Johns Hopkins finished its last strategic plan in
1994. It was the result of work done by the
Committee for the 21st Century, or C21, chaired by
President William R. Brody, then professor and
chair of Radiology at the School of Medicine.
That plan has served as a blueprint for the expansion
of the university's global influence, a
building campaign that has nearly doubled Johns Hopkins'
teaching and research space and two
development campaigns that collectively raised more than
$4.672 billion.
By any stretch, the document has served the university
well. Yet the world is now a different
place, and a new roadmap is needed. The journey starts
now.
In preparation for the next phase in the university's
history, Provost Kristina Johnson and
President Brody have initiated a new planning process
called Framework for the Future. The process is
intended to engage the university community in thinking
about what Johns Hopkins needs to do to
maintain its leadership in research, discovery and
education, while continuing to positively influence a
global society.
In a document outlining the initiative, Provost
Johnson said that the university, which has a
modest endowment relative