Project Imagine Report | September 2020 · 2020. 10. 1. · world to submit ideas to re-imagine the University of Rochester. All told, the Committee received almost 1000 ideas to

PROJECT

IMAGINE 9.11.20

Table of Contents

1. PROJECT BACKGROUND a. Overview b. Acknowledgments c. Project Imagine Committee d. Guiding Principles

2. OUTCOMES a. Themes b. Big Ideas & Immediate Ideas c. Reports

i. It’s time for the University to lead on social justice ii. A University for the City: building bridges between UR & the Rochester

community iii. Go for the Gold: creating a vibrant sustainability community at UR and

beyond iv. Creating an Ever Better Workforce v. Retooling for the future: becoming a changemaker campus vi. Becoming a vibrant year-round campus vii. Becoming the healthiest campus in the world viii. Any student anywhere, any patient anywhere ix. Financial transparency & efficiency

3. APPENDIX a. Approach b. Project Charter c. Workplan d. Additional References

PROJECT IMAGINE 1

Project Background

Overview

The University of Rochester “has a long tradition of breaking boundaries—always pushing and questioning, learning and unlearning.” Embedded in our motto is the spirit of “meliora:” the progressive ideal to always do better. The University has embodied this spirit since its inception, through its work to abolish slavery, secure universal suffrage, and improve the well-being of all through advances in social justice, technology, humanities, and medicine.

We are at a pivotal moment in not just our University’s history but in that of higher education. COVID-19 is forcing us to ask uncomfortable, overdo questions about how we work, where we work, and whom we serve. Our institution’s future will depend on our ability to challenge our assumptions of what could (and should) be part of a world class liberal arts education.

Project Imagine was a 3-month long effort to face this challenge through a rapid, inclusive process grounded in the values and voices of our University. While there were many fascinating and diverse insights gleaned from this project, the almost 1,000 ideas submitted from our community illuminated one nearly universal desire: to hold fast to the deep-rooted progressive ideals of “meliora.”

As our University strives to uphold these ideals, our community has made it clear that they remain optimistic, open-minded and ready to collaborate on solutions.

What follows are a set of ideas, big and small. These ideas are rooted in our values while seeking to be audacious and provocative as they push us into new and previously uncharted territories. Some of these ideas are immediately actionable (indeed, many would like to see swift action taken) while others may serve as seeds for a future University-wide strategic planning process.

This report is far from a strategic plan. The ideas are broad but not necessarily deep. The goal of this report is to inspire action, provoke thought, and provide an initial path forward for more robust future efforts and strategic planning.

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The ideas, several of which are linked to multiple themes and to one another, address some of the great challenges and opportunities that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light, including:

● Increasing the reach of the University both in the students it teaches and the patients it serves;

● Seeking to become a campus that values and fosters mental, physical, and spiritual health;

● Radically improving our campus sustainability efforts; and ● Striving for enhanced transparency in our administrative systems and decisions.

All of the ideas will require change. And many will be hard.

But change is at the heart of meliora and centered in our work to prepare our students to be changemakers who build bridges, in some cases physical ones, to the broader community. These changes are not limited to the classroom. They will impact staff and faculty as we strive to create an ever better work force that carries out the actions outlined here.

This effort is a beginning, not an end, to a process that can prepare the University of Rochester for an ever better future.

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Acknowledgments Our committee would like to thank:

● The hundreds of University community members and many others who contributed almost 1,000 ideas.

● The many University members who contributed expert feedback, data, and historical knowledge.

● The University Communications team for helping us gather ideas far and wide. ● Karen Berger, Steve Biggar, Larry Bloch, John Covach, Mark Bocko, Rob Clark, Eric

Fredericksen, Kathy Gallucci, Ed Hajim, Chioma Isiadinso, Amy Happ, Mary Ann Mavrinac, Sarah Mangelsdorf, Nate Micklos, Rachel Remmel, Paula Reynolds, Joan Saab, Aayush Sarkar, Anna Siebach-Larsen, Dan Singer, Cam Schauf, Dariusz Terefenko, Gerardo Torres Davila, Andrew Wolf, and the many other individuals who assisted our committee throughout this process.

The Project Imagine team benefited greatly from previous work done by several formal and informal groups of faculty, staff, and students. Much of this previous work was self-organized and undertaken without a specific charge from the University. The motivation to take on this uncompensated and highly insightful work is representative of our community’s selflessness and passion for making the University of Rochester ever better. We are thankful for the output of these efforts, which were integrated into our process and frequently reflected in this report:

1. Student Association Black Lives Matter petition 2. Petition: Demand the University of Rochester be anti-racist 3. Space Invaders Demands 4. Climate Action Plan-Council Recommendations 5. Sustainability Report 6. Grad student Addendum to #ACTIONSPEAKSLOUDER demands 7. Innovate in Education Strategic Planning 8. The view from AS&E 9. The University of Rochester framework for lifelong competency development 10. Commission on Women and Gender Equity in Academia

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Project Imagine Committee

• Maya Abtahian, Assistant Professor of Linguistics • Michael Anderson, Associate Professor Musicology, Eastman School of Music • Chris Apple, Men’s Soccer Head Coach • John Barker, Senior Associate Dean of the Faculty for Arts, Sciences & Engineering • Dewey Bazirake ’20, Graduate Student • Nomi Bergman ‘85, University of Rochester Trustee and President of Advance/Newhouse • Olivia Brumfield ’21, Neuroscience Major • Lauren Di Monte, Assistant Dean, Digital and Research Initiatives, River Campus Libraries • Roy Jones, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine, Cardiology; Clinical Associate

Professor of Computers and Information Systems • Narayana Kocherlakota, Lionel W. McKenzie Professor of Economics • Katrina Korfmacher, Associate Professor of Environmental Medicine • Frederick Liu ’23, Political and Computer Science Major • David Mitten, Professor of Orthopedics and Director of UR Health Lab • Julia Norwood ’20, Linguistics Major • John Osburg, Associate Professor of Anthropology • Sarah Peyre, Dean, Warner Schoolf of Education

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• Karl Rosengren, Professor of Psychology • Lydia Rotondo, Associate Dean, Education and Student Affairs, School of Nursing • Samantha Singhal, Co-Deputy Chief Information Officer • Shyanthony Synigal ’23, PhD Student in Biomedical Engineering • Joe Testani, Associate Vice Provost for Career Educational Initiatives

Guiding Principles Our committee’s work was heavily influenced by four key guiding principles, which we worked to uphold throughout our process:

1. An openness to big and bold ideas that challenge our assumptions of what’s possible. 2. An egalitarian approach to idea generation that places no voice or opinion above

another. 3. A transparent and inclusive process that gives every member of the UR community an

opportunity to contribute. 4. A positive and optimistic mindset that focuses on strengths and opportunities rather

than weaknesses.

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Outcomes

Themes Through the dozens of interviews and hundreds of ideas we received, certain themes shone through as clear priorities for our University members. After receiving further feedback on these themes, subgroups created individual reports to showcase ideas and opportunities within these refined areas:

1. It’s time for the University to lead on social justice 2. A University for the City: building bridges between UR & the Rochester

community 3. Go for the Gold: creating a vibrant sustainability community at UR and

beyond 4. Creating an Ever Better Workforce 5. Retooling for the future: becoming a changemaker campus 6. Becoming a vibrant year-round campus 7. Becoming the healthiest campus in the world 8. Any student anywhere, any patient anywhere 9. Financial transparency & efficiency

It’s clear from the raw data alone how much our University prioritizes these themes:

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Big Ideas (Next page)

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1

Reports Per our charge, the ideas in these reports have not been subjected to deep analysis or due diligence. They are summaries of opportunities for further exploration as part of a strategic planning effort, project or initiative.

It’s time for the University of Rochester to lead on social justice

#Meliora #SocialJustice #FrederickDouglass #SusanBAnthony

A university that is committed in word and action to ideals of social justice, diversity, equity and inclusion will naturally be a leader in engagement with the city and broader community, in developing strong interdisciplinary curricula, and graduating leaders and changemakers. Our statement below captures the ideas of many passionate people who have sought, some for a number of years, to make the University of Rochester a more socially just place. It seems to be well past time for the University to begin to translate these great ideas into action.

Big Ideas

I. Empowerment of decision-making: The University’s ongoing and future decisions about steps on inclusion should be informed by a centralized Presidential council that includes an appropriately diverse membership from staff, students, and faculty. ! The membership of the council should be determined by relevant

representative governance bodies, not through a “top-down” approach. ! The President and Chief Diversity Officer should commit to empower the

council through a consistent willingness to follow its recommendations (much as the President and Provost have empowered deans and departments on faculty tenure and promotion decisions).

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! The council should be transparent – at least some part of its meetings should be routinely open to all members of the community. This should include the establishment of transparent success metrics for social justice and a commitment to hold ourselves responsible to these metrics.

! The Administration will need to reckon with the fact that Underrepresented students, staff and faculty are tapped for committee service like this with a frequency that places unfair time and emotional labor burdens on participants. Compensation for service is one avenue to explore.

! There are many existing diversity councils, some of which could be absorbed by a central council to ensure alignment of effort. This may also reduce the time burden of individual participants.

II. Build a more socially just curriculum: The University should do more to enhance social justice as part of its curriculum. ! It should make the Frederick Douglass Institute and the Susan B.

Anthony Institute into departments, with a commensurate commitment to faculty hiring, curricular development, and graduating PhD students from these programs

! There should be a systematic curricular approach to inculcating an understanding of the elements of social justice in all undergraduate students in their first year. Potentially, this could take the form of a required first-year course (similar to the PWR), or a January term for all students that is completely dedicated to service.

! Hire “professors of practice” or “activists in residence,” from the city to teach courses at the university on issues related to local social justice movements and history.

III. Build a more representative faculty: The University should strengthen its commitment to hiring and especially retention of women and underrepresented minorities as faculty members. Following the lead of Princeton University, hiring and especially retention commitments should take the form of specific numerical time-bound targets for the University that have been mandated by the President and Board of Trustees.

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! There should be compensation for committee service by faculty members and students who are repeatedly tapped to serve on committees in order to be “diverse”

! Commit to graduating more PhD students from underrepresented groups

IV. Strengthen support for the City of Rochester: The University should do more to support its surrounding community. Among other possible steps, the University could: ! Provide better public transportation networks to connect the City with

the University. ! Seek to integrate with the 19th Ward by offering free community space,

tutoring and college prep courses, etc.

