ACAD Comprehensive Institutional Plan 2012-15

[COMPREHENSIVE INSTITUTIONAL PLAN

2012-2015] Submitted to the Minister of Enterprise and Advanced Education | June 1, 2012

Alberta College of Art + Design Comprehensive Institutional Plan 2012-2015 Page i

ALBERTA COLLEGE OF ART + DESIGN

COMPREHENSIVE INSTITUTIONAL PLAN 2012- 2015

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .............................................................................................. 2

2. ACCOUNTABILITY STATEMENT .................................................................................. 4

3. INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT ......................................................................................... 5

4. CIP PLAN DEVELOPMENT .......................................................................................... 7

5. ENVIRONMENTAL SCAN .......................................................................................... 14

6. GOALS, PRIORITY INITIATIVES, EXPECTED OUTCOMES AND PERFORMANCE MEASURES .............................................................................................................. 16

7. FINANCIAL AND BUDGET INFORMATION ................................................................ 36

8. RESOURCE IMPLICATIONS ....................................................................................... 44

APPENDIX 1 ............................................................................................................. 48

APPENDIX 2 ............................................................................................................. 63

APPENDIX 3 ............................................................................................................. 77

Alberta College of Art + Design Comprehensive Institutional Plan 2012‐2015 Page 2

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The goals, priority initiatives, expected outcomes and performance measures of the Alberta College of Art

and Design's Comprehensive Institutional Plan (CIP) have been crafted and evaluated to align with the specific

policy directions identified as a “common foundation for dialogue.” The Campus Alberta Planning Framework

2010 and the previous Alberta Access Planning Framework, A Context for Access and Demand (AAPF) are

recognized as sequential documents and are quoted throughout this submission. Strategies are developed in

response to increasingly formidable challenges to the viability of a sustainable, quality art and design education

system. Opportunities for program growth, increased research capacity and the rejuvenation and expansion of

facilities are at the forefront of College discussions and act as key, shared directives in the stakeholder

consultations that ultimately inform the CIP’s development. The resulting synergies contribute to ACAD’s new

academic plan in development and are supported by administrative restructuring, business and capital plans ‐‐

‐ which, when combined, aim to reflect and expand the terms of public/private engagement outlined in the

Government of Alberta’s strategic research priorities (as articulated by Alberta Innovates, namely: Bio Solutions,

Energy and the Environment Solutions, Health Solutions and Technology Futures). That said, ACAD’s goals for the

combined IRP and CIP for 2012‐15 are intended to be flexible and responsive to developments that may occur

within the forthcoming academic years.

Goals yet to be implemented have the benefit of adjustment and revision based on continuing analysis and

evolving trends, including the impact of the ongoing national and international financial downturn, the lack of

new, significant investment in PSEs by the Province of Alberta and the limited stability of a 2% budget increase for

the next three years. It is understood that the new Enrolment Planning Envelope (EPE) funds will not be available

until 2013‐14 at the earliest. However, those at ACAD are confident that both access to, and quality of, the

existing degree programs will be maintained, if not enhanced, over the three year period from 2012. This period

is viewed as an opportunity to increase institutional efficiency and effectiveness through better planning,

increased utilization of existing facilities, and collaboration with other partners if and when new funding

accommodates such initiatives.

Focusing on visual and innovative thinking for visual learners, the ACAD degree programs continue to address

the increasingly diverse needs of students living in Alberta and beyond our borders. The emphasis of the CIP

goals to enhance access/recruitment and retention galvanizes this focus and mandates the effective use of

available resources to their maximum potential in service to these goals.

Shifts in senior administration, and additional goals and performance indicators in this report strongly suggest

institutional change that is responsive to demands on the College and meets the career aspirations of a

broad range of students. Dr. Daniel Doz has led an active consultative process with stakeholders on many

levels, engaging faculty, students, management, support staff, numerous external communities and an external

consultant to deliver ACAD’s first Academic Plan (Inspiring Passionate Learning: ACAD’s Academic Strategy) and

an Academic Restructuring Position Paper. Other correlated initiatives under Dr. Doz’s leadership include a new

emphasis on developing several areas including faculty research capacity, access and retention plans for

Aboriginal students, Alberta high school graduates, and students with disabilities (of which ACAD has three

times the national average). There is also greater attention given to space efficiencies, plans to seek

membership in the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC), and plans to deliver new pilot

courses and certificate offerings in Extended Studies. Furthermore a proposed graduate degree (MFA) in Craft


Media (with an anticipated launch date of January, 2014) shares the goal of our undergraduate degrees, that

being to not only educate students but to be prepared to enter and excel in careers in the visual and design

arts, utilizing the vehicle of visual expression in close association with critical thinking and creative problem‐

solving to increase productivity and innovation in all sectors of the economy.

The additional goals and performance indicators developed over the last twelve to eighteen months give

greater accountability and credibility to the claim that ACAD is a centre for quality education. In fact, students

who graduate from ACAD are educated to be more adept at lateral thinking and to have the capacity to transition

into diverse careers as technically advanced, thoughtful, reflective, contributing members of society. The renewed

attention at ACAD to advising, as well as career and professional development will assist students in capitalizing

on the very real and relevant strengths they have developed in their degree program.

In the strong global competition of the new knowledge‐based economy, the retention of a highly skilled labour

force in Alberta, conversant with the “language, cultural, and communication skills” (AAPF) of the applied arts

in a world community, will aid in maintaining economic prosperity in the province. With this goal in mind

ACAD’s internal stakeholders have spent considerable time in reviewing the planning initiatives (listed below) and

the outcomes that are to be achieved.

Some initiatives have been amended and received extended timelines after an evaluation of the current

capacities of the institution. New and amended outcomes have been identified. CIP goals are further intended

to support innovation and knowledge development in the province as the underpinnings of intellectual

health and well‐being of all Albertans, to enhance ACAD as a centre of excellence in visual art and design both

provincially and beyond.

The CIP goals also provide the broader public in the Calgary region with opportunities to engage in lifelong

learning and alternative pathways for non‐traditional learners. The goals outlined below aim to develop a strong

cultural fabric (cultural prosperity) for all Albertans. Quality of life and intellectual health for highly skilled

individuals and their families (i.e., Richard Florida’s highly effective “creative class”) makes the development of

the cultural environment a prerequisite and fosters new creative opportunities. The creative class has been

identified as one of the key demographic groups for economic growth in the 21st‐ century and key to a

competitive and expansive paradigm shift for all labour sectors in Alberta. The concept of cultural prosperity

associated with the broadly based creative class aligns well with the Government of Alberta’s research priorities.

Further to strengthening ACAD’s role as a centre of excellence and artistic experimentation, the clear focus on a

studio‐based trans‐disciplinary degree education will continue to sustain the student education experience.

ACAD’s interdisciplinary education base encourages the interplay of ideas and applied research in visual art and

design in support of all creative initiatives in the private and public sectors. As research moves beyond the

confines of discrete disciplines to cross‐disciplinary and networked approaches, ACAD will continue to expand

its role to bring rigor to academic processes, raising the level of critical discourse, improving student recruiting

and access plans, and lead in establishing new paths to diversity in the student body and faculty.

Please see Appendix 1 for additional notes on enrolment concerns, research capacity and achievements at ACAD.


2. ACCOUNTABILITY STATEMENT

This Comprehensive Institutional Plan was prepared under the Board’s direction in accordance with legislation

and associated ministerial guidelines, and in consideration of all policy decisions and material, economic, or fiscal

implications of which the Board is aware.


3. INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT

Mandate, Mission, Visions, Principles and Values

ACAD’s Mandate

The Alberta College of Art + Design, located in Calgary, Alberta Canada, is a public, board‐governed college

operating as a Specialized Arts and Culture Institution under the authority of the Post‐Secondary Learning Act of

Alberta. As the only post‐secondary institution in the prairie provinces devoted exclusively to advanced education,

practice and research in visual culture, design and associated and emergent fields, the Alberta College of Art +

Design offers four‐year undergraduate degrees preparing learners for careers in visual culture and design. The

College is a centre of excellence in education and research in fine arts, crafts, design, media arts + digital

technologies, and related liberal studies, and supports lifelong learning through its credit and non‐credit

continuing education programming. The College is committed to the principles outlined in the framework of

Campus Alberta, which calls for an approach to advanced learning in Alberta that is responsive, innovative,

high‐quality, accessible and focused on meeting the needs of the learner. Acting as a local, provincial, national

and international visual culture resource, and through research, the College is a producer of original knowledge

leading to cultural development. Its public activities are designed to enhance the general awareness of the College

and advance knowledge and understanding of the importance of visual culture and design to the economic,

cultural and social life of the communities and society that it serves.

Approved by the Deputy Premier and Minister of Advanced Education and Technology, October 6, 2010

ACAD’s Mission

ACAD is a leading centre for education and research, and a catalyst for creative inquiry and cultural development.

We engage the world and create possibilities.

ACAD’s Vision

The Alberta College of Art + Design will be a pre‐eminent catalyst institution for cultural development locally,

provincially, nationally and internationally. We will manifest unconditional excellence in our programs, practices

and policies in a laboratory environment that is committed to unconstrained inquiry and collegiality. As a place of

cultural research, we are all colleagues on a journey of discovery while enhancing our leadership role within the

cultural field. We aspire only to the highest level of excellence in what we endeavor, measured not by our past

accomplishments but by our imaginations and what is humanly possible.


ACAD’s Values

We value the creative process and all that is implied by that.

We are deeply committed to experimentation, free inquiry, research and the evolution of culture.

We demand excellence in our practices, our support for our students, faculty and staff, and our external

communities.

Our support for human and professional development is reflected in our policies, practices and programs.

We value our role in society; we seek innovative paths for participation for the College, our students, alumni,

faculty and staff.

We value the joy and good humour that derives from being a creative institution; we believe in a celebration of

our creative processes.

We value calculated risk‐taking and entrepreneurship.

We are all learners, working together in a transparent environment that is willing to embrace change.

We value diversity in all respects, including philosophical, cultural lifestyle, as well as definitions that are more

conventional.


4. CIP PLAN DEVELOPMENT

ACAD has engaged a consultative process with numerous internal and external stakeholders to heighten

awareness of the need to improve learner pathways and access to high education, to maintain and enhance

excellence in research and innovation, and to find ways to integrate ACAD into pan‐Alberta, national and

international advanced learning systems. These are the shared concerns of stakeholders that inform the CIP.

Internal discussions have taken place over the past two years to establish a holistic approach to informing

issues of maintaining and enhancing access and quality. Scheduled meetings of Academic Executive, All

Faculty Meetings, Academic Council, Administrative Cabinet and Town Hall meetings inform ACAD’s goals,

priority initiatives, and expected outcomes. Regular consultations call on diverse stakeholders within the

College to reflect on issues of research capacity, sustainability, community, and notions of competitiveness. This

process of reflection and concern is a daily constant at ACAD and is notably led by the President + CEO, the

Office of the Acting Vice President for Research and Academic Affairs, the Office of the Dean of

Undergraduate Studies, the Office for Human Resources (leading a weekly Management Committee Meeting)

and special topic Task Forces along with Advisory Committees consisting of faculty members, management

staff and by request, external participants. In summary, this approach is articulated around three distinct but

inter‐related poles: ACAD as an educational leader, ACAD as an academic leader, and ACAD as a community

builder.

ACAD is deeply connected to the external community, and the College’s relationship with its external stakeholders

is a key source of strength for the institution in moving forward with the implementation and development of

new programs and initiatives. Relationships with external groups in business, the arts, professional organizations

and foundations, and government (local and provincial), as well as alumni and individual members of the

Calgary community are at the heart of Advancement’s activities and contribute to the College mission – to

engage the world and create possibilities. External consultations, in close association with internal deliberations,

are essential to informing ACAD’s decisions on program changes, improvements to learner pathways and

identifying the necessary means to enable such changes including an examination of internal efficiencies and the

overall effectiveness of ACAD’s program mix.

As recognized by the Roles and Mandates Policy Framework, ACAD is a unique cultural institution within

Alberta focusing exclusively on the visual arts and design, and educating students with strong visual learning

propensities through a studio‐based learning environment. As one of four such institutions in Canada, and

only 39 in North America, the College serves Alberta and beyond. ACAD strives to have a high profile through

discussions and consultations with its peer institutions at a national and international level.

Consequently, dialogues and discussions happen:

• nationally through the Association of Colleges and Institutes of Art and Design (ACIAD), composed of the

four Canadian schools devoted to studio‐based learning and the Banff Centre; and

• internationally through the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD),

composed of the four Canadian ACIAD schools and their 36 counterparts in the US, and through the


National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD), the United States national accrediting

body for 271 programs of art and design.

Within Alberta as well as Canada, the College personnel are engaged in administrative and professional

associations that are directly related to their operational responsibilities. This is especially true of ACAD’s

membership in the Alberta Association of Colleges and Technical Institutes (AACTI) and the Alberta Rural

Development Network (ARDN). ACAD administration is currently in discussions through AACTI regarding applied

research funding as well as considerations for shared resources in support of research. For example, a common

Research Ethics Board has been established to allow all AACTI member institutions to more effectively utilize their

limited resources. In the interim, AACTI institutions that have Ethics Boards are providing this function to

those that do not yet have them. Red Deer College acted in this capacity for ACAD in the past two years. In the

year ahead, however, an ACAD Task Force on Research Ethics has established the framework for its own Ethics

Board. Discussions currently underway are exploring potential collaborative initiatives to improve teaching and

learning across the association’s membership. Specifically both the University of Calgary and SAIT have been

helpful as ACAD investigates the optimum Learning Management System to support the increased digital delivery

of the ACAD curriculum. Along these same lines, five of the AACI institutions are exploring the potential

advantages of a centralized administrative system.

As a centre of excellence, ACAD is cognizant of the responsibility to engage in direct dialogue with other colleges

in the province to enhance programming and collaborative initiatives, including the establishment of improved

articulation agreements through the Alberta Council on Admissions and Transfer and individual institutions. New

block articulation agreements are under discussion with Grande Prairie Regional College to ensure diploma

graduates from that institution are able to seamlessly access ACAD degree programs through established block

transfer agreements.

Collaborations under discussion are currently being held with Lakeland College, as well as with other institutions

such as Red Deer College which explore ways to further engage Aboriginal learners and Albertans, with their

strong oral and visual traditions, in studio‐based learning environments.

Developing an internal strategic planning process and instituting structural realignments to increase its operations

and effectiveness have received focused attention at ACAD. With these initiatives now implemented, the College

is moving more expeditiously in exploring collaborative opportunities with the Banff Centre and other Alberta and

national level PSE institutions. While there are strong interconnections already in place between the Banff Centre

and many of ACAD’s faculty, increasing the institutional dialogue over the coming years is a priority. Discussions

with the Glenbow Museum and Visual Arts Alberta will enhance opportunities for collaboration and broaden

access to shared resources and programming facilitated by a proposed agreement to extend free admission to

ACAD students. Sharing lecture and workshop opportunities with visiting artists and designers is for the two

cultural institutions a primary focus of the ongoing discussions.

Developing an internal strategic planning process and eliciting a more effective and cost efficient academic

administrative structure has received focused attention over the past eighteen months. Dr. Doz contributes the

following context for the administrative restructuring process. “Universities and Colleges undertake academic

restructuring exercises from time to time. This happens when substantial academic program expansion is

envisioned, when the impact of a financial context requires a new operating model, or when an academic plan


explores new modes of delivery and support to the academic enterprise. There are few rigorous templates to

follow, and none that can be found which analyzes and evaluates the outcomes.

As the Alberta College of Art + Design matures (with the introduction of proposed graduate programs), it has

become apparent that the current model of academic operation is not providing the institution with the efficiency

or the flexibility that academic growth will require. The re‐structuring proposal will ensure the College remains a

sustainable environment that can continue to strategically move forward. In addition, the current model does not

provide appropriate succession planning as well as growth capacity.

The last ten years at ACAD have seen various models and structures being implemented, all with a variety of

successes and failures. The purpose of this position paper is not to explore the reasons of these successes or

failures, which can be attributed to a variety of causes (i.e., people/personalities, resources, processes or lack

thereof…), but rather to focus on proposing as a starting point a simple, efficient and flexible structure that will

facilitate ACAD’s development of an academic strategy. Through consultations and discussions with a variety of

constituencies, as discussed elsewhere in the CIP, the mandate for change became quickly apparent and the

position paper referenced in Appendix 2 is a direct response to what was felt has being critical for a healthy

evolution of the College.”

Given the currency and relevancy of this strategic planning process to the development of ACAD’s 2010

Institutional Access Plan, the College relied heavily on the related goals and objectives from both the College

Planning Process and the widely consultative NASAD Self‐Study to inform the initiative. In 2011 the planning

process continued with the launch of College‐wide consultations to develop ACAD’s first academic strategic plan

(referenced in Appendix 3), as well as a change in administration to enhance leadership across the areas of

Academic Affairs and Student Experience. All relevant stakeholders continue to be in involved in the dialogue

regarding the projections and initiatives near completion in May, 2012.

From 2012 to 2015, ACAD will continue to ensure the integration of the College’s Planning Process into the CIP,

monitoring and reviewing the strategies, projected goals and their measures and outcomes, as well as

ensuring that the document reflects the evolving realities affecting of the province and the country. ACAD is

committed to access as a primary focus for the institution and to this end developing a full Enrolment

Management Plan for ACAD is key. The CIP will directly inform the further development of this plan.


Research Advisory Committee

ACAD is committed to fostering opportunities for research in the visual arts, design, and associated areas of

scholarship. Research forms a fundamental aspect of creative inquiry at ACAD and is essential for an informed and

current pedagogy. Recognizing the extensive and productive history of research activities at ACAD, a Research

Advisory Committee was established in late 2007 with terms of reference to identify and further define specific

areas of research.

The attached document (See Appendix 1) recognizes faculty research challenges and goals for 2012‐15 in the form

of a Strategic Research Plan to guide support for undergraduate and prospective graduate programs.

The Committee’s regular meetings culminated in a series of recommendations to inform ACAD’s IRP document

subsumed in the 2012‐15 CIP. The Research Advisory Committee, convened to develop procedures and support

mechanisms to foster a research culture at ACAD, continues its efforts cognizant of the directives of several

documents including ACAD’s CIP, ACAD’s Academic Strategic Plan, the Alberta Research Plan (ARP) and Campus

Alberta 2010 – Summary of Research Priorities.

The Strategic Research Plan for 2012‐15 provides a roadmap for identifying present areas of strength and future

areas of priority for research activities at the ACAD and addresses the latest research directives/priorities outlined

by AE&T. Most importantly, the Plan outlines the broadening areas of priority for research as outlined by faculty,

suggests how these priorities might be realized, and outlines levels of external consultation. ACAD’s areas of

priority for research may be approached via artistic research/creation, applied research, and transformative

research, or any combination of approaches. Three areas of priority, in no specific order, are:

• Visual Culture

Studio‐based practice and pedagogy at ACAD are informed through historical, material and theoretical

methodologies and approaches. The College supports inquiry into the theoretical and historical foundations of

visual practice, and the exploration of the reciprocal nature of the exchange between the humanities, social

sciences and visual culture.

• Research/Creation & Pedagogy

ACAD is an institution in which advanced education and research occur in a practice‐led context, supported by

related critical and theoretical studies. ACAD values research that is connected to practice‐led approaches, and

recognizes the exploration of material objects and related pedagogy as central foci for research. Creative and

critical explorations of the material object will strengthen the College’s ability to implement innovative graduate

programming in visual arts and design, and to further develop and enhance current undergraduate programming.

Research/Creation and pedagogy are supported through excellence in established studio facilities and focused

support in both library and technical facilities.

• New Media, Design Methodologies, and Dependent and Emergent Fields

New media and design thinking are rapidly changing contemporary society. The emerging discourse within these

areas is evolving at a significant pace, affecting at a fundamental level our levels of knowledge, literacy,

community and our conceptions of the self in relation to the external world. These areas are sustained by a high


degree of collaboration and inter‐disciplinary, are supported by the wide range of course‐offerings at the College,

and offers broad applications to the external community.

Community Links

ACAD continues to make an important contribution to the community of which it is a part. Throughout the year,

ACAD engages external community members through sponsorships, awards of distinction and participation in

community events. Some specific examples include:

• Calgary Economic Development Action Partnership: ACAD and Calgary Economic Development (CED)

have been partnering on various projects since 2005. Specifically, ACAD has supported CED’s initiatives to

position Calgary as a world hub for high profile, competitive and essential business partnerships and

opportunities

• ACAD Board of Governor’s Alumni Award of Excellence: This award recognizes the outstanding

contributions of an ACAD alumnus to the institution and the wider artist community and is awarded

annually to a deserving member of the ACAD alumni community at the convocation ceremonies of the

College.

• The Illingworth Kerr Gallery’s involvement in the community makes it a vital part of the ongoing

consultative process. The gallery has initiated and directed numerous community outreach programs

and student intern initiatives with a variety of organizations. Programming for cultural change has

been sustained and further developed with the Sled Island Music and Arts Festival (student

internships and programming), Calgary Drop‐In & Rehab Centre (Richard Boulet workshops), One

Yellow Rabbit Theatre Group, Nuit Blanche Calgary (in development for a 2012 launch), Calgary

Stampede Foundation (Pavilion Contemporary Art Auction in support of rural youth), Banff Centre for

the Arts (Thomas Demand residency), Glenbow Museum (Terrance Houle, Matt Masters and

others), Mount Royal University (the Candahar workshop, the annual IKG Reel Artists Film Festival and

other projects), University of Calgary (PopSex! conference and exhibition), and the Art Gallery of

Alberta (Sheila Spence and Attila Richard Lukacs exhibition/catalogue).

• The ACAD Students' Association (ACADSA) regularly contributes to the broader community through self‐

directed activities such as fundraising and volunteering for organizations including the Alberta Children’s

Hospital, the Calgary Drop‐In & Rehab Centre and the Calgary Food Bank.


Human Resources

Commitment to service deliveries predicated on a renewed Academic Plan aligned to ACAD’s mandate, mission,

vision, values and goals will continue to be the driver for excellence in terms of outcomes vis‐à‐vis people. The

work started five years ago continues to regenerate and refocus college‐wide HR efforts and initiatives. The recent

impetus over the last two years has accelerated the need to refocus the Academic Plan which as it nears

completion will inform the future continuing direction of the HR Strategic and Business plans. Planning initiatives

underway for the Academic Plan continue our recent history of cross‐ functional representation in terms of

membership and the focus on bottom‐up planning continues to provide planning and consultation efforts of an

unprecedented opportunity within the College.

HR at ACAD faces challenges not unlike many public institutions, particularly post‐secondary institutions across

Canada. ACAD is facing several transition years due in large part to demographic realities. Many faculty and staff

are able to make retirement decisions; will they continue in the workforce or will they retire. Economic conditions

while improving rapidly in Alberta have recently impacted individual decisions considering retirement. Many

individuals have delayed retirement because of economic realities. Recent and expected future chronic shortfalls

in operating grants necessitate careful strategic focus in terms of workforce planning and analysis of human

resource needs. Again the Academic Plan will necessitate a more rigorous and robust workforce planning process.

Today’s needs will no doubt be eclipsed by the need to change and transition ACAD to the vibrant, contributing

institution Alberta requires in terms of preparing students to create, develop and produce more and more

leveraging their educational attainment into the necessary cultural prosperity required for a vibrant, growing

province.

Currently HR at ACAD is preparing a flexible and adaptable comprehensive HR Business Plan to support the needs

of the Academic Plan. This will include careful review of the entire suite of HR functions with recommendations to

increase effectiveness and efficiencies. Careful attention is being considered in terms of workforce planning

needs/assessments, recruitment, retention, on‐boarding opportunities, and growth and development of strategic

and relevant negotiating requirements to meet future needs. How to maximize human resource contributions

from the departmental point of view as a value‐add proposition while maximizing the institution’s use of human

resources overall will be critical. Increase in effectiveness and efficiencies are key criteria for any

changes/outcomes as is the need to fully support ACAD as an institution as these changes become reality.

