Big and beautiful

Arts and Science focuses on quality and grad funding

laurie zack

With about 18,000 students, 1,100 faculty and 200 staff, the Faculty of Arts and Science has as many people as Beloeil or Rivière-du-Loup. It’s larger than over half of Canada’s universities.

Dean David Graham began his presentation to the Feb. 15 Board of Governors meeting with that observation, but his speech focused on quality.

“As the Faculty’s pace of growth slows, our attention will increasingly turn to reinforcing our focus on high-quality research and teaching,” he said.

“Our spectacular growth and faculty renewal in the past decade has set the stage for a new focus on institutional quality, requiring support, incentives and rewards. It’s what I’m calling The Quality Agenda, 2006-2015.”

Student-to-faculty ratios are approaching the target of 25:1 set out in Moving Ahead, Concordia’s academic plan, when all full-time faculty are counted, including limited and extended term appointees. The Faculty still needs more tenured and tenure-track professors, however.

Despite aggressive hiring, faculty numbers remain below those of a decade ago even as student numbers have risen dramatically. Arts and Science has to maintain the momentum in faculty renewal to reach 500 tenured and tenure-track faculty.

“We have to provide more support, reward outstanding re-search and create more opportunities for local, national and international collaboration. We also have to recognize and reward high-quality teaching and service.”

Graham said he wants to maintain Concordia’s traditional commitment to relatively small classes, increase the proportion of graduate students, and rebalance the undergraduate student body by facilitating admission for top students.

“We have to use retention strategies to improve student success, reduce our dependence on new admissions, and increase opportunities for international student mobility.”

The process of relocating Arts and Science departments to better facilities continues. The aim is to provide first-class teaching and research infrastructure everywhere on both campuses, including Concordia Libraries.

Graham said that the Faculty had contributed more than $20 million directly to the cost of construction and renovation since 2001 (capital funding, furniture and equipment, and interest). Since 2003, Arts and Science has provided new or upgraded space to 15 units housing 400 faculty and staff and serving 11,000 students.

Faculty support for research activities has grown to nearly $2 million. The Faculty has 14 Canada Research Chairs (with three more in the works) and 14 Concordia University Research Chairs. However, he said, there is still much to be done.

“We will set an ambitious target of increasing research funding by 15 per cent annually, leading to doubled funding in a five-year period.

“This will mean reinforcing our research support structures, initiating mentoring to pair junior faculty with more senior, successful colleagues and developing an experts database to link faculty with new research partners.”

Graduate student funding has become the Faculty’s top resource need. Although graduate program enrolments have increased slowly over the past decade, graduate enrolments must increase much more rapidly than undergraduate if the Faculty is to meet Concordia’s target of having 20 per cent of its student body in graduate programs.

A target of 20 per cent means nearly 2,000 more graduate students, even assuming a student body of constant size. This may require an additional $10 million in graduate funding annually. Funding of graduate students will be the top priority in the Faculty’s case for support for the upcoming capital campaign.

Graham summarized his Faculty’s ambitious development program to the Board this way: “Concordia’s Faculty of Arts and Science is strong, dynamic, and committed to occupying a position of national and international intellectual leadership.”