Immediate Actions

These actions could be adopted within the Fall 2020 semester: ! Publicly declare institutional support for the mission of Black Lives Matter

and Free the People Roc. ! Make racism punishable as an offense in the student code of conduct. ! Hire more local Black-owned businesses as caterers and vendors ! Commit to fund the Douglass Leadership House as a permanent part of

the University of Rochester community. ! Hang Black Lives Matter and LGTQ Pride flags in Wallis Hall ! Consider renaming River Campus to acknowledge the traditional tribal

land we occupy.

Direct Benefits

I. (Immediate action items) These are recommendations that pre-date this committee from students, staff, and faculty (see Appendix). The University’s failure to take these low-cost and deeply symbolic steps creates a sense among many stakeholders that it is not committed to the advancement of social justice.

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II. (Empowered and transparent decision-making) Prior Presidential Diversity Councils have tended to lose energy and connection with the University community. We attribute this failure, at least in part, to their “top-down” nature. The University leadership needs to be plugged directly into, and responsive to, the University community in order to make systematic progress on inclusion issues.

III. (Socially just curriculum) The University of Rochester draws students from a wide variety of life experiences, and this is a strength of the community. But a University commitment to social justice means that this diverse group of students should leave the University with a common understanding of the elements of social justice. It would be useful to have a systematic curricular approach to achieving this goal. We anticipate that many students will want a body of courses in areas related to social justice, and a departmentalized Frederick Douglass Institute would help advance this goal.

IV. (Build a more representative faculty) We are delighted to see that the President and Chief Diversity Officer have already made commitments along these lines (see their June 8 statement). But it would be valuable to have specific numerical targets and deadlines. Doing better on retention seems like a key first step.

V. (Support the City of Rochester) The City of Rochester remains significantly challenged in many respects. The University can promote social justice by doing even more to promote the well-being of the citizens of its surrounding community.

Appendix

! Space Invaders Demands Letter ! UR Student’s Association Impact #URBlackLivesMatter Petition: https://

sa.rochester.edu/impact/petitions/2752 ! Petition: Demand the University of Rochester be Anti-Racist: #URDoBetter ! Commission on Women and Gender Equity in Academia ! Commission on Race and Diversity

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https://sa.rochester.edu/impact/petitions/2752

https://sa.rochester.edu/impact/petitions/2752

! June 8 statement from President Mangelsdorf and CDO Ramirez

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https://www.rochester.edu/president/actions-to-address-equity-and-inclusion-on-campus/

2 A University for the City: building bridges between UR and the Rochester community

#UniversityfortheCity #ROCBridges

We need to build bridges between the University of Rochester and the Rochester community to improve education and healthcare, cultivate new economic opportunities, develop a pipeline of diverse future leaders to truly become A University for the City.

Summary Many universities stand apart from the communities in which they are located, neither bringing members of the community in, nor reaching out in significant ways to the community. To face the serious issues related to education, healthcare, urban vitality, and diversity, we need to build better connections to the local community. Given the strength of the University of Rochester’s Medical Center, River Campus, and Eastman School of Music and their location in the City of Rochester, we are well-positioned to make significant contributions in each of these areas.

Big Ideas

1. Create a centralized office for community engagement Centralizing our community engagement efforts underscores their strategic importance to the University and makes the most effective use of limited resources. This approach also allows us to build on areas of strength, publicize our diverse community efforts using a single "voice", and ensure alignment of our efforts with strategic priorities. In practice, there already exist many links between the University and City of Rochester. Further centralizing our efforts could lead to a number of advantages including: ○ Sharing of best practices ○ Better utilization of ties to the City of Rochester community ○ Reducing the start-up cost for new projects ○ Laying the foundation for tackling more challenging problems

2. Create a Downtown Center for Community Engagement UR has the opportunity to become a cornerstone of a dynamic and thriving downtown Rochester. A UR center for community engagement will bring together members of the University with community organizations to promote diversity and enhance engagement.

○ The proposed center should, first and foremost, be open to the community and accessible to, r people of all ages.

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○ The center could include an expanded Susan B. Anthony Center focused on issues of social justice and equality, that is currently housed in a small, hidden space in the River Campus.

○ Proposed uses of space may include: ■ An Urgent Care Center to serve the medical needs of downtown

residents ■ Classroom / Meeting Space to be used for:

■ Hosting local conferences ■ Holding classes for first year UR student ■ Holding classes targeted for the community

■ A preschool or daycare area with a state of the art playground built in collaboration with the Strong Museum of Play

■ An area to support collaborations of the arts and technology drawing on the expertise of Eastman Faculty and the strengths of UR in computer science, and engineering. Alternatively, a space for community arts to flourish, in connection with city and business sector partners.

■ Partner with the UR Nextcorps incubator and the maker space (in Sibley Square) to create a UR maker space

■ A sustainable grocery store

A central goal of the Center for Community Engagement would be to create local partnerships that strengthen the economic and financial stability in the region The Center should:

○ Expand University of Rochester Center for Community Leadership ○ Include an Office of Community and University Internships

■ To create a centralized office to fund and fill internships ■ To connect UR Students with local community groups ■ To connect highschool students and continuing education students with

internships with the UR and URMC ■ With a goal of creating and filling 1000 internships with in 5 years

○ Create or enhance partnerships with other local educational organizations within the community

○ Coordinate transportation with the City of Rochester, partnering with RTS closely for routes of mutual interest.

○ Offer community health programs in partnership with local institutions (e.g. Rochester Regional Health)

○ Aid in the Development of interdisciplinary courses tackling societal problems and community service

○ Host conferences on issues facing society concerning health care, education, diversity, equality

○ Foster life-long learning ○ Foster diversity, service, and opportunity in the region

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3. Create a Riverwalk Community Center

University of Madison-Wisconsin Student Union

Boston Esplanade

A Riverview Community Center on the Genesee River could further bring together the community of Rochester and the River Campus in a way that highlights the natural beauty of Rochester. To ensure that the center is a destination for community residents and members of the university, we propose a center that physically links both banks of the Genesee via a connecting bridge and showcases a city panorama. The surrounding space could offer satellites of local restaurants with late hours for residents to enjoy the

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skyline and includes study and meeting spaces for students and members of the community. We also suggest expanding the current paths and walkways to allow more space for biking, walking, running, etc. Other suggested ideas are an outdoor amphitheater for live music or other performance spaces. Rental of canoes, kayaks, paddleboards have also proved popular waterfront attractions in cities and are recommended here as well.

Immediate Actions

● Partner with the City of Rochester in the planning process for both Centers; this should include transparent engagement with the Rochester community

● Start by finding out more clearly what the UR already does and start to publicize this better

○ Develop better branding for community engagement projects ● Centralize / Organize existing efforts at Community Engagement

○ Start UR Intern ○ Fully fund 5 UR Student Internships in the Community in 2021 ○ Fully fund 5 City of Rochester High School Student Internships with the UR/

URMC in 2021 ○ Grow these programs every year

Supporting Ideas

1. Expand access to University of Rochester programs ● Build a covered walkway to the medical center which would be a physical

symbol of a bridge between the medical center and the rest of the University ● Expand programs to bring the community to campus (both to the new Riverside

Community Center and the River Campus); ● Expand our Department of Public Health to a center or institute with a focus on

improving health disparities ● Create a reliable efficient transportation system designed with principles of

sustainability connecting River Campus / URMC / Eastman / Center for Community Engagement / Riverside Community Center

2. Foster diversity, service, and opportunity in the region ● Make the University free for all City of Rochester students that are admitted,

perhaps with a relatively high maximum income requirement, e.g., $150k; ● Create an IT Career Program for future University IT/ISD employees; ● Develop programs to guide students from high school, to college, graduate

school, and academic careers (let’s be part of the solution to the pipeline problem).

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Direct Benefits

● Creating programming and non-profit opportunities that are valued by students ● Members of the Rochester community would potentially feel closer to university ● With centralized efforts, UR and the Rochester community could become aware of

community engagement activities early on

Long-Term or Secondary Benefits ● Building a local talent pipeline in the City of Rochester ● Improve the economic and financial stability of the region ● Expanding the resources available to and by the university

Potential Challenges

These are very hard, multi-faceted problems that have existed in many cases for decades or longer. It will take resources, focus, determination, ingenuity, and community involvement to be successful. Another potential challenge is that the community may not be interested in the ideas we suggested; in that case, we would need to actively go out in the community and find out how we could best be of service.

Next Steps

● Start thinking about expanding our downtown footprint, e.g., urgent care, community center, incubator, and educational opportunities

● Identify fundraising opportunities, e.g., covered walkway to the riverfront community center

● Reach out to local colleges in an effort to partner with them, possibly even centralizing efforts at the regional level

● Collaborate with the City of Rochester to improve and provide transportation to the centers

● Expand efforts to bring the community to campus ● Encourage and support student engagement in the community ● Start developing or expanding programs to guide diverse students from high school,

to college, graduate school, and academic careers ● Learn more about what it takes to get significant foundational grants.

Appendix

Carnegie report on UR’s community engagement Examples of university community centers:

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● Netter Center Center for Community Partnerships at UPenn: https:// www.nettercenter.upenn.edu/

● Ginsberg Center at the UMichigan: https://ginsberg.umich.edu/ ● Robinson Community Learning Center at the University of Notre Dame: https://

rclc.nd.edu/about-rclc/

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https://www.nettercenter.upenn.edu/



https://ginsberg.umich.edu/

https://ginsberg.umich.edu/

https://rclc.nd.edu/about-rclc/



3 Go for the Gold: creating a vibrant sustainability community at UR and beyond

#Go For the Gold #RocSustainablity #URNetZero

“The University of Rochester aims to be a leader in promoting a sustainable society through our academic, education, research, patient care and health programs, in the operation of our campuses and facilities, and in our interactions with the community.”