Budgetary restraints remain a reality and chronic budget shortfalls will present continuing challenges as we strive

to meet planned goals and outcomes. The post‐secondary operating grants are stagnant, more resources must be

deployed to developing a funding model that is sustainable and apart from traditional grant funding. As Alberta

and Calgary’s economy heats up several occupational groups within ACAD will be moving sectors. Job activity is

picking up and ACAD must remain competitive in those areas needed for growth and sustainability. As expected

we are seeing more attrition within the management group, particularly in the generic fields of accounting,

computing services and human resources. Private sector recruitment is accelerating at a much faster rate than

was anticipated and our competitive positioning for all employee groups appears jeopardized. Furthermore, as

the pool of qualified applicants becomes a global enterprise we continue to experience a very competitive

market.


The College still faces the reality of a permanent faculty base that is demographically ready to exercise

retirement options and the competitive positioning of ACAD is crucial as we move to enhance that base with

the right people that will support the next evolution of the institution.

How to continue to provide a continuing high level of output in terms of graduates who can adapt, respond

vigorously to provincial priorities and become the face of resulting changes will remain challenging given

the limited revenue base and the shrinking operating grant base. The cost of labour settlements will continue

to rise and must do so in order to enable us to compete for the best people in a sophisticated market. ACAD

cannot afford to lose competitive advantage, rather it must grow that advantage at a time of restrained growth in

grants. The potential for tougher labour negotiations and more provincially focused demands is becoming

increasingly apparent.

It is anticipated that employee engagement will be a major focus for the College. With the reality of lower funding

levels the real risk is now how these funding levels will impact the College’s ability to attract and retain employees

across the College. In times of economic uncertainty there is a benefit to publicly‐ funded institutions with regard

to recruitment. However, while personal security issues are important to employees, changing demographics

also leads us to be cautious in accepting that personal security issues are paramount for high‐performing

employees. Pressures to improve compensation levels are increasingly important at a time of reduced funding

levels.

ACAD and the Alberta Union of Public Employees (AUPE Local 071/006) successfully completed one of the sector’s

only three (3) year current agreement this past year. ACAD has the advantage of moving forward with an

agreement taking us to June 30, 2014. ACAD is currently negotiating a wage‐reopener with the Alberta College of

Art + Design Faculty Association for a one (1) year term from July 1, 2012 – June 30, 2013.

Given the funding climate within post‐secondary institutions negotiations are expected to continue to be

interesting if not challenging. The importance of reasonable settlements remains of significant importance for the

fiscal health of the College however the significance of maintaining compensation competitiveness in a rapidly

improving larger market context continues to provide an interesting framework for labour negotiations.

Another challenge arising from labour negotiations revolves around current policy grievances that are impacting

all provincially funded jurisdictions and is at heart a challenge to the long‐established practices of designating

employees in/out of AUPE through reference to the Public Service Employee Relations Act. ACAD along with

several other post‐secondary institutions has had to bear significant costs while dealing with the initial challenge.

That remains an active and costly venture and will continue to be such for the next while.


5. ENVIRONMENTAL SCAN

Cultural prosperity is a real and measurably positive outcome to Alberta’s economy. ACAD is important to Alberta

as an educational institution committed to a high standard of excellence in preparing students to participate in

that powerhouse economy. ACAD’s continued success is essential not only because cultural prosperity and

community well‐being are significant foundations to Alberta’s economic plans for well‐ being but also because

cultural prosperity is diverse and inclusive of all economic sectors. Our graduates will influence oil and gas, health

and education as well as government and cultural sectors. Our graduates are prepared for the discipline and focus

it will take for Alberta to continue to lead the nation in growth driving creative solutions to the many diverse

issues confronting Alberta today.

The scope of the economic impact that art, design and culture have on a progressive society is more and more

evident. Society readily accepts that new approaches, new players and new thinking dominate policy needs and

these are now drivers to creatively address old problems. This creative approach permeates our provincial and

ministry business plans and is set out as critical provincial priorities. Our graduates at all levels will continue to

lead on the path to new solutions.

For the purpose of a SWOT analysis, current trends that pose both threats and opportunities that may

influence ACAD’s access goals and strategies include the following:

• Traditional trends during times of economic downturn have shown a renewed interest in transition from

the heightened competition in the labor force for fewer jobs into the post‐ secondary educational

system to enhance one’s personal competitive advantage in the workplace, or to re‐train for

opportunities in new fields.

• The environment for fundraising during this downturn is seen as a period of cultivation rather than asking

and leads to the assumption of a reduction in revenues brought in to the college through non‐government

sources.

• The Alberta Access Planning Framework (AAPF) stated that in 2006, 57.2% of Alberta’s immigrants moved

to Calgary.

• Net migration will most likely continue, given the comparatively strong growth trends for Alberta into the

future. Current Calgary Region data shows that in the 2008‐9 academic year 72% of ACAD’s

enrolment (707 of 985 FLE) came from the Calgary Region (the average number of applicants to all

Calgary Region post‐secondary institutions, excluding trades, from the Calgary Region is 63.1%).

When including the Calgary, Central and Edmonton Regions, the combined total of applicants to ACAD

climbs to 80%.

• The AAPF projects the majority of immigrants to Alberta to be highly educated, and thus it can be

assumed that a vibrant cultural environment will be increasingly important for this demographic.

Considering educational levels of parents generally correlate with strong post‐secondary enrolments of

their children, it can be assumed there will be a strong demand for post‐secondary education from

those in the Calgary Region in particular.


• The AAPF projects a steady rise in the 18 to 34 year old population, a key demographic for the College,

with significant disparities in their distribution provincially. Forecasts indicate that the Calgary Region is

expected to experience a 7.7 % increase in this demographic by 2017, translating to the largest population

increase in the province with over 25,000 individuals. The combined Calgary, Central and Edmonton

Regions are forecast to account for 85% of this demographic group’s increase (currently 74% of ACAD’s

enrolments). The recent economic downturn may affect these forecasts and future projections will

be watched and carefully considered in the planning process.

• Greater attention must be paid to niche learner demands to improve access and quality. Several

demographics are being targeted in the CIP including Aboriginal youth and adults, prospective applicants

with disabilities, part‐time learners and distance learners in rural areas.

• The Statistics Canada projection of a significant contraction in post‐secondary enrolment in other regions

of Canada commencing in 2011 coupled with Alberta’s forecasted growth, leads to the anticipation of an

increased presence and competition of other post‐secondary recruitment efforts in the Calgary, Central

and Edmonton regions.

• The AAPF forecasts significant shortages in capacity for post‐secondary enrolments in the Calgary Region

by 2017‐18, experiencing the highest FLE increases beyond the combined existing capacity and approved

expansion plans for all regions in the province.

• AAPF states that analysis demonstrates a significant proportion of management positions are filled by

graduates of the Languages, Social Sciences, Arts & Humanities Program Bands.

These trends and analyses are seen as positive in terms of the attractiveness of the programmatic offerings

in Extended Studies, the undergraduate degree programs, and the projected MFA program to those seeking a

new direction or seeking to enhance their previous art and design education. A reasonable prediction is for

continued increases in the number of applications for the degree and non‐credit programs offered by ACAD. This

increased interest is seen as an offset to the projected decrease of provincial and non‐government funding during

the short term.


6. GOALS, PRIORITY INITIATIVES, EXPECTED OUTCOMES AND PERFORMANCE MEASURES

The Roles and Mandates Policy Framework classes ACAD as a specialized arts and culture institution, recognized

for its uniqueness and a client base that extends throughout the province and beyond

As a centre of excellence devoted exclusively to education, practice, and research in the visual arts, design, and

emergent fields, ACAD is an institution of higher educational focused on:

• educating artists and designers to bring creativity and lateral thinking skills to professional careers; and

• developing initiatives and strategies that enrich and strengthen the cultural and economic life of the

province

In keeping with the policy environment established by the GOA and AET, the College is committed to exploring

creativity as a catalyst not only for fresh and innovative thinking but also for the increased health and well‐being

of the community – as such cultural prosperity is a key factor in supporting the quality of life of all Albertans.

Through its involvement with a diversity of learners and thinkers in the degree programs and in the non‐credit

offerings through Extended Studies, as well as the College’s broader engagement with the larger community

through programming in the IKG and Institute for the Creative Process, ACAD is committed to enhancing the

quality of life and economic well‐being in Alberta. By contributing to a vibrant and challenging cultural

environment that is recognized nationally, ACAD enhances Calgary’s ability to attract and retain highly skilled

people from all walks of life to the province.

As an educational institution, ACAD provides increased access for Albertans to maximize their creative potential.

The College’s focus on studio‐based learning provides an opportunity for learners to develop critical thinking

skills in an environment in which they are challenged to expand their perspectives as they engage in the

multiplicity of available, innovative solutions. In support of these academic goals and government policies,

ACAD is strategically moving forward in the following directions:

• Enrolment Management and Access: developing recruitment initiatives and articulation agreements that

will enhance access and facilitate effective and seamless transitions into post‐secondary education for

diverse groups of learners

• increasing the retention rates of current students

• maintaining enrolments that maximize student success during the projected decline of college‐age youth

cohorts through strategic recruitment and retention activities

• enhancing the scope of programmatic offerings and their delivery to maximize resources and increasing

student interest and decreasing attrition

• expanding opportunities for rigorous inquiry through additional research initiatives using one‐time

monies

• enhancing support for initiatives that encourage innovative thinking in career decisions and pathways

through establishing a Career Center


As an educational and cultural institution, the ACAD administration and faculty strongly believe that quality of life

issues are crucial to the long‐term prosperity of Alberta, and that a strong and intellectually engaging culture is a

necessary component in developing, attracting, and retaining skilled and innovative individuals and their

families. ACAD provides a range of opportunities for all members of the greater Calgary region to participate

directly in exploring their creative potential. Further, the engagement of faculty as professional artists and cultural

workers continues to be a critical component of the growing sophistication of the craft and visual arts scenes and

the design industries in the province. Faculty members contribute to the cultural life of Alberta through active

professional careers in the art and design fields and through research, scholarship, and inquiry. In addition, the

involvement with the broader community has been significantly expanded through IKG.

The opportunity for all Albertans to actively engage in discourses surrounding the integration of the creative

process into the economic and social issues facing the province is essential to the long‐term well‐ being of the

province. Through notable events such as the biannual Stirring Culture and Smart Night, ACAD has impacted

both the quality of life and the economic well‐being of the city and increased the national and international

profile of the College. Engagement in cultural dialogue with the most significant trends in visual culture has

reached beyond the city to the province and the nation.


6A. ENROLMENT MANAGEMENT

Access Goal A‐1A

Increase the enrolment of Aboriginal students and establish support structures for student retention and

successful advancement.

Priority Initiatives:

ACAD is in discussions with Lakeland College and the Onion Lake Band to explore the potential for a

graduated program that would allow First Nations students to enroll in a program of study beginning on

the reserve, and transition through Lakeland classes and into degree programming at ACAD. This program

would involve faculty from both Lakeland and ACAD engaging with students where they live, and

gradually building to the students traveling to a full session in Calgary.

Access Goal A‐1B:

Increase the presence and number of Aboriginal faculty and establish programming support for guest Aboriginal

creatives.


As a response to the long overdue need for diversity inclusion of Aboriginal voices in both the faculty

hire process and programming areas, ACAD will conduct a public search to attract, hire and retain an

Aboriginal scholar in a permanent faculty position and host at least one visiting Aboriginal scholar in the

IKG, beginning in 2012‐13. The ACAD Aboriginal Summit on Creative and Ethical Pedagogy further clarified

the critical demand to include Aboriginal cultural history and strategies in artmaking and design. The

permanent faculty hire and visiting scholar(s) will impact directly on existing undergraduate programs,

workshops, faculty research capacity and, with increasing anticipation, a proposed Master’s Degree in

Craft Media.

The Visiting Artist and Designer Initiative, a research‐oriented internal fund at ACAD, will continue to give

priority to guest Aboriginal creatives. As in 2011, opportunities will be established for Aboriginal creatives

to engage audiences in a wide range of presentations including lectures, workshops, 1:1

consultations/critique sessions with students/faculty/management/support staff, film programs,

production residencies and so forth. A major exhibition co‐curated by visiting Aboriginal scholars Steve

Loft (Ryerson University), Michaelle LaVallee (University of Regina) and Wayne Baerwaldt (IKG) will

explore traditional and contemporary aesthetics in Aboriginal expressive arts as shaped by history, issues

of context and the making of fiction and non‐fiction.


Access Goal A‐2:

Increase student retention to place ACAD within the median levels for retention of art and design colleges of

similar size (3rd quartile of member institutions in the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design).

Priority Initiative:

Participation in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) in 2010‐11 has led to a commitment to

ongoing annual participation in this instrument. The 2010‐11 survey provided ACAD with a consortium of

art and design schools to benchmark the college against, and future participation will provide a

chronological gauging of ACAD’s progress.

Initiatives undertaken based on last year’s results include:

1. Strategic planning to address an identified decline from the feeling of strong advising support in

First Year to lower than anticipated responses in the graduating year. The Student Academic

Advisor is currently working with the Vice President Student Experience + Admissions to establish

and implement an advising plan that effectively coordinates the mentoring and consulting roles of

the academic staff and the Student Academic Advisor.

2. ACAD’s First Year Studies (FYS) program placed lower than anticipated in students’ perceptions in

a number of areas. As a consequence, the Head of FYS is working with the Dean of Undergraduate

Studies to improve the First Year Student experience at ACAD. Specific issues were highlighted,

such as: students are not academically challenged; lack of student orientation toward learning;

student perceptions of instructors and levels of instruction; how to encourage students in their

studies and improve student retention rates; and teachers are in need of PD‐teaching workshops.


Possible solutions to be investigated in 2012‐13 include:

Placing more emphasis on faculty‐student mentorship and activities related to

mentorship, such as:

a. Diversity workshops would be more effective if integrated into curriculum.

b. The recently established ACAD Writing Centre is already making a difference;

c. Student tutors are an important addition;

d. Liberal Studies needs to be involved in underlining the importance of critique,

including stages and approaches to analysis, synthesis, theory and practice, and the

important and complex process of judgment that establishes great art and design. A

critique handbook is required to realize the importance of critical engagement.

The issue of students “not connecting with their peers.…” was discussed and short‐term

resolutions include the following: Establish a permanent Candahar bar/sculpture or similar

meeting space. Use this meeting space to integrate FYS oriented lectures and workshops in the

learning process, 2‐3 days/week; have FY students occupy and informally learn in this space on a

consistent basis with a Candahar event programmer internship established under the curatorial

guidance of the IKG; FYS programming team consultation needed; Root Cellar exhibitions for FYS;


Increase the number of FYS student reps (currently 1, request 3); FYS formal and informal social

events, slide shows, etc., during each semester; Heads need to talk to FYS students about majors

and minors and how to structure their learning programs; Specifics of the program need to be

reviewed to help integrate FY students. Collaborative assignments have already been identified as

helpful (e.g., ceramics and painting collaboration initiated by Katrina Chaytor and 5th floor studio

hallways as shared exhibition space for anatomy and drawing). Inclusion of FY students in these

initiatives remains elusive.

Action Items

Important first steps for the fall 2012 semester: Internal survey of 1st and 4th year students with

the understanding that the value of 1st year is only recognized in the 4th year of studies. This

survey could be department specific but 3‐4 specific questions could be targeted at FYS; more

time is required to reorient FYS program instructors; FYS to be designated as ‘specialty teaching’.

Organize teaching‐learning workshops for instructors.

ACAD is implementing a Career Centre in September 2012 in a designated space close to the academic

advising area. The search for a Career Advisor is currently underway, and is expected to conclude by June

2012. The new Career Advisor will be charged with working with the Director of Recruitment and

Retention to refine and revise the current strategic career advising plan to ensure a vibrant and relevant

experience that will resonate with the full range of student goals at ACAD. This plan will engage students

for two years following graduation and serve to cement networking relationships between ACAD

graduates and students in their upper years.

Admissions will continue to increase the number and quality of applications to ACAD, ensuring the largest

pool of high caliber applicants as possible from which to draw on for the most highly qualified students for

admission. Establish goals for numbers of applicants annually to allow for retention rates as projected in

the Access Goals: Projected FLE to be met. This essential enterprise is being supported by substantial

number of additional of scholarships. The current strategic plan is reviewed and revised annually to

ensure the most effective use of the allocated resources.

Access Goal A‐3

Develop a full Enrolment Management Plan for ACAD.


The Office of the VPRAA will complete an in‐depth assessment of available data to establish the causes

and extent of the disproportionately low success rates in key first‐year Liberal Studies courses that

appear to account for a significant number of all courses failed by students. Based on the findings, the

Liberal Studies faculty will be charged with developing a plan that will identify the contributing factors

and propose actions to effectively address them (including delivery and support strategies that are

cognizant of the learning styles, as well as any issues of perceived relevancy). It is believed that the

strategies identified will play an important role in the Academic Plan currently underway.


Continue to promote and expand the Pre‐College Program operated through Extended Studies for

learners in their upper years at secondary institutions in order to increase awareness of ACAD and

provide a more seamless transition for learners from K‐12 into post‐secondary learning by providing a

simulation of First Year Studies via the Pre‐College experience. The Pre‐College Program assists students

in preparing for, and applying to, a post‐secondary program by setting clear expectations for their first

year and creating a social net for the participants to help them navigate college with better personal

support.

Access Goal A‐4

Increase the number of articulation agreements with other institutions for students to transfer into second third

year at ACAD.


ACAD continues to work steadily to increase the number of articulation agreements with other

institutions for students to transfer into 2nd or 3rd year at ACAD. In concert with the AAPF, increasing

the number of articulation agreements will “enable individuals to get the most from Campus Alberta”.

An articulation agreement is currently being drafted with Lakeland College to enable a focused alternative

pathway for Aboriginal students to transition to ACAD to complete a degree.

When ACAD is able to deliver graduate education, it is strongly believed that additional articulation

agreements, especially international, will be forthcoming.

Access Goal A‐5

Enhance initiatives to promote ACAD program streams to high school students throughout Alberta.


Expand the venues for Show‐Off, the annual juried exhibition of the best art work produced by Alberta

Grade 11 & 12 students, to include smaller centres within Alberta. This initiative is being developed by the

Director of Recruitment + Retention.

Continue the annual Show Off exhibition to showcase the talent of high school student artists from across

Alberta

Continue to review and refine Strategic Recruitment Plan to respond to data on applications and yields

from the previous year


Access Goal A‐6

Integrate orientation sessions for all new students into First Year Studies to maximize retention.


Barriers to increased student retention often aren’t academic but rather hinge on the successful

integration of a holistic view of the student as learner. In the past there has been debate with

stakeholders about the mandatory need for students to attend orientation sessions prior to the start of

classes. However from 2012 going forward, a decision was made to now include orientation as part of the

First Year Studies Program for all new students.

Access Goal A‐7

Develop College facilities to better accommodate students with disabilities and in the process improve the

chances of recruitment and retention of disabled students


ACAD has received capital funding to provide some renovations to its current physical plant and will

continue to modify and renovate the College’s current interior and exterior facilities to accommodate

disabled students.


6B. RESEARCH

Research Goal B‐1

Academic programs will re‐evaluate all pre‐requisite requirements in the upper years to enable ease of access for

direct entry students and increased opportunities for learners seeking non‐traditional pathways to attaining a

degree.


Achieve goals as outlined for growth of transfer students as projected in Access Goals: Projected FLE

chart.

Continue to re‐evaluate the prerequisite requirements in each of the degree programs in the upper years

for ease of access to the programs for direct entry students and increased opportunities for learners

seeking non‐traditional pathways to attaining a degree have been completed for all but the MADT

program and approved by the Academic Council, as stated above. The MADT Program Review process

will address this issue. The review has begun and will conclude in this academic year.

Research Goal B‐2

Further promote and expand the Pre‐College Program for learners in their upper years at secondary institutions,

increasing awareness of ACAD and providing a more seamless transition for learners for K‐12.


Achieve enrolment goals annually as projected in Access Goals: Projected FLE chart.

Promotion of the Pre‐College program has increased this year by providing the Admissions recruiters

with full information on the program to disseminate in their recruitment travels. YouTube postings have

expanded the advertising for the program to include social media.

Research Goal B‐3

As a centre of excellence and support our growth in the graduate programs, continue to expand faculty and

student capacity for rigorous inquiry while continuing to engage the external community in dialogues that

enhance the province’s cultural environment and ACAD’s stature actively developing capacity for a knowledge‐

based economy in Alberta.


As ACAD expands its role in pushing the boundaries of artistic and design expressions, it will be critical

for the institution to continue to elevate and promote the levels of critical discourse and engagement.

The research initiatives below stimulate and impacts on graduate research programming in the visual

arts, design, and emergent fields to address a key challenge as stated in the AAPF that is, to add to the


“pool of skilled researchers and knowledge‐makers” in Alberta to generate “success in the next

generation economy “. (AAPF)

ACAD’s Aboriginal Summit on Creative and Ethical Pedagogy, an informal meeting with Aboriginal

scholars/creatives and selected ACAD contacts included David Garneau (UofRegina), Steve Loft (Ryerson

University), Mary Longman (U of Saskatchewan), Marie Burke (U of C/AFA, filmmaker), Tanya Harnett (U

of Lethbridge), Lori Villibrun (SAIT Chinook Lodge), Reginald and Orneal Rollinmud (Chiniki First

Nation/Morley), Brittney & Richelle Bear Hat (ACAD student) and others. Welcome by Dr. Daniel Doz.

ACAD faculty was represented by Wayne Baerwaldt, Mitch Kern, Marc Scholes, Judy Sterner and Chris

Frey.

This summit provided ACAD the opportunity to listen and to embrace a range of ideas on creative and

ethical pedagogy as presented by our invited guests, with some assurances that their ideas and

recommendations will move ACAD faculty and the administration to action. Guests were asked to:

describe their personal experiences in higher education; introduce new approaches to a studio‐based

creative and ethical pedagogy; and suggest better ways to delivery it within post‐secondary education

programs. The shared process and content of the April 9th day‐long discussion has guided ACAD to

understand new approaches to pedagogy that meet the needs of Aboriginal students and faculty across

the province and nation‐wide.

The summit reflected on the demand for diversity and inclusion in both the faculty hiring process and

research programming areas. The summit informed ACAD initiatives to improve its methods for student

attraction and retention. Information gathered at the summit will allow ACAD to renew its commitment

to the informed recruiting of students from rural Alberta.

The next Aboriginal Summit on Creative and Ethical Pedagogy will be a co‐production between ACAD and

Ryerson University held in Toronto in October, 2012.

The Creative Common initiative (See Appendix 1) brings together dynamic and creative individuals to

discuss/debate issues informing perspectives on art & design practices. The Common is designed to

extend opportunities for dialogue with faculty, students, the general interested public ‐ to provoke new

understandings of the intersections of theory and practice, and to inform the processes of critique ‐ in

settings that support personal reflection and engagement.

The Creative Common Committee includes Wayne Baerwaldt, Paula Dozois, Barr Gilmore, Darlene Lee,

Jeff Lennard Kurtis Lesick, Diana Sherlock, Theo Sims, Tatiana Mellema, Nancy Tousley.

An Organizational Review was completed for Campus Alberta Quality Council and the institution has been

approved to proceed with its first Program Review for ACAD’s proposed a Masters in Craft Media

Further develop a formal partnership with the annual and highly successful Sled Island Music Festival to

accommodate student research in applied arts, by September, 2012.

Continue to mount at least one public lecture per year through each of the College’s lecture series

supported by the President’s Scholar‐in‐Residence, Ellen and Daryl Fridhandler Lecture on Non‐Western

Visual Art Practice, Martens Print and Drawing Media Visiting Artist Program, and the REEL Artists Film

Festival. At least ten public lectures will be programmed through visiting artists and designers program in

each academic program.


