First Six Weeks Productive Start for Provost Coleman

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Jim Coleman, executive vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Provost Jim Coleman, who started in January as the University of Arkansas’ first executive vice chancellor for academic affairs, has spent much of his first six weeks listening and learning while meeting with campus leaders, faculty, staff and students. And he is eager to continue these meetings in the coming months.

“If you haven’t seen me around campus yet, you’re going to be seeing a lot of me very soon,” Coleman said. “I plan to meet with all academic departments starting this semester and continuing into the fall. I am really looking forward to it.”

Coleman is also preparing for a series of “Rise and Shine” faculty breakfasts with the provost to allow for more informal discussions.

A national search for a vice provost for diversity and inclusion will be launched very soon, with Dean Stacy Leeds of the School of Law chairing the search committee. This new vice provost will lead efforts to reach the university’s diversity and inclusion goals through campus strategic planning and implementation. 

“I want to thank Ro Di Brezzo for serving as the vice provost of faculty development and enhancement and as the interim vice provost of diversity and inclusion. These are critical roles,” Coleman said. “Ro has done an impressive job in balancing these two roles and she will continue her important focus on supporting the great work of our faculty.”

The provost’s office has also officially taken the lead on advancing the university’s eight guiding priorities that were developed last year through a campus-wide process. The provost is working to align the priorities with specific initiatives that are being developed by eight working groups made up of faculty and campus leadership.

“Ideally, the endpoint is the development of a three- to five-year strategic plan that will articulate a set of action items with measurable goals for each guiding priority and allocate the resources and the responsibility for each action we prioritize," Coleman said. "Determining the critical measurements that can help us define what progress looks like for each guiding priority has been at the forefront of the work these groups are doing.”

Academic and administrative units were asked to go into the budget process with a plan for cutting 1 percent from their budgets each year for the next three years as a first step in marshalling the resources needed to focus on strategic priorities. Academic units will reallocate their 1 percent to specifically support the guiding priorities within their colleges, while the administrative units’ 1 percent will fund a centrally managed pool of funds for strategic allocation.

Budgets will be aligned with clearly defined strategic initiatives.

Service units can begin their planning in March, once the actions under the guiding priorities are determined. Some actions may be selected as early as March, while others may be phased in over time.

“Strategic planning is an ongoing process, it can be messy, and plans usually need to evolve over time,” Coleman said. “Getting the process right may require some patience as we work to align the efforts on the guiding priorities with the budget setting and resource allocation process. Successful strategic planning involves identifying smart priorities that lay out a set of goals, specific tactics to reach those goals, and measurements that allow us to determine whether the tactics are driving toward the desired outcomes. However, the really important part of a successful strategic planning effort is execution and implementation. Much of my first month at the university has also been trying to assess how to best design our activities, within the context of our administrative and academic structures, to ensure successful implementation.”

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.