UR Sustainability Council’s Mission Statement, adopted in 2014

Summary

UR lags behind many institutions in the US with respect to sustainability. Currently there are seven institutions with STARS Platinum status, and over 75 institutions with Gold status. While UR does well compared to these other institutions in terms of research, campus engagement, and our physical grounds, we trail behind many of these institutions on the majority of the metrics that go into STARS. In addition to STARS, we should aim to be a “Gold Star” institutional citizen, doing our part and more as a leading employer to implement the City of Rochester’s sustainability-related plans for greenhouse gas reductions, climate resilience, land use, housing, energy, and transportation (https://www.cityofrochester.gov/Rochester2034/).

Big Ideas

1. Establish an Office of Sustainability - Create a vibrant community & culture for people working towards a more

sustainable future - Coordinate sustainability efforts at all levels of our organization including

curriculum, energy, facilities, food services, grounds, parking and transportation, purchasing, recycling, and waste management

- Co-ordinate & support academic & research opportunities on sustainability

- Establish a Sustainability Hub for collaboration, research & innovation in Sustainability

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https://www.cityofrochester.gov/Rochester2034

2. “Let’s Go for the Gold (Campus)!” - All buildings should meet LEED Gold Standards - Create, track and publicize metrics/goals for sustainability throughout the

enterprise – purchasing, energy, transportation, food, etc. - Attain “Gold” status in the STARS rating system

3. Work with the community to develop a radically sustainable and carbon neutral transportation system.

Immediate Actions

1. Establish the Office of Sustainability. 2. Initiate the STARS data-collection process toward submission in December 2021

at a Gold standard, including a commitment to attain LEED “Gold” or equivalent in all new and renovated building projects.

3. Establish a program to purchase carbon offsets for University-related travel with the local Rochester offset program

Supporting Ideas

The following objectives will move us toward this goal:

● Establish a funded Office of Sustainability which a includes a senior level Director of Sustainability who can ensure that sustainability principles and metrics are including in university-wide planning and policies

● Include, as part of this office, a Sustainability Hub, which will serve as a resource for UR students, faculty, and staff and facilitate the UR’s engagement in sustainability efforts in the broader community ○ Three Key Components of this Hub are:

■ Research ● Promote and Encourage Research in Sustainability

■ Teaching ● Promote and Encourage of Classes on Sustainability

■ Service ● Oversee an Internship Program

○ Placing UR Students with Community Organizations focused on Sustainability

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https://www.racf.org/collaborations/rochester-energy-efficiency-and-weatherization/

■ Create 4-6 UR Intern Internships for 2021 ■ Bringing in City of Rochester Students to work

on issues of sustainability at the River Campus, URMC, and Eastman

■ Create 4-6 UR Intern Internships for 2021 ○ Increase these Internships each year!

● Establish campus-wide targets or metrics to document the University’s overall progress toward sustainability that meet or exceed the community’s and region’s commitments to sustainability, including reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. ○ Set 10% improvement for each of these metrics ○ Put up a campus wide scorecard showing how different units are making

progress towards these goals ● Seek a “Gold” rating in AASHE’s Sustainability Tracking Assessment & Rating

System (STARS) program ● Assure that all new buildings and major renovations (including those of

university-owned off campus buildings within the academic and health systems) meet LEED Gold standards

● Continue to increase the percentage of locally sourced and sustainably produced food institution-wide (including URMC).

● Play an active role in community-wide sustainability efforts, such as ROC the Riverway and Monroe County’s Climate Action Planning process.

● Create Energy Efficient Transportation Links that connect the River Campus, Eastman School of Music, URMC, Center for Campus Engagement, and the Riverside Community Center

● Create classes on sustainability that work with facilities, food services, and the grounds to come up with novel ways to implement programs in sustainability

● Use Witmer House as testing ground for ways to promote sustainability ○ In terms of heating / Cooling ○ In terms of locally sourced food / composting

■ Establish a Caterer’s Garden ■ Establish a hydroponic greenhouse

● Create a program to use wood from trees removed on campus to make items that can be sold in the campus bookstore with part of the profits being used to promote sustainability programs on campus

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Direct Benefits

The immediate positive impacts will be:

● Reduction in the University’s carbon footprint ● Reduction in use of natural resources, ● Support of sustainability in our geographic community ● Contribution of knowledge toward the solution of some of society’s most

significant challenges. ● Increase the University’s reputation as a leading place to study, research, work

and invest resources because of the growing recognition by society.

Long-Term or Secondary Benefits

In the long run, being a leader in sustainability in design and management of our physical plant will result in:

● Cost savings for and improved livability of our campus and the broader community

● Our ongoing research, training, and cultivation of engaged citizens will enable our faculty, alumni and staff to make meaningful contributions to creating a globally sustainable society

● Integrating the University into implementation of local and regional sustainability plans will support equity, economic growth, and quality of life in our region.

● Attracting scholars, students, and staff who care deeply about sustainability


● The University’s ability to borrow capital and the short-term costs of investments in long-term sustainability projects.

● Decentralized University decision-making about finances, educational offerings, physical plant, community engagement, dining services, and academic priorities undermines our ability to undertake projects, programs, and initiatives that require long-term institution-wide prioritization, investment, and support.

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● Competing financial priorities and lack of consensus among the University’s faculty, administration, and Board about the value of investing in sustainability.

Appendix

“Going for Gold” is a reference to the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS), a program of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). The STARS program is a system for universities to measure and track their progress in enhancing campus sustainability efforts. The U of R currently has a Silver rating. We propose that UR should “Go for the Gold” (i.e. a Gold STARS rating). This process requires setting goals and metrics in a wide range of areas, including purchasing, transportation, energy use, and food. Thus, striving for the (STARS) Gold presents a pathway for creating a vibrant community culture for people working towards a more sustainable future.

As part of our effort to attain a STARS gold rating, we should particularly focus on how we build (and rebuild) our physical plan). The LEED rating system for buildings (https://www.usgbc.org/leed) can guide these efforts. This rating system provides detailed guidance for practices, products, and performance of sustainable buildings. Most common new constructions/design standards are consistent with the LEED “Silver” rating. UR should pursue at least a Gold, if not Platinum, status (or equivalent) for all new buildings and major renovations of existing buildings.

Although there is no “Gold” certification for sustainable transportation systems at Universities, we should aim to attain this status by promoting a radically sustainable transportation system. Because transportation is by definition part of the fabric of our geographic community, this system needs to be designed, implemented, evaluated, and sustained in close partnership with local and regional partners.

The UR transportation system should be broadly defined to encompass within-Rochester mobility, parking, employee and student commuting, and University travel (local through global). Our current systems do not promote sustainable behaviors (public transportation, carpooling, etc.), health (active transportation, emissions reduction), or technological innovation (electric vehicles, etc.). A sustainable solution should be progressive, redistributive, and socially just, being mindful of the cost burdens, opportunities, and options for lower-income community members.

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https://www.usgbc.org/leed

Because current technologies emit greenhouse gases (i.e. gasoline-powered cars, buses, airplanes), carbon ‘offsets’ (investing in carbon ‘sinks’) will be necessary for the immediate future. To support the goal of social justice, we recommend investing in local energy efficiency/alternative energy efforts (i.e. solar panels, housing retrofits, etc.) to offset our emissions. For example, the local RENEW program of the Rochester Area Community Foundation reduces greenhouse gas emissions by providing grants to low-income homeowners in Rochester to make their homes more energy efficient. Overall, the UR’s transportation system should be designed in partnership with the community to be carbon neutral, technologically innovative, and socially just.

Striving for Gold in all facets of our enterprise requires integrating education, research, community engagement, and healthcare with the operational decisions of the University. Therefore, in order to achieve Gold status, we need a centralized “Office of Sustainability” at the top that serves to develop and implement institution-wide policies and to incorporate sustainability considerations explicitly into all aspects of the University. The Office of Sustainability will coordinate sustainability efforts at all levels of our organization including research, education, energy, facilities, food services, grounds, parking and transportation, purchasing, recycling, and waste management. This centralized office will also serve as a hub that links and coordinates the University of Rochester’s sustainability efforts with surrounding colleges, local communities, and the public sector in the greater Rochester area. At present, our approach to sustainability is fragmented, with individuals and groups working mostly independently to promote localized efforts.

Through these three “big ideas,” we will become a radically sustainable university through our operations, research, education, healthcare and role as an institutional citizen of the City of Rochester.

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4

Creating an “ever better” workforce #everbetterworkforce #culturecampaign

The University of Rochester should address institutional barriers and dismantle systemic issues of equity and access as it pertains to employment and career development of our people. These actions will empower our employees with a true “ever better” approach to attract, retain, and develop talent in a more holistic manner.

Big Ideas

1. A Culture Campaign to Prioritize a Healthier Workplace Culture Develop and implement a university-wide "cultural" campaign that builds off the success of the iCARE framework and is comprehensive, long-term and an ongoing effort. To ensure alignment, unit and individual annual performance goals should be tied to campaign goals which can include: ● Prioritizing time for growth and development as professionals, leaders, and

supervisors and creating an organizational priority of dedicated time (professional development days that include a focus on employee wellness, developing emotional intelligence, mindfulness, etc.)

● Connectivity as work conditions continue to evolve (future of work) and environments shift and change (remote work, virtual, etc.) - how can we stay connected as a community?

● Shift from compliance-based approach to a growth mindset by investing in professional development and people

● Address inequities and provide support services for employees to reduce (if not fully eliminate) the imbalance created by the inability for some employees to afford childcare, eldercare and other services that impact their ability to work

● A culture of equity and inclusion that ensures our values are put into practice - in our policies and protocols, our accountability measures (performance plans, corrective action), etc.

2. Establish a Career Center for Employees Provide employees with resources that will help them design a professional development plan that emphasizes growth and retention. This can include:

● Career pathways and professional development programs

PROJECT IMAGINE 26

● Removal of barriers to advancement and internal mobility ● A focus on developing emotional intelligence as a valuable tool in the worker

toolkit ● Professional staff experienced in talent management and career development,

with a particular focus on adapting current theories and philosophies of career education (i.e., Life Design)

○ Note: we recommend that the Center exists outside of HR to avoid conflicts of interest

3. Expand and Reimagine Leadership and Management Training Develop and offer a leadership and management training program that is required for all employees in a supervisory role at the University. The program would come with a support structure that includes coaches / mentors, workshops, etc. All new supervisors would be required to participate in ongoing training to develop supervisory skills and ensure that talent, the University’s greatest resource, is appropriately managed and developed. The goal should be effective leadership, including a focus on emotional intelligence, employee engagement, coaching, employee development, accountability, effective communication, and strategic planning. One of the ways to achieve this may be to adopt a Continuing Education Unit (CEU) model where staff engage in self-directed learning as part of their development and amass credits to complete their training. This self-development could be both synchronous and asynchronous and would be tied to accountability, performance goals and opportunities for career advancement.