Continue to sustain and expand internally funded research initiatives in the 2012‐15 academic years,

including:

o The establishment of an Aboriginal Research Chair in the Expressive Arts in the IKG;

o Visiting Artist and Designer Initiative;

o Faculty Graduate Studies Tuition Initiative;

o Scholarly Research and Creativity Initiative;

o Research Contingency Initiative;

o Student Travel Initiative;

o Critique Initiative (Curator in Residence & Critic in Residence)

New research initiatives to be funded internally and developed in 2012 include:

o Guidelines and application forms for the ACAD Visiting Academic Program;

o Guidelines and application forms for the ACAD Faculty Exchange Program;

o Continued support for the ‘Start‐Up’ Fund for new permanent faculty hires to promote a

developing research culture at ACAD. $5,000 will be made available to offset specified research

expenses within the mandatory three‐year probation period. Guidelines and application forms

remain unchanged.

Current projects directed at expanding student and faculty research capacity include the following project

outline provided by ACAD faculty members Kevin Kurytnik and Carol Beecher:

True North (see Appendix 1) is a 10‐minute animated film, written, directed and animated by Kevin D.A.

Kurytnik and Carol Beecher for the National Film Board of Canada. Set during the height of the fur trade,

True North concerns the suffering of a man who commits a terrible crime against nature and tells the tale

of his fall from grace and eventual redemption from madness to understanding, creating a mythic horror

story that touches on our stewardship of, and our relationship with, the environment. True North is

currently in the storyboard stage of development, having completed an extensive period of research.

Production begins in the winter of 2012, with completion targeted for 2015.

Research Goal B‐4

Position the College to excel as a centre of excellence in studio‐based learning, recognized nationally and

internationally.


Develop the project entitled Programming for Aesthetic Experience (PAX). PAX is conducting research

into how artists engage with computer programming to create sensory and experiential interactions for

their audiences. The PAX project is outlined in Appendix 1.

Complete the process of applying for AUCC membership to raise the national and international profile of

the College. Membership will ease learner transitions to graduate education opportunities and assist in

recruiting international students. The application for AUCC membership will be submitted during the fall

semester of 2012.

Academic rank is seen as a component of such a process. To this end, an Academic Rank Committee

completed its review of the College’s commitment to substantive evaluation of faculty. The Committee’s


resolution was passed by Academic Council in March, 2012. Beginning in September, 2012 the College

will move toward establishing a re‐invigorated internal faculty evaluation process consistent with

maintaining and promoting a rigorous system of academic rank.


6C. SUSTAINABILITY

New Media, Design Methodologies, and Dependent and Emergent Fields

New media and design thinking continues to change contemporary society at an exceedingly rapid rate. ACAD

programs, faculty and guest researchers are at the forefront of creative investigations in applied technologies. The

emerging discourse within this area is affecting at a fundamental level our conceptions of knowledge, literacy,

community and our conceptions of the self in relation to the external world. This expansive area of academic

investigation is sustained by a high degree of collaboration across disciplines and is supported by a wide range

of majors at the College, all sharing a base in critical visual engagement and inclusiveness of diversity in the

learner population.

Sustainability Goal C‐1

Expand the capacity for learners to access studio‐based learning within the post‐secondary system through

alternative pathways.


Continue with ArtStream, a collaborative program with Bow Valley College, to increase access and

smooth the transition into the post‐secondary system for students who have strong portfolios but are

in need of academic preparation to be admitted into the degree program at ACAD. Discussions with Bow

Valley are ongoing.


Amend and expand ACAD’s Health and Safety Policy to increase sustainability of the learning and teaching system


Personal responsibility for the health and safety of everyone in the ACAD community is explicit in the

ACAD Health and Safety Program manual. The ACAD Health and Safety Committee continues to lead

institutional discussions on issues centered on the health and safety of all community members.

Recommendations for curriculum changes and recommendations for equipment purchases such as AED

units have moved forward and in the case of the AED units have been purchased and are now in place.

Recommendations from the Committee form an important business activity as they focus health and

safety needs identified through committee members’ influence and diligence for the benefit of the ACAD

community as a whole. ACAD may be unique in by inviting and involving student participation and

representation on the Health and Safety Committee. That participation results in outcomes both focused

and enthusiastic. Currently ACAD is employing the generosity of the Government of Alberta’s Student

Summer Employment Program and hired an ACAD student to assist with a comprehensive needs

assessment for institutional signage and wayfaring in terms of health and safety. We have the advantage

because of the nature of our educational institutional of being able to apply for consideration through our


Visual Communications department – Public Design Course for a considered and professional assessment

of where we can move to better communicate and educate our community members in the future. This

opportunity is internal but illustrates the advantages we enjoy given the nature of the educational

experience our students are involved in on a day‐to‐day basis. It is aligned with health and safety but also

illustrates a real alignment with Alberta’s economic needs in terms of job outcomes vis‐à‐vis professional

practice and standards directly linking students, education, jobs and community well‐being.


Support academic research that builds synergies between health and well‐being challenges and applied arts to

develop solutions and encourage sustainability


As the world deals with the challenges of population growth, depletion of natural resources and

maintaining food supplies, there is an ever‐increasing need for more creative solutions toward a

sustainable future. ACAD, as an institution of creative practices, is committed to the support of research

that fosters a more sustainable future.

Sustainability research projects in development includes:

Susan Turcot

To further understand some of the socio‐economic and environmental issues in the region and to observe

the changing landscape up close, Turcot is producing investigative artwork in and around Fort McMurray

and Fort Chippewa.

Corporate and community support: Coordinating assistance on site is being negotiated with Canadian

Natural Resources Ltd. and Keyano College.

Dissemination: During and following the production of the portraits she will engage with various

communities in Alberta to discuss her research and creative production. In September Turcot will

coordinate a public seminar at ACAD to examine oil sands issues including the ‘visual impact’ of oil sands

developments on a changing landscape.

Recent research projects at ACAD include a study that used art workshops as a data gathering tool for

the creation of a new theory exploring relationships between mental health, career choice and

workplace achievement. Another project utilized first‐person Aboriginal narratives (Good Medicine) to

explore First Nations health. ACAD collaborated with other Alberta post‐secondary institutions to

participate in the design of an eco‐house, built and exhibited as part of an international competition

in Washington, DC. Another faculty member has registered two trademarks with the Canadian Intellectual

Property Office for new wares and services that can result in a reduction of both fossil fuel use and

greenhouse gas. These and other examples deploy strategies for cross‐disciplinary innovation from a

strong critical base in visual culture.



To expand and diversify ACAD’s revenue sources while reinforcing its provincial role as the key (re)source for art

and design education.


This will be achieved through the development of post‐degree certificates. The two currently being

explored in 2012‐15 are a post‐degree in medical illustration and a post‐degree in exhibit design and

management.

Community‐based IKG programming initiatives, such as Nuit Blanche Calgary, Creative Common lecture

series, the REEL Artists Film Festival and the Fridhandler Lecture in Non‐Western Visual Arts will grow with

the support of private sector revenue sources in 2012‐15.


6D. COMMUNITY

Community Goal D‐1

Continue to engage the external community in dialogues that enhance the province’s cultural environment

and promote ACAD’s stature as a centre of excellence, actively contributing to the development of a knowledge‐

based economy in Alberta.


Launch a new version of ArtRageous in November, 2013. ArtRageous brings together leading creatives to

explore the role of culture and design in fashion. The event is a key fundraiser that advances ideas around

cultural advancement, economic development, and the changing economy of innovation and creativity in

the overlapping areas of contemporary art and design.

Continue to involve the Calgary community in monthly conversations with major and emerging cultural

voices through public lectures and workshops developed with the support of the recurring Ellen and

Daryl Fridhandler Lecture on Non‐Western Visual Art Practices, the Martens Print and Drawing Media

Visiting Artist Program, Creative Common (detailed elsewhere in this document) and at least ten public

lectures organized through departmental visiting artists programs. The following programs will evolve an

advanced level of dialogue and introduce new audiences to the ACAD community:

o The continuation of the Visiting Artists and Designers Initiative:

o An ongoing series of public lectures by permanent and guest faculty members beginning

in September, 2012

o Nuit Blanche Calgary will present an annual series of lectures, workshops, 1:1 sessions

with students and faculty and internships beginning in September, 2012. The first series

includes Theo Sims, Eric Moschopedis, Mia Ferguson, Heather Kai Smith, Shawn Dicey,

BGL, Caitlind Brown and others.


Continue to expand opportunities for Albertans to engage with some of the most significant trends in

contemporary visual culture.


Expand the Illingworth Kerr Gallery’s (IKG) increasingly high profile exhibition and publication programs

by June, 2014 to expose the region to some of today’s most significant visual culture. Funds will be

secured to profile IKG exhibitions with the production of catalogues. Exhibitions and student‐assisted new

art production will gain national and international exposure. Provincial, national and international

exhibition and special project partners will be sought. Particular emphasis will be placed on the following:

o Production of five exhibition catalogues per year with regional, national and international

promotion and distribution.

o Continued development of international exhibitions of work from countries surrounding

the Arctic by fall, 2013.


o Tour at least two exhibitions in Alberta, nationally and/or internationally by renowned

artists and designers, further strengthening the reputation of the ACAD for original

research and its dissemination.

o Organize three publicly accessible lectures, one workshop or conference annually by

invited creatives working in close collaboration with ACAD students. The wildly successful

student and faculty meeting space, called the Candahar, will become the platform for this

program.

o Develop a five‐year plan for Nuit Blanche Calgary (NBC), a performance art event for a

late night audience in downtown Calgary. Working with the City of Calgary as principal

institutional partner, five major time‐based performance art events will be presented on

temporary stages between City Hall and Glenbow. Nuit Blanche has come to signify a

sunset‐to‐late night contemporary arts festival.

o Develop NBC’s new revenue sources including Downtown Calgary, Glenbow, the Museum

of Contemporary Art Calgary, Tourism Calgary, West Canadian, TransAlta, the Calgary

Philharmonic Orchestra, Village Brewery, EDCO and others.

o The IKG continues the College commitment to producing innovative and inclusive

audience programming for the ACAD community and the public. The IKG will find new

opportunities to share resources with cultural institutions with like‐minded leadership.

The majority of the exhibitions and publications in the current and upcoming years are

unique collaborations and co‐productions with institutions of local, national and

international stature. For example, a forthcoming IKG co‐production with the Kamloops

Art Gallery offers to explore new approaches to Aboriginal identity. The installation,

Esther Shalev‐Gerz, White‐Out: Between Telling and Listening, includes video projections,

photographs and text to construct a portrait of a middle‐aged Styockholm woman named

Asa Simma. Both Swedish and Sami (the Sami are indigenous peoples of northern

Scandinavia and western Russia), Simma responds to the artist’s questions and recounts

stories of growing up within and between two cultures. The artist herself has bridged

different cultures: born in Lithuania, raised in Isreal, and a resident of Paris, she

frequently challenges forms and politics of representation.

o Renew partnerships with institutions including the University of Calgary, the Banff

Centre for the Arts, the University of Lethbridge, the Art Gallery of Alberta, the Prairie Art

Gallery in Grand Prairie, Centre international d’art contemporain, the Toronto

International Film Festival, the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery at UBC, Vancouver, the

Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, and others. IKG Publications will continue to be

distributed internationally with IDEA books, Amsterdam, RAM Publications, Los Angeles.

The IKG’s and the Embassy of Canada, Den Haque collaborations include Just My

Imagination (Museum London), Annie Pootoogook (Confederation Arts Centre,

Charlottetown), Sarah Anne Johnson (Plug in ICA, Winnipeg), POLAROIDS – Attila Richard

Lukacs (Art Gallery of Alberta) and others.

o To address the impact of ubiquitous moving images and sound in contemporary life, art

and design, the IKG will engage with various local and national institutions to elicit

discussions in the Calgary region and beyond. Proposed partner institutions include the


Banff Centre for the Arts, Canadian Art Foundation, Toronto, The Kitchen, New York, the

Paris Triennial, The Sydney Biennale, MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Glenbow Museum,

Calgary and others.


Enhance opportunities for all members of the Calgary Region to participate directly in exploring their creative

potential.


Expand Extended Studies non‐credit programming to provide increased opportunities for non‐ traditional

learners to participate in rigorous art and design studio‐based learning experiences. Governor General

Award‐winning critic and writer, Nancy Tousley led a highly successful critical writing course in ES in 2011.

Her course will become an annual attraction beginning in July, 2013.

Establish more credit‐free courses to create social environments and build community among the

participants who have the opportunity to become knowledgeable appreciators of the visual arts and

design.

Bonnie Murdoch, Director of Extended Studies has met with the Calgary Board of Education, at their

initiative, to discuss ACAD joining their Open Campus/Open Minds program. The possibilities of this

new initiative continue to be investigated. (Note: Past partnerships with not‐for‐profit organizations,

such as the Mustard Seed and Carewest, have provided art classes for the clients in these

organizations through third party funding.)

Promote via social media the Creative Common program to the general public in Calgary. Creative

Common is an audience participation series that brings together dynamic and creative individuals to

discuss/debate issues informing perspectives on art & design practices. Creative Common is designed to

extend opportunities for dialogue ‐ to provoke new understandings of the intersections of theory and

practice, and to inform the processes of critique – in various settings that support personal reflection and

engagement.


Enhance the efficient and effective use of resources to support faculty research and scholarship.


Establish a Research Ethics Review Board by November 2012.

Establish two small temporary exhibition spaces within the IKG and design‐build a new temporary

exhibition space in the Main Mall for short‐term presentations to enhance both faculty research and

teaching.

Continue to share equipment, funding and expertise in contemporary art and design with community

organizations such as Sled Island Music Festival (directly impacting 25,000+ youthful learners annually),


the forthcoming Nuit Blanche Calgary arts festival, Canadian Art Foundation (presenting the annual REEL

Artists Film Festival to thousands of all‐ages learners), The Doorway (a support group for youth

transitioning from homelessness to mainstream society) and others.


Provide the products that will ensure ACAD students have the necessary research tools and digital information

at their disposal for success in the pursuit of their degree.


As a member of The Alberta Library (TAL) Board, the TAL Licensing Service Committee and the

Resource Selection Committee of LHCADL, the ACAD Library Director will continue to ensure optimal

access to databases which visual art and design students and faculty need and value as they pursue

their research and studies. At least two of the databases that ACAD students and faculty find essential

for their research and studies will remain in the core group of LHCADL databases.

As a member of the Campus Calgary Digital Library (CCDL), the ACAD Library Director will ensure optimal

access to resources that enable research and scholarship in the visual arts for ACAD students and faculty.

This group will identify savings through joint solutions.


Continue to expand the capacity for learners to access studio‐based learning within the post‐secondary system

through alternative pathways.


Continue, through the Extended Studies offerings open to the community, to “identify

programming and service goals and strategies that enhance the social, cultural, and economic well‐

being of Albertans” via non‐credit course offerings open to the community. Increase the individual

courses and groups of classes in a format and time frame that is appealing to a non‐traditional audience.


Continue to use the SAO list‐serve as a means of sharing information, consultation, and collaboration.


As a member of AACTI SAO list‐serve, share and respond to queries of essential interest and

importance to ACAD and to the other higher education institutions in Alberta. Use the information

gained from this source to inform decision‐making and affect action on the ACAD campus.


6E. COMPETITIVENESS

Competitiveness Goal E‐1

To better understand efficiencies and opportunities for innovation, client culture, the building of stronger

internal and external links, and establish more effective forms of communicating Campus Alberta outcomes,

strategies and benchmarks that will re‐position ACAD for long‐term success.


ACAD has committed to an increased recruitment activity level based on strategic goals primarily targeted

to permanent full‐time faculty over the last five years. Strategic by intent in order to grow a vigorous and

robust permanent faculty complement aligned with our goals for the future. ACAD will continue to

systematically raise the expectation for minimum standards of educational preparation for permanent

faculty and will continue to clarify the terms of terminal degree’ status in fine arts and design areas.

(Those standards are well articulated and encompassed within recurring collective agreements between

the Alberta College of Art + Design and the Alberta College of Art + Design Faculty Association and

enforced though consultative processes).

ACAD will commit to adding strength in terms of management capacity, key leadership capacity,

permanent faculty capacity, and a commitment to an annual augmentation of qualified sessional

instructor capacity. Compatible growth within support staff capacity will match the overall efforts.

Challenge: Strategic recruitment efforts have also recognized that ACAD, like many post‐secondary

institutions, remain in transition because 10‐15 faculty and staff will start to exercise their retirement

options in the period 2013‐15. More and more discussions and plans revolve around position review,

succession planning alternatives, recruiting for growth and transition all the while facing budget

constraints, salary pressures and renewed competition in the private sector for qualified staff and

faculty.

Initiate a comprehensive recruitment and hiring procedure review of policies, procedures and guidelines

to ensure currency and efficacy to meet institutional needs. Stakeholder consultation is a key component

of any changes within procedural review and forms an integral part of the review process.


6F. OTHER:

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

Other Goal F‐1

Increase the number of international student applications and admissions. Priority Initiatives:

Increase the number of international student applications by assessing the comparative success of current

geographical recruitment areas against the results each have achieved and making recruitment decisions

more strategically into the future. Record a 5% increase in the number of international students accepted

to ACAD in a degree program over 2012

Currently investigating a program for English as a Second Language for the Creative Industries. This

initiative is exploring potential partnership with Bow Valley College, and is focused particularly on the

Asian student market.


7. FINANCIAL AND BUDGET INFORMATION

7.1 2012‐2015 Operating budget estimates

2014‐2015 Estimate

2013‐2014 Estimate

Board Approved 2012‐2013

Budget

Board Approved 2011‐2012

Budget 2010‐2011

Actual

Revenue:

Operating grants 13,126,375 12,868,995 12,616,662 12,147,042 12,709,581

Tuition and fees 5,925,207 5,835,367 5,720,948 5,414,367 5,283,639

Extended Studies 649,750 639,714 629,714 834,999 855,786

Bookstore sales 767,157 730,626 695,835 773,150 763,287

Sales, rentals and services 307,683 298,721 290,020 246,535 286,482

Donations and other contributions 140,000 120,000 100,000 249,600 87,141

Scholarships 350,000 350,000 350,000 343,200 277,339

Interest income 100,000 100,000 100,000 150,000 145,000

Earned capital contributions 1,400,000 1,500,000 1,504,587 1,800,000 1,098,453

22,766,172 22,443,423 22,007,767 21,958,893 21,506,708

Expense:

Salaries and benefits 15,595,406 15,289,614 14,989,818 14,277,898 13,625,456

Supplies and services 4,829,601 4,838,509 4,701,107 4,670,613 5,010,355

Bookstore ‐ cost of sales 350,865 345,000 342,000 380,000 472,279

Fundraising expense 140,000 120,000 100,000 249,600 112,291

Scholarships 350,000 350,000 350,000 343,200 286,468

Amortization of capital assets 1,500,000 1,500,000 1,524,587 2,100,000 1,455,099

22,765,872 22,443,123 22,007,512 22,021,311 20,961,948

Excess of revenue (expense) for the year 300 300 255 (62, 418)

554,759

Transfer (to)/from restricted funds 350,000 300,000 250,000 63,000 276,072

Transfer (to)/from Endowments 0 0 0 0 0

Acquisition of internally funded capital assets

(650,000)

(600,000)

(550,000)

(300,000)

(583,453)

Amoritization of internally funded capital assets 300,000 300,000 300,000 300,000 320,429

Increase (Decrease) in Unrestricted Surplus 300 300 255 582 557,807

Surplus/Deficit, beginning of year 1,759,353 1,759,053 1,758,798 1,758,216 1,200,409

Unrestricted surplus (defecit) end of year 1,759,653 1,759,353 1,759,053 1,758,798 1,758,216

Internally Restricted net assets, end of year 1,653,073 2,003,073 2,303,073 1,873,059 2,166,073


7.2 Key Assumptions Underlying Budget Projections

Budget Projections have been prepared based on the following assumptions:

Revenues

Annual operations grant increase of 2% for 2012 to 2014, and at the rate of inflation, 2.0%, for the final

year;

Tuition increases based on the provincial regulations allowing increase equal to inflation –1.45 % for 2012

to 2013 and 2% for the two years 2013‐2014 and 2014‐2015.

Master in Fine Arts (MFA) degree will be offered starting January 2014 with a forecast of 8 students for

the first year and 18 students for the following year (2015‐2016);

No change in student enrolment except for the MFA mentioned above, based on facility limitations;

Other revenues based on historical activity and generally limited to assumed rate of inflation;

Earned capital contributions based on estimated capital expenditures of externally‐sourced funds;

Expenditures

Salaries, benefits and allowances are increased by a standard percentage based on anticipated increases

in benefit rates, grid movements, step increases and wage settlements. This category also reflects a

planned increase in the number of new faculty positions each year and revisions to the complement of

full‐time faculty reflective of early retirements, replacements and compliance with our full‐time faculty

ratio. This increase outpaces the grant inflation increases;

Supplies and services increased by a standard range of 2% based on historical activity, with no allowances

for extra‐ordinary increases in utility rates;

Cost of sales is based on margin rate of sales;

Amortization based on estimated annual capital expenditure and age of assets.

Net Assets

The Board is committed to an objective of a balanced budget based on revenue before expenditures and

transfers from internally restricted funds.

The change in internally restricted net assets reflects use of annual allocations of internally restricted

funds for purposes approved by the Board, primarily for projects or initiatives of a limited term or

capital nature;

Internally restricted net assets will be allocated from available surplus annually as operating surplus

allows.


Deficits and Resource Challenges

With the second year of a zero percent grant increase in 2011‐12, coupled with increasing fixed costs and

anticipated increases to labor costs through negotiated settlements , the College will be required to review its

strategies to providing balanced budgets in the future .With announced and planned base grant increases of 2%

for 2012‐2013 and the following two years, it is not possible to continue to rely on one‐time funding resources

beyond the next two to three years to offset known and planned expenditure increases beyond 2%. For the past

two years, expenditure increases have been in the range of 3.5% to 4.0% per year. This primarily reflects the

increase in labor costs arising from settlements and the continued move of staff within the negotiated wage and

salary grids. The College will be reviewing all service and program areas for cost efficiencies and revenue

generation opportunities commencing in June, 2012. This will be done to assess the needs for budget balancing

within a continued expectation of fiscal constraint over the next three years. Furthermore, severe program and

service reductions and cuts are being explored as a way to deal with the lack of sufficient funding in the next three

years. This also will be done with the intent of exploring a number of mid to longer term strategies to achieve

balanced budgets going forward. This will entail assessing other revenue opportunities as well as establishing key

program priorities for allocated the College’s limited resources. Without adequate resources going forward the

College will continue to be at risk of fulfilling its mandate for quality programs and services in all areas.


7.3 Tuition Fee Projection

Tuition Fee Policy Compliance

In 2011/2012 ACAD students paid credit tuition of $145.73 per credit regardless of course load. For 2011/2012,

the consultation process, mandated by the Minister, took place with the student Association.

Tuition Fees As Approved by the Board for 2012–2015

At the March 7, 2012 Board meeting the Board of Governors approved the following tuition fee increases on a

per‐credit basis for the 2011‐2012. The remaining years are projected assuming an inflation rate similar to the

rate used for financial projections for the 2011 increases:

Domestic Tuition

2011/2012 to $145.73 per credit

2012/2013 to $147.85 per credit

2013/2014 to $150.81 per credit

2014/2015 to $153.83 per credit

International Tuition

2011/2012 to $466.56 per credit

2012/2013 no provision for increase

2013/2014 to $489.90 per credit

2014/2015 no provision for increase

MFA

Year 1 (2014) $5,360 per student

Year 2 (2015) $5,467 per student

Each year the College reviews the proposed changes to its tuition, both domestic and international, with its

Student Association Executive. This meeting, which occurs prior to March 1st, provides information and

background regarding the College’s overall budget as well as information regarding the Provincial regulations

that limit the increase in any year for domestic students to the rate of inflation. As well these meetings

provide the opportunity the College to also review any changes contemplated in other fees when changes are

being recommended as part of the budget process.


