I
am profoundly impressed by the thought, time, vision, and
organization this document exhibits, and appreciate its emphasis on
students as well as "civic engagement."
Dominique-René
de Lerma
From:
Phibbs, Morris [mailto:mphibbs@colum.edu]
Sent:
Friday, March 23, 2012 11:01 AM
To:
Hairston, Monica
Subject:
CBMR Update, Academic Team Recommendations
To
members of the CBMR International Advisory Board:
Dear
friends,
On
Monica’s behalf, I send you the attached report from the Blueprint
Prioritization Academic Team. This report was released on March 19
and is much more positive than the Provost’s report, which you have
seen. Both reports have been submitted to Columbia College President
Dr. Warrick Carter, who, along with the college’s Board of
Trustees, will announce their final decisions in late June.
It
is gratifying to know that the Academic Team, which is comprised
primarily of faculty members, recommends the retention of the CBMR as
a viable and active component of the college’s work and mission.
And while we are encouraged by this expression of support, it does
not necessarily indicate that the final decision made by the
President and the trustees will overturn that of the Provost. It is
a positive development nonetheless.
I
have included the CBMR-specific sections of the Academic Team’s
report below. If you wish to interpret those sections within the
context of the full college-wide report, that document is attached.
With
best wishes,
Morris
Morris
A. Phibbs
Center
for Black Music Research
312.369.8550
Pertinent
Excerpts from the full Academic Team Report
Embrace
Applied Research in the Arts and Media and Civic Engagement as a Core
Value
Some of the best and
most visionary thinking we have encountered in the Prioritization
process involves a much more cohesive conceptualization of learning
through projects and of the College as a “student laboratory”
which inherently supports the crossing of program, department, and
school boundaries, the building of students’ bodies of work, and
interdisciplinary practice. However, this kind of learning requires a
critical examination of and shift in the role of the Deans, Chairs,
and faculty in relation to the applied research, civic engagement,
and service learning activities at the College.
The various research
centers must continue to play a role in the life of the College;
however, they can be more appropriately restructured in order to
serve students as well as faculty and their particular
constituencies.
• Position the
Columbia College Chicago Library as a primary place of research and
collaboration by
building a twenty-first century library and confirming that we value
applied
research in the arts
and media, innovative thinking, and civic engagement. Place STUDENTS
at the center of
those activities.
• Create an
environment in the Library that houses the research and civic
engagement activities of the
Center for Black Music Research (CBMR),
the Ellen Stone Belic Institute for the Study of Women &
Gender in the Arts & Media, and the Center for Community Arts Partnerships (CCAP).
This configuration has the potential to bring Columbia College
Chicago into the forefront
of arts and media research, innovation, and creative work in the
world.
• Require that the
Dean of the newly formed entity (the Center for Applied Research and
Civic Engagement), school
Deans, and the various center directors work together to fully engage student
project-based learning.
• Position the
First-Year Seminar as a central component of these research and civic engagement
activities. The task force on the LAS restructuring (see 4.2) should
examine this possibility.
• Insist that
student learning connections be central to the activities of applied
research in the arts and media and
civic engagement. For a more comprehensive discussion of
re-envisioning the role of applied research and civic engagement in
the academic life of the College and student learning, please see
Opportunities.
5.
Opportunities
If a central tenet
of Columbia’s mission is to educate students to “author the
culture of their times,” then as an institution we must have a
vision for that future. We must position ourselves as the academic
and artistic leaders of a global culture that focuses on the
immediate, the immersive, and the interactive. We must harness the
energies and agencies of this hi-tech, spectacle-rich world, and
empower our students to employ them as a generative force to create
change. To achieve this, we must place innovation, entrepreneurship,
service learning, and applied research at the heart of the new
Columbia.
The Office of
Academic Research [ed. note—of which the CBMR has been one of
several components] was a poorly conceived solution to what must have
appeared to be a structural and functional problem. It was not
designed to take advantage of an opportunity. The idea of a physical
center is outmoded. The work is not. Keeping centers as disparate
entities — and moving them as far away from the heart of campus as
possible — assures marginalization and irrelevance. This is a
missed opportunity.
5.
1 Create a Center for Applied Research and Civic Engagement
The Center should
house several existing programs and Centers already at the College.
We believe the Library, the
Center for Community Arts Partnership, the Center
for Black Music Research, and the Ellen Belic Institute
for the Study of Women & Gender in the Arts & Media already
conduct the type of work we envision for this new Center. In
addition, this Center should develop new and exciting opportunities
for additional research, innovation in the arts, and community
contributions
.
This Center should
not be tangential or on the periphery of the College, but central to
our mission and purpose. Through
the work of this newly designed Center, Columbia will publicly state
our commitment to
cultivating innovation in the arts and media, honor diverse
perspectives and contributions, and
contribute knowledge to our larger society.
Combine/Restructure
(with reduced costs over time)
• 11th Street
Gallery
• All Creative
Writing Publications
o Columbia Poetry
Review
o Court Green
o F Mag
o Fictionary
o Hair Trigger
o Hotel America
o South Loop
Review
• All Galleries
• All Lecture
Series /Events
o Commercial Autopsy
Lecture Series
o Creative
Non-fiction Week
o IAM Guest Lecture
Series
o Photography
Lecture Series
o Science & Math
Colloquium
o Story Week
o (And all others
that did not have PIRs)
• ASL/English
Tutoring
• Book and Paper
Arts MFA
• Broadcast
Journalism Radio and Television
• Center
for Black Music Research
• Center for Book
and Paper Arts
• Center for
Community Arts Partnerships
• Dance Movement
Therapy / Education/ ASL Interpretation
• Ellen Stone
Belic Institute for the Study of Women & Gender in the Arts &
Media
• Fiction Writing
– Creative Writing / English – Creative Writing
• Film & Video
– Sound for Cinema, Documentary, Post-production
• First-Year
Seminar4
• Frequency TV
• HHSS –
Cultural Studies
• Interdisciplinary
Arts and Media MFA
• Journalism –
News Reporting and Writing Sports and Science Journalism
• Music
Instrumental and Jazz Performance
• Photojournalism
• Radio Station
(WCRX)
• Teaching
Artist Journal
• Television –
Post-production Effects
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