Immediate Actions

1. Reframe the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) job: Reframe the title and job description for the CHRO to options that emphasize the “big ideas” outlined above - Chief “Talent”, “People” or “Learning” Officer - and include culture development, talent development, learning, and purpose over process.

2. Employee Bill of Rights: What better way to reinforce the University’s commitment to its employees than by establishing a social and professional contract that explicitly states what every individual employed at the University of Rochester can expect from that relationship? This goes beyond the University’s legal obligations and establishes a foundation on which to build trust and enable transparency. This could be a charge for the Genesee Staff Council.

PROJECT IMAGINE 27

3. Location Flexibility: Allow our workforce the flexibility to work remotely from anywhere in the US. In addition to effectively increasing take-home compensation (by reducing employee outlay for parking and gas) and improving morale, this would reduce the University’s carbon footprint and decrease the need for office space and parking. This strategy would also increase the pool of talent available to the University.

4. Annual Retreat for Supervisors: Explore opportunities for community building through annual or semi-annual retreats for supervisors that reinforces the skills and cultures that they need to build in the workforce (mandatory or reward-based).

Supporting Ideas

1. Talent Attraction and Onboarding

We need to attract local and international talent at all levels of the organization and build a racially diverse workforce. To achieve this, we should transform our hiring practices, audit and overhaul job ads to appeal to more candidates, ensure racially diverse search committees for all key positions, active recruitment at HBCUs, seed shortlists with diverse candidates, etc. Internal hires should also be held to accountability measures so that employees with performance issues don’t just move to another department at the University to escape corrective action. Employees at all levels (regardless of job classification or level) need to participate in mandatory onboarding that orients new hires to the culture of the University and reinforces our commitment to staff development, diversity and inclusion, and wellness. During their first year, employees should participate in a service project that introduces them to the mission of the University, preferably in an area that is different from where they will be working.

2. Recognition Program Institute a University-wide recognition program that rewards and recognizes when employees live the values. Options can be “best supervisor”, “best department culture”, etc. Rewards could include lunch for the department and / or benefits that staff value, such as paid parking for the year.

3. Referral Program

PROJECT IMAGINE 28

The best advertisement is when our employees encourage their colleagues, friends and family to work at the University. An example would be a referral program rewarding employees for successful hires.

4. Improve Employees Wellness Fully leverage current wellness programs and extend to all of campus (push rather than pull).

Supporting Ideas

● Increased employee engagement, trust and awareness of resources ● Improved consistency and transparency about the value of employees and career paths ● Improved training and support of leaders and managers (especially new ones) ● Improved ability to attract, onboard, and retain employees - especially diverse

employees ● Empowered employees (to have agency in their career planning) which can lead to

happier employees which we hope will result in a more engaged, productive, and innovative workforce

● More equity and inclusion within our workforce, policies, and procedures

Long-term or secondary benefits

● Cost savings around our greatest resource/investment - our people (turnover, productivity)

● Become a true employer of choice (as opposed to a “default” employer of choice) ● Decrease likelihood or issues of organizational stagnation by investing in people (“we

don’t want to be the shopping malls of America”) ● Potential revenue stream: career development materials/services could be offered to

other institutions (locally or more widely)


● If we don’t address pay inequity, it will continue to be a barrier for engagement and trust

● Existing structures and lack of appropriate resourcing (HR structure)

PROJECT IMAGINE 29

● Leaders/supervisors/managers that will see some of this as “another task” - we have to combat apathy around what effective training and development could look like and shift the conversation from “training” to “learning”

● Budget and financial constraints of University

Next Steps

● Create an “After Action Report” to assess the policies implemented during COVID - what worked, what didn’t, what did we learn?

● Identify “bright spots” that already exist throughout the University and scale those ● Listen and talk to employees by asking different questions vs. satisfaction questions;

Employee satisfaction should be a metric that is tracked and reported annually ● Be bold.

Appendix

● Great Places to Work (Forbes) criteria and lists; Fortune Best Places to Work criteria and lists

● Research on employee engagement: Joy at work (resources being identified); Happiness at work (resources being identified); Deci + Ryan (Self-determination theory at UR); Motivation and drive

PROJECT IMAGINE 30

5 Retooling for the future: becoming a changemaker

#URchangemakers #changemakerU #thefutureu #operationchangemaker

“Changemakers are tenacious about the greater good.” The times we live in demand a faster rate of change. The pressing nature of our time requires UR to take action, not be reactive and to do so at scale for all students. We have a long history of changemaking at UR and in the City of Rochester- it’s time to be a leader again for global changemakers for the future.

Summary What is a changemaker? A student who is ready to go out and shape the future! In a recent profile in Upswell and a New York Times article, Bill Drayton, founder and CEO of Ashoka said, “Changemakers are people who can see the patterns around them, identify the problems in any situation, figure out ways to solve the problem, organize fluid teams, lead collective action and then continually adapt as situations change.”

How do we create “changemakers” and build an infrastructure consistent across all disciplines? We know that it must involve a promotion of experiential learning, lifelong learning, developing influence, design thinking, building oral communication skills, inspiring citizenship, and ultimately thinking of yourself as a verb, not a noun. These qualities are just the tip of the iceberg. A changemaker inspires, initiates, and influences and UR can provide opportunities to practice these competencies and live these values.

We identified some core concepts that form the foundation for UR becoming a place that fosters changemakers. The first stage would be a collective approach to defining and curating a definition for “changemakers.” The process itself informs and helps to create a culture shift and community around the idea of changemaking in our communities and the society at large. Following that experience and process, there are three core ideas that form the “changemaker curriculum” at UR.

PROJECT IMAGINE 31

https://upswell.org/2018/02/16/what-the-heck-is-a-changemaker/%25E2%2580%25A9

Big Ideas

1. Embed new, innovative experiential learning options in all programs to ensure ALL students engage in varied types as part of their programs and curriculum (experiences, internships, practicums, relationship building), consistent and universal in all programs / practice. This takes place in a great deal of graduate and professional programs at UR but there may be gaps and this would ensure all students leave UR with a portfolio of experiences and ways they can apply their academic learning to future plans.

2. Create longitudinal experiences that are formative and scaffolded. These experiences would be group-based learning that small cohorts of students (4-10) engage in over the course of at least one year but possibly the entire length of their program at UR. This will allow for a deeper interdisciplinary investigation of a problem (societal, research-based, community) that extends beyond the classroom. “Problems” can be determined by student clusters and advised by staff, faculty, alumni, and/or community members.

3. Expand educational opportunities for continued learning and engagement for alumni (giving back to UR as a volunteer OR continuing to solve problems collectively). The cohort model could extend to alumni clusters and inspire deeper collaboration among our alumni (with each other or with students) and creating a model that is more representative of how community, societal, academic, and business solutions are developed - especially in future workplaces.

Immediate Actions

1. Create or identify a common definition for the shared attributes that make a “changemaker”

2. Build commitment of all our community to this new construct through our MELIORA values

3. Create a structure for experiential learning, longitudinal experiences, and continued learning options where learners can craft their curricular and co-curricular experience

4. Build an infrastructure for tracking and evaluating learning and progress (i.e. utilizing a portfolio process such as AEFIS)

PROJECT IMAGINE 32

Supporting Ideas

1. Create a lecture free university where education comes from experiential learning, small group discussions, mentorship, shared experiences rather than the classroom.

2. Make each student's education completely self-directed with many supporters who share expertise when needed, similar to the Montessori style education system. In this approach, students make their own requirements and the supporters become apparent with their choices. "I'd like to do a research paper on how social media affects adolescents" surfaces the librarian, the library resources, the writing center, the Warner school of education, etc.

3. Shift the focus of the student's efforts into making a difference in the world, making their degree a beneficial side effect. From the beginning, students are encouraged to find what inspires them, identify their strengths and create their own goals highly aligned with making a positive change in the community or world. Requirements are built in, like a video game, where the student is encouraged to continue to the next level and the requirements are ticked off, but they don't focus on the requirements as much as the journey and the goals. The students become mentors, educators, and facilitators, helping the students following them meet their goals, sometimes in a mutual way.

4. Implement an academic calendar based on a whole-year quarter system in which two quarters are spent traditionally on campus, one is spent off campus in a co-op style experience or apprenticeship in the US or abroad, and one spent as a traditional “break”. Students can decide which quarter will be what, but they must satisfy each category every year, for all four years.

5. Create a collection of alumni designed courses that undergraduates are required to take one of. Ideally, the alumni can reflect on their Rochester experience and lead courses that they wished were offered in their time here. This will foster deeper connections between alumni, current faculty, students, and the industries that the alumni now work in.

Outcome: As students complete their formal educational experience at UR, they depart with a toolkit that is individualized to the learner and reflects the identified attributes of a changemaker. Students build the toolkit through curricular, experiential, and co-curricular experiences. UR LOOKS for students that want this type of

PROJECT IMAGINE 33

https://montessori-nw.org/about-montessori-education/#whatismontessori

educational experience - by creating a flexible changemaker “curriculum,” we will attract more changemakers.

Direct benefits

● Become an instrument of change. This structure and changemaker curriculum enhances student readiness to make a greater impact after graduating and achieve goals they have when they arrive at UR and those that develop as they learn and engage with faculty and knowledge gained through academic programs

● Support students to translating the impact of their education (ROI) and the telling of their story

● Through the transformation and creation of new curricular and co-curricular options, faculty and staff become changemakers as well as they inspire the growth of our community

● Creates opportunity for faculty development through interdisciplinary collaboration, involvement of alumni and community members, and ideas inspired by students

● Optimize the synergy of integrated university elements such as interdisciplinary collaboration, new experiential learning opportunities, and a broader definition of a community of educators

Long-term or secondary benefits

● Attracting students, faculty and staff to UR who are drawn by the creativity and promise of addressing problems and creating new solutions with a foundation of an R1 institution

● Addresses a core challenge for UR - brand awareness - by providing more distinctive experiences, engagement with community, and an identity (changemakers) that is rare in higher education

● Engage alumni in more meaningful and sustained ways ● Spurring on innovation through structured and encouraged collaboration ● Impact on communities - students can make an impact immediately while

enrolled alongside faculty and staff to address issues and problems they identify

PROJECT IMAGINE 34


● Systems and structure at UR (curriculum): How can you create a shared commitment to this concept? Creating the timetable to transform programs or experiences across the various programs will be difficult. How do you then incentivize interdisciplinary work?

