Third-Century Plan Status Updates, July 2020

Updated July 2020

In May 2019, the ��߲ݴ�ý University Board of Trustees, faculty, and Alumni Council approved and endorsed The Third-Century Plan, a comprehensive plan that seeks to pursue ��߲ݴ�ý’s mission at its highest level and establish ��߲ݴ�ý as one of the very finest undergraduate institutions in the nation.

The Third-Century Plan is continually monitored by the Board, administration, and faculty to measure progress against its goals and to show effort applied in service of its initiatives. The Status Update Report provides periodic updates against the plan for the University community.

Section I: Attracting and Supporting Outstanding Faculty, Students, and Staff

A University is, at its core, the product of the people it attracts and a union of individuals in service of learning. Truly talented students, a leading faculty, and professional staff are all required for ��߲ݴ�ý to be among the finest colleges and universities in the nation. ��߲ݴ�ý, therefore, must take those new steps necessary to ensure that it attracts students, faculty, and staff of remarkable promise and achievement

Initiatives

Expansion of the financial support available to students to lessen the burden of student debt.

Completed

Admitted Class of 2024 with no loans for students whose family incomes are less than $125,000
Repackaged financial aid with no loans for students in classes of 2023, 2022, and 2021 whose family incomes are less than $125,000

Next Steps

Begin analysis of impact of No-Loan Initiative on yield for Class of 2024
Analyze financial aid packaging practices

Completed

Developed a six-part plan to increase application numbers and application quality
Reformed admission reading and selection process to focus more on a genuine understanding of a student’s academic capacity and ability, relying less on test scores
Announced partnership with Questbridge, beginning with Class of 2025
Announced test optional pilot
Decreased barriers to application completion by removing required essay question from the application supplement

Next Steps

Continue to expand prospect pool and improve applicant conversion with enhanced communications and development of virtual programming

Beginning with the faculty cohort hired in the 2019–2020 academic year, pre-tenure faculty members will receive a calendar-year / four-course leave following a successful third-year review.

Completed

Hired ten faculty with new leave policies
Hired departments’ top candidate in five searches

Completed

Began analysis of teaching load differences across divisions and departments
Assessed several different reduced teaching load models’ effect on departmental curricula
Established four-course teaching load for new endowed chairs

Next Steps

Use results of analysis and assessment to determine the most effective approach to achieving a competitive faculty teaching load

Completed

Established initial four Third-Century Endowed Chairs: The Rebecca Chopp Chair in the Humanities; The Carl Benton Straub ’58 Endowed Chair in Culture and the Environment; The W. Bradford Wiley Chair in International Economics; The Daniel C. Benton ’80 Endowed Chair in Arts, Creativity, and Innovation
Named Constance Harsh the Rebecca Chopp Chair in the Humanities
Named Jason Kawall the Carl Benton Straub ’58 Chair in Culture and the Environment
Named Chad Sparber the W. Bradford Wiley Chair in International Economics
Named Mary Simonson the Daniel C. Benton ’80 Endowed Chair in Arts, Creativity, and Innovation
Developed list of potential new endowed chair positions that will strengthen new academic initiatives

Next Steps

Work with departments and advancement to prioritize potential new endowed chair positions and sequence the fundraising and funding of these chairs

��߲ݴ�ý seeks to diversify its faculty — to bring to its classrooms, studios, laboratories, and team settings a greater range of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives.

Completed

Joined the Consortium for Faculty Diversity (CFD), a national organization that creates a postdoctoral pipeline of underrepresented minority candidates to selective liberal arts colleges
Joined the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity, an independent professional development, training, and mentoring community for faculty members, postdocs, and graduate students at all stages of their careers
Revamped staff search process and strengthened administrative assistant oversight
Hired Jessica Davenport and Taryn Jordan as first CFD post-doctoral fellows
Hired Dominique Hill as a target of opportunity hire in women’s studies

Next Steps

Continue to build diverse pools of applicants for faculty positions

Section II: Strengthening the University’s Academic Enterprise

��߲ݴ�ý’s future rests on the extent to which it continuously strengthens academic life and nurtures a culture of intellectual rigor across all of its endeavors. As a leading American institution with a broad liberal arts mission, ��߲ݴ�ý must support and encourage students and faculty as they explore both timeless questions and new areas of inquiry, ensuring that this University remains a place deeply engaged with the most pressing academic debates that challenge humankind.

