Posted on September 29, 2021 by COLFA
The Tactical Visioning Task Force launched phase II of its visioning process for the College of Liberal and Fine Arts earlier this month, now with the added scope of including the new partnership with the Southwest School of Arts.
A Mentimeter word cloud generated by the Tactical Visioning Task Force
The two-phase process is a continuation of work that began in August 2020 under the leadership of Interim Dean Sean Kelly. At the foundation, the committee was tasked with helping COLFA identify its greatest strengths and opportunities, to lay the groundwork for future strategic planning, and to coalesce a shared identity among its academic departments: anthropology, art and art history, communication, English, history, modern languages and literatures, music, philosophy and classics, political science and geography.
It began with identifying four subcommittees, Community Engagement, UTSA Landscape, Identity and Peer Models, that were then tasked with four priorities to research and discuss:
COLFA’s identity and strengths;
- Opportunities to partner with other parts of campus;
- Opportunities to partner with and serve the San Antonio community;
- Insights from examining other institutions.
Phase II kicked off Sept. 3 with a welcome from Provost Kimberly Espy and included a review of the charge by COLFA Dean Glenn Martinez. Four subcommittees have been established and members of each come from across COLFA’s nine disciplines and colleagues from Southwest School of Art. Humberto Saenz briefed task force members on the Defining Moments project—a key example of the types of synergies that can cross between disciplinary boundaries in COLFA. A video shared in the meeting can be found here.
Project Director Shannon Heuberger facilitated a group discussion on other potential collaborations that can bring COLFA’s disciplines together. A Mentimeter word cloud generated during the meeting is shown below:
The results of phase II will be eight or more “notional models” (i.e., organizational charts) of how COLFA can be structured to realize its potential. Examples from the Integrated Design Initiative were shared. Work will be done in the four subcommittees, each developing two or more notional models during a series of five meetings between Sept. 13 - Nov. 7. Each committee has already held its first one-hour session. Once subcommittees complete their work, the full Task Force will reconvene to share their models, which will later be discussed more broadly with COLFA for input. The final phase of the visioning process will be implementation.
To submit your comments or ideas, or as a question, please email the COLFA Tactical Visioning Team at COLFA.TVT@utsa.edu
— COLFA