● The process of defining a changemaker and relating it to Meliora values has the potential to stall the creation of a changemaker curriculum.

● The time and resources necessary to build an infrastructure of experiences and define its parameters may be a barrier to creation. We must engage in an extensive inventory of what already exists.

● University of Rochester students are already busy and ambitious. Establishing this new curriculum will require freeing more time for students to participate in it. Another complementary option may be to give credit for the “changemaker-esque” things that students are already doing (Ex: Nursing school gives credit for experiences prior to enrolling). However, we will then have to design a structure for giving that credit across disciplines.

● What are the mechanisms by which we launch these changemakers into the professional world? How do we promote them to the marketplace or graduate programs?

Next Steps 1. Create or identify a common definition for the shared attributes that make a

“changemaker”, pulling in voices and perspectives from every area of the community, and make sure that this definition is congruent with Meliora values.

2. Complete an extensive inventory of what curricular, community-led, or student-led initiatives and infrastructures already exist in the University.

3. Using the things you have identified in Step 2 as a springboard, build a “changemaker curriculum”!

Appendix

● SNHU: https://www.snhu.edu/admission/transferring-credits/work-life-experience

PROJECT IMAGINE 35

https://www.snhu.edu/admission/transferring-credits/work-life-experience



● SNHU / LRNG: https://www.snhu.edu/about-us/newsroom/2018/10/snhu-lrng-merger

● UR Nursing: NUR350 syllabus ● Operation Shakubuku: Rebuttal of False Teachings (formerly Vibrant year-round

campus) ● Creating an “ever better” workforce (formerly Becoming employer of choice) ● Equity + access theme ● Any student, any patient, anywhere

PROJECT IMAGINE 36

https://www.snhu.edu/about-us/newsroom/2018/10/snhu-lrng-merger

https://www.snhu.edu/about-us/newsroom/2018/10/snhu-lrng-merger

6 Shakubuku: Rebuttal of False Teachings

#lifelonglearning #from8to88 #12monthcampus

Let’s transform the University of Rochester into a bustling, vibrant, thriving “12-month campus” and create a lifelong campus environment that supports learning and academic development across all age demographics.

Summary

Shifting our infrastructure to allow educational innovation and inspiration, while simultaneously removing barriers for exciting ideas, will allow for more and better access to additional students that could shape the University for years to come. A “Committee on Innovation and Learning” is an effort that could (1) deliver educational content to a larger audience both inside/outside the University (2) examine connections that currently exist amongst institutional structures (3) make recommendations for changes that impede the “innovative process” (4) have a specific focus on those ideas that both fulfill our educational aspirations and revenue considerations.

Big Ideas

1. Shifting or Adjusting the Academic Calendar Create a vibrant year-round campus, increased flexibility for students, fewer classes per term (quarters, trimester, j-terms, etc.) for each student for deeper learning and immersion in each course, increased opportunities for internships, study abroad, or employment (or any form of experiential learning), taking advantage of the local community year-round, and increase university revenue. The structure could also provide more flexibility for faculty to explore interdisciplinary collaboration and innovative course development that may be more responsive to current events or trends. This flexibility would not be done to the detriment of faculty workloads or compensation and may in fact create more options for additional revenue generation and sources.

2. Lifelong Learning Build capacity for lifelong learning and/or build a Continuing Education Learning Center for our community that serves all ages, ethnicities and socio-

PROJECT IMAGINE 37

economic backgrounds - the increased diversity creates a richer educational environment for all. The Center would coordinate and build on existing strengths in each of our schools and market to and create accessibility for our 30,000+ employees as well as our greater Rochester community members.

Expanding options for certificates and credentials for non-traditional learners but also current students is also a critical element of emphasizing “lifelong learning.” This would align with trends in higher education and workforce development that highlight micro-credentials as an aspect of the future of work. Lastly, this rethinking of content creation and delivery can position the University to innovate in and scaffold options for undergraduates, graduate students, alumni, community members, K-12 and industry partners to generate revenue and create deeper brand loyalty and commitment to continuous learning and growth.

3. Removing the Barriers Between Schools at UR We can invest and “double down” on our guiding principle of allowing and encouraging students to study what they love and what inspires them. We should build upon the strengths, expertise and infrastructure already in place at each of our schools and allow traditional students to study across all school – i.e. undergraduate and graduate study in every school. This concept would require addressing existing structures or barriers (admissions, registration, tuition) and offering course options that are introductory in nature with minimal prerequisites to allow for more exploration. This can also connect directly to micro-credentialing where tracks are created that may leverage strengths that are tied to market needs that continuously evolve.

Immediate Actions

● Conduct an inventory to curate ideas and content around the University that already exist

● Create and implement a new Committee on Innovation and Learning ● Explore the benefits to create a Continuing Education Learning Center ● Solicit local superintendents on their willingness to partner in this new

educational environment ● Provide incentives for undergraduates to stay on campus year-round for

research and study

PROJECT IMAGINE 38

Supporting Ideas

Examine our current structures, specifically an agrarian academic calendar, how matriculated and non-matriculated students approach learning, and the barriers to partnerships and inter-disciplinary study between individual schools. This reflection and the insights gained will help to dismantle constraints that limit our collective goals and allow us to rebuild a more robust, flexible and accessible educational experience for all learners. We can continue to rethink when and where learning occurs and to whom it is offered by considering changes to our term structure, a summer term, gap year programs, project-based terms, pre-college (K-12) programming, undergraduate, graduate, and post-doc education and continuing education for alumni and the greater Rochester community.

Direct Benefits

Benefits that may come from these models address the challenges that our current systems and structures present around delivering educational content to users (current and potential).

● Encourages and reinforces partnerships and interdisciplinary work between faculty, staff and students across individual schools

● Creates new, market adaptable, diversified revenue streams that can be more easily responsive to the rapidly changing workplace and education landscape

● Infusion of more experiential learning into curriculum by building off of bright spots and strengths across schools

● Improve retention and graduation rates for a number of programs - especially undergraduate programs - by allowing for more flexibility without compromising the residential and relational strengths of the university

● A shift in philosophy that is more current and responsive to student needs, expectations, market forces and trends

Long-Term or Secondary Benefits

● Moves UR into a proactive space of responsiveness to future of work trends without sacrificing our research focus and enterprise. It could enhance these efforts by encouraging more interdisciplinary work and grant applications that emphasize future of work (NSF, NIH, etc.)

PROJECT IMAGINE 39

● Credential building: a layered way that people can build or scaffold credentials along with the traditional ones we offer (BA, BS, MS, etc.) that keeps alumni engaged and for the University to be involved in the career pathways of our alumni


● Moving off of our agrarian academic calendar with be a significant shift requiring a complete overhaul of many systems at the institution (staffing, finances, admissions to name a few)

● A shift in culture and mindset. Change is hard and many people are invested and deeply enmeshed in the current model at UR and higher education as a whole

● Re-accreditation process is lengthy and involved ● Up front cost may be a barrier; however, we believe the long-term return will far

outweigh the up-front investment

Next Steps

● Create a longer standing work group to further explore the opportunities, challenges and tactical application of the 12-month model with a focus on action and re-design vs. identifying only barriers and policies that may need to be adjusted.

● Engage the key stakeholders in the process and identify areas of UR that already embrace this construct and philosophy - how can we scale and leverage these models?

● Engage 2-3 R1 universities that use a year-round model for deeper level understanding OR partner with them to create more virtual options across institutions thereby scaling these efforts outside of UR.

● Benchmark efforts: universities that offer effective, profitable, and learner-focused continuing education programs as well as institutions that are innovative in delivering educational experiences to learners that may not be traditional peer institutions (Paul Quinn College, Southern New Hampshire College, Coursera, EdX).

● Cultural change campaign to engage, build momentum and gain buy in from the university and greater Rochester community.

Appendix

PROJECT IMAGINE 40

4 X 11 Week Quarters - Detailed Ideas ● 4x 11-week quarters, Q1 July-Sept, Q2 Oct-Dec, Q3 Jan-March, Q4 April-June ● Credit hour-based tuition model for maximum flexibility for students and

increased university revenue (9 courses per year for a full load vs current 8, will increase tuition revenue)

● Students can take any one quarter off per year for internship, work, family reason, etc.

● Students can begin study in quarter 1 or 3 (also allows admissions flexibility to defer students to quarter 3, increase/decrease selectivity, increase activity in transfer market, and increase/decrease financial aid in a more nimble/agile manner)

● Students can complete degree on average in 3.5 years, opening up space sooner to increase total population and revenue over time by 12% (restaurant model, turning over tables faster)

● Potentially less competitive employment and internship environment and opportunities for project-based work that is not as time-bound as traditional internships and research projects

● Flexibility for faculty to take 1 quarter off annually (current appointments are 9-month academic year appointments with 3 months off in the summer, so the new model would be similar in terms of annual time off, e.g. if one were to take quarter 3 off with the built-in breaks, that would be 14 straight weeks off)

● Opportunity for faculty to earn bonus pay for working a 4th quarter but also may lead to more interdisciplinary work if this 4th quarter is promoted as an opportunity to explore ideas and collaboration across institution

Lifelong Learning - Detailed Ideas ● Academic camps, sports camps, tutoring, academic courses and college

preparedness courses for K-12 (also provides opportunities for undergrad and grad students to give back and engage with Rochester area youth). Focused attention on RCSD and underserved students to plant an aspirational seed of a college education and help develop future leaders.

● Create more learning opportunities through already offered individual courses (grad and undergrad level) for non-traditional students and promote broadly. Increase classroom diversity and add the wisdom of life experience to the learning environment which benefits our traditional students. Win-win for non-traditional and traditional learners.

