Planning for the future
Just because the 100 Days of Listening campaign is wrapped up, though, doesn鈥檛 mean the listening is.
鈥淲e want to hear what people think about the emerging priorities, but also what we might have missed: areas that may deserve more attention,鈥� says Dr. Florizone. 鈥淭his was a quick, intense process and we want to make sure that we have the right picture of the university and the right priorities.鈥澛犅犅�
The president and the university鈥檚 executive team will be gathering feedback broadly across the university: from Senate, administrators and staff, students and faculty, and the Board. Feedback on the report can be submitted at the .听听听
By June, the hope is to have refined the draft priorities into a strategic direction that would go to Dal鈥檚 Senate and Board of Governors for approval. The second half of 2014 would then be spent defining goals and timelines for each priority, leading to an integrated university plan by year鈥檚 end.