Initiatives

��߲ݴ�ý reaffirms its belief that artistic expression, creative thinking, and innovation must be hallmarks of a ��߲ݴ�ý education. The Middle Campus Plan for Arts, Creativity, and Innovation is not only a rethinking of the role of the arts and creativity at ��߲ݴ�ý, but also a rethinking of the campus itself.

Completed

Defined the programming for Middle Campus to be around four intellectual blocks: a Center for Arts, Creativity, and Technology; the Data Center for Curricular and Cocurricular Innovation and Design; University collections and materials labs; and a Center for Music and Culture
Worked with RAMSA/WXY to begin draft capital project model
Identified the Collections Annex as the first project
Relocated the museum studies minor to a new home in the interdisciplinary Division of University Studies
Appointed Nicolas West, currently curator of the Picker Art Gallery, and Rebecca Mendelsohn, newly appointed curator of the Longyear Museum of Anthropology, as co-directors of University Museums
Completed compliance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act by returning remains to Oneida Nation
Awarded the inaugural Daniel C. Benton ’80 Endowed Chair in Arts, Creativity, and Innovation to Mary Simonson

Next Steps

Plan/design Collections Annex in order to bring collections back to campus
Improve Brehmer Theater
Develop culturally sensitive museum practices, and identify issues of diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion in museum work

The University will enable new interdisciplinary research, teaching, and programming, while enhancing existing strengths in exploring linkages between mind, brain, and behavior, including an updated and expanded Olin Hall.

Completed

Began to rework Olin Hall initial designs to align with programming needs
Set construction on Olin to begin summer of 2021

Next Steps

Plan renovation of Gatehouse to become swing space for Olin, summer of 2021

Section III: Enriching the Student Experience

��߲ݴ�ý must overtly and explicitly create a deep, clear, and compelling campus culture — nurtured and expressed through its residential programs, athletics and other student activities, ceremonies, and traditions, and the overall campus experience. ��߲ݴ�ý’s campus culture must foster bonds between students, faculty, and staff while connecting them, in a meaningful and sustained way, to the institution itself.

Initiatives

A ��߲ݴ�ý education means all students live the liberal arts, connecting their ��߲ݴ�ý education to where they live. The way students live at ��߲ݴ�ý shapes their education and their experiences. It begins with first- and second-year students living within one of four Residential Commons where the integration of living and learning expands. The ��߲ݴ�ý Residential Commons system is grounded in providing every student with a strong foundational community, where they experience tradition and build class unity and where University affinity is cultivated.

Completed

Affiliated all new students with one of four commons
Linked first-year seminars (FSEMs) to students’ commons affiliation
Opened Jane Pinchin Hall and Burke Hall to complete Dart Colegrove and Brown Commons, respectively

Next Steps

Strengthen FSEM-commons connection, working closely with FSEM faculty
Working with Core Revision Committee, develop Living-Learning Workshop, a new element of the FSEM program
Create of a fourth Sophomore Residential Seminar (SRS), and align one SRS with each Residential Commons

Upper-level housing options along Broad Street, the College Street apartments, and within the townhouses allow juniors and seniors to move into increasingly independent living options. The intergenerational connection between the first and second two years of a student’s experience is forged with the Broad Street social houses affiliated with each of the four Residential Commons as well as with the Broad Street interest houses. Both the social houses of the Residential Commons and the Broad Street interest houses invite students from all four class years to take part in a variety of social, intellectual, artistic, academic, and extracurricular activities.

