Olson stated that public institutions of higher education have been experiencing drastic budget cuts, and many are finding it difficult to survive. He pointed out that the present crisis became especially pronounced after the tragic events of 9/11, which led to a massive reprioritizing of public values and a redistribution of public funds away from education. “Given these political and economic realities,” Olson said, “I take it as a principal responsibility of the Office of the Dean to lead the effort to decrease the college’s dependence on state funding by increasing the amount of external funding of research as well as the number and amount of gifts and bequests to the college.”

“We have an excellent story to tell about our value and centrality,” said Olson, “and I think it is entirely realistic to set as a goal an increase in donor giving over the next year even though the capital campaign will have ended.” 

As part of the college’s fundraising initiatives, the college will create two new college-wide advisory boards. The first, the CAS Community Advisory Board, will serve as a mechanism by which the activities of the college can be effectively communicated to the community, and, in turn, the college can benefit from the wisdom and experience of community leaders in the Bloomington-Normal area and the state of Illinois at large. The second, the CAS Emeritus Faculty Board, will be composed of distinguished retired faculty who as a group will provide the dean’s office with suggestions and advice about college initiatives and strategic planning. And in order to encourage departmental fundraising, the college has created the CAS Departmental Fundraising Award, an annual award of $1,000 to the department that conducts the best overall fundraising effort each year.

As part of the college’s informational initiatives, Olson unveiled a new electronic newsletter devoted exclusively to the College of Arts and Sciences. Dubbed CASNews, the weekly publication is meant to serve as a forum where all constituents within the college can learn about developments, research, and individuals throughout the college. CASNews will be available every Monday and will include stories about CAS faculty, staff, and students.

Olson also announced a number of initiatives designed to support faculty research and to increase grant funding coming into the college. Beginning this year, the college will receive a increased share of research overhead funds from the university: 5% more, or a total of 28%. Olson arranged to pass this entire increase directly to the departments rather than to reserve a portion for college-level operations. “If the college had had an additional 5% of indirect funds last year,” Olson said to the faculty, “this would have meant an additional $27,360 for your departments.” 

Other faculty research initiatives include:

• A new Faculty Research Enhancement Program
• A new Travel Supplement Grant Program
• Library Holdings Enhancement for newly hired faculty
• The creation of a Program of Excellence
• A new Dean’s Award for Outstanding Scholarly Achievement

Beginning this semester, the college will institute a comprehensive faculty mentoring program meant to support and retain untenured faculty. “Too often, institutions hire exceptional faculty but then fail to provide the knowledge and support that will help them succeed,” said Olson, “I promise you that that will not happen in this college.” As a complement to the mentoring programs that some of the departments already sponsor, the college program will concentrate on the meta-level skills and knowledge that will help ensure faculty success in the profession and here at ISU. All nontenured faculty in their first or second year will meet once a month for a series of sessions that will provide information about the tenure and promotion system, publishing scholarly research, balancing research and teaching obligations, and a range of other valuable information and strategies. “Give us an hour or two of your time once a month,” Olson said, “and I can guarantee that by the end of the year your chances not only of succeeding but of thriving will be substantially increased.”

The college will institute other support programs. In an attempt to support the college’s many nontenure-track faculty, the college will initiate an Instructional Faculty Support Program, a regular forum where nontenure-track faculty can interact with members of the dean’s office and other university officials, both to learn about new developments in the college and university and also to air concerns and offer suggestions. Similarly, the college will institute a CAS Staff Luncheon each semester where all CAS staff are invited to discuss issues of importance to them and to interact with the deans and other administrators. And to acknowledge those staff members who make outstanding contributions to the college, the college will sponsor the CAS Outstanding Staff Award: two $1,500 annual awards—one each for an outstanding civil service staff member and an outstanding AP staff member. Said Olson, “These awards are meant to demonstrate that the college truly values our staff professionals as colleagues who work side by side with the rest of us to serve our students and further our mission.”

In perhaps a climatic moment in the speech, Olson revealed that the many initiatives he had announced were all funded by grants and arrangements negotiated with other segments of the university, an investment of over a quarter of a million dollars. “Not a single dollar of college money has been expended to fund these initiatives,” said Olson.

Click here for the full text of Dean Olson’s speech.