At its monthly meeting yesterday, the Brown University Community Council discussed the status of the Swearer Center for Public Service as well as the Plan for Academic Enrichment and reflected on the progress that has been made under President Ruth Simmons.
Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron gave a presentation about the future of the Swearer Center on behalf of Roger Nozaki MAT'89, the center's director and associate dean of the College for community and global engagement. The presentation touched upon ways the center's goals coincide with Brown's mission, as well as goals for the center going forward.
"Universities are in a position to offer a wide range of solutions to social problems," Bergeron said. "Fostering this kind of engagement has never been more important than it is today."
She highlighted the New Curriculum's emphasis on community engagement and said students have embraced service through projects such as A Better World by Design, emPOWER and Education Without Borders.
Bergeron's presentation also cited the University's emphasis on "usefulness and reputation," as mentioned in the University's charter, and said this description is still central to defining a student's role at Brown.
The presentation boasted the Swearer Center's success in establishing 4,000 partnerships across the state.
Going forward, the center's goals are to "strengthen and sustain long-term community partnerships, enhance curricular integration and research, advance University impact and build assessment capacity," according to Bergeron's presentation.
Ralanda Nelson '12, president of the Undergraduate Council of Students and member of the council, asked Bergeron whether the University is considering making service a requirement for undergraduates.
Bergeron said the University is not specifically planning any such measure, but stated her support for faculty encouragement of students to engage with the community through research and teaching. She cited a chemistry student working with a professor to construct syllabi for a local high school class as an example.
Following Bergeron's presentation, Richard Spies, executive vice president for planning and senior advisor to the president, delivered what he described as a retrospective on the Plan for Academic Enrichment.
The plan was initiated by both Spies and Simmons in February 2002 when Spies presented an eight-slide PowerPoint to the Corporation, the University's highest governing body, detailing the University's most pressing needs. This outline later became the Plan for Academic Enrichment, which the Corporation approved in February 2004.
"The plan has really been a tremendous asset for us," Simmons said.
But the plan was not always seen in such a positive light, according to Simmons. She said upon first presenting the plan to faculty, she was told by one faculty member that he did not believe a word she was saying.
The difficulty in executing such a bold plan was the root of this skepticism, Simmons said. She said past plans had not fully come to fruition and that a sense of urgency was needed for the new plan to be successful.
Spies detailed the challenges the University faced when Simmons' tenure began, which included a need for more faculty, a need-blind admissions process and increased support for graduate students.
"In 2001, Brown was a little bit stalled," he said. "We were not as strong as we could be."
Since the plan was approved in 2004, the University's faculty has expanded, and graduate stipends have increased to be competitive with those at peer institutions, according to Spies.
The plan succeeded because it "addressed real issues with real resources in real time," he said. It was able to evolve as new challenges were presented, and it was aspirational in its nature.
Simmons said the University still faces challenges going forward but said the Plan for Academic Enrichment put in place a groundwork for the University that was not there when she came into office.
"There are many unmet needs, and there are many insufficiently funded items," she said, adding that she hopes funds in the coming years can be directed towards strengthening existing programs rather than simply investing in essentials such as faculty and infrastructure.
Simmons added that she believes the University can continue tapping into an "aspirational fervor" amongst alums and the Brown community to continue making progress.
"Brown is a unique kind of place where people believe in its mission and believe it's possible to do extraordinary things here," she said.