Completed

Invested $3.1M in College Street apartment renovations
Completed six exploratory kitchen and bathroom renovations in College Street apartments for feasibility and scale
Completed first report of the Third Century Residential Planning Committee
Gathered feedback in partnership with Student Government Association for the Skyfactor Residential Survey

Next Steps

Complete Sasaki assessment of Broad Street houses and develop neighborhood plan options

��߲ݴ�ý should increase students’ access to opportunities to build core skills and gain necessary experience by developing ways to offer applicable training to a wide proportion of ��߲ݴ�ý students who seek it. Aligned with ��߲ݴ�ý’s commitment to financial aid, career services provides all students with access to opportunities to build critical skills, competencies, and experiences known to differentiate job candidates.

Completed

Piloted seven cohort-based career modules for students to explore interests or advance industry-based skills

Next Steps

Integrate behavioral, cognitive, and affective learning assessment with new career modules
Install Bloomberg terminals for students’ use in Benton Hall

The health and wellness of ��߲ݴ�ý students require an integrated model that ties together Student Health Services (SHS); Counseling and Psychological Services; Shaw Wellness Institute; Chaplain’s Office; Division of Physical Education, Recreation, and Athletics; and numerous other campus and community partners.

Completed

Achieved International Association of Counseling Services Accreditation
Completed external review of SHS
Restructured SHS, adding clinical capacity
Created sports medicine medical specialty program with Upstate Medical Institute
Created a committee to focus on integration of SHS, counseling, and Shaw Wellness Institute

Next Steps

Integrate more professional development opportunities and student outreach focused on holistic wellness, including several departments throughout the University
Propose a plan for the processes and physical space of an integrated wellness system

A facilities plan, developed from a review of PERA facilities and programming needs, projects future facilities and programming needs, defines a set of facility renovation and development priorities, and proposes a phased approach to facilities projects.

Completed

Developed initial vision for West Campus with RAMSA
Collaborated with Sasaki to further develop West Campus vision, including project program and concept plan layouts
Created and engaged with West Campus users group to refine working program for New Athletic Center

Next Steps

Await guidance from Campus Planning Committee

Current institutional policies and guidelines are examined and clarified as they relate to need-based financial aid, athletics financial aid (scholarships), admission slots, medical non-counter student-athletes, international studentathlete admission, and the Patriot League Academic Index. Recommendations are proposed for adjustments that are aligned with institutional expectations for academic and competitive success.

Completed

Added six new athletics scholarships, distributed to field hockey, softball, volleyball, women’s lacrosse, men’s lacrosse, men’s soccer, and men’s ice hockey
Made adjustments to promote greater equity in access to League Academic Index practices, recommended and accepted by Presidents Council of the Patriot League

With the guidance of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates and building on prior long-term planning efforts, ��߲ݴ�ý has developed the beginning of a long-term campus development plan. This plan will guide efforts to restore the campus landscape and treescape, improve parking and circulation, utilize the upper campus now expanded with new residence halls, and rationalize and improve the Middle Campus to create a new, engaging precinct for arts, creativity, and innovation.

Completed

Completed Burke Hall/Pinchin Hall quad
Planted 200 bicentennial trees
Installed new pedestrian walkways from Merrill House parking lot up Academic Drive to academic quad

Next Steps

Install new handicap access landscaping in steam line project at Alumni Hall
Configure new landscaping at entrance on Hamilton Street near Campus Safety

��߲ݴ�ý needs to develop a variety of housing stock options that are affordable for faculty and staff from across the salary range.

Completed

Secured gift of land, now called Chenango Hill, where approximately 35 new homes will be built
Worked with developer on home prototypes
Began construction on eight homes in the summer of 2020
Began working with campus group and developer on a vision for 10–12 Utica Street, where more than 20 new rental properties will be built
Submitted approximately $1m in grants for development of 18–20 Utica through the Partnership for Community Development

Next Steps

Plan the next set of homes in Chenango Hill development

��߲ݴ�ý must continue to invest in and develop the Village of Hamilton in collaboration with community partners.

Completed

Completed Hamilton Theater renovation
Raised funding for Seven Oaks Clubhouse renovation and golf course restoration
Purchased 11–13 Eaton Street to be converted into parking for Hamilton community and staff

Next Steps

Design community and staff parking at 11–13 Eaton Street
Plan 18–22 Utica development as mixed-use building

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