7.4 Cash Flow 2011 – 2012

Budget 2012

Actual 2011

Operating activities:

Excess of revenue over expense $582 $544,749

Non‐cash transactions:

Amortization of capital assets $2,100,000 $1,455,099

Amortization of deferred capital contributions (1,800,000) (1,098,413)

Employee future benefit liabilities ‐ 372

$300,000 $357,058

Changes in non‐cash working capital $25,000 $34,827

Cash generated from operating activities $275,582 $936,634

Investing activities:

Increase (decrease) in short‐term investments $ (300,000) $ (417,635)

Purchase of capital assets, net of disposals (900,000) (2,197,515)

Increase (decrease) in unrealized gain or investments 200,000 334,804

(increase) decrease in non‐current cash and investments 125,000 (83,044)

Cash used in investing activities $ (875,000) $ (2,358,390)

Financing activities:

Endowment Contributions $200,000 150,973

Capital Contributions 550,000 1,170,086

Long‐term liabilities 25,000 (35,802)

Cash provided from financing activities $ (775,000) $ (1,285,257)

Net increase (decrease) in current cash investments $175, 582 $ (136,529)

Current cash and investments, end of year $9,593,399 $9,281,292

(Increase) Decrease in accounts receivable $ (200,000) $ 240,310

(Decrease) Increase in inventories and prepaid expenses (15,000) (17,701)

(Decrease) in accounts payable and accrued liabilities 50,000 63,802

Increase in deferred contributions excluding change in unrealized gain (200,000) (187,541)

(Decrease) Increase in deferred revenue (60,000) (64,043)

$ (25,000) $ 34,827


7.5 Capital and Ancillary Budgets

The College’s 2011‐2012 consolidated budgets reflect $640,000 in capital expenditures. This level of expenditure

is expected to continue into future years subject to the College’s successes in fundraising and receiving Provincial

matching grants. With the recent suspension of the Provincial matching grant program for at least the next year,

the College will be taking a much more strategic look at this needs and what it can afford. Support for Capital

replacement needs have been mostly related to life cycle and technology upgrades and to meet the College’s

needs for equipment that are both safe and functional. These requests annually have been over twice as much as

can be accommodated by the available resources. Moreover, few resources have been available for addressing

more strategic needs at the program level for the College. Nor does the College have sufficient resources to

accommodate a reasonable cycle of evergreening either its technology of the furniture and equipment for studios

and classrooms. From student surveys, a continuing theme of concern to the College is the aging and general lack

access to better equipment and the related overtaxing of service staff to maintain its functionality. For staff, the

general lack of systems of system access is some areas, such as the absence if business analysis and general lack of

systems will continue to impact the College’s ability to undertake good research and to improve its overall

program effectiveness.

Other than health and safety issues and critical information technology the College has an immediate need to

support program development for a new graduate level program in craft. In addition to hiring a Graduate

program Director to initiate the implementation of the instructional programs and support for our planned MFA

degree, one time equipment and accommodation funding is required in the order of $100,000 to support a

scheduled 2014 startup. As well, the shortage of space at the College to support program delivery continues to be

of concern. The capacity of the existing infrastructure is approximately 25% lover that what current student

standards would suggest is required for the almost 1100 students attending on a year by year basis.


This graphic illustrates ACAD's consolidated revenues ($millions) for 2010‐2011.

Financial statements for 2011‐2012 are expected to be available in October 2012.

Revenue and Operating Cost Comparison (Year over Year)

Year Instruction ($1000s)

Support ($1000s)

Total ($1000s) FLE

Cost/FLE ($1000s)

Revenue ($1000s)

2001‐2002 $4,871 $6,568 $11,439 886 $13.2 $12,644

2002‐2003 $5,352 $6,421 $11,773 900 $13.1 $13,914

2003‐2004 $5,701 $6,796 $12,496 946 $13.2 $14,508

2004‐2005 $5,953 $7,586 $13,537 938 $14.4 $15,634

2005‐2006 $5,996 $8,317 $14,313 943 $15.2 $16,413

2006‐2007 $6,475 $9,478 $15,953 963 $16.6 $18,193

2007‐2008 $6,517 $10,801 $17,318 972 $17.8 $19,195

2008‐2009 $6,707 $11,614 $18,321 985 $18.6 $20,114

2009‐2010 $7,695 $11,684 $19,379 999 $19.4 $20,665

2010‐2011 $7,885 $12,558 $20,445 1,004 $20.4 $21,464

Year over Year Change Year Inst % Sup % Tot % FLE % Cost/FLE %

2001‐2002

2002‐2003 9.9 ‐2.2 2.9 3.9 ‐1

2003‐2004 6.5 5.8 6.1 5.1 1

2004‐2005 4.4 11.6 8.3 ‐0.8 9.3

2005‐2006 0.7 9.7 5.7 0.5 5.2

2006‐2007 8 14 11.5 2.1 9.2

2007‐2008 0.6 14 8.6 0.9 7.5

2008‐2009 2.9 7.5 5.8 1.4 4.4

2009‐2010 14.7 0.6 5.8 1.4 4.3

2010‐2011 2.4 7.4 5.5 0.5 5.2

2009‐2010 14.7 0.6 5.8 1.4 4.3

2010‐2011 2.4 7.4 5.5 0.5 5.2

12.76.2

0.80.3

0.4 0.2

1.1

Grants

Student tuition and fees

Bookstore Sales

Sales of services and products

Donations and othercontributions

Interest income

Earned capital contributions


7.6 Priority Preservation Projects

The College continues to have as its priority the expansion of its space to accommodate future program growth

and new programming. In 2008 a business plan and new Master plan was submitted to the Province to expand its

current capacity to 2250 students at a new downtown location. This received favorable acceptance in principle at

the time and the College was given additional funds to refine this Master Plan. This need for expansion and

upgrading of the existing campus continues to be the College’s priority expansion project.

The College is currently reviewing the need to upgrade and to expand its current capacity which is currently being

exceeded at its current site by 200 students at the existing location. It is the intent of the College to request as a

priority an upgrade to its existing campus to address a significant functional deficiency in space to accommodate

future program growth in its BFA programs. This project request will be complemented by a request to expand

the College on its existing site to meet a phased in student capacity to 2000 students, with an initial phase of

increasing the capacity by 500 students over the next three years. We believe this to be both reasonable, cost

effective and essential to support both student demand and the Provincial plans to address the Alberta market

for students with both accreditation in the areas of design, media and the visual arts.

Another viable option the College is exploring is to relocate the campus away from the downtown area at an

alternate site with suitable expansion capacity. This option has additional considerations required for student

residential and recreational needs currently only available through the College’s license of occupation and

Bridging Agreement with SAIT.


8. RESOURCE IMPLICATIONS

Assumptions should be provided regarding extraordinary costs that fall outside the traditional funding

mechanisms (for example, costs associated with recruiting or serving under‐represented groups).

Access and Quality, Research, Information Technology, Extended Studies, International Students

This plan includes the assumption that increased student numbers and enhanced retention will lead to increases

in the College’s tuition revenue. This funding is expected to provide the revenue to cover increased instructional

costs. The projection, there will be no new EPE funding province‐wide until possibly 2012‐13, has led to the

contemplation of financial plans for programmatic expansion that do not rely on provincial funding.

The Student Professional Development and Career Centre will be funded through a gift of one‐time funds and

the re‐allocation of resources within the Student Experience area or an augmentation through alternative

funds to support the position when hired in the next two years.

Increased resource needs for expanded recruitment are estimated to include one related position that will be

developed through the operational budget prioritization process.

Space constraints are of concern and, through a space utilization study currently in revision and implementation

phases, have begun to be systematically and objectively re‐evaluated in terms of practices and patterns of

usage. It is expected that creative ways to re‐allocate the space in the current facility will be found and will

extend usage to maximum capacity by accommodating approximately 1200 FLEs. One of the unique features of

a studio‐based environment is the provision of home studios for all third and fourth year students, and space

allocation at the College will be the most challenged in accommodating this need (shared home studios have

been identified as a solution elsewhere in this document). Growth beyond 1200 FLEs is based at this time on the

assumption of expanded facilities.

ACAD continues to maintain the pace in planning and developing transformative Training and Development

opportunities for employees. Wise stewardship of previously dedicated one‐time dollars and new enhancements

to both collective agreements in terms of funding for training and development ensures growth and development

on both the personal and the institutional level. Examples of such need are leadership and management skills

training, communication skills training including conflict resolution and change management understanding. Such

transformative skill sets will assist ACAD to make the changes necessary to evolve and grow towards an

increasingly global perspective. It is anticipated that these initiatives will directly impact employee engagement

and positively impact employee retention. It is anticipated that employee engagement will be a major focus for

the College.

With the reality of lower funding levels the real risk is now how these funding levels will impact the College’s

ability to attract and retain employees across the College. In times of economic uncertainty there is a

benefit to publicly‐funded institutions with regard to recruitment. However, while personal security issues are

important to employees, changing demographics also leads us to be cautious in accepting that security issues are

paramount for high‐performing employees. Pressures to improve compensation levels are increasingly important


at a time of reduced funding levels. ACAD will continue to seek opportunities to enhance and address

employment engagement issues in particular. The ACAD climate survey already discussed will continue to provide

opportunities to identify and address engagement issues critical for continuing success and look for those

initiatives to translate into high retention rates.

Collective Agreement between ACAD and both the Alberta Union of Public Employees (Local071/006) and

with the Alberta College of Art + Design Faculty Association were successfully completed at the table for

both groups during 2011‐12.

Given the funding climate within post‐secondary institutions negotiations are expected to be challenging. The

importance of reasonable settlements remains of significant importance for the fiscal health of the College

however the significance of maintaining compensation competitiveness in a rapidly improving larger market

context will provide an interesting framework for labour negotiations.

Another challenge arising from labour negotiations revolves around current policy grievances that are impacting

all provincially funded jurisdictions and is at heart a challenge to the long‐established practices of designating

employees in/out of AUPE through reference to the Public Service Employee Relations Act. ACAD along with

several other post‐secondary institutions has had to bear significant costs while dealing with the initial challenge.

That remains an active and costly venture and will continue to be such for the next while.

The growth in the undergraduate programs is expected to occur in the Bachelor of Design programs as a

result of perceived increases in student demand for studio‐based education and will directly increase capacity in

two areas, Visual Communication Design and Photography. Graduates of these programs experience few barriers

to employment on graduation and will enter the still expanding, though somewhat more slowly, marketplace both

within Alberta and North America.

The development of the proposed graduate program will enhance the College as a centre of excellence, and

attract a wider range of national and international students, particularly in the case of the proposed inaugural

MFA in Craft Media.

Program expansion will be funded through the additional tuition revenue generated and by reallocation of

existing resources as necessary. This reallocation will be found through efficiencies as specified in the Executive

Summary, as well as the use of endowed scholarship funds to attract better prepared students.

Expansion of Bachelor of Design, Photography ‐ (2012). Commencing with a First Year Studies intake of 18.6 FLEs

in 2011 and growing to 59.5 FLEs by 2014

The ongoing enrolment growth from increases in retention and from the increases in provincial migration will

create a demand for expanded programming at ACAD, as projected in Access Goals. The Photography program

has competitive entry. The statistics have shown that a sharply rising student demand is now exceeding the

number of available spaces. With 2011 showing a projected increase in first year students, through more

effective retention practices, to be sufficient for an additional full cohort of students moving into second year,


expansion of this program is deemed to be advisable and feasible given this and the direct careers pathways

that are available for these graduates.

Program expansion will be funded and supported as stated above in the Expansion of Bachelor of Design, Visual

Communications Design (VCD) ‐ (2011). Bachelor of Fine Arts, Multidisciplinary Studies (2013). Commencing with

a First Year Studies intake of 18.6 FLEs in 2015 and growing to 59.5 FLEs by 2018.

With 2013 showing a projected growth in student demand for the college sufficient to expect another full cohort

of student admissions, development of this program is deemed to be advisable and feasible, especially given

the projected evolution of artistic practice that will make this program extremely relevant.

Research Initiatives: the assumptions are that these initiatives will continue to be funded in the short term

through internal research designated funds and that in the future that some resources be made possible through

fundraising initiatives.

Information Technology: Currently ACAD is at the beginning of a three‐year planning cycle for information

technology. Any initiatives in the new plan will need to be conscious of limited resources for the next three years.

Consultations will continue between June and November to ascertain student demands, internal administrative

needs and strategies for engaging the external community.

Extended Studies is self‐supporting and operates a majority of the programming during times where there is a

lower utilization of the existing facilities.

Much of the needed resources to attract and retain international students will come from the reallocation of

current funding in the area of international recruitment. There is an acknowledgement that additional operational

resources may be needed to meet recruitment objectives with regard to graduate programming and increased

international enrolments, which should be at least partially subsidized through higher international tuitions.

Program Contraction/Termination Rationale (brief overview only) Funding Implications Anticipated MFA in

Craft Media ‐ (2013)

Commencing with 5 FLEs in 2013 and growing to 16 FLEs by 2014.

It is projected that the application process for approval of the College’s first Master’s level program will have

successfully met all external approvals necessary for ACAD to offer this new level of degree, and that the

recruitment and admissions process will allow the first students to be admitted in January, 2013. As the only

program of its kind west of Montreal, the potential for strong national and international admissions is considered

to be very high.

If funding is not available through the Province, the alternative plan articulated in the above Executive Summary

will be followed.


2014/15 and beyond:

Anticipated Second MFA program (several under consideration at this time) (2015) Commencing with 5 FLEs in

2014 and growing to 16 FLEs by 2016.

To ensure an effective and active graduate studies program, and to enhance the effectiveness of ACAD as a

centre of excellence, it is felt the Master’s level needs at least three degrees to create a critical mass of

students in order to maximize the breadth and depth of discussion and research interests.

The financial plan as stated in the above MFA in Craft Media ‐ (2012) will be followed.

Anticipated Third MFA program (several under consideration at this time) ‐ (2016) Commencing with 5 FLEs in

2016 and growing to 16 FLEs by 2018.

Please see the rationale as stated above in the Second MFA.

The financial plan as stated in the above two MFA programs will be followed.


APPENDIX 1

Executive Summary Notes:

In order to attain the CIP goals in this context, the current ACAD enrolment projections have been carefully

crafted. The model incorporates the 8% projected population growth in the Calgary region as projected in the

AAFP. Combined with the increased efforts in expanding the recruitment of international students and increasing

the spaces for transfer students from other Alberta post‐ secondary institutions, this plan assumes a 1% per year

growth of demand.

The international economic downturn is seen as an opportunity to increase graduate student recruitment

abroad, particularly in the United States where the financial downturn has had a more dramatically negative

effect on higher education than in Canada. The affordable tuition at ACAD, the relatively less negative prognosis

for higher education support in Alberta and Canada, and the ACAD strategically increased enrolment plan for the

next three years are anticipated to yield a greater percentage of students from the US.

Generally speaking, any programmatic additions and increased enrolments will be funded either through

government funding or, in the case of this funding being unavailable, through alternative funding designed

for each growth area. Alternative financial plans will include additional tuition revenue generated through the

enrollments, new revenue streams (TBA) and by savings incurred due to efficiencies in existing resources,

including faculty, space, and funding. The proposed MFA in Craft Media, submitted for approval to the Ministry, is

intended to be incremental and to not replace students in the undergraduate majors. As stated in the formal

proposal to the Ministry:

“Space has…been identified in a space utilization study undertaken by the Dean of Undergraduate Studies

through increased efficiencies in the utilization of the existing facility. As a result, a need for increased space is

not anticipated. However, one‐time costs for renovations to that space, will be incurred which under the first

plan will be utilized from the one‐time funds requested, or, in absence of government support assumed in the

alternative plan, from one‐time reserve monies held by the institution.”

The faculty need has been computed based on contractual requirements, experience at similar institutions and

College policies as to faculty‐student ratios. Other costs are calculated based on historical costing models and

expected needs. Incremental administrative needs will be dealt with in the existing structure.

Under the first plan, tuition is based on an average of related graduate programs offered at other Alberta

institutions. Under the alternative plan, tuition has a built‐in level of full‐cost recovery.

Research Advisory Committee Planning Notes:

Statement of Research Principles: Research can be broadly defined as original investigation undertaken in order to

gain knowledge and understanding. It includes the invention and generation of ideas, images, objects, and

performances, where these lead to new or substantially improved insights.

Research can be grounded both in the conventions of academic scholarship, and in the creative and professional

practices of the visual arts and design. As an institution dedicated to creative practice, ACAD encourages new and


innovative conceptions of research across a trident of artistic research/creation, applied research, and

transformative research, defined as follows:

Research/creation

Any research activity or approach to research that forms an essential part of a creative process or artistic

discipline and that directly fosters the creation of literary/artistic works. The research must address clear research

questions, offer theoretical contextualization within the relevant field or fields of literary/artistic inquiry, and

present a well‐considered methodological approach. Both the research and the resulting literary/artistic works

must meet peer standards of excellence and be suitable for publication, public performance or viewing. (SSHRC

Definition)

Applied Research

Applied Research is the investigation of new or existing knowledge, and the development of problem‐solving

strategies to develop actionable solutions to the real‐world problems of industry and society.

Transformative Research

Transformative research challenges current understanding. It may change an important existing concept or

practice. It leads to the creation of a new paradigm or field of enquiry/creativity. It points the way to, and helps to

define new frontiers. (Adapted from the definition of Transformative Research, National Science Foundation)

Objectives of the Strategic Research Plan: The purpose of the Strategic Research Plan is to provide a roadmap for

identifying present areas of strength and future areas of priority for research activities at the Alberta College of

Art + Design. The plan identifies the unique features of the College, the potential research opportunities which

arise from these features and responds whenever possible to the Alberta Research Plan (ARP). Most importantly,

the Strategic Research Plan outlines broad areas of priority for research over the next three years, and

suggests how these priorities might be realized.

ACAD is committed to the following general goals:

Increase the profile of scholarly research and creative activities at ACAD.

Provide increased financial resources for research.

Improve the academic support necessary to maintain, develop, and disseminate research.

Establish a system of support for the development of new research proposals in line with ARP guidelines.

In achieving these goals, ACAD will develop a research culture which:

Recognizes the close relationship of research to practice, to scholarship, and to education;

Recognizes the importance of both research processes and research outcomes;

Acknowledges the role that research may serve in the wider community;

Encourages both emerging and senior researchers;

Explores and promotes the potential of undergraduate research;

Includes appropriate assessment and monitoring mechanisms;


Includes and encourages both a diversity of approaches, including established and emerging research

methodologies;

Includes and encourages individual and collaborative projects, and interdisciplinary projects

To support these goals, an annual report from the Research Committee will be submitted to Academic Council.

This report outlines recent activity levels, budget statements and projected fundraising activities that support

these needs.

Current Support for Research

The Alberta College of Art + Design is currently enhancing the development of a research culture through a

number of initiatives.

Current support for research includes:

Funding to seed and support a research culture in the College through the Faculty Professional Affairs

Committee.

Significant internal research Initiatives totaling $175,000 annually including: Visiting Artist and Designer

Initiative, the Faculty Graduate Studies Tuition Assistance Initiative, the Scholarly Research and Creativity

Initiative, the Research Contingency Initiative, the Student Travel Initiative (Student Experience), the

Critique Initiative including Curator‐in‐ Residence and Critic‐in‐Residence

Sabbaticals

A ‘Start‐Up’ Fund award of $5,000 for new permanent faculty hires will cover specific research expenses

over his/her three‐year probation period (detailed elsewhere in the CIP).

Significant funding to seed and support an Aboriginal research initiative based in the IKG with the support

of internal ATF funds.

ACAD is committed to establishing a Research Ethics Review Board in 2012.

Currently access is provided through the ethics review process at Red Deer Community College (RDC).

The establishment of an Intellectual Property Agreement in 2012. Active involvement with applied

research funding and facilitation through the AACTI Innovation Management Committee, the Alberta

Rural Development Network, and Corus Entertainment.

Actions to improve the support of research for undergraduate and graduate programs (when funding permits)

would include:

The timely establishment of a part‐time Research Officer and a Research Services Office

Further identification of significant internal funding for research projects

AUCC membership application in Fall, 2012

Become a SSHRC and NSERC eligible institution

Establish formal collaborative arrangements with other institutions locally, regionally, and nationally,

coupled with appropriate support structures


Establishment of a part‐time Director of Research and a Research Services Office (subject to funding

availability)

Faculty Professional Affairs Committee supports faculty research

Areas of Priority for Research:

ACAD’s areas of priority for research may be approached via artistic research/creation, applied research, and

transformative research, or any combination of approaches. Four areas of priority, in no specific order, are:

Visual Culture

Studio‐based practice and pedagogy at ACAD are informed through historical, material and theoretical

methodologies and approaches. The College supports inquiry into the theoretical and historical foundations of

visual practice, and the exploration of the reciprocal nature of the exchange between the humanities, social

sciences and visual culture.

Research/Creation & Pedagogy

ACAD is an institution in which advanced education and research occur in a practice‐led context, supported by

related critical and theoretical studies. ACAD values research that is connected to practice‐led approaches, and

recognizes the exploration of material objects and related pedagogy as central foci for research. Creative and

critical explorations of the material object will strengthen the College’s ability to implement innovative graduate

programming in visual arts and design, and to further develop and enhance current undergraduate programming.

Research/Creation and pedagogy are supported through excellence in established studio facilities and focused

support in both library and technical facilities.

New Media, Design Methodologies, and Dependent and Emergent Fields

New media and design thinking are rapidly changing contemporary society. The emerging discourse within these

areas is evolving at a significant pace, affecting at a fundamental level our levels of knowledge, literacy,

community and our conceptions of the self in relation to the external world. These areas are sustained by a high

degree of collaboration and inter‐disciplinarily, are supported by the wide range of course‐offerings at the

College, and can offer broad applications to external communities.

Sustainability

As the world deals with challenges of population growth, depletion of natural resources and maintaining food

supplies, there is an ever‐increasing need for more creative solutions toward a sustainable future. ACAD, as an

institution of creative practices, is committed to the support of research that fosters a more sustainable future.

Several current and ongoing faculty research projects deserve to be highlighted:

VCD faculty members, Kevin Kurytnik and Carol Beecher are developing a feature animation project True

North with a $450,000 NFB grant. The following narrative provides a succinct overview:


True North Summary

Written, directed and animated by Kevin D.A. Kurytnik & Carol Beecher for the National Film Board of

Canada

True North, a 10‐minute animated film set during the height of the fur trade, concerns the suffering of a

man who commits a terrible crime against nature and tells the tale of his fall from grace and eventual

redemption from madness to understanding, creating a mythic horror story that touches on our

stewardship of, and our relationship with, the environment. The story is loosely based on Coleridge's'

epic poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner with a touch of Dicken's A Christmas Carol, and the tone of

Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allan Poe.

The man is the fictionalized Governor for the Hudson's Bay Company. It is spring of 1826. He is well down

the Ottawa River in a canoe with a crew of eight Voyageurs, a Clerk, who has the dubious task of taking

dictation for the Governor's memoirs in a small leather‐bound Journal, and a Piper with a full set of

Scottish bagpipes. The Governor is the Company's Man in this domain, a ruthless man of business in

complete control of all around and so, as he often says "This Land, this land is my Land."

As the tale of this expedition unravels, we see and hear how the usual Spring Brigade out of Lachine,

which involves the annual inspection tour of all the fur forts in the vast empire of the Company, becomes

a nightmarish voyage across Canada to the Pacific, with the crew beset by supernatural events that

transforms the Governor utterly.

If the title of our film has a documentary feel to it, it is intentional. The story will start with relatively

historically accurate locations and events, but the soul of the film will be about psycho‐geography, the

non‐literal spiritual geography of our “true north strong and free”. It will deal with a Canada of the

subconscious.

This will be a poetic, historical, environmental cautionary tale with elements of horror. This is our

attempt to create a Canadian myth. Development will be a very important aspect of this project, as we

will be working outside of our comfort zone, pushing the look and technique of the work to match the

tone of the project, and this is where things will be finalized as best as we can for moving ahead into

production. We envision this to be a very richly illustrated project.

We are currently in the storyboard stage of development, having completed an extensive period of

research. We will be starting production in the winter of 2012, with completion targeted for 2015.

Programming for Aesthetic Experience (PAX) researches into how artists engage with computer

programming to create sensory and experiential interactions for their audiences.