● Partner with and market to local companies who are looking for professional development opportunities for their workforce in leadership/management, culture/environment, equity/diversity/inclusion, health/wellness, accounting/

PROJECT IMAGINE 41

finance, innovation/product development, marketing, computing, etc. Share our strengths and knowledge with our community!

Other Resources ● https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/blogs/rethinking-higher-

education/sorting-success-framework-just-practices-lifelong ● https://hechingerreport.org/more-students-start-earning-stackable-credentials-

on-their-way-to-degrees/ ● https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/institute-innovative-education.aspx

PROJECT IMAGINE 42

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/blogs/rethinking-higher-education/sorting-success-framework-just-practices-lifelong

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/blogs/rethinking-higher-education/sorting-success-framework-just-practices-lifelong

https://hechingerreport.org/more-students-start-earning-stackable-credentials-on-their-way-to-degrees/

https://hechingerreport.org/more-students-start-earning-stackable-credentials-on-their-way-to-degrees/

https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/institute-innovative-education.aspx

7 Becoming the healthiest campus in the world

#URHealth #URWellness #URHealthy #MelioraHealth

We propose making Health and Wellness a “signature,” of our University; a central part of our culture, scholarship, values, and campus life that ultimately helps define our brand. We hope we can move the whole school, and even the whole town, towards Health and Wellness by building on our strengths.

Big Ideas See appendix for more detail

● A culture that places mental and physical health at the center of the student experience.

a. All incoming students are paired with a wellness coach to help them navigate diet, exercise, sleep and mental well-being.

b. A “Well-U” for students that offers programming, course offerings and resources throughout the year.

● Partner with URMC, Data Sciences, Biomedical Engineering, an IoT company, and our Health Data Lab to increase personal health awareness through scholarship and innovation.

● Encourage, and make more accessible, healthier food choices for all of the University.

● Improve Mental Health access throughout our University c. Hire diverse mental health counselors (especially bi-lingual, Asian

Americans and Latino Americans) at the UCC, and provide free transportation for students to go to mental health agencies off-campus

d. Make mental health counseling universally accessible to students, faculty & staff.

Supporting Ideas

● The physical and mental well-being of students, faculty & staff are vital to the success of our University. On the health side of well-being, we propose to remove/discourage the consumption of sodas (etc.) [or new facts can be shared

PROJECT IMAGINE 43

so that they deter people from purchasing soda → such as “if you drink this soda, you increase the chance of you being obese by 2-3%] from the menus of University of Rochester’s dining options. It will also be beneficial to outsource more of our food from local farms and vendors. We propose to remove vending machines that store unhealthy foods from the Georgian Athletic Center and encourage the establishment of a “Healthy Food Tent” that provides athlete-friendly foods for students and staff that do their workouts there. On the mental and spiritual side of well-being, we propose a more accessible system of counselling where students and staff are able to chat with a counselor online or be counselled without a scheduled appointment. We also encourage the University to hire a diversified group of mental health professionals who can assist students and staff from all ethnicities and national backgrounds.

● A healthier campus has enormous benefits. On the financial front, the biggest expense for the University is salary and benefits totaling $2.2 billion in 2018. If one assumes that 10% of that (likely too conservative) is for health benefits, that is $220 million. Even a 1% reduction in health care expenditures for a self-insured entity like the University would mean $2+ million per year (ties to enhancing the financial stability of the University) and would more than pay for healthier foods and many other options. In addition, 75% of individuals hospitalized with COVID-19 have diabetes, hypertension, or obesity. We should be preventing not fueling these health risks (ever better employer).

● We could also create more opportunities for university-wide and community wide sporting events. Some ideas would be to hold student vs. faculty and staff events and competitions between various departments. In the future we could hold various tournaments: volleyball, soccer, basketball, quidditch, etc. In the current times, however, we could offer socially distanced outdoor activities such as bike tours, 3-point shoot outs, human foosball (see appendix), and ball handling lessons (for basketball and soccer taught on the outdoor track). This way we can still utilize our facilities and greenspaces and also get the community involved.

Direct Benefits

● Decreased spending on health insurance on faculties and students. ● More job opportunities on campus while sustaining a diverse workforce. ● Recruitment and retention tool for students and staff. ● Outsourcing food products locally will allow us to invest more in the Rochester

community.

PROJECT IMAGINE 44

https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/160743209/05_2019_prefixes_13-16%252F160743209_201806_990_2019052916355326


● Eating healthy costs both money and time. According to a Harvard study, “eating a healthy diet (rich in fruits, vegetables, fish, and nuts) cost about $1.50 more per day per person than eating an unhealthy diet.” Though the margin is small, it still has a potential of swaying people away from eating on campus which thus result in the loss of school’s revenue. In addition, during the school year, most students are busy with their school work which thus, don’t allow them to avoid unhealthy fast foods. Eliminating fast foods will only result in the lost from the school. Students may choose not to live on campus anymore due to the limited option of foods.

● Mental-Health Professional Consultation Without Appointments may cause disorder within the University’s mental health counselling system. This may inversely encourage more people relying on appointments and refuse to seek emergency help when needed due to the uncertainty of the Professional's availability.

Next Steps

● Develop a University “signature” around Health and Wellness. ● Form a diverse University-wide committee on health and wellness. ● Create “Well-U” for students and an online course on how to eat healthy (every

student is required to take). ● Install Health Signage in front of all food-related settings. ● Hire more bi-lingual Latino and Asian mental health counselors.

Appendix

References & Examples:

University of Rochester Form 990 for period ending June 2018:

Well-U for faculty

FDA Proposes New Health Warnings for Cigarette Packs and Ads

Eating healthy vs. unhealthy diet costs about $1.50 more per day

PROJECT IMAGINE 45

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/healthy-vs-unhealthy-diet-costs-1-50-more/)

https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/160743209/05_2019_prefixes_13-16%252F160743209_201806_990_2019052916355326

https://www.rochester.edu/working/hr/benefits/wellness/

https://www.fda.gov/tobacco-products/labeling-and-warning-statements-tobacco-products/fda-proposes-new-health-warnings-cigarette-packs-and-ads

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/healthy-vs-unhealthy-diet-costs-1-50-more/

Human foosball

● A “Well-U” for students e. All incoming students have a virtual 1:1 meeting with a wellness coach

that discusses diet, exercise, sleep and mental well-being. f. Just as we have a writing requirement, add a requirement for a Wellness

course. g. Offer diverse courses, workshops and activities on overall wellness h. Offer an ongoing Speaker Series on Wellness with local experts and

national thought leaders ● Partner with URMC, Data Sciences, our Health Data Lab to create a program

which increases awareness of personal health data i. Partner with an IoT device company such as Apple, Samsung, Withings,

Amazon (their new Halo device), Oura (for their ring) so our campus can increase awareness of health data.

j. Introduce challenges tracking level of activity to increase engagement and encourage collaboration

i. Sleep challenges ii. Exercise challenges (such as 10,000 steps) iii. BMI challenges

● Encourage, and make more accessible, healthier food choices for all of the University

k. Build a “Healthy Food Tent” that uses food from Rochester local farms or University of Rochester itself and offers healthy options.

i. Create a space in every eatery (across all campuses and the Medical Center) with foods from this tent and greater diversity of healthy snacks (Can we make it feel like the options available to Google employees?!)

l. Make a commitment to use locally sourced food products where feasible i. Increase amount of local produce outsourced (grown,

manufactured & processed) from NY producers ii. River Campus & Eastman currently outsource 65% - 70% of their

food from NY producers iii. Connect URMC food services with River Campus food services to

improve their supply chain options for locally produced food. m. Consider creating a University Vertical Farm and/or Beehives

i. Such as the beehives on the top of Rochester Regional ii. To give students exposure to farming and gardening, and to give

all University constituents an opportunity to work together 1. University employees could participate with their families

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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-argentina-foosball/argentines-get-soccer-kicks-at-social-distance-with-human-foosball-idUSKBN2460DV

2. And perhaps local farmers could join us with their expertise n. Educate and encourage consumption of better and higher quality foods

while deterring people from purchasing unhealthy food & drinks i. We can put a Health Sign in front of every unhealthy drink and

snack machine visualizing all the facts and negative and positive impacts of eating and drinking certain products

1. That can include the amount of sodium or sugar in-take after drinking one can of soda and how your body reacts to it.

2. We can also present the long-term negative effects of soda as well. E.g. like what cigarette companies are required to put Health Warnings on the cigarette box

ii. Offer healthy alternatives, such as draft Kombucha from local distillers (such as Fairport Brewing) or Alkaline water or Seltzer with flavors.

o. Partner with Wegmans to assist us, as a thought leader, on all of these concepts

● Improve Mental Health access throughout our University p. Hire diverse mental health counselors (especially bi-lingual, Asian

Americans and Latino Americans) at the UCC, and provide free transportation for students to go to mental health agencies off-campus

i. After interviewing with Paula Reynolds at UCC, we noticed a lack of representation on Asian Americans and Latino Americans. Most students who went to the UCC are international students, most of which are Chinese international students. However, despite the large amount of population, there are no Chinese, or, Asian counselors present at the UCC for counseling.

q. Make Mental Health counseling more accessible to students, faculty & staff

i. Consider formalizing an online platform to get virtual counseling ii. One possibility is to establish a relationship with a company that

provides such services online, such as Ginger (https:// www.ginger.io/about-us). They are seeking to partner with businesses and universities to provide their mental well-being services.

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https://www.ginger.io/about-us

https://www.ginger.io/about-us

8 Any Student Anywhere, Any Patient Anywhere

#EdMedAnywhere #OnlineEdMed #iStudent #iHealth

Big Ideas

1. Partner with a big tech company to offer innovative new education solutions (a suite of online credentials, certifications, etc.) Higher education is becoming increasingly expensive. This allows us a path to offer lower cost options to a broader base of students - anywhere.

a. By partnering with a big tech company to offer shorter term, concentrated degrees and/or certificates and other innovative solutions.

b. University of Rochester should be at the front-run of this trend and start seeking potential partnerships with big-tech companies such as Apple, Google, Oracle, Facebook, Amazon, etc. (e.g. iRochester, RochesterGo, RochesterU, etc.)

c. This effort has already started, and it will become increasingly competitive (so let’s be in the front of the movement!).

