Academic Planning
As I shared during our ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½ Council meeting in December, this Winter term we begin the important work of academic planning. I am looking forward to collaborating with our ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½ community to craft a compelling vision for the future of our Institute. The new Academic Plan will build on our many conversations over the past year to help determine our academic goals and paths forward so that our mission, research, and practice across multiple fields and disciplines resonate in powerful and action-oriented ways for education.
Over the course of my first year as Dean of ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½, I have had inspiring conversations with many of you about how we might expand the Institute’s excellent work, identify and enable new areas of scholarship, and leverage support and resources to advance our academic mission and priorities. Additionally, during Fall 2023, I have had productive discussions with ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½â€™s academic and administrative leaders, including our Deans and Chairs, about the planning process and effective strategies to engage the community in the development of a new Academic Plan for ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½. These conversations emphasized our academic planning process as an opportunity to bring the community together to come to a shared understanding of our work as a premier faculty of education and how to move our best ideas forward.
To ensure that our planning process is both engaging and effective, we have enlisted the support of the Potential Group which has extensive experience and expertise in facilitating academic and strategic planning initiatives in educational institutions, including several faculties at U of T. Our academic planning consultations will provide multiple, accessible, and engaging opportunities for faculty, staff, students, alumni and key partners to participate in discussions about what matters most to our community, and, in particular, about our academic priorities and paths to achieve them.
Having consulted with our Deans and Chairs, and with a focus on including diverse voices in shaping the plan and its priorities, we are convening an ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½ Academic Planning Engagement Team to help facilitate this work. The Engagement Team will consist of members from diverse constituencies including faculty, staff, students, alumni and external partners while balancing representation across departments, units and community wide. Once established, I will share updates about the Engagement Team membership and next steps for our work together as a community this term.
Throughout the Winter term, there will be numerous academic planning consultations with a variety of opportunities for engagement and participation in this important generative work. There will be many formal and informal ways to contribute ideas and perspectives including focus groups, interviews, surveys, and other modes of conversation and communication.
This is such an exciting time for ²ÝÝ®ÎÛÊÓƵµ¼º½, and I look forward to engaging with all of you in developing a renewed purpose and vision for the Institute that will carry us enthusiastically into the future. Meanwhile, please stay tuned for further updates as the academic planning process unfolds. As always, if you have questions please feel free to write me at dean.oise@utoronto.ca.