The PAX project is:

1. developing a new programming framework (C4) using the Mac‐language, Cocoa;

2. creating an online community and resource for artists and open source developers to maintain

and grow the software;

3. researching how artists learn to program, including assumptions, impediments and logic flows;

4. researching best practices for teaching programming to artists.


Researchers include:

Programming artist/researcher in residence at ACAD‐based CE3C, Travis Kirton is a designer specializing in

the production of performance, tangible, and interactive media. A graduate from the School of Interactive

Arts and Technology (Simon Fraser University, ’06) with a specialization in interaction design, Travis is

currently a Master’s candidate in the interface culture program at the University of Art and Design, Linz.

His experience over the last few years has ranged from video and graphic design, information and

interaction architectures, to software development in support of prototyping and design process. Travis

has also gained extensive experience in exhibition production and the manufacturing of installations.

Artist / interaction designer – Jayme Cochrane is a founding member of both slant design + creative and

artistic research group Social Bits. He worked in the Ars Electronica Futurelab as an interaction designer

from 2008 – 2010, and previously worked at SAP BusinessObjects. Jayme will be developing the C4

website with expertise in Textmate, Transmit, CSS Edit, XScope, Git repository.

Kurtis Lesick is a sessional instructor in the MADT program at ACAD. He has co‐produced touch screen

interactive projects and contributed to numerous art and design installations (PopSex!) over the last six

years.

ACAD Students and Post‐Graduate Assistants were selected to program proof of concepts, examples and

tutorials for the C4 website.

Vulcan Innovation Project

A multi‐dimensional project led by ACAD faculty member Kurtis Lesick (CE3C), in partnership with

Digital Alberta, has worked closely with the Vulcan Business Development Society to develop and

implement the Vulcan Innovation Project, a $250,000 initiative to develop and implement a rural digital

community development strategy for the county.

The emphasis is on sustainability, building local technical competencies, infrastructure, resources,

community identity, with legacy deliverables that can be built upon both by the community and external

partnerships.

Specifics of the ongoing Vulcan Innovation Project implemented to date include:

o vulcancountyhistory.com

o A blog project structured to aggregate historical information, teach entry level technical

competencies amongst community members, build cohesive community identity, build a

repository of digital assets that can be integrated into future projects.

o The Enterprise Challenge: a student challenge to redevelop the interactive experience at the

Vulcan Trek Centre with a focus on integrating information about the community, driving tourism

from the centre out into other regions of the county, building an infrastructure to human scale so

that community members can build future content or professionals can be contracted to build

more sophisticated content to be phased into the system. The system will be designed so that it

can be easily maintained by staff without significant downtime.


o The Vulcan Innovation Project built a successful and innovative community engagement model for

a rural community adopted by Digital Alberta and AACTI for future rural development initiatives.

A joint project of the lllingworth Kerr Gallery (IKG), the University of Manitoba, School of Architecture and the

Berlin‐based architecture firm, FAT Koehl Architecture developed an innovative IKG installation to analyze the bio‐

energy‐and‐technology conscious design‐and‐build project entitled 1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1=1. This project went

on to win the prestigious Berlin Prize for Architecture and became a prototype for multi‐use housing

internationally.

Research studies led by ACAD faculty members Mitch Kern and Adam Tindale include collaborating with other

Alberta post‐secondary institutions including SAIT on the design‐and‐build project, Eco‐ House, exhibited in an

international competition in Washington, DC.

ACAD faculty member, Dick Averns has registered two trademarks with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office

for new wares and services that can result in a reduction of both fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas.

In each example above the economic, social and intellectual capital generated is considerable and under further

investigation.

Critical Approaches to New Media, Design Methodologies, and Dependent and Emergent Fields

Inter‐institutional research initiatives in this area are wide ranging and include the following recent projects:

Narration and Self‐Representation, a collaborative project undertaken by Mitch Kern (ACAD) and Roger Nason

(Keyano College) focused on communications issues within Alberta Aboriginal communities.. Incorporating an

original documentary video production the project deconstructs the creative processes utilized by Aboriginal

filmmakers t0 determine if a discernible and culturally specific pattern of visual narrative structures can be

identified.

ACAD faculty member, Jesse Sherburne continues to develop a contemporary program and research in 3D Object

Design with the intention of becoming a national leader in the field. ACAD’s academic aggregate of conceptual

concerns, critical inquiry, formal support of traditional craft and studio techniques, and diverse program areas can

be viewed as a great asset in relation to emergent hybrid practices in 3D Object Design. By applying ACAD’s core

values to the 3D Object Design curriculum, those being: “deeply committed to experimentation, free inquiry,

research and the evolution of culture,” ACAD can be at the forefront of the international focus in object design to

embrace craft, concept, hybridity and trans‐disciplinary practice, technology, social and sustainable issues.

The Red Deer College Innovation in Manufacturing Centre remains the key collaborator courtesy of former

RDC liaison officer Derek Gratz. Sherburne represented ACAD at the AACTI ‐sponsored initiative called

“SuperDesigner” held at the RDC Centre for Innovation. The “SuperDesigner” initiative focused on the

development of a program in which students could study art, craft and design in addition to engineering, business

and technology programs. The students would spend time at multiple institutions under the AACTI umbrella and

develop skills usually limited to one disciplinary practice. These inter‐institutional, collaborative sessions

highlight ACAD’s initiative to develop curriculum to integrate the strengths of its current programs with a

contemporary 3D design program to graduate contemporary creatives able to bring a unique multi‐disciplinary,

broader and informed perspective to industry.


CE3C (the creative environment for emerging electronic culture) at ACAD

CIRO Project Research, Development and Industry Outreach Summary: CIRO or Complex Input | Rational Output,

is an ongoing research project that focuses on intuitive, ‘natural’ interfaces and computing experiences that

translate complex data‐streams into visualizations or sonifications that are easily and instinctively apprehended

by the user. The aim is to move beyond metaphorical, abstract and left‐brained data interpretation, to sense‐

based, tactile, and right‐brained data experience.

A CIRO intensive, applied research project, launched in 2009‐10, explores and develops multi‐touch screen

technologies that can be used to redefine how we interact with, interpret and analyze complex datasets. In

cooperation with the Banff Centre, University of Calgary and Moment Research Inc., the CIRO project has

designed several touchscreen prototypes, built two touchtables and three large‐screen prototypes.

Preliminary software packages were developed as follows:

JunctionBox OS, created by Lawrence Fyfe, a grad student at the University of Calgary, JunctionBox is

a custom written JAVA package for the Processing1 programming environment for artists at ACAD;

GEMS | Gestural Electronic Music System, a series of software experiments in gestural control for

music creation and performance. The primary interfaces for development are the Apple iPhone and the

FTIR touch table. GEMSis built upon the JunctionBox toolkit written by Lawrence Fyfe for the CIRO project.

GEMSincludes:

o Colour Shaker, the first experiment using the iPhone hardware for alternate mapping strategies.

o Glitchseq provides a reactive audio environment built upon the RjDj software package.

o Sphere, an Audio/Visual performance developed using FTIR tables and performed on the Novation

Launchpad hardware.

The Open Spaces Project is a collaboration between Adam Tindale, Daelik (Vancouver), and Paul Gazzola

(Berlin/Australia). The piece was partially funded by the Arts Partners in Creative Development as a

cultural creation for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

Body Language, an art and science project visualizing biomedical Datasets:

In consultation with Dr. Morley Hollenberg and others at the University of Calgary and members of the Hotchkiss

Brain Institute, Alan Dunning researched a simpler interface and visualisation strategy for bio‐medical data (The

Permeable Body). This was predicated on complimenting rather than replacing those currently in existence,

allowing researchers to see and hear change and patterns of change over time, through a visualization and

sonification that portrayed minute changes in patterns in visually obvious ways. Research concentrated entirely

on the visualization. As such, the project did not eliminate any frequency bands or noise, or modify the raw

data, but looked to reveal salient, features in the complete dataset.

The facilities developed during the first year of CIRO projects have been used to build a research, prototyping,

and production laboratory in the Creative Environment for Emerging Electronic Culture (CE3C) for the

continued exploration of multi‐touch tools and complex data.


Cocoa for Artists

CE3C has continued its programming in the CIROLab by hosting two one‐month residencies with Netherlands‐

based programming artist/researcher, Travis Kirton. Travis collaborated with CE3C producers to develop ‘Cocoa

for Artists’, an online educational resource allowing artists and developers to easily build the programming

and aesthetic background to build applications in the Mac‐based programming language for multi‐touch

interfaces. This resource will be used for both artistic and industry development. Workshops will be held both at

the college and through Digital Alberta to foster industry growth and education. Travis returned to the MADT

program studios in 2011 and 2012 as guest artist in residence.

The Enterprise Challenge for ACAD Students

In partnership with AACTI, Digital Alberta and the Vulcan Business Development Society, CE3C has developed a

student‐based applied research and production project. As discussed earlier in this submission, ACAD students

are redeveloping the interactive experience at the Vulcan Trek Station using multi‐touch screens, audio, video

and programming in Processing and Cocoa. The project will provide an industry proof‐of‐concept of how multi‐

touch interfaces, including both large screens and iPads, and can be used to build individual and collective

learning and interpretive attractions. Additional iterations will be developed in cooperation with Digital Alberta,

including mobile applications that will provide location‐based, remote narrative experiences.

International Collaborations

As a result of the ground‐breaking research CE3C has undertaken with the CIROLab, ACAD faculty member

Adam Tindale and Lawrence Fyfe have conducted workshops at Stanford University on Touchscreen‐based

composition and performance.

Preliminary meetings have also been conducted in workshop settings at ACAD between Kurtis Lesick, Cory

Knobel, Assistant Professor, Library and Information Science Program, University of Pittsburgh, and ACAD

students to set up a similar multi‐touch research environment to CIRO at Pittsburgh. This research development

will facilitate coordinated and collaborative research activities between the two locations. Cory introduced ACAD

faculty to R1‐rated research facilities including Carnegie Mellon University and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

This relationship provides a ready‐made pipeline of Alberta‐based expertise and design into the market

and higher education in the United States. By coordinating our development efforts with Digital Alberta ACAD

associates we can ensure Alberta‐based companies are ahead of the curve and positioned to service a growing

international demand for content and hardware for multi‐touch treatments of complex data‐sets.

One example of international positioning is with Calgary‐based company, Smart Technologies. Kurtis Lesick of

CE3C continues his discussions with Smart Technologies to collaborate on innovative content for touchscreens

and touchtables. Please note: there is a mutual desire to actively involve ACAD undergraduate students in the

research process. This is a remarkable value‐added component to student experience.

GOA/AET priorities in the areas of Health and Wellness, Nanotechnology, Communications Technology/

Enabling Technologies and Health & Wellness have been front and centre in ACAD faculty research initiatives

over the past four years. Recent and ongoing projects include:


The Auratic Body: The Visual and Sonic Virtual Representation of Human Physiology

Alan Dunning has a strong history of research and was the first faculty member to bring significant external

research funding to the College through a three‐year $175,000 SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities

Research Council) grant that was subsequently renewed at $200,000. This research project set out to express

the body's physiological processes as dynamic sonic and visual forms in 3‐ dimensional, virtual and actual

environments; and to map these constructs to contemporary cultural work on representation, reality and the

body.

Concept Mapping: creating a concept maps for innovation

Wayne Giles, Darlene Lee, and Chris Frey undertook a collaborative research project with Dubberly Design to

map the concept of “innovation”.

How Do Tourette Syndrome and Co‐Morbidities affect Career Choice and Achievement in the Workplace?

Dick Averns and Alex Link attracted ACAD research and AACTI support for a significant one‐year project

deploying innovative and creative qualitative research methods based on visual arts, performance, narrative

fiction, and narrative non‐fiction to develop new health literacy tools with which to improve the understanding

of mental health conditions in relation to vocational aptitude. AACTI set criteria that strongly encourages

leveraging financial support from an industry or community client for funding longitudinal studies and Averns is

currently seeking support to continue the research.

The Permeable Body

Alan Dunning has been awarded support from the ACAD’s Innovation in Research and Teaching to support

deloads to enable his involvement in this SSHRC funded research project that is a continuation and development

of the previously SSHRC funded project ‘The Auratic Body: Visual and Sonic Virtual Representation of Human

Physiology’. In addition to the continuing development of this work, the project will pursue two intriguing

developments arising out of the current research: breathing and its relationship to body states, and micro‐events

at the surface of the skin. The research team will construct a series of interactive virtual environments,

performances and installations that present novel ways of revealing the complex interactions of body and world

through the subtle interplay of skin, breath, and other biological functions. The potential for the

commercialization of findings/results is enormous for these and many other research projects at ACAD.

Current and future research draw close parallels between IRP initiatives and those outlined by the GOA/AET.

Examples include: the project outlined earlier in this submission, 3D Object Design to be launched by ACAD’s Jesse

Sherburne in association with RDC Centre of Innovation in Manufacturing. The core of the research objectives

outlined earlier focus on the initiation and development of academic opportunities relating to contemporary and

emergent practices in 3D Object Design. The proposal builds on ACAD’s vision statement and goals of leadership

in contemporary creative culture through original curriculum to develop enterprising and mobile students and

graduate creatives and research that produce outcomes as economic capital. There is limitlessness to the

application of results in 3D Object Design research. It is transdisciplinary, focused on diversity and emergent

hybridity that integrates principles of 3D Object Design with contemporary craft, broadly based technology

applications, autonomous art production and conceptual concerns. Entrepreneurial business models are

being discussed to engage partners with interdisciplinary expertise in engineering, high technology and


business/marketing. Both in terms of curriculum and commercialization, opportunities are evaluated. Multiple

practices and applications are to be considered ‐‐‐ broadening the spectrum of tools for students, faculty

research and commercial interests. Significant to this project and others outlined above is the scope of each

to expand the dialogue on ethics, social concerns, sustainability and global citizenship as it relates to the

creative practice and specifically contemporary object design. Faculty and staff in particular are mindful of the

primary objective‐‐‐ to be globally recognized as a leader in the emergent transdisciplinary practice of 3D

Object Design and to offer a strong program stream that is collaborative and inter‐ institutional, to attract the

interest of international professionals at all levels.

The Creative Common Initiative Program, 2011‐12

Visiting Artist Talk J.R. Carpenter

“In Conversation, Words and other assorted beverages”

A part of ACAD’s The Creative Common series

February 8, 2012, The Candahar, 6:00 ‐ 8:00 PM

Presented by Creative Common

Hosted by Kurtis Lesick

J. R. Carpenter is a Canadian artist, performer, poet, novelist, new media writer and researcher based in South

Devon, England. She has been using the Internet as a medium for the creation and dissemination of non‐linear

narratives since 1993. Her digital work has been performed, published and presented in journals, festivals, and

museums around the world. She a two‐time winner of the Quebec Short Story competition, and recipient of the

Carte Blanche Quebec Award as well as numerous research and production grants in literature and in new media

from the Conseil des Arts de Montreal, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Quebec and Canada Council for the Arts.

Her first novel, Words the Dog Knows, won the Expozine Alternative Press Award for Best English Book. Her

second book, GENERATION[S], a collection of code narratives, was published by Traumawien in Vienna in 2010.

She is faculty for In(ter)ventions: Literary Practice At the Edge residency program and a practice led PhD

Researcher at University College Falmouth, Cornwall, working in the emerging and converging fields of

performance writing, digital literature, locative narrative, media archaeology and networked art practices.

Heiða Kristín Helgadóttir Talk

Thursday February 9, Stanford Perrott Lecture Theatre, 7pm

Followed by a Q & A in The Candahar, 8pm


In 2010 Heiða Kristín Helgadóttir began working as a campaign manager with Jon Gnarr, an Icelandic comedian

who founded the political party called the Best Party running for municipal elections in Reykjavik. The party ran

promising free towels for all swimming pools, and a new polar bear for the zoo, with their own campaign music

video set to the tune of Tina Turner’s song “Simply the Best.” The end result was a historic electoral victory, with

Gnarr becoming the mayor of Reykjavik by winning 34.7% of the vote and a majority of the seats in city council.

Helgadóttir has now taken over the general management of the Best Party and is on the board and committee of

the City of Reykjavik, f.ex. the Welfare Committee, Committee on Human Rights, and the Board of the City


Theater. She is now working to form a new political party for the 2013 general elections called Bright Future,

which is already doing very well in the polls.

Art & Activism Panel

Friday February 10, 7pm

Stanford Perrott Lecture Theatre

Followed by Drinks in The Candahar 8:30pm


Art & Activism is a panel that brings together a range of cultural producers ‐‐ from the artist and critic to the

curator and politician ‐‐ to discuss cultural practices that engage political critique. The panel will explore the

relationship between art and the everyday that engage possibilities of political action through participation,

dialogue, and community engagement. This event is inspired by the success of Iceland’s Best Party. Led by

comedian, actor and writer Jón Gnarr whose challenge to establishment parties in the wake of the country’s

financial crisis and won Gnarr the seat as mayor of Reykavik.

The Best Party’s general manager Heiða Kristín Helgadóttir will participate as a panelist for Art & Activism to

discuss the party’s historic electoral victory. Art & Activism will also include local artists John Frosst and Shelley

Ouellet, as well as Canada Research Chair of Cultural Studies Imre Szeman and curator Steven Loft. The discussion

will be moderated by the artist Mireille Perron.

Art & Activism is presented alongside Theo Sims’ The Candahar – a replica of a Belfast pub and site for talks,

performances, and events programmed as part of ACAD’s Creative Common initiative. The Creative Common is an

attempt to bring together dynamic and creative individuals to discuss/debate issues informing perspectives on art

& design practices. The Common is designed to extend opportunities for dialogue ‐ to provoke new

understandings of the intersections of theory and practice, and to inform the processes of critique ‐ in settings

that support personal reflection and engagement.

Moderator:

Mireille Perron was born in Montréal, and is currently an instructor in Liberal Studies at ACAD. Since 1982, her

installations have appeared in solo and group exhibitions in Canada, Europe and the United States. She is the

founder of the Laboratory of Feminist Pataphysics. LFP promotes social experiments that masquerade as

artworks/events. She has also written and published on a variety of subjects related to representation. Most

recent examples of the range of her work include, The Laboratory of Feminist Pataphysics presents Ateliers of the

Near Future, a collaborative exhibition, Stride Gallery, Calgary, 2010, Utopic Impulses: Contemporary Ceramics

Practice, Ronsdale Press, 2008, an anthology co‐edited with Ruth Chambers and Amy Gogarty and Medical

Tabulae: Visual Arts and Medical Representation, co‐edited with Dr. Allister Neher,a thematic issue for RACAR

vol.XXXlll,1‐2,2008.

Panelists include:

John Frosst is a Calgary‐based artist, book‐monger and fun‐time‐man. Frosst is a co‐founder of the Arbour Lake

Sghool, a collective of (once) Calgary artists based out of a beige suburban home. Probably best known for

growing a field of barley in their entire yard, the Sghool's recent (2011) shows include a stint at Projective City in

Paris and relocating an Alberta homestead to the Red Deer Museum and Art Gallery. The Arbour Lake School was


just written up in C magazine, which is pretty cool. Frosst is also president and co‐founder of Pith Gallery and

Studios, affordable artist studios and gallery space in Inglewood, where John's art/zine/design/cool stuff

bookstore is also located. John's latest project is GUMSPHERE 300, a traveling road show and rally taking Alberta

bands, performing artists and documentarians across 15,000km of North America playing 27 stops in 30 days this

summer. In 8 Ford Festivals.

Heiða Kristín Helgadóttir began working as a campaign manager with Jon Gnarr, an Icelandic comedian who

founded the political party called the Best Party running for municipal elections in Reykjavik. The end result was a

historic electoral victory, with Gnarr becoming the mayor of Reykjavik by winning 34.7% of the vote and a

majority of the seats in city council. Helgadóttir has now taken over the general management of the Best Party

and is on the board and committee of the City of Reykjavik, f.ex. the Welfare Committee, Committee on Human

Rights, and the Board of the City Theater. She is now working to form a new political party for the 2013 general

elections called Bright Future, which is already doing very well in the polls.

Steven Loft is a Mohawk of the Six Nations. He is a curator, writer and media artist. In 2010, he was named

Trudeau National Visiting Fellow at Ryerson University in Toronto, where he is continuing his research in

Indigenous art and aesthetics. Formerly, he was the first Curator‐In‐Residence, Indigenous Art at the National

Gallery of Canada. While there he curated exhibitions including Back to the Beginning: Indigenous Abstraction and

Steeling the Gaze: Portraits by Aboriginal artists (both currently touring) among others. Previously, he was the

Director/Curator of the Urban Shaman Gallery (Winnipeg) Canada´s largest Aboriginal artist run public gallery,

Aboriginal Curator at the Art Gallery of Hamilton and Artistic Director of the Native Indian/Inuit Photographers´

Association. He has written extensively on Indigenous art and aesthetics for various magazines, catalogues and

arts publications. Loft co‐edited Transference, Technology, Tradition: Aboriginal Media and New Media Art,

published by the Banff Centre Press in 2005. This book of essays by artists, curators, and scholars frames the

landscape of contemporary Aboriginal art, the influence of Western criticism and standards, and the liberating

advent of inexpensive technologies including video and online media.

Shelley Ouellet is from Calgary and is an artist working across a variety of media and focusing on community‐

based projects. After studying at the University of Calgary, she became Director of the city's Stride Gallery. She

has subsequently worked as an art consultant, a web designer and is currently an instructor at the Alberta College

of Art + Design. She ran the Carpet 'N Toast Gallery in her home presenting brief exhibitions of work by local and

regional artists. Shelley has been an artist in residence (and later an Associate in Digital Imaging, Media and Visual

Arts) at The Banff Centre for the Arts as well as Est Nord Est, The Dunlop Art Gallery and EM/Media. Her work has

been exhibited across Canada and the United Kingdom ‐ most recently at the Illingworth Kerr Gallery and the

Globe Gallery in Newcastle‐upon‐Tyne and at Stride Gallery in September, 2011.

Imre Szeman is Canada Research Chair in Cultural Studies and Professor of English and Film Studies at the

University of Alberta. He conducts research on and teaches in the areas of social and cultural theory, film and

visual culture, globalization and nationalism, and Canadian studies at the Univeristy of Alberta. Szeman is the

recipient of the John Polanyi Prize in Literature (2000), the Petro‐Canada Young Innovator Award (2003), the

Scotiabank‐AUCC Award for Excellence in Internationalization (2004), an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship

(2005‐7), and the President’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Supervision at McMaster University (2008), among

other awards. He is the founder of the Canadian Association of Cultural Studies and a founding member of the US

Cultural Studies Association. Szeman is founding editor of Reviews in Cultural Theory and a member of the

editorial collective of the journal Mediations. Current projects include a book on the cultural politics of oil, an


edited collection on energy and culture, and research on the aesthetics and politics of contemporary

documentary film.

Sharon Stevens Visiting Artist Talk

Friday March 9, 3:00pm



In celebration of international women’s week join us for an artist talk by Calgary’s award winning activist, video

artist, and community organizer Sharon Stevens.

Community celebrations, performance art, installations, net‐based art have been the focus of Stevens’ art practice

over the last five years. LA Bridge Party, Id Collective, and OX: A Crash Course on Loving Calgary are all examples

of her community engagement through the arts.

Stevens has been an independent video producer since 1989 and is committed to production values that include

collective process and feminist analysis. She has made a dozen collaborative and solo videos; has won an Alberta

Motion Picture Industry (AMPIA) award for her documentary, Doodlebugs: the Video; and has screened her work

on WTN and at various festivals across Canada. Stevens is co‐founder of herland’s InCamera Film/Video

Production Workshop, and is currently on the board of the Folk Music Festival and the Alberta Media Arts

Alliance.

ACAD Faculty Lunch Time Talks

The Candahar, 12:30‐1:30pm


ACAD Faculty will present to students, other faculty and staff, on their artistic practices, and methods of research.

March 19, Rick Silva

March 27, Kurtis Lesick, Ben Fullalove

April 3, Laurel Johannesson, Susan Menzies, Rita McKeough, Ronald Hawker, Mackenzie Frere, Justin

Waddell

Michael Petry Talk

Tuesday March 27, 3:00pm



Michael Petry has lived in London since 1981. He studied at Rice University, Houston (BA), London Guildhall

University (MA), and has a Doctor in Arts from Middlesex University. Petry is an internationally exhibited artist,

Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) London, and Curator of the Royal Academy Schools Gallery.