2. Use telehealth to increase access to care for all patients in New York.

Immediate Actions

● Formulate a university committee to work with alumni and corporate contacts in big tech to generate a plan of future cooperation.

● The committee can be named “Committee for a Technical Future”

Direct Benefits

● Employment rate increases for recent college graduates ● Attract more applicants to the university ● More university resources and better tech-team. ● Growth of alumni connections


● The process of reaching a deal with a particular big-tech company can be lengthy. It may take months or even years.

PROJECT IMAGINE 48

● UR’s reputation may become vulnerable as we expose ourselves to the corporate giants.

Supporting Ideas

● Develop 25 online courses of varying levels of credential in areas where the University of Rochester holds a global competitive advantage. (Partnerships with 2U, Coursera, Edx, etc.)

Online learning has been transforming the educational landscape for the last decade, but the trend has accelerated during the global pandemic, with students of all ages stationed at home with the world still at their fingertips. In April 2020, nearly all 40 courses at the Eastman School of Music’s summer music program were shifted online and opened for registration with just weeks to go before the season began. Despite almost no time to advertise the new offerings, registrations nearly doubled relative to a typical summer, and instructors reported some of the highest quality students of all ages they had ever seen from around the world. The enriching experiences for teachers and students in modified formats nearly equaled the benefit of in-person instruction. The success has caused the summer music program director to rethink what the future will look like.

One of the fastest ways to connect the strengths of the University of Rochester to a global community of learners is through placement of unique or targeted courses in which it holds a competitive advantage on the online educational platform Coursera, with which the UR is already active. connecting with over 600,000 learners over the past seven years. Yet, at present, there are only 13 courses associated with the university. Some 400,000 students have enrolled in Prof. John Covach’s “History of Rock” course in the last six years, with about 250 enrolling each week. The largest current “class” of students among UR’s offerings on Coursera is “Fundamentals of Audio and Music Engineering (Part I),” co-taught by Prof. Mark Bocko and Provost Rob Clark; over 55,000 students are enrolled in it at the moment. The Audio and Music Engineering major is strong on campus, but even introductory courses enroll about two times as many non-AME majors as majors with students from all corners of the university. Dozens of current undergraduate and graduate students on campus report encountering the course online and pursuing the program from there. The positive experiences suggest that even a small fraction of enrollees on Coursera

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https://www.coursera.org/rochester

can have a significant impact on students continuing their relationship with UR beyond the online course.

● The university should invest in the fixed cost to recruit appropriate instructors and production teams to develop the high-quality videos needed for these platforms. Once courses are produced and students enrolled, they may attract tens of thousands of students, some of whom will inevitably matriculate at the University of Rochester. This idea puts into circulation the best the university has to offer, expanding its most unique and popular courses and generating a perpetual pipeline for connecting student interests with the university’s strengths. The office of Associate VP of Online Learning Eric Fredericksen continues to serve as a hub for production, development, and support of the courses. Among these courses may emerge cross-disciplinary ventures between schools.

Next steps

1. Appoint a committee to develop a list of courses ripe for online learning platforms in consultation with schools (deans) and departments (chairs).

2. Develop a budget for funding the course development at UR. 3. Incentivize professors to develop courses for Coursera.

Additional ideas

1. UR (large and small) and courses holding an international competitive advantage for use on online learning platforms. Examples may include:

2. Nursing (Healthcare Informatics, Palliative and End-of-life care, Thinking Like a Clinician, Wellness Strategies for Cardiovascular Health, Addressing Health Disparities)

3. Optical Engineering (Intro to Optics, Precision Instrument Design, Optical Interference Coating)

4. Business Administration (Pricing Policies, Pricing Analytics, Analytics Design and Applications, Organization and Strategy)

5. Political Methodology (Game Theory, Mathematical Modeling in Political Science, Linear Models)

6. Music (Music Cognition, History of Rock*, Blues*) 7. Medieval Studies (Paleography, Codicology, and Digital Imaging; Arthurian

Legend; Robin Hood) 8. Eastman Museum (Photographic Preservation)

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9. Across Schools: Interprofessional Communication, Teams and Teamwork 10.The quality of teachings in each recorded-course should be tailored in such a

way that is direct, clear, and informative. It needs to be perspicuous and well-directed (e.g. https://cs50.harvard.edu/college/2020/fall/). These are the following steps to achieve that quality:

a. Professors that are interested in producing the recorded-course for Coursera or Edx should be allowed to have a course release to plan and record the course. The amount of time to compile and script the courses is more than a normal course. The material must be suitably condensed and reconceived for the short-lesson environment.

b. The format of the course should be similar to a well-directed Broadway show or a movie. Students should be allowed to participate in the recordings as audiences. Here are some requirements to achieve that format:

i. Must be in a large auditorium. ii. Must have a high definition camera from three different angles. iii. Must have audiences. iv. Must have a script of the lecture. v. Must have clear-cut presentations.

c. Once recorded, the professor should enjoy partial Copyright ownership of the recording with the University.

d. Who is teaching? opportunities for emeritus faculty or beginning faculty. e. Once launched, Coursera courses run on auto-pilot and do not require

servicing from the instructor. We recommend considering a suite of online courses apart from Coursera that may begin as online courses and evolve into instructor intervention as it nears completion. es Warner School or nursing school of Simon offer other educational experiences that may start with courses but include coaching, feedback (e.g., of teachers teaching, nurses caring for patients), in-person, on-campus experiences.

Direct Benefits

● The motivation for offering a thoughtfully designed suite of courses--reflecting the strengths of UR and not already duplicated on Coursera--is clear. T

● he most basic benefit of offering a strategic group of courses on Coursera is to generate a stream of revenue from students around the world. By providing entree courses online with paid certificates of completion, the university can earn passive income while gaining worldwide attention for its most popular and impactful course offerings. More importantly, as we know anecdotally from instructors already doing this work, students with interest in these niches and

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https://cs50.harvard.edu/college/2020/fall/

ownable topics may become full-time UR students in the future. That is a much larger benefit to investing in these courses. There is a further branding benefit. Even though students can pay for a certificate, courses may be taken for free too. Even if the university does not gain revenue through every Coursera student, it still provides a global public good. The door remains open to reunite with these students and their networks in the future. The UR name moreover will be attached to these foundational courses, as long as they remain relevant. The committee recommends the following steps to develop a coordinated effort on Coursera that puts forth the best the university has to offer.

f. More detail: i. University of Rochester will receive most of the returns from the

course(s). The committee also recommends a small revenue share or royalty for the instructors as further incentive to commit.

1. The total revenue can be divided as follows: a. Coursera → 20% (estimate) of the revenue b. University of Rochester → 75% (estimate) of the

revenue c. Professors → 5% (estimate) of the revenue

2. All courses should be offered free-of-charge in order to attract clients. However, the University can offer a Certificate of Completion to the students who completed the course at a price tag of ~$50 (estimate).


11.Partnership with digital health companies & further development on Dr. ChatBox

a. Idea Debrief: i. Partner with companies such as Teladoc and AmWell to promote

remote care and diagnostics. ii. Partner with recent UCSF Digital Health Award winners to

incorporate and combine their digital health projects into a single platform:

1. The winners for each category for the UCSF Digital Health Awards include:

a. Application of augmented intelligence (AI): Livongo b. Behavioral health company: Sana c. Consumer wellness and prevention: Butterfly

Network. d. Digital diagnostic—cardiovascular: Nanowear.

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https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/digital/14-companies-are-shaking-digital-health

e. Digital diagnostic—cancer: Flatiron Health. f. EHR–data interoperability: Qventus. g. EHR–patient engagement: Luma Health. h. Employer wellness and prevention: Sword Health. i. Femtech: Wildflower Health. j. Mental health: Meru Health. k. Patient cost savings: Grand Rounds. l. Remote care and diagnostics: AliveCor. m. Telemedicine: Doctor on Demand. n. Digital health hall of fame: 23andMe.

b. Immediate Actions (~<$1000) & Next Steps: i. Formulate a faculty committee of medical professionals and

computer scientists to develop such a Universal digital health platform.

ii. Further develop Dr. ChatBot and make it available to people outside of the University of Rochester.

c. Direct & Supporting Benefits i. Patients are more likely to choose URMC as their place of medical

help. ii. More doctors are willing to work at URMC iii. More financial resources available from corporate partners

d. Challenges & Risks i. Potentially harmful to UR reputation if mis-diagnose happens. ii. Digital Health service attitude toward patients may reflect UR

attitude toward society. If negative reports and ratings surfaced, they may hurt URMC reputation as a whole.

The medical center is focused on patient volume as a % of normal. Currently, it is ~90%. But why not aim to increase the number of patients served or number of visits conducted by 50% in the next 2-3 years. Many patients are undiagnosed with many conditions (e.g., in mental health) and almost no patients feel like they receive too much care (a few do). Shouldn’t every patient with diabetes see a nutritionist? Every person with back pain a physical therapist? Every family affected by Alzheimer disease a social worker? Every cancer patient a nurse? With telemedicine all of that is possible and much of it reimbursed (tie to Enhance the financial stability of the University).

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The UR recently opened its first mental health clinic in the City of Rochester. How about an urgent care or other specialty clinics (tie to Recognizing the histories and futures of the University and City are linked)?

URMC has affiliations with hospitals and clinics throughout western NY. Can telemedicine enhance and expand the capabilities of those? Can URMC serve larger patients in the greater NYC region? Can we expedite access to care in areas where the medical center is strong (analogous to your approach for Coursera offerings)? These may include orthopedics, cancer care (e.g., pancreatic care), pediatric neurology, psychiatry. Like partnering with Coursera, can URMC partner with many digital health companies (e.g., AmWell, Teladoc/Livongo) to provide clinicians (content) to these companies and extend the reach of URMC clinicians? Can this lead to additional revenue streams?

Appendix

● Partner with a big tech company to offer innovative new education solutions (a suite of online credentials, certifications, etc.) ○ Higher education is becoming increasingly expensive. This offers us a

path to offer some lower cost options to a broader base of students - anywhere.

Many Universities and Colleges will suffer 1. From Scott Galloway: “We’ll see a culling among

universities. Just as retail closures are accelerating from

PROJECT IMAGINE 54

https://moneywise.com/a/chains-closing-the-most-stores-in-2020

PROJECT IMAGINE

9,500 stores in 2019 to more than 15,000 in 2020, we’re going to see dozens, maybe hundreds, of universities not reopen”

Rochester could partner with a big tech company to offer shorter term, concentrated degrees and/or certificates and other innovative solutions.

