In regard to the President’s memo and university discussions about reducing the number of Faculties and Departments, where it was also stated that our Health Sciences Cluster has been selected as the first exemplar, it would be premature to jump to conclusions and speculate what the ultimate structural outcome will be.  This is not the kind of approach where outcomes will be dictated centrally or by the Deans of the cluster.  The deans have been meeting regularly to discuss what the possibilities could be and how to most effectively determine what makes sense.  Obviously, there will be a lot of influence on the process by the Cluster deans group through their respective Faculties.  The President has been clear, he wants a streamlined university that is able to act quickly and take advantage of emerging opportunities.  He has no preconceived notions of the optimal structure to achieve this and allow all university areas to excel.  He wants the Clusters to come up with recommendations and proposals, thus we need to be proactive and shape that future state.

The consensus at this point is that we should concentrate on thematic areas that offer potential for enhancements of the education/research programs, student experience, and workplace environment through evaluation of common activities and background support functions.  There may be several areas where unnecessary duplication exists or where pooling of resources (human, facilities, and/or financial) would lead to significant improvements across Cluster Faculties.  There are many thematic areas that have been discussed and a preliminary list has been generated.  This list may change based on feedback from Faculties as the work progresses.

Consensus has also been to let “the people in the trenches” and those who are most knowledgeable about the thematic areas through their daily work engage in discussions regarding strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and risks.  Thus, deans from each Faculty will designate representatives to workgroups focused on the particular themes.  These groups will be led by designated individuals from the various Faculties (called "university leads") and will begin work immediately with a timeline for generating a report sometime in 2012.  The deliberations and recommendations from these workgroups will inform the process and any eventual changes in structure based on what makes sense and is most likely to be successful.  There will be no “merging, integration or realignment” of things that do not provide tangible benefit by leading to enhancements and strengthening of collective resources.  The process will be at all times transparent and include opportunities for feedback through the Faculty Councils.  It will be important to participate fully. 

The designated representatives for the thematic areas that have been discussed to date are as follows:

• Research:  Raj Bhullar & Charles Lekic
• Graduate Studies:  Raj Bhullar & Billy Wiltshire
• Promotion and Tenure:  Elliott Scott & Igor Pesun
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• Accreditation:  Dieter Schonwetter & Doug Brothwell
• Student Admissions:  John Perry & Jean Lyon
• Student Support Services:  Doug Brothwell & Susan Petras
• Finance & Human Resources:  Sam Vagianos & Mel Sawyer
• Teaching & Curriculum:  Elliott Scott & Doug Brothwell
• Professional Development:  Dieter Schonwetter and Janet Rothney
• Community Based Education/Outreach:  Pamela Dahl and Doug Brothwell

The first three themes listed have been chosen to start, the others may follow based on potential benefit and emerging opportunities.  The university leads will be Peter Nickerson for research, Archie McNicol for graduate studies, and Emily Etcherverry for promotion and tenure. The university will be monitoring progress through the Provost and will also be providing professional support (personnel, communications, and planning/organization) through the new Office of Continuous Improvement (OCI).  This office will be coordinating meetings, forums, town halls and working with the Cluster deans group with additional assistance from the Offices of Learning Development Services (LDS) and Marketing/Communications (MCO). A diagram of a basic process map is included below. 

At this point, when structural changes are being considered, no additional management layers are envisioned.  The President doesn’t want any.  Additional management responsibility will need to come from within the Clusters in some fashion.

It is important to keep in mind that our daily work goes on unaffected, and we continue to look at ways of creating a stronger and more effective Faculty of Dentistry.  Please check this page periodically for related information, the latest updates on progress, and the opportunity to provide feedback in the text box below.

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