He co‐founded the Museum of Installation, and was Guest Curator at the KunstAkademi, Oslo, and Research

Fellow at the University of Wolverhampton. Petry co‐authored Installation Art (1994), and Installation in the New

Millennium (2003), and authored Abstract Eroticism (1996) and A Thing of Beauty is...(1997). The Trouble with


Michael, a monograph of his practice, was published by Art Media Press in 2001. Petry’s book Hidden Histories:

20th century male same sex lovers in the visual arts (2004) is the first comprehensive survey of its kind, and

accompanied the exhibition Hidden Histories he curated for The New Art Gallery Walsall. His two‐volume book

Golden Rain (2008) accompanied his installation for the On the Edge exhibition for Stavanger 2008, European

Capital of Culture. Petry’s new book, The Art of Not Making: The New Artist Artisan Relationship for Thames &

Hudson was published in April, 2011. Petry was the first Artist in Residence at Sir John Soane’s Museum

(2010/11) presenting two bodies of work, and will have a one man show The Touch of the Oracle at the Palm

Springs Art Museum in March 2012.

Nandini Valli Muthiah Visiting Artist Talk

Wednesday April 24, 3:00pm


Presented by Creative Common with the support of the Ellen and Daryl Fridhandler Lecture in Non‐Western Visual

Art

One of the less historicized, recently celebrated strains in Indian photography is the performative photograph.

Nandini Valli Muthiah has rapidly emerged as one of its foremost exponents. Nandini draws upon a long,

established tradition in Indian popular art, the hyperrealist painted calendar poster of the gods. It is a widely

recognized style, one that incorporates traditional painting and the painted photograph within a “mythologized”

space. The element of subversion lies in the way in which the heroic figure is represented within normal or

“modern” environments. A blue‐bodied god in a hotel room, or young girls masquerading as Indira Gandhi at a

fancy dress show, are comments on India’s perception of the heroic as much as on middle‐class aspirations.

Nandini Valli Muthiah approaches photography much like a cinema auteur, constructing every aspect of her

frame. Her work shows a mature and ironic understanding of a shifting aesthetic field and value system in an

increasingly globalizing India.

Born in 1976, Nandini Valli was raised in Chennai, India, where she continues to live. She completed several

degrees before entering the field of photography. After an 18‐month apprenticeship with a leading commercial

photographer in Chennai, Nandini decided to pursue a B.A. Honours in Photography from the Arts Institute at

Bournemouth, UK (now known as The Arts University College at Bournemouth). This is where she realized she was

more suited to producing art photography as opposed to commercial photography. Her works have been

influenced by photographers as diverse as Gregory Crewdson, Tina Barney, Jonathan Torgovnik, Raja Deen Dayal,

and Bourne & Shepard. Valli has been showing her work publicly since 2007 and is currently represented by Sakshi

Gallery in Mumbai, India.

David Clemis Visiting Scholar Talk

Wednesday September 20, 3:00pm

The Candahar


David Clemis, a full‐time professor in History at Mount Royal University will present a talk entitled "The

Ambivalence and Ambiguities of Drinking and Drinking Places," which will survey the history of attitudes and

understanding of drinking, drunkenness and pubs/taverns, principally in Britain and Ireland.


APPENDIX 2

Academic Restructuring

at

The Alberta College of Art + Design:

Position Paper #3

Preamble

Draft – May 11, 2012

by

Dr. Daniel Doz


1. Introduction:

Context:

Universities and Colleges undertake academic restructuring exercises from time to time – this happens when

substantial academic program expansion is envisioned, when the impact of a financial context requires a new

operating model, or when an academic plan explores new modes of delivery and support to the academic

enterprise. In all cases, as “few recent studies address the formal structure of academic organizations”1, there are

few rigorous templates to follow, and none that can be found which analyzes and evaluates the outcomes.

As the Alberta College of Art + Design matures – such as with the introduction of graduate programs, it has

become apparent that the current model of academic operation is not providing the institution with the

efficiency2 or the flexibility that academic growth will require and that the changes in the financial3 and academic4

contexts impose. Part of this re‐structuring proposal is to ensure that the College remains a sustainable

environment that can continue to strategically move forward5. In addition, the current model does not provide

appropriate succession planning as well as growth capacity.

The last ten years at ACAD have seen various models and structures being implemented, all with a variety of

successes and failures. The purpose of this position paper is not to explore the reasons of these successes or

failures, which can be attributed to a variety of reasons (people, resources, processes or lack thereof…), but rather

to focus on proposing as a starting point a simple, efficient and flexible structure that will facilitate ACAD’s

developing an academic strategy. Through consultations and discussions with a variety of constituencies, the

mandate for change became quickly apparent and this position paper is a direct response to what was felt has

being critical for a healthy evolution of the College.

Academic Re‐Structuring Committee:

In the Fall of 2010, an Academic Re‐Structuring Committee chaired by the VPRAA, was established with the task to

propose a possible academic structure. The paper dated January 31, 2011 was divided into the following

categories:

Introduction;

Some key lessons from the recent past;

Factors to be considered going forward (people, institutional objectives, external contexts);

Overall structure and division roles within ACAD; and

1 Gumport, P. J. and Snydman (2002) “The Formal Organization of Knowledge: An Analysis of Academic Structure” The Journal of Higher Education, 73, 3, p.375.

2 In terms of succession planning, fiscal responsibilities, (shared) curriculum delivery…

3 For 2010-11: 1.5 % tuition increase and 0% grant increase - for 2011-12: 0.35% tuition increase and 0% grant increase – for 2012-13: 1.45% tuition increase and possibly 2% grant increase - for 2013-14: ?% tuition increase and 2% grant increase – for 2014-15: ? tuition increase and 2% grant increase. For the budget years 2010-11 and 2011-12, the institution cut its operating budget by $1,500,000, for 2012-13 the institution will have to cut its budget by about $500,000 (final amount will depend on the ACADFA wage reopener), for 2013-14 and 2014-15, it is expected that the budget will have to be by a yearly amount of $400,00 to $500,000 (final amount will depend on inflationary pressures on items such as benefits, utilities, insurances, etc. and tuition increases).

4 See Appendix D for an “in-progress” list of recently created programs at Emily Carr, OCAD and NASCAD Universities as well as other schools.

5 It is essential that the institution remains as well increases its competitiveness in a tighter Art and Design academic context.


A Proposed Structure.

Some important lessons can be learned from this paper and are finding their ways into this academic

administrative re‐structuring proposal.

Academic Plan Exercise:

In the Winter and Spring 2011, as the College was embarking on developing its first ever Academic Plan, a ten year

visioning exercise, it quickly became apparent through the various interviews and group discussions held6 that the

academic structure was a (if not the) key component to any academic future for the institution ‐ the mandate

became clear.

The proposed academic structure is therefore based on the work done by the Academic Re‐Structuring

Committee, the work done through the Academic Plan exercise, the history of ACAD as well as best practices that

can/should inform the institution’s evolution.

2. Academic Structure at ACAD:

Current Academic Structure:

The current academic structure as described below puts the emphasis on the disciplines themselves without

providing much support; instead the administrative support is concentrated at the mid‐level of the Dean of

Undergraduate Studies. The current model does not appropriately identify or provide the necessary accountability

and authority mechanisms to the disciplines which often results in challenging situations, especially when dealing

with budget reductions and need/desire to change and/or growth.

The current academic structure is organized as follow:

Vice President Research and Academic Affairs (Interim)

Executive Assistant to VPRAA

- Vice President Student Experience + Admissions7

- Dean, Undergraduate Studies

Administrative Assistant



- Heads:

Ceramics (1 course release)

Drawing (1 course release)

Fibre (1 course release)

Glass (1 course release)

Jewellery + Metals (1 course release)

Painting (1 course release)

Print Media (1 course release)

Sculpture (1 course release)

First Year Studies (1 course release)

6 Most of these were orchestrated through the leadership of the Consultant (Bill Peters) engaged to facilitate the Academic Plan process.

7 With the arrival of new President in Fall 2010, the VPSEA reported directly to President as it is most unusual to have one VP reporting to another.


Liberal Studies (2 course releases)

Media Arts + Digital technology (1 course release)

Photography (1 course release)

Illustration (1 course release)

Design (2 course releases)

- Dean, Instructional Resources (Vacant)8

- Director, Extended Studies

- Director, Library

- Director/Curator, Exhibitions

One of the issues posed by the current structure is the large number of program heads who for the most part9

receive only one course release (i.e. 1 Deload). With the volume of work to accomplish, one release is clearly not

sufficient, and providing additional release time is financially challenging.

3. Proposed New Academic Structure

In developing a proper academic administrative structure for ACAD, several key principles should guide the

proposal.

Key Principles:

Whatever new academic structure is adopted, it is critical that it addresses the following six principles:

- Flexibility ‐ to allow growth

The structure must allow substantial growth without necessitating any major re‐organizational process. To that

end each “program area” must be broad enough to permit this natural evolution and at the same time have some

commonalities so that future synergies can take place. One important consequence of this will be to maintain and

increase program “attractiveness”10.

- Redundancy – to allow back‐ups when needed

The challenge that many (if not most) smaller institutions face is the lack of redundancies in the operating

administrative support, or the academic administrative support areas11. This potentially can have severe

consequences that when one individual is absent, the operation in that area is generally suspended until the

return of the individual, or a substitute is found (such as a temporary replacement12…) – quickly the working

rhythm of that particular unit becomes fragmented.

- Succession Planning – to prepare for future changes (such as retirements…)

8 This new position created in 2009-10 (to replace two assistant Dean positions that had been in effect for 3 years) was not successfully filled and was put on hold by the new President in the Fall 2010 while exploring the appropriate academic structure.

9 Note: Liberal Studies and Design receive 2 Deloads.

10 In terms of student and faculty recruitment.

11 With the increase in accountability which results from the audit process, many smaller institutions such as ACAD have had challenges meeting the various reporting and accountability processes codified by the Office of Auditor General OAG.

12 “Temps”, when available in the range of skills needed, are often an expensive short-term solution.


Because of limited staffing and support infrastructure, it is more than ever essential that succession planning

becomes an integral part of the operating structure. In the academic stream, most universities will follow the

traditional model of: Program Director, Chair, Associate Dean, Dean, Associate Vice‐President, and Vice‐President.

In the administrative support streams, most institutions will follow a model that includes Assistant, and Associate

levels.

At ACAD the model is: Program Head, Dean, Vice‐President and one can argue that the “jump” between Program

Head and Dean is currently too wide to provide a smooth succession process to possibly a VP level which requires

exposure in academic areas as well as administrative experience at a college level.

- Efficiency – in terms of availability of resources (HR, financial, space maximization…)

Because of two years with limited tuition growth and no base grant increases and with the strong prospect of a

third year of no base increase, this combined with the fact that a proper financial infrastructure was not put in

place while resources permitted, it is now paramount that whatever new structure is considered, it be done

within a zero or little additional resource envelope.

- Data Management – Institutional Planning

In order to facilitate the appropriate making of decisions for the institution, in order to support academic

programming (evolution and growth13), and in order to enhance various strategies supporting the institution’s

Academic Plan14, managing data (academic, financial, contextual…) is key to the future of ACAD. Internally it

provides strategic analysis for academic administration subjects such as enrollment changes, new programming,

etc. Externally it provides an active liaison with government and PSI organizations in developing analysis and

position papers in support of the College’s efforts and strategies.

- Interdisciplinarity – enhancing and leveraging dialogue between the various academic areas.

As the student population has been rapidly changing over the past 10 years, it will be critical that whatever

structure is adopted, that it promotes strong academic dialogue among all areas of the academic enterprise to

provide among other things, greater cross‐disciplinary opportunities.

Main Components of the Academic Re‐structuring:

The new academic structuring is articulated around the following essential components:

- Schools: That the basic administrative academic unit be the school. Considering our current offerings

as well as resources, no more than 4 schools should be established. These should be organized as

much as possible per discipline categories. This model of schools can easily accommodate future

growth in key strategic areas, both within a school and outside with the creation of a new school.

- Chairs: That each school be administered by a Chair who would receive sufficient release time (as the

norm at other institutions would suggest15) to enable them to successfully and efficiently manage

their respective programs. See Addendum A for Terms and Responsibilities.

13 Typically for any proposed new program, marketability and evaluating societal needs will be key components of the proposal

14 Integrating data into the academic planning process

15 A typical Chair “load” at PSI includes generally the teaching of no more than one course per semester.


- Associate Chair, (TBC)16: That each Chair be assisted by an Associate Chair. The main focus of their

role would be on Student Affairs. See Addendum E for Terms and References. It would be an asset if

the Associate Chair would be of a different discipline than the Chair.

- Support to Chairs: Direct administrative support is to be provided to the school17.

- Student Experience: to be directly folded under the oversight of the VPRAA. This is to better facilitate

the synergy among student recruitment, student experience, and curriculum delivery at the

institution.

- Associate Vice‐President, Academics: Empowering program areas will not be sufficient. To that end

this proposal looks at replacing the positions of Vice‐President, Student Experience + Admissions and

Dean of Undergraduate Studies, both not necessarily being well defined, by the creation of an

Associate Vice‐President, Academics18 with focus on Instructional Affairs reporting to the VPRAA. See

Addendum B for Terms and Responsibilities.

- Director of Institutional Planning and Analysis: As this is an institutional responsibility, this position is

to report to the President and is to be responsible for providing planning and analysis functions for

the College. Its enables the implementation of strategic projects as well as enhances the strategic

foresight through research and analysis to enable evidence based decision making. See Addendum C

for Responsibilities.

- First Appointments: In order to start this process, Associate Vice President, Academics should be

appointed for a 2 year period to enable proper process to be put in place. Similarly, Chairs should be

appointed in the following manner: 2 for a 2‐year period and 2 for a 3‐year period. This to provide

some staggering effect as well as time to develop the proper search processes.

- Leadership and administrative development: In order to ensure the success of the new structure, it

will be essential to provide some leadership as well as some administrative development

opportunities for the AVPs and for the Chairs.

16 It is the hope that by deleting the Dean, Instructional support and canceling the second Associate Vice President Academics, sufficient funds can be found to financially support these Associate Chair positions.

17 The proposal includes providing a ½ time direct administrative support to each school for a total of 2 AAs for the 4 schools.

18 For first AVP – individuals will be appointed for a 2 or 3 year term. After this initial appointment, an individual will be selected through a search process (can be external if a faculty position is available).


Addendum A | Chairs: Terms and Responsibilities

Terms:

o Faculty position19.

o Teach no more than one course per semester.

o Length of term is 4 years with a maximum of two terms (eight years total).

o At the end of a four‐year period of chairing, that chairs be provided a one semester

administrative leave20. If renewed for a second term of 4‐year, then the first ½ year is

postponed and added at the end of the eight‐year period to make into a one year sabbatical.

o To be provided with a stipend of $10,000 to compensate for the additional time spent

working in the summer.

o At the beginning of every academic year, a list of special initiatives/projects will be developed

by the VPRAA and the respective Chairs in consultations with the School.

Responsibilities:

o Further promote research and curriculum innovation within the school and the College. o Further engage the school’s constituents (Faculty, Staff, and Students) in a discussion/review

of the future direction(s) of the various disciplines in relation to the various plans currently underway at the College (such as the Academic Plan, the Capital Campaign Plan21, the Technology Plan…).

o Devise and implement strategies to further develop positive relationships with the College. Continue to ensure that measures are in place to provide effective communication between students, faculty and staff, to cultivate a positive learning and work environment, and to provide for a decision‐making process that is clear and inclusive.

o Work with faculty, other programs as seen appropriate, and with the VPRAA’s office to further develop interdisciplinary opportunities.

o Administer school budgets, monitor all revenues and expenditures to ensure adherence to base budgets, and facilitate fiscal planning as required to respond to base budget adjustments.

o Oversees enrollment and its impact on staffing, faculty hiring, space allocation, infrastructure and timetabling logistics.

o Further develop an efficient administrative structure that facilitates and enhances the learning and teaching environment.

o Facilitate curriculum development as assigned. Develop where appropriate and needed, program partnerships at national and especially at international levels.

o When appropriate, assist in fundraising initiatives in order to build the school’s support to academic programming initiatives, and student awards.

o Develop a Scholarly Research and Creative Activities strategy that will build on partnerships with the industry and other academic institutions.

o Develop the visioning exercise for the School.

19 To that end, proposal for a new category to be included in the Collective Agreement with the Faculty Association would need to be developed to identify secondment as an alternative when faculty move out of a faculty position into a manager’s role for a certain length of time, after which they return to the faculty position. It is also recommended that only Permanent faculty be eligible for this role.

20 Equivalent to a faculty sabbatical leave.

21 Process to be started Spring 2012.


o Develop an external advising council22 o Devise and implement strategies to further develop a sense of community and collegiality

within the school. This may include among other things enhancing communication with students and the student advising function.

22 Or other name to be determined at a later time.


Addendum B | Associate Vice President, Academics + Instructional Affairs: Terms and Responsibilities

Terms:

o Length of term is 4 years with a maximum of two terms (eight years total).

o At the end of an eight‐year period of managing, that AVPs be provided a one semester

administrative leave23.

o To be provided with a stipend of $12,000 to compensate for the additional time spent

working in the summer.

o At the beginning of every academic year, a list of special initiatives/projects will be developed

by the VPRAA and the Associate Vice‐Presidents Academic.

Associate Vice‐President Academics, Instructional Affairs – Responsibilities:

o Oversees the four chairs as well as the assistant registrar and the Student Academic Advisor.

o Assist the VPRAA in matters pertaining to the four schools.

o Assist the VPRAA in setting strategic directions for faculty appointment, compensation,

promotion and retention.

o Responsible for Faculty evaluation and training.

o In collaboration with the office of Human Resources, the Associate Vice‐President,

instructional Affairs, initiates and oversees programs and activities that support the academic

professional development of faculty throughout their careers at ACAD.

23 Equivalent to a faculty sabbatical leave.


Addendum C | Director of Institutional Planning and Analysis: Responsibilities

As this is an institutional responsibility, this position is to report to the President is to be responsible

for providing planning and analysis functions for the College. Its enables the implementation of

strategic projects as well as enhances the strategic foresight through research and analysis to enable

evidence based decision making. See Addendum C:

Integrated planning

Strategic progress reporting24

Analysis and research

Customer satisfaction measurement surveys25

Management action plan

Overseeing continuous improvement and the implementation of best practices

24 Manages the yearly academic plan reporting.

25 Such as NSSE.


Addendum D | Recent New Programs26 at ACIAD Schools (in progress):

Emily Carr University:

Graduate:

- Master of Digital Media

- Master of Applied Arts27 (3 streams: Visual Arts, Design, and Media Arts)

- Master in Illustration

Other:

- Masks, Movement and Mentorship | Emily Carr in partnership with the Vancouver School Board

OCAD University

Undergraduate:

- Digital Futures: Technology/Innovation/Design/ Art (DF:TIDA)28

Graduate:

- Master of Design in Strategic Foresight and Innovation

- Master of Arts in Contemporary Art, Design

- Master of Design in Inclusive Design

- Graduate Program in Digital Futures

NASCAD University:

Undergraduate:

- Bachelor of Arts Major in Art History (Non‐Studio Transfer)

Other Noteworthy Recent New programs:

- SCAD29: B.F.A. and M.F.A. degree programs in Service Design

- RSDI30: Master of Arts (MA) in Interior Architecture and a 2+‐year Master of Design (MDes) in Interior

Studies

- City University London: BA in Cultural and Creative Industries

- Niagara College Canada: Post‐Secondary Art and Design Foundation31

26 Please note that some may be a reconfiguration or renaming of existing programs.

27 Low residency program

28 OCADU’s first undergraduate interdisciplinary program

29 Savannah College of Art and Design

30 Rhode Island School of Design

31 Some similarities with our first year studies


Addendum E | Associate Chairs: Terms and Responsibilities

Terms:

o Faculty position32.

o Teach no more than two courses per semester.

o Length of term is 3 years with a maximum of two terms (six years total).

o To be provided with a stipend of $4,000.

Responsibilities:

o Oversees core curriculum (be First Year Studies of other format). o Oversee student appeals respective to their area.

o Monitor enrollment and its impact on staffing, faculty hiring, space allocation, infrastructure and timetabling logistics.

32 To that end, proposal for a new category to be included in the Collective Agreement with the Faculty Association would need to be developed to identify secondment as an alternative when faculty move out of a faculty position into a manager’s role for a certain length of time, after which they return to the faculty position. It is also recommended that only Permanent faculty be eligible for this role.


Addendum G | Bibliography – A Beginning of:

‐ Art and Politics of Academic Governance (The)

Kenneth P. Mortimer, Colleen O’Brien Sathre ‐ American Council on Education / Rowman & Littlefield

Publishers, 2007

‐ Art Schooled – A Year among Prodigies, Rebels, and Visionaries at a World‐Class College

Larry Witham ‐ University Press of New England, 2012

‐ Art Subject – Making Artists in the American Universities

Howard Singerman – University of California Press, 1999

‐ Assessing Academic Programs in Higher Education

Mary J. Allen – Anker Publishing, 2004

‐ Campus Confidential – 100 startling things you don’t know about Canadian universities

Ken S. Coates, Bill Morrison – Lorimer, 2011

‐ Century of Art and Design Education (A) – From Arts and Crafts top Conceptual Art

Stuart Macdonald – The Lutterworth Press, 2005

‐ Chairing the Academic Department – Leadership among Peers

Allan Tucker ‐ American Council on Education, 1981

‐ Critical Studies in Art & Design Education

Richard Hickman – intellect, 2005

‐ Creative Industries – Culture and Policy

Terry Flew – SAGE, 2012

‐ Department Chair as Academic Leader (The)

Irene W. D. Hecht, Mary Lou Higgerson, Walter H. Gmelch, Allan Tucker ‐ American Council on

Education / Oryx Press, 1999

‐ Education in the Creative Economy – Knowledge and Learning in the Age of Innovation

Daniel Araya & Michael A. Peters (Editors) – Peter Lang, 2010

‐ From Drawing to Visual Culture – A History of Art Education in Canada

Edited by Harold Pearse – McGill‐Queen’s University Press, 2006

‐ Future of Higher Education (The) – Rhetoric, Reality, and the Risks of the Market

Frank Newman, Lara Couturier, Jamie Scurry ‐ Jossey‐Bass, 2004

‐ Histoire de l’éducation


Jean Vial – PUF, 2009

‐ Histoire des Universités

Christophe Chale, Jacques Verger – PUF, 2007

‐ Innovations in Art and Design ‐ New Practices New Pedagogies – a reader

Malcom Miles ‐ Routledge, 2005

‐ Innovative University (The)

Clayton M. Christensen, Henry J. Eyring – Jossey‐Bass, 2011

‐ Ivory Tower Blues – A University System in Crisis

James E. Côté, Anton L. Allahar – University of Toronto Press, 2007

‐ Learning Spaces – Creating Opportunities for Knowledge Creation in Academic Life

Maggi Savin‐Baden ‐ McGraw Hill, 2008

‐ Lowering Higher Education – The Rise of Corporate Universities and the Fall of Liberal Education

James E. Côté, Anton L. Allahar – University of Toronto Press, 2011

‐ Mission of the University

José Ortega y Gasset – Transaction Publishers, 2005

‐ New Practices New Pedagogies – a reader

Malcom Miles (Editor) – Routledge, 2005

‐ Reconceptualizing the Collegiate Ideal

J. Douglas Toma, Adrianna J. Kezar (Editors) – Jossey‐Bass Publishers, 1999

‐ Reframing Academic Leadership

Lee G. Bolman, Joan V. Gallos – Jossey‐Bass, 2011

‐ Universities in the Marketplace – The Commercialization of Higher Education

Derek Bok – Princeton University Press, 2003

‐ Use of the University (The)

Clark Kerr – Harvard University Press, 2001

‐ Visual Art and Education in an Era of Designer Capitalism

Jan Jagodzinski – palgrave macmillan, 2010

‐ Work of the University (The)

Richard C. Levin – Yale University Press, 2003


APPENDIX 3

Inspiring Passionate Learning: ACAD’s Academic Strategy Final Draft: December 2011| for internal use only.