2. From Scott Galloway: “MIT/Google could offer a two-year degree in STEM. The myth/magic of campuses and geography is no longer a constraining factor — most programs will be hybrid soon, dramatically increasing enrollments among the best brands. MIT/Google could enroll 100,000 kids at $100,000 in tuition (a bargain), yielding $5 billion a year (two-year program) that would have margins rivaling … MIT and Google. Bocconi/Apple, Carnegie Mellon/Amazon, UCLA/Netflix, Berkeley/ Microsoft … you get the idea.”

3. Ideas had been shared that partnerships between the big-tech companies and elite universities will take place in the post-pandemic future. Examples were given by Galloway, a marketing professor at NYU Stern: MIT@Google. iStanford. HarvardxFacebook. He stated that “these partnerships will allow universities to expand enrollment dramatically by offering hybrid online-offline degrees, the affordability and value of which will seismically alter the landscape of higher education.”

University of Rochester should be at the front-run of this trend and start seeking potential partnerships with big-tech companies such as Apple, Google, Oracle, Facebook, Amazon, etc. (e.g. iRochester, RochesterGo, RochesterU, etc.) This effort has already started, and it will become increasingly competitive (so let’s be in the front of the movement!). From Forbes: “Google is giving away 100,000 scholarships so you can earn an online certificate in these three areas:

● data analytics; ● project management; and ● user experience (UX) design

Here’s the kicker: Google will treat these online Google Career Certificates as the equivalent of a four-year degree. Yes, the

55

https://moneywise.com/a/chains-closing-the-most-stores-in-2020

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/16/retail-store-closures-in-the-us-could-explode-because-of-coronavirus.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/16/retail-store-closures-in-the-us-could-explode-because-of-coronavirus.html

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/05/scott-galloway-future-of-college.html

https://grow.google/certificates/

https://grow.google/certificates/

equivalent of a four-year degree if you apply for a related role at Google.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman/2020/07/14/google-scholarships-online-certificates/#429601f21580

References & Examples: Future of College: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/05/scott-galloway-future-of-college.html

UCSF Digital Health Awards Winners: https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/digital/14-companies-are-shaking-digital-health

Harvard CS 50 Online Course: https://cs50.harvard.edu/college/2020/fall/

University of Rochester Course Offerings on Coursera: https://www.coursera.org/rochester

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https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/05/scott-galloway-future-of-college.html



https://cs50.harvard.edu/college/2020/fall/

https://www.coursera.org/rochester

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman/2020/07/14/google

1 Financial transparency & efficiency #Strategy #Transparency #Efficiency

Strategy, transparency, and efficiency

Big Ideas

1. Greatly enhance the transparency regarding financial allocations and decisions. Be relentless about the need to link expenditures to a limited set of clearly communicated institutional strategic goals.

2. Re-examine the university’s unusual financial and legal relationship with the medical center in light of the strategic goals of both entities.

3. Achieve cost efficiencies through shared ownership of core support functions like IT and library services.

Immediate Actions

○ Make all employees’ salaries public. ○ Reduce all administrators’ salaries to no more than $500,000. ○ Adopt term limits for Board of Trustees, Senior Administrators, Deans,

and Chairs and time-limits for endowed professorships.

Supporting Ideas

There are a number of ideas emerging from Project Imagine that could lower costs or increase revenues. In terms of cost reductions, having healthier employees would mean having to pay fewer medical costs. Having a more sustainable campus would save on utility costs. In terms of revenue enhancement, “any student anywhere” has the potential to generate multi-million-dollar gains. Allowing for workplace flexibility would economize on valuable space that could be used for alternative uses.

Direct Benefits

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● Currently, there is no shared understanding at the University of Rochester of the institution’s strategic goals. This lack of a common vision leads to, and is supported by, a fundamental opaqueness that cloaks the flows of resources across units, and decisions leading to those flows. (This lack of transparency is attributable, at least in part, to the use of differential retrograde accounting and information systems across units.) Spending ends up, as a result, being directed toward the fulfillment of the disparate agendas of various empowered individual decisionmakers across campus.

● The University should establish a clear set of institutional goals. It should adopt a budget and planning model that allows for all stakeholders to see a clear linkage between all financial decisions and the University’s overall strategic vision. The adoption of such a budget and planning model would likely lead to a reduction of tens of millions of dollars (and possibly more) in misdirected spending from the University’s $4.5 billion dollar annual budget. Just as importantly, it could lead to a much better institutional culture, as all stakeholders would have a sense of working together toward a clearly stated common mission.

● Compared to other academic institutions around the country, the university’s financial and legal relationship with the medical center is unusually tight. The relationship has benefits – indeed, it is possible that the relationship should be even tighter. But, as we saw this spring, the relationship also creates large financial vulnerabilities for the university. And, as we also saw this spring, it creates inefficient constraints on human resource policies for both the university and the medical center, Overall: the relationship should be re-thought and re-grounded in the university’s strategic planning process.

● The lack of alignment of spending with goals is nowhere more apparent than in the provision of core support functions like IT and library services. It is no doubt in the interest of many decisionmakers within the University to keep these decentralized, so as to enhance their own control over University resources. But, for the institution as a whole, this lack of shared ownership over core functions leads to significant cost duplication and resource misallocation.

4. Potential Challenges a. Enhanced Transparency. Transparency would constrain decision-makers

(like administrators, deans and chairs) to make choices that further the

PROJECT IMAGINE 58

strategic interests of the University, rather than their own preferred agendas. This would be in the University’s interests, but it is unlikely to be welcomed by those decision-makers.

b. Executive Compensation. Executives at many of our peer academic institutions are very highly paid. As a result, capping administrator salaries at 500K is likely to significantly limit Rochester’s ability to attract and retain top-flight executive leadership. In the appendix, we attach the relevant 2017 salary information for top-paid personnel at Rochester, Wash U, and Johns Hopkins. (The cost of living in St. Louis is about 4% higher than in Rochester and the cost of living in Baltimore is about 11% higher. These comparisons ignore the larger tax burden associated with living in New York State.

Next Steps

The next step is to initiate a robust strategic planning process that, like Project Imagine, is deliberately inclusive of all stakeholders (faculty, students, staff and community). That process should re-examine the unusual financial and legal relationship between the university and the medical center. At the same time, the University should be working to establish a budget and planning model that would ensure that its future expenditures were directed toward the goals that emerge from the planning process.

Appendix

See attached executive compensation for University of Rochester, Washington University in St. Louis, and Johns Hopkins for tax year 2017.

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Appendix

Approach The novel coronavirus has altered virtually every aspect of society, including higher education. While disruptive, COVID-19 has provided the opportunity to reconsider long-held assumptions about education, research, health care, and the arts. Against this backdrop, Provost Rob Clark charged a new committee with reimagining the University of Rochester for a rapidly changing future.

The goal of Project Imagine was to “identify 10 big ideas that would transform the university experience and make the University of Rochester a better choice” for students, faculty, and staff. The resulting ideas would “serve as the seeds for strategic planning and ways to both differentiate and ensure the future of our University.”

To carry out this charge, Provost Clark asked Ray Dorsey, the David M. Levy Professor of Neurology and the Director of the Center for Health + Technology, and Julia Maddox, the Director of the Barbara J. Burger iZone at the University of Rochester Libraries, to lead the effort. With suggestions from the Deans and the Vice Provost, a committee of faculty, students, staff, and alumni was formed with the desire to represent the future of the University. Additional committee members were subsequently added based on community feedback.

The committee drafted a workplan that would guide their activities over three months. The approach included numerous internal brainstorming exercises, interviews with members of the University community as well as those not affiliated with the University of Rochester, a review of many existing reports and an unprecedented effort with the University’s communications team to solicit bold ideas from a public-facing website that allowed anyone anywhere in the world to submit ideas to re-imagine the University of Rochester. All told, the Committee received almost 1000 ideas to consider.

These ideas were then grouped into themes and shared with the University community for their feedback, which generated 123 comments that were helpful and generally supportive. With that feedback and further work to synthesize the data, nine refined themes were selected for further investigation.

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Sub-committees were then formed to identify a set of bold and delightful ideas within each theme. These ideas form the basis of this report.

Project Charter Sponsor: Provost Rob Clark Staff: Julia Maddox, Director of Barbara J. Burger iZone Chair: Ray Dorsey, MD, Professor of Neurology; Director, Center for Health + Technology

Charge: The University of Rochester has a window of opportunity to reimagine its future post-pandemic. The shelter at home approach to controlling the spread of the virus has forced our nation to rethink the way we work and to adapt in ways that we previously did not consider, some better, and some not. However, whether one year from now or more, when this pandemic has been addressed, the world will have been forever changed. We can either embrace the change and find ways to lead or react to the change and follow.

The University of Rochester has an opportunity to define the future of higher education for our students, both in how content is delivered, in-person, and online. We have an opportunity to rethink the residential experience and how we protect our community while also affording experiences that are essential to a residential college. We have opportunities to not only adapt, but to use the adaptation to make all elements of the university experience better - Meliora.

The University will enter into a strategic planning exercise in the future, and we need to think in transformation ways as opposed to incremental ways. We need to consider mechanisms for disrupting higher education in a manner that supports the university model but is unique to the University of Rochester and provides us with competitive advantages when being considered as an alternative by prospective students, faculty, and staff.

I would ask that this committee identify 10 big-ideas that would transform the university experience and make the University of Rochester a better choice for all the reasons students,

PROJECT IMAGINE 61

faculty and staff would want to be part of the institution. These ideas could serve as the seeds for strategic planning and ways to both differentiate and ensure the future of our University.

Deliverable: Report of 10 big ideas for re-imagining the University of Rochester

Deadline: Friday, September 11, 2020

Workplan

Additional References A. Who are our students? Where are our students? How can we best engage new types of

students? Our team looked at many different intersections of student and program, including:

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PROJECT IMAGINE 63

Documents

Project Imagine Report | September 2020 · 2020. 10. 1. · world to submit ideas to re-imagine the University of Rochester. All told, the Committee received almost 1000 ideas to