February 18, 2003

The Academic Planning Task Force is sponsoring an open forum Feb. 19 to discuss its efforts and to gain input from faculty.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m., in the North Reading Room of the Wilbur Cross Building, and is expected to last for about one hour.

"The task force has been working diligently on the project, and we're very interested in gaining community opinion during this formative period of the committee's work," says Karla Fox, a professor of business and co-chair of the task force. She and Richard Brown, a history professor and co-chair of the group, also will give a report to the University Senate on March 10.

During a presentation to the Board of Trustees last month, Fox said the group hopes to complete a benchmarking study and a facilities recommendation, and identify areas of academic emphasis and a process for allocating resources by Feb. 28.

Although the plan is not expected to be finalized until early fall, a draft report will be shared with the University community by May 1. Revisions will be made to the plan during the summer, with a draft shown to the trustees in July and another shared with the University community in the fall.

The task force has formed working groups to focus on six issues: areas of emphasis; physical plant-building projects; processes; benchmarking; faculty excellence; and student excellence.

The plan is posted on a website that will be updated weekly.