“Strategic planning is worthless – unless there is first a strategic vision:” — John Naisbitt (1984)


1. Forward

Academic Strategy documents are essential tools that guide the evolution and development of higher

education institutions. These plans are typically composed of four essential parts.

The first part examines who/what we are. The second explores what we want to be, the third part explores

what we need to be and the fourth and final part identifies how we are going to get there. The “there” is

really the confluence of what we want to be and what we need to be.

This strategic document titled Inspiring Passionate Learning: ACAD’s Academic Strategy equips us to answer

these four questions by developing a new set of strategies for the Alberta College of Art + Design, strategies

which lead to an amplification of the qualities that make ACAD unique, strong and excellent. Similarly, these

strategies help align and remove the conflict between wants and needs, and focus our attention on that place

where this duality comes together in a synergistic way.

It is essential to recognize that the Academic Strategy is a living document. Periodically, traditionally yearly, an

institution needs to evaluate how it and its components fare against the strategic plan and what redirection or

revision needs to be considered given both internal and external circumstances.

Developing an academic strategy is an iterative process; although key directions have been identified, we

must expect course corrections as more is learned and as new situations arise. Thus, an academic strategy is a

key part of organizational learning and planning. It is a tool that the individuals and the various units in the

institution and the institution as a whole utilize to learn and to work more effectively, both individually and

together. Specifically, it provides the guidance for ACAD’s Program Areas to respond to with their academic

plans for advancing ACAD in the direction outlined by ACAD’s strategies.

In developing this Academic Strategy, ACAD is in the process of creating its first Academic Plan, which will

guide the institution in navigating a world of vast changes and exciting opportunities. The world for which

ACAD is preparing its students is one of globalization, technological innovation and an evolving view of the

increasing role of art and design in society. This flow of change is felt everywhere, from the expectations of

ACAD students to the expectancies placed upon ACAD by its external stakeholders. To ensure talented

Needs Wants


students continue to choose ACAD, the institution must offer contemporary programs, rich in the learning,

experience and value that they seek and that society needs.

Building this Academic Plan together gives the ACAD community the opportunity to communicate its passion,

vision and best ideas for its future. The Plan offers the framework for galvanizing the ACAD community, the

greater community and government partners to action that will transform ACAD’s vision to reality.


2. Academic Planning at ACAD

a) Purpose of the Academic Strategy

Inspiring Passionate Learning: ACAD’s Academic Strategy is the document that sets the stage for this

proactive, coordinated effort to build ACAD’s future. Academics are the heart of an institution of higher

education. Therefore, ACAD’s Academic Strategy sits at the core of all of its capital and operating plans –

it encapsulates the organization’s strategic plan:

This document is called the Academic Strategy because it is the precursor to the full Academic Plan.

Ideally, an Academic Plan is built by a college’s Program Areas and guided by strategic directions that the

whole organization has created together. This document, the result of a highly participatory planning

process, provides that basic framework and guidance for ACAD’s Program Areas to respond to with their

plans for advancing ACAD in the direction outlined by the strategic intentions ACAD has identified as key

to its evolution. Rather than being narrowly prescriptive, these intentions provide a broad framework

within which Program Areas can truly excel, while giving both ACAD as a whole and its units the

coordination and focus needed to move to a higher level of success.

The Goals, Strategic Intentions and Strategic Objectives found in this document were developed directly

out of extensive interviews and consultations with ACAD’s Program Heads, students, Board, staff and

managers, and administrators. Material from those interviews and consultations, including the diagram of

the strategic choices ACAD has made as part of the process, is included later in this document. The

interviews revealed that ACAD has learned a great deal over the past few years and needs to make some

clear, detailed and informed strategic choices to guide its future. The strength of an academic plan resides

in the fact that a) all internal and external constituents of the institution can identify the role that they

play in ACAD’s plans for the future, and b) the plan exists within the larger social, economic and political

context of the Province of Alberta and beyond.

Academic Plan(Strategies)

Site Master Plan Building Development Plan

Capital Campaign Plan

Business Development Plan Other Plans

ACAD’s OVERALL PLAN


The purpose of the Academic Strategy is to fully realize ACAD’s distinctive nature and to identify new

strengths it needs to build and nurture in order to be competitive globally. Accomplishing this will require

that the institution keep what is essential to its learning environment – the studio‐based approach – and

at the same time be innovative and create new and different pathways. ACAD’s Academic Strategy serves

as the strategic guide in mapping those pathways by providing a framework for setting priorities,

informing decisions, and focusing resources to allow us to achieve our ambitions.

b) Input Process

To assemble the information and ideas needed to develop the underlying strategy for ACAD’s first

Academic Plan, ACAD implemented a comprehensive consultation process. A large number of one‐on‐

one interviews, with Program Heads responsible for its various areas of study as well as a cross section of

staff and managers, were undertaken by an external consultant. In addition, five Dimensions of Strategic

Choice workshops with management, Program Heads, Faculty members, Board members and ACADSA

students were conducted to help determine the institution’s strategic intentions.

Input context: ACAD’s Academic Strategy has been developed by drawing on the input of key stakeholders

and a wide range of contextual information.

Academic Strategy

Physical Context

Financial Context

Social and Political Context

External Stakeholders

Internal Stakeholders (faculty, staff, students and

board)

Academic context (range of disciplines)


General Findings

At the outset, it was clear that those interviewed had a great deal of personal passion for ACAD and each

individual was fully dedicated to the success of ACAD students and the success of ACAD as an institution.

It was equally clear that ACAD has remarkable strengths and these have the potential to be the basis for

positive change and growth. ACAD is fortunate to have a team driven by strong values and deep‐seated

dedication.

ACAD has been able to attract some truly remarkable faculty and administrators whose passion and

expertise is a complement to the success of ACAD. It was clear that those interviewed valued excellence in

teaching and student success, and exhibited a strong personal connection to their students. Program

Heads are strong practitioners and/or have exceptional experience in their respective Art, Craft or Design

fields.

ACAD is a great school for the majority of its students. Students attest to the quality of many of their

teachers and the quality of their program of study. Students were particularly passionate about the

studio‐based approach to learning and appreciate working with people who are excellent in their field,

who they can truly look up to and who focus on the “making” of art, craft and design. It is this hands‐on

quality – this passion for excellence in learning – that truly sets ACAD apart from other art and design

schools and faculties.

Challenges Going Forward

The consultations revealed a number of internal and external roadblocks and barriers to ACAD’s progress.

As a result, some challenging discussion and viewpoints follow. These should never be taken to indicate

that ACAD is not a good school ‐ far from it. They indicate that ACAD and ACAD people want to frankly and

unflinchingly examine themselves and their school. This is an essential prelude to transforming a good

school into a great one.

Internal barriers focused on three broad areas: organization structure and decision‐making, revenue

generation and sustainability and the broader student experience at ACAD.

There is confusion about the respective roles and responsibilities of Program Heads and

administrators and about how to get things done and resolve problems within the institution. The

confusion is creating extra work in an organization that is already work‐stressed. This threatens to

dampen the good will of the extraordinary core of employees who make ACAD “punch above its

weight”. These organizational issues represent a fundamental barrier to executing a larger

strategy for ACAD and must be addressed as a priority.

There are three strong “schools of thought” at ACAD centered in the dialectics of Design,

Contemporary Art and Fine Crafts. Each school has deeply‐held assumptions and viewpoints

about how things should be done. Some faculty (and administrators) in their passion for their


school of thought, blame others for ACAD’s problems because these others don’t share their

views about how ACAD should proceed. A frank and open discussion about program approaches

and teaching styles is essential if ACAD wishes to ensure quality in the delivery of student

experience.

While there is solid support for enhancing and growing the curriculum at ACAD to better meet the

needs of students, there are a number of concerns that will need consideration when full

discussions on this occur. Some examples follow.

‐ Two‐year certificates have curricular structures that are fundamentally different from that

of a four‐year curriculum and would require a two‐tiered system. This was researched

years ago in detail.

‐ First Year Studies is not a common experience for students, and has not been for decades.

The many reasons for this range from course selection to course content. Even when

there was a prescribed, common selection of courses, there was no consistency in course

content or delivery and the student experience varied widely.

‐ Developing minors and double majors will require careful review. For example, the VCD

and Illustration programs could not major/minor or double major without going over

credit, which would require an extra year (at least) in the program and extra cost to the

student.

Despite the positive connection between students and faculty and a focus on studio learning

experiences, ACAD lacks an overarching approach to:

‐ preparing new faculty to be excellent teachers and to fostering an institution‐wide

conversation about teaching and learning excellence,

‐ teaching and learning approaches that drive engagement for the widest variety of student

interests, capabilities and learning styles, and

‐ monitoring systems for teaching performance that are supportive and provide consistent,

focused teaching professional development.

‐ As a result, there is student and faculty frustration that some teaching falls significantly

below the “ACAD standard” and that tools to deal with this are lacking. Like the “school of

thoughts” debate, this too must be addressed if the institution wishes to move forward

on a larger province‐wide strategy.

ACAD requires solid, consistent, school‐wide data and performance measures to sort out the

viewpoints and to enable confident choices to move ahead. While it has recently made strides in

developing this data, more needs to be done — particularly if ACAD is to meet Provincial

benchmarks in a meaningful way. Despite ACAD’s relatively small size, the College must find ways

to bring institutional planning into its operating structure in a much more formal and supportive

way, as is often done at other academic institutions. This is a key service that will support ongoing

discussions about growth and expansion.

Equally, ACAD faces financial and logistical challenges that must be addressed in order to continue

moving ahead. Budgets are not fully aligned with the mission and vision of the institution and


funding core programs is problematic, leaving no ability for the College to respond or change with

the market or student desires. A new budget model that fully aligns plans with support internally

and externally is required.

Over the past several decades ACAD has not expanded its facility to keep pace with growth and

change in the same manner as a majority of other post‐secondary institutions around the

province. There is indication that the community and government may support a growth and

redevelopment plan for the current facility; however, this growth is several years in the future. A

previous plan to relocate ACAD in its entirety to a new downtown campus did not find sustained

community and government support. Government and community are waiting for ACAD to bring

forward a new plan.

The years until more space can be provided will be difficult. ACAD will be challenged to utilize its

current facility with even more intensity and ingenuity than it does today. In advanced education,

teaching space equals the ability to create new or expanded courses and thus generate more

course income. It is not impossible for ACAD to expand its revenue‐generating courses within its

current building capacity; however, this will require innovative approaches and the amount that

can be achieved is limited.

c) Implementing the Framework

Output Context: ACAD’s Academic Strategy is the first step in developing the plans that will galvanize the

ACAD community, the greater community and government partners to action; action that will transform

ACAD’s vision to reality. As stated earlier, it provides the direction and context to all other planning

documents.

Academic Strategy

and Academic

Plans

Scholarly Research and

Creative Activties Plan

Master Plan (Facility)

Technology and Equipment

Plan

Campaign Plan

Other Plans (International

Strategy, Partnerships,

Organizational Development)


d) Moving Forward: ACAD’s Strategic Intentions – How we get there

This framework document defines the Goals and Strategic Intentions and identifies Priority Objectives and Key

Outcomes. To situate the Strategies, think of the planning sequence like this:

The next steps involve the various Program Areas and Administrative Departments developing their area

or departmental Action Plans. ACAD’s Comprehensive Academic Plan will be created using this Academic

Strategy document (see section 3), and will include individual Program Area Academic Plans developed by

Program Areas. These Action Plans must answer two questions:

Does this action flow from or respond to the Strategic Intention?

In what way does it advance a Strategic Objective or contribute to a Key Outcome?

These plans will be guided by the Templates and Drafting Instructions which can be found in the

appendices. Program Heads will draft their Program’s plans in consultation with their faculty members.

The Program Areas’ Plans will lead to dialogue between Administration and the Program Areas to ensure

alignment of the specific plans with strategy.

The Program Areas’ Academic Plans, once completed, will be edited together with the academic strategy

to produce the full ACAD Academic Plan document that will guide ACAD’s future. Specifically, this

academic strategy document is written for ACAD’s internal use. The final Academic Plan will remove or

abbreviate some of the background material in this document and be framed for external as well as

internal audiences. This strategic academic planning process is situated at the core of all that ACAD does.

It provides the basis, the key connective element for all other planning and decision‐making.

Mission & Fundamental Statements

Strategic Intentions & Goal

StatementsAction Plans

Priority Objectives & Key

Outcomes


3. ACAD’s Academic Strategy – A New Direction

a) Philosophy ‐ Who We Are

ACAD offers a unique studio‐based experience to over 1200 students through eleven majors. Its

programs are focused on the development of professional artists and designers. All majors are strongly

supported by a consistent and relevant First Year Studies program and a Liberal Studies curriculum, in a

community that emphasizes critical and creative thinking within both current and historical visual cultures

and contexts. ACAD’s degree programs prepare students to be successful, productive and effective

contributors to the economic and cultural growth of our city, our province and our nation.

The Alberta College of Art + Design is at a vital and challenging point in its evolution. During the 1990s it

made the important transition to become a degree‐granting institution, offering a Bachelor of Fine Arts

and, shortly afterwards, adding the Bachelor of Design Degree and programs such as Media Arts and

Digital Technology. In 2004, ACAD was approved to offer graduate programming and is now on the

threshold of launching its first MFA program. It is also only the second school of art and design outside of

the United States to have earned the designation of Substantial Equivalency from the National Association

of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD), a designation granted as the result of a full and rigorous

accreditation process. In fact, the NASAD self‐study results and the final report provide a solid basis for

this academic strategy.

The primary academic goal of ACAD is, through an institutional commitment to studio‐based learning, to

provide students with the essential training and critical thinking and problem‐solving skills that will enable

them to successfully function as practicing professional artists and designers. There is a primary

underlying educational objective that graduates will also develop the adaptability to creatively apply

those professional skills widely. Using studio practice as the vehicle, successful graduates will have

acquired the capacity to function as engaged, creative and thoughtful individuals, applying creative

thinking and critical analysis to their future endeavours, whether they be focused careers in the visual arts

or design or in tangential paths into new personal territory.

The Bachelor of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Design degrees at ACAD conform to professional degree

requirements as described by NASAD standards, providing students in all cases with the skills and

knowledge base necessary to be practicing professionals upon graduation. At a minimum, students spend

two‐thirds of their instruction in studio classes that are strongly supported by a maximum of one‐third of

their instruction in liberal studies courses.

Today, ACAD is a college in transition. There is both great hope for what this transition will provide and

great fear at the risk of losing some of the deep qualities and relationships that make ACAD a successful

and very special institution for many of its students and faculty. Those within the institution understand

that in order for its degrees to be relevant in the marketplace, it must continue on its path to providing a

high quality student experience through its studio environment and to begin to embrace, in a focused

way, a number of key principles within its program offerings: diversity, globalization, and

internationalization.


This planning process will continue to provide the basis for reflection on the evolving nature of both the

College and its curriculum. The resulting strategy will provide the platform from which the ACAD

community can, reflecting on the College mandate and its strategic intentions, enter into ongoing

collective discussions regarding the curriculum and academic focus. The College, Dean, Program Heads,

administrators, staff and students are anxious for a context, structure and process to sort these ideas out

and move them ahead. There is support for the development of an Academic Plan to achieve this.

b) What We Want and Need to Be

As educators in a degree‐granting institution, the challenge is to meet the needs of the community for

degrees focused on the development of professional artists and designers that prepare students for life

personally, professionally and intellectually. ACAD graduates need to be prepared to engage a world of

unprecedented diversity and global competition. Their world will be one where they may pursue many

different careers throughout their lives, and face the challenge of entering fields that do not even exist

today. Therefore, ACAD must continue to equip students with the skills, knowledge and passion to learn

throughout their lives, and with the adeptness to not just navigate constant change but to lead and thrive.

Artists, designers, scholars, and researchers are part of the global enterprise that creates and

communicates new knowledge and new forms of creative expression. ACAD stands at the bridge between

the world of emotion and the world of science and reason. It is at a point in time where the traditional

disciplines of art and design are unraveling and being integrated into our society in very different and

revolutionary ways. Art and design graduates are participating in increasingly non‐traditional fields

contributing innovative and creative solutions to the issues of the day. ACAD, therefore, seeks to

strengthen its organization as a platform for research that understands and reflects on this revolution and

this bridging of emotion and reason, not only to guide but to ensure that ACAD can fully take its place as a

global leader.

All members of the ACAD community face the challenge and opportunity of leading a college at a time of

significant economic restraint, a time when expectations of advanced education institutions are rapidly

changing, a time of increased competition and rising expectations among students and stakeholders. It is

critical to understand that ACAD, despite its smaller size, must deliver all the services that are more

economically provided by larger academic institutions. The challenge and the opportunities faced by

ACAD’s leadership team include the need to develop the institution by putting in place the people,

processes, skills, strategies, knowledge, and plans that will guide the College with confidence into this

exciting and challenging future. ACAD’s Academic Strategy provides the framework for this much‐needed

organizational development endeavor.

The two main sources of income for ACAD are provincial government operating grants and student tuition

revenue. The economic downturn has had an impact on post‐secondary funding across the province; like

other institutions in Alberta, ACAD is challenged by government freezes to its operating grant. This,

combined with regulated provincial increases in tuition fees, has had a significant impact on ACAD’s ability

to move forward with plans to recruit new students and for the expansion and upgrading of its physical

plant.


With 1239 students crammed into an aging facility originally designed for 700 students and, with some

renovations over the years, now intended for at most 900 students, ACAD is clearly a popular destination

for students wanting to build a future in art, craft or design. However, with its space so intensively

utilized, it needs physical expansion to significantly grow its programmatic offerings in order to respond to

the changing needs of students and of society.

ACAD has a responsibility to listen to the needs of its communities of stakeholders and to respond

effectively. It also has the responsibility to reach out locally and globally across diverse communities, to

challenge old assumptions, to develop new understandings and to build new bridges. Members of the

ACAD community must never lose sight of the fact that students come to ACAD for much more than

training in their vocation. The students are here because of a passionate calling to the world of art, craft

and design and the value these areas provide to society. Students come to ACAD with the expectation

that their education will result in viable, life‐long careers.

In 2012, as this Academic Strategy is launched, ACAD is at a challenging but opportune point in its

development. It has great opportunity because Alberta’s other degree‐granting institutions have all

undergone major expansion over the past two decades. In the eyes of government and the community, it

is now ACAD’s turn. That turn will not come about by itself. It will come about when ACAD brings forward

a plan that demonstrates how it will engage its students for the future, build upon ACAD’s distinctive

character and strengths, improve its economic position, connect with the community’s needs and the

Province’s strategies — a plan that energizes the entire community.

ACAD’s Foundational Statements

Mission

ACAD is a leading centre for education and research, and a catalyst for creative inquiry and cultural

development. We engage the world and create possibilities.

Vision

The Alberta College of Art + Design will be a pre‐eminent catalyst institution for undergraduate and

graduate education, as well as professional and cultural development locally, provincially, nationally and

internationally. We will manifest unconditional excellence in our programs, practices and policies in a

laboratory/studio environment that is committed to unconstrained inquiry and collegiality. As a place of

exploration and research in the arts, the crafts, and design, we are all colleagues on a journey of discovery

while enhancing our leadership role within the global marketplace and cultural field. We aspire only to the

highest level of excellence in what we endeavor, measured not by our past accomplishments but by our

imaginations and what is humanly possible.


Mandate

The Alberta College of Art + Design, located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, is a public, board‐governed

college operating as a Specialized Arts and Culture Institution under the authority of the Post‐secondary

Learning Act of Alberta. As the only post‐secondary institution in the prairie provinces devoted exclusively

to advanced education, practice, and research in visual culture, design, and associated and emergent

fields, the Alberta College of Art + Design offers four‐year undergraduate degrees and graduate degrees,

preparing learners for careers in visual culture and design. The College is a centre of excellence in

education and research in fine arts, crafts, design, media arts and digital technologies, and related liberal

studies, and supports lifelong learning through its credit and non‐credit continuing education

programming. The College is committed to the principles outlined in the framework of Campus Alberta

which calls for an approach to advanced learning in Alberta that is responsive, innovative, high‐quality,

accessible, and focused on meeting the needs of the learner. Acting as a local, provincial, national, and

international visual culture resource, and through research, the College is a producer of original

knowledge leading to cultural development. Its public activities are designed to enhance the general

awareness of the College and advance knowledge and understanding of the importance of visual culture

and design to the economic, cultural, and social life of the communities and society that it serves.

Approved by the Deputy Premier and Minister of Advanced Education and Technology, October 6, 2010.

Values

We value the creative process and all that is implied by that.

We are passionate about students learning.

We strongly believe in the educational values of the studio environment.

We are deeply committed to experimentation, free inquiry, research and the evolution of culture.

We value entrepreneurship and the creation of new opportunities.

We demand excellence in our practices, our support for our students, faculty and staff, and in our

association with external communities.

We value and support human and professional development and this is reflected in our policies, prac‐

tices and programs.

We value our role in society; we seek innovative paths for participation for the College, our students,

alumni, faculty and staff.

We value the joy and good humour that derives from being part of a creative institution

We believe in celebrating our creative processes.

We are all learners, working together in a transparent environment that is willing to embrace change.

We value diversity in all respects.


ACADs Strategic Choices

As mentioned above, and as a result of an extensive consultation process, ACAD has identified eight

Strategic Intentions. These supersede ACAD’s previous strategic statements. While all of these strategies

are essential to ACAD’s future, there is an underlying hierarchy.

All the interviews and input sessions emphasized that “Student Experience – Passionate Learning and

Success” was the essence of ACAD and inevitably had to be the driving strategy. The next four

strategies are intimately connected to Student Experience and are themselves at the core of what an

academic learning organization is all about. The enabling strategies are essential to facilitate both the

driving and core strategies. Other than this, the numbering of the Strategic Intentions (and the

Strategic Objectives) is for ease of reference only and does not imply importance. The Table below

summarizes the Key Strategies identified as important in the consultation process.

Driving Strategy

Core Strategies

Enabling Strategies


CORE STRATEGY - Program Excellence

• Enabling Strategy: Organizational Development

• Enabling Strategy: Revenue Growth• Enabling Strategy: Facility

CORE STRATEGY - Academic Evolution and Growth


• Enabling Strategy: Facility• Enabling Strategy: Revenue Growth

CORE STRATEGY - Creative Expression and Growth



CORE STRATEGY - Reputation



DRIVING STRATEGY

"Student Experience": Inspiring Passionate Learning

and Success through an exemplary student experience


4. ACADs Goals and Strategic Intentions

1. Driving Strategy: Student Experience

Goal: To inspire passionate learning and student success through an exemplary student experience.

Strategic Intention: ACAD will be recognized as a leader in the quality of the student experience it provides,

the engagement it fosters, and the success it produces. We will aspire to equip our students with the skills

and passion to learn throughout their lives; with the adeptness to not just navigate constant change but to

lead and thrive; and with the spirit to find a true sense of social responsibility. Because of the high quality of

our student experience, we will be the institution of choice for those seeking to pursue a degree leading to a

profession in art, craft or design; an institution that is a locally‐diverse, globally‐connected teaching and

learning experience.

Strategic Objectives:

See also Appendix A for detailed examples.

Enhance student‐faculty interactions.

Offer a variety of enriching educational experiences.

Provide a supportive campus environment.

Offer an active and collaborative learning environment.

Ensure a standard level of academic challenge across the institution.

Key Outcomes:

Students are confident that their educational and learning needs will be met.

ACAD has a student‐centred learning and teaching strategy that ensures high quality teaching using

best practices and research throughout ACAD.

ACAD responds to students’ expressed learning needs and it leads by helping them discover what they

“don’t know they don’t know” about themselves as learners.

ACAD is known for its partnerships and transfer agreements that benefit students.

ACAD is known for its mobility‐exchange and travel opportunities.

Students are exposed to new educational opportunities.

Students understand and recognize that they are part of a global community and have awareness of

the depth of diversity within the curriculum components.

Students have a broad spectrum of choices for professional degrees, as well as depth of disciplines.

ACAD’s decisions about student experience are informed by a variety of current, relevant data.


Core Strategies

2. Program Excellence:

Goal: To foster a diverse community of learning.

Strategic Intentions: By offering diverse and interdisciplinary programs that prepare our students

personally, professionally and intellectually for life; that lead in addressing diversity at all levels, and that

open a network of opportunities around the world, ACAD will become recognized as Canada’s leading art

and design College. It will provide a unique studio‐based learning environment focusing on hands‐on, one‐

on‐one learning experiences for students. It will be seen by the Government of Alberta as a strong partner

in delivering on provincial strategies, specifically accessibility, competitiveness and economic

development, and will be acknowledged as the pre‐eminent provider of degree programs leading to

professions in art and design.


Expand, strengthen and formalize the processes that support teaching excellence.

Provide superior, flexible student services.

Develop programs in a way that will attract government and community support, and specifically

adhere to the Alberta government’s mandate for the College.

Strengthen the process for external/peer program review and define evaluation benchmarks

consistent with ACAD’s Strategies.

Become the recognized college of choice for those seeking a locally diverse, globally connected

teaching/learning experience.

Develop and implement an institution‐wide enrollment management plan that includes recruitment,

retention and graduation rates.

Key Outcomes:

ACAD is recognized as the leading art and design College in Canada and is on the map globally. This

means that the following is in place:

Global relationships, travel opportunities and mobility skills for students

Students’ recognition that they are part of a global community and awareness of diversity within

program streams.

Strategies to equip students for careers now, and to provide complementary liberal studies

components throughout the four‐year degree programs that support a foundation for lifelong

learning in various professional areas.

Efforts to enable individuals to engage in critical discourse and to develop their own creative voice.

Significant and recognized diversity support within the curriculum.

Rigorous internal and external program reviews.

Student satisfaction with their experience at ACAD as measured by internal and external surveys.

A series of Plans that will align with and provide a strong, clear connection to the College’s mandate,

the NASAD accreditation and the Province’s various strategies.

Partnerships with other Colleges and Universities and with other agencies and organizations.


ACAD will be acknowledged as a major contributor to Campus Alberta.

ACAD is a place that is supportive of its faculty members and teaching staff in their pursuit of

excellence in delivering high‐quality professional programs.

3. Academic Evolution and Growth

Goal: To lead academic evolution and growth within the College.

Strategic Intentions: ACAD will be acknowledged as a leader in the development and delivery of

curriculum that provides students with the knowledge and practical experience to be successful in the

global marketplace. It will be recognized as an institution that excels at providing both depth of discipline

through the values of the studio environment as well as the breadth, flexibility and scholarly achievement

that the 21st century demands.


Continue to provide a flexible learning curriculum by providing a variety of degrees and certificates

leading to a profession in art, craft and design (i.e. investigating minors and double majors, where

appropriate, as well as applied graduate degree programs).

Provide professional degree programs with a strong curriculum that connects to economic and social

needs, complements ACAD’s in‐depth programs and provides additional kinds of learning

opportunities.

Articulate the strengths of ACAD’s traditional curriculum and identify how these will be maintained in

a modern, student‐centred curriculum and presentation framework.

Continue to strengthen the learning experience of students by offering a variety of quality

undergraduate courses and programs

Focus existing curriculum and new curriculum development on such key concepts as diversity,

globalization and internationalization.

Review, develop and implement a new academic structure that supports evolution and growth of the

curriculum at ACAD.

Key Outcomes:

ACAD’s emphasis is in developing people who think critically through the process of making in craft,

fine art and design.

Success based on quality and depth of creative work.

ACAD opens new pathways into a variety of professional learning possibilities.

Expand programs that leverage creative industries and enhance cultural prosperity.

Success based upon professional practice, research and scholarship.


4. Creative Expression and Research

Goal: Push the boundaries of knowledge and expression.

Strategic Intentions: ACAD will be a global contributor of excellence in professional practice, research and

scholarship. It will act as a platform for research and creative output; work which references and reflects

upon the bridge of emotion and reason; and work which celebrates skills and knowledge unique to the

worlds of art, craft and design. ACAD will continue to expand its collaborative research activities within

Campus Alberta.


Develop a plan that defines and clarifies ACAD’s approach to scholarly research and creative activities

and sets milestones for its development.

Provide support for faculty, staff and student research.

Focus research in key areas as identified by Academic Council and the VP, Academic and Research.

Promote the transfer of knowledge and creative expression to society.

Key Outcomes:

Scholarly research and creative practice supports institutional priorities, informs teaching and

respective disciplines, and is supported, recognized and required by the College.

ACAD tracks and recognizes the scholarly outputs of ACAD people through venues such as peer‐

reviewed publications and curated shows.

Processes are in place to support and encourage faculty to gain external funding for scholarship and

creative work.

5. Reputation

Goal: To actively enhance the reputation of ACAD provincially and nationally.

Strategic Intentions: ACAD will cultivate a strong reputation and resource base by advocating for the

vibrancy, value and the benefits that innovation, creativity and ACAD bring to our city, region, province

and nation. ACAD will be well known to internal stakeholders, the general public, contributors and

government as an institution that graduates students who contribute to the economic success and the

cultural fabric of the country.


Cultivate a strong reputation and build relationships with community, industry governments and

other Campus Alberta institutions based on the accomplishments of our students, faculty, staff,

and alumni.

Transfer between ACAD and other provincial, national and international institutions especially into

graduate level programs outside of ACAD is seamless for students.


Build a stronger Alumni‐Relations program that encourages Ambassadors for the College.

Cultivate and enhance ACAD’s reputation in the community, the province and the nation as a:

‐ Student‐focused, public, post‐secondary institution providing undergraduate and

graduate programs.

‐ Scholarly institution contributing creative and innovative solutions to the nation’s culture

and economy.

‐ Leading college of art, craft and design.

‐ Well‐managed, sustainable Alberta institution, and a

‐ Unique player integral to Campus Alberta.

Key Outcomes:

ACAD’s value and benefits are effectively and consistently communicated by Board, Staff, Faculty,

Students and ACAD’s supporters.

ACAD is seen as a Provincial and nation‐leading post‐secondary, professional and scholarly institution.

The relevance of ACAD’s curriculum and studio environment is understood and appreciated.

The network of ACAD enthusiasts and supporters in the community and government is expanded.

ACAD is seen as a well‐managed sustainable institution and its growing reputation expands its access

to program resources.

ACAD is seen as a vital part of Alberta’s educational picture.

Enabling Strategies

6. Organizational Development

Goal: To restructure the institution to ensure clear lines of communication and responsibility.

Strategic Intentions: ACAD will develop as an organization by putting in place the people, processes,

skills, strategies, knowledge and plans that will guide it with confidence as it delivers on this Academic

Strategy.


Develop an organizational vision that strengthens and establishes the staff/faculty recruitment,

professional development and feedback processes needed to ensure performance excellence by

the ACAD team as it implements this strategy.

Attract and retain excellent employees by fostering and maintaining an engaging and collaborative

workplace.

Become a benchmark organization noted for the quality and effectiveness of its internal leadership

and leadership development.

Develop appropriate flexible organizational structures to support academic growth.


Key Outcomes:

Board, Faculty, Staff and Management develop the skills, knowledge and new capabilities to grow as

needed to implement this plan.

ACAD manages pragmatic change based upon good data.

A clear academic structure, with well‐defined roles and responsibilities exists.

7. Facility

Goal: To provide facilities that will ensure ACAD can meet its learning objectives.

Strategic Intentions: ACAD’s facilities will grow to meet our learning needs and objectives. It will be a

state‐of‐the‐art facility that will support exemplary student experience and curriculum development and

provide a catalyst for our dreams and passion.


Develop a capital plan that provides the rationale and demonstrates the value needed to garner the

resources from government for expansion/renovation based on academic programs and services

to students.

Leverage the opportunities of its unique regional location at the gateway to the Prairies, the Rockies

and the North and its unique site overlooking downtown Calgary.

Enhance government relations through greater engagement.

Key Outcomes

ACAD expands and renovates its current facility and may add a satellite to meet the educational

needs defined in Core Strategies 1 through 4.

ACAD future facility enhances its ability to deliver on these strategies and it will be a physical

statement of its brand.

ACAD is positioned as a major contributor to innovation in Alberta through the work of its students

and graduates.

8. Revenue Growth

Goal: To develop a sustainable funding model that will allow ACAD to pursue its mandate of excellence

in art, craft and design.

Strategic Intentions: Through engagement with government, continued stewardship of its resources, and

the implementation of new fundraising initiatives, ACAD will develop a sustainable funding model that will

allow it to pursue its mandate of excellence in art, craft and design. To reach a higher level of

sustainability and to support the Academic Strategy, ACAD will build a comprehensive revenue growth

strategy, expanding existing revenue streams and acquiring new ones in order to fund growth and ensure


a sustainable financial model. ACAD will continue to coordinate with and link to Alberta’s economic

strategies in order to fulfill revenue needs.


Recruit 400 new students of diverse backgrounds over the next 5 to 7 years and increase the student

base from 1100 to 1500 with funding approval from the Province of Alberta (both operational and

capital).

Work with Program Areas to build a comprehensive revenue‐diversification and business

development strategy designed to enhance its operations (This strategy will guide the

development of annual business plans).

Build a comprehensive ten‐year capital and information technology plan based on academic needs

identified in the full Academic Plan.

Develop a multi‐level fundraising campaign to fund capital/technology.

Key Outcomes:

ACAD Driving and Core Strategies are developed and expressed in a way that enables key

stakeholders to appreciate and support ACAD.

Earned income, sponsorships and donations grow year by year.

Expanded enrolments are managed in order to grow revenues.

ACAD maximizes the facility and the expertise of the faculty and staff by expanding academic offerings

in areas such as post‐degree certificates and workshops.

Provincial grants are adjusted to meet small college needs.


5. SUMMARY

In developing this Academic Strategy, ACAD is in the process of creating its first Academic Plan, which will guide

the institution in navigating a world of vast changes and exciting opportunities. The world for which ACAD is

preparing its students is one of globalization, technological innovation and an evolving view of the increasing

value that art and design bring to society. This flow of change is felt everywhere, from the expectations of ACAD

students to the expectancies placed upon ACAD by its external stakeholders. To ensure talented students

continue to choose ACAD, the institution must make sure that it offers contemporary programs, rich in the

learning experience and value that they seek and that society needs.

This is ACAD’s first comprehensive academic planning process. The first time through the process may be

confusing and uncertain, and may yield results that are not as consistent across the College as desired. This is an

inevitable part of learning to use the academic plan process. Program Heads and management should expect their

adeptness with the process, and their confidence in it, to increase year by year. Building this Academic Plan

together gives the ACAD community the opportunity to communicate its passion, vision, and best ideas for its

future. The Plan represents the means to galvanize the ACAD community, the greater community and government

partners to action that will transform ACAD’s vision into reality.

“Plans must be simple and flexible…

They should be made by the people who are going to execute them.”

George S. Patton (1944)


APPENDICES

Appendix A: Student Experience Workshop Results

A workshop was held January 4, 2012. Participants included academic Program Heads, the Vice President of

Student Affairs and key members of the Student Experience area. The workshop reviewed the results of the NSSE

survey conducted at ACAD in 2011. The results provided a basis for a robust discussion of the current student

experience at ACAD. Several benchmark areas were discussed and overarching objectives for student experience

at ACAD were developed. The following are the five strategic objectives developed for ACAD’s driving strategy:

Student Experience.

Enhance student‐faculty interactions.

For example:

ensure prompt feedback

provide ongoing critiques

provide access to and interaction with faculty and teaching staff at all levels and in each year

Offer a variety of enriching educational experiences.

For example:

provide extensive cooperative programs and service learning opportunities with local businesses and

organizations

develop greater partnerships in the community specifically Aboriginal communities

reconsider launching faculty shows

negotiate clear articulation agreements with other institutions

review and reinstate practicum courses

create the opportunity for students to be a part of SAIT sports teams

offer structured mentorship programs

Provide a supportive campus environment.

For example:

ensure services to students are widely available

provide smaller senior‐student‐led study groups

develop and implement a comprehensive learning centre

ensure stronger links between liberal studies and studio at all levels

provide a welcoming atmosphere for first year students across the institution

offer greater space for display on campus (use different areas)

provide links to community art spaces, host more celebratory events

develop mentoring programs

provide greater connection to alumni through events

Offer an active and collaborative learning environment.

For example:


ensure greater integration and opportunities for team‐based projects

provide greater connection between first year and senior level students: student‐to‐student

connections

encourage greater participation in discussions

Ensure a standard level of academic challenge across the institution.

For example:

ensure all faculty contribute to first year studies

ensure that students understand perceptions around grades vs. academic challenge

communicate needs with greater clarity


Appendix B ‐ Other Institutional Plans:

Other plans are shaping up simultaneously with the Academic Plan. These plans include:

1. Capital Campaign Plan

Identifying fundraising targets

Identifying key areas of possible successful fundraising

Supporting key objectives and projects through fundraising campaigns

2. Technology (IT/Equipment) Plan

Plan to support academic evolution (and growth) of institution

Plan to support physical expansion and renovation

3. Growth Plan

Phase one: 400 students (from 1100 to 1500): 325 +/‐ undergraduates (3 to 4 programs) and 75 +/‐

graduates (2 to 3 programs ‐TBD)

Possible new degrees (where appropriate)

Possible joint‐degrees initiatives: The Business of Art (with MRU) and Fashion (with Olds College)

Plan to identify key areas of academic growth

Where would you like to grow? Your program? Joint? Other?

Near term. At physical expansion.

4. Plans to develop revenue sources diversification, such as:

New Program revenues

Post‐Degree certificates

Master’s degree studies

Extended Studies programs

Professional workshops

eLearning

Other Plans

5. Master Plan (Facility)

Plan to support physical expansion of institution

Current Facility Expansion and Renovation

Downtown Calgary Satellite


Appendix C: Developing Sub‐Plans: An Academic Action Plan

a) Identifying Key Priorities

Many initiatives could be taken to act on the Strategies; however, ACAD has selected specific Strategic

Priorities called Objectives in order to focus its work for the period 2011 – 2021. It is up to

academic departments to identify how they will implement the strategic priorities. There is

guidance along with examples of how to go about this in Appendices B and C, along with

templates and drafting instructions.

b) An Outline for ACAD Program Area Academic Plans

Executive Summary to Program’s Academic Plan:

Academic Programs are asked to respond to this Framework in two stages, first by providing an overview or

executive summary that broadly describes how the Program will:

Respond to Institution’s Strategic Priorities

Connect the academic/discipline needs to the Strategic Priorities

Program Area’s specific objectives (templates)

The next step is to fill in the templates (Appendix D) with specific Academic Program objectives and plans.

These objectives will be guided both by the Strategic Priorities and other emerging plans which also address

these priorities, outlined below.

Matrix (template) for tracking progress

Year by year Programs will track their progress against objectives, as well as refining and clarifying the

objectives by filling in a matrix that compares results with goals.

Program & Curriculum Structure Chapter

As part of the overall work to develop a well co‐ordinated plan, the President and the VP Academic will draw

together the material from the Programs into a chapter for the Academic Plan that will:

Identify curriculum structure that will support the hybrid model of providing curricular flexibility as

well as depth of discipline

Creation of Minors and Majors (possibly double majors where appropriate), etc.

Map the process for ongoing, rigorous program review

Aid in framing Program and curriculum decisions in future years


Appendix D ‐ Academic Planning at Program Area Level:

Step 3: Completion December 2012

INTRODUCTION

Inspiring Passionate Learning: the ACAD Academic Strategy for 2011–2021 identifies Student Experience –

Passionate Learning as the driving strategy for the institution. This is supported by the following four Core

Strategies: Program Excellence, Academic Evolution and Growth, Creative Expression, and Research and

Reputation. These in turn are supported by the following three Enabling Strategies: Organizational Development,

Facility, and Revenue Growth.

ACADEMIC PLANNING PROCESS

STEP 1: Developing an Academic Plan: From yesterday to tomorrow – a series of consultations and

explorations (Completed Spring 2011)

STEP 2: Passionate Learning: the ACAD Academic Strategy (Completed: September 2011)

STEP 3: Preliminary Program Area Academic Plans (Completion: December 5, 2012)

Use Excel Template provided separately.

This step requires all 14 program areas (First Year Studies, Ceramics, Drawing, Fibre, Glass,

Jewellery + Metals, Liberal Studies, Media Arts + Digital Technologies, Illustration, Painting,

Photography, Print Media, Sculpture, and Visual Communications Design), as well as the Library,

Extended Studies and the IKG to submit a Preliminary Unit Plan by December 5, 2011. The

President + CEO, with the assistance of the VPRAA, will review them and provide feedback by

January 16, 2012 on the goals identified and other aspects of the submissions, with a particular

attention to the overall fit with the Institution’s five Driving and Core Strategies and to whether

the resource implications are understood by all involved.

Programs and Units should view the level of funding available for non‐growth related objectives

as requiring redeployment or refocusing resources and should develop plans that are achievable

within current levels of resources.

It is understood that a new initiative can be a joint venture between two or more Program Areas;

if such, it will then be identified in each Program Area’s respective plan.

STEP 4: Additional Feedback (Completion date TBD)

Supporting units such as Student Experience, Financial Services, Communications, Facilities will be

asked, when appropriate, to provide feedback to the Program Area plans.

STEP 5: Final Program Area Academic Plans (Completion date TBD)

These Program Area Plans translate the institution’s Plan, with its statement of mission, strategic

direction and goals, to the local level. Each plan is expected to provide concrete, program‐specific

details about the objectives and initiatives the Program or unit is planning that will contribute to

the Institution’s goals and priorities.


It is essential that the ability to evaluate progress in achieving objectives be emphasized in this

final submission. Using a list of performance indicators mapped to ACAD’s strategies, Programs

and Units are asked to identify the appropriate indicator(s), the current level or value, the

proposed target, and the date when the target should be reached.

STEP 6: Review by Academic Council (Completion date TBD)

These plans, together with the institution’s Academic Strategy, will form the Alberta College of Art

+ Design Academic Plan 2011‐2021 to be submitted for review and approval by the Academic

Council.

STEP 7: Review by ACAD Board of Governors (tentative: April 25, 2012)

ACAD’s Academic Plan 2011‐2021 to be submitted by April 13, 2012 to the Board of Governors for

review and approval at the April 25, 2012 Board of Governors meeting.

STEP 8: Annual Reviews (May)

Each year, Program Areas will report on their progress. These reports will be collated and

presented to the first Fall Academic Council meeting.

THE PROGRAM AREA ACADEMIC PLAN

The Program Area Academic Plan should be guided by the narrative of the Institution’s mission and strategic

direction. Each Program and Unit goal is mapped to the priorities and strategies in the Institution Academic

Strategy.

The structure of the Program Area Academic Plan begins with a brief narrative followed by information on the

related objectives and how these relate to the institution’s driving and core strategies, initiatives to be

undertaken, and the identification of performance measures and targets to be tracked.

Components of Program Area Academic Plan for 2011‐21:

1. Introductory Narrative;

2. Program Area Objectives (maximum six) submitted in an Excel spreadsheet using separate forms for each

objective (Appendix A), with responses to the following questions:

a. Description of the Objective: What do you want to achieve?

b. Fit/Relation to Institution Driving and Core Strategies:

Which Institution strategies are advanced by this objective?

d. Initiatives: How will you achieve this objective?

e. Evaluation of Progress: How will you measure the success/effectiveness of steps taken to achieve

the objective?

f. Impacts on Other Areas: How does achievement of this objective affect other parts of the

College? For example, a new program might require service courses or have an interdisciplinary

curriculum that would impact faculty/teaching resources needs in other programs.

g. Financial Implications: What are the financial implications of the planned initiatives? While

Academic Programs should, for the most part, view the level of funding available for non‐growth

related objectives as requiring redeployment or refocusing resources, it is recognized that a


limited number of initiatives could require additional resources. Programs Areas are asked to

identify where these needs lie.

The deadline for submission of Program Area Academic Plans to the VPRAA was December 16, 2012.


Appendix E ‐ Glossary

Academic Program: Various names for the Academic Programs are in use within ACAD: units, departments,

majors, etc. This is confusing internally and especially externally. In the future ACAD will set aside the various

historical names and consistently use Academic Program or Program Area.

Strategic Direction and Goal Statements: Is the utilization of all of an organization's resources, through large‐

scale, long‐range planning and development, to ensure success. A key element of strategy is to focus the

organization’s attention and resources on activities that will most dramatically impact Outcomes. Directions and

Goal Statements articulate, at the highest level, the long‐range plan and what success looks like, and provide

guidance on where resources will be applied.

Strategic Objectives: These are statements that give more specific guidance about how an organization will focus

its efforts in executing a larger strategy. Together with the Strategic Directions and Goal Statements, Strategic

Objectives (and sometimes more specific statements like Outcomes) constitute an organization’s Strategic Plan.

Key Outcome Statements: These represent a specific statement of what ACAD will be like in 5‐10 years for

students, faculty and staff and of how the College will be perceived by external communities. Progress towards an

Outcome provides an idea of how well an organization is doing on executing a strategy. Outcome Statements are

followed by Key Performance Indicators which represent specific targets to keep in mind as the execution plans

for a strategy are constructed.


Appendix F – Summary of the Province of Alberta’ Strategies

Indicator Examples:

The following are only examples. This is not intended to be a complete listing of possible indicators.

DRIVING STRATEGY: Student Experience: Passionate Learning and Success

Satisfaction of ACAD graduates with the overall quality of their educational experience (Advanced

Education and Technology 2010‐13 Business Plan indicator)

Number and kind of digital and other resources available through the library

Number of options and opportunities within and across program areas ‐ Students have more choice

Retention rates

Overall student registration increases by X

Number of international student registration increases by X

Number of institutional partnerships with business and other post secondary institutions increases by

X

Number of graduate students attending ACAD’s first year program meets target of X

CORE STRATEGIES: Fostering a Diverse Community of Learning; Leading Academic Evolution and Growth;

Pushing the Boundaries of Knowledge; Enhancing ACAD’s Reputation

Enrolment numbers for Aboriginal learners, students from diversity backgrounds (religious, gender)

and rural and remote areas increases by X

Number of publications as measured by citation indices, of ACAD faculty on the creative

Number of successful council grant applications per year, per faculty member by program areas

increases

Revenue from research activities from council, industry and community sources per year, per faculty

member by program area increases

Use of technology within program areas has increased

Retention rates increase.

Research completed by faculty is gathered, recorded and communicated broadly

Awareness benchmark survey is completed (at beginning of year)

Awareness of ACAD increases locally, provincially and nationally (within in 2‐years)

Total Partnerships with other post secondary institutions grows by X number per year

Total partnerships with community associations, HR associations and industry grows by X number per

year

ACAD is seen as an important partner in Campus Alberta within X years as measured by

increased government funding

increased peer institution partnerships

increased participation in important government meetings – a seat at the table

increased participation by faculty on provincial committees


Number of ACAD graduates are hired by employers in a variety of areas (oil and gas, technology,

graphics, etc)

New satellite facility is complete in downtown location on budget and on time

ENABLING STRATEGIES: Organizational Development; Facility; Revenue Growth

Total revenues increase from a variety of sources (revenue from donations, from granting agencies,

from assets invested)

Number of successful council grant applications per year, per faculty member by program areas

increases

Revenue from research activities from council, industry and community sources per year, per faculty

member, by program area increases

Revenue from industry partnerships increases (dollar value of Alberta business expenditure on

activities in collaboration with ACAD)

X number of capital development and maintenance projects are completed

New satellite facility is complete in downtown location

Staff satisfaction Benchmark survey is completed (at beginning of Year)

Structure is re‐organized and roles and responsibilities clear (as measured by staff climate survey)

Percentage of staff that are proud to tell others they work for ACAD (as measures by staff climate

survey)

Percentage of staff indicating favourable engagement levels (as measured by staff climate survey)

Documents

ACAD Comprehensive Institutional Plan 2012-15