Objective 1: Diversify and improve research productivity across the College

Initiative 1.1: Provide key resources to support significant research efforts

Actions

1. Establish research productivity baselines across the College and unit-by-unit
2. Formalize a reduced teaching load/buyout/pre-tenure research leave program for significant research activity for pre-tenured faculty
3. Continue to work with the Office of the Vice President for Research to ensure that University-level research training and support is inclusive of the needs of arts faculty and graduate students
4. Track use of and evaluate the effectiveness of the Research Development Office (RDO) in satisfying the needs of current CFA faculty researchers, conduct a cost-benefit analysis, and determine whether to continue to support the RDO with College funds
5. Assess need annually for staff support for pre- and post-award grant application processes and management
6. Improve communication with faculty about the resources currently available to support research at the University and in the College
   1. Schedule in-person opportunities for the college’s Associate Dean for Research (ADR) to communicate directly with faculty at meetings at least annually (more often if requested by units)
   2. Redesign the “Faculty Grants & Research Support” page of the CFA website to make it more user-friendly for faculty
7. Continue supporting graduate student research (e.g., Individual Student Travel Grant, CFA Grad Student Research Excellence Fellowship) and explore options for further encouraging graduate student research (e.g., writing workshops for graduate students)
8. Gather input from faculty about the current college-level granting processes to determine whether changes might increase application volume; implement changes as necessary
9. Continue collaboration with Digital Matters Lab and encourage faculty participation
10. Assess and compare research productivity at the end of the strategic plan period
    
    

Initiative 1.2: Diversify research conducted in the CFA

The term “diversify” is intended to communicate movement in a direction that embraces the extraordinary variety of human aesthetic tradition and seeks to understand the value placed on those expressions by different communities. “Diversity” here is understood to signify not only topics related to or people from historically and currently marginalized communities, but also to include artistic traditions from outside those that have historically dominated Anglo-American research and teaching in the arts; popular arts traditions that are only recently receiving serious attention in academe; community-engaged and community-based research; and arts in applied settings.

Actions

1. Research and pilot the establishment of a national/international summer research institute at the University of Utah that focuses on diversity in the arts. Such an institute would bring together theorists, historians, practitioners of all art forms from across the globe to investigate diversity and inclusion in the arts—issues that have implications for social justice, ethics, and aesthetics. Such investigations could vary in form, from the scholarly to the creative (and hybrids thereof).
   1. Appoint a committee with representatives of all units in the College to:
      1. Assess faculty interest in establishing an institute of this kind through surveys, focus groups, discussions at faculty meetings, etc.
      2. Conduct research into extant summer research institutes: locations; missions; budgets/operations; administrative structures
      3. Draft proposal for institute for College Council approval
   2. Begin fundraising efforts
   3. Pilot the summer institute
2. Prioritize and support unit-level strategic hiring efforts that will increase the diversity of research conducted in the College
   1. Develop a faculty search manual that supports diverse hiring practices
   2. Investigate best practices for supporting our current arts curricula (which are largely Western-dominated) while simultaneously diversifying research and curricula to reflect and serve the needs of an increasingly diverse nation and the global knowledge economy
3. Coordinate and facilitate opportunities for interdisciplinary dialogue and research collaboration across the College (e.g., offer grants to interdisciplinary working groups for workshops with guest artists or scholars)
4. Continue to coordinate and facilitate the work of the Arts-in-Health Innovation Lab
   1. Develop strategic outline for AIHIL
   2. Search for and hire CFA faculty member under the Arts-in-Health Transformative Excellence Program grant (aim for July 1, 2019 start date)
   3. Incorporate the National Center for Voice and Speech into the CFA and develop robust research ties between NCVS, CFA units, and units in the Health Sciences
   4. Participate in search for second faculty member under the Arts-in-Health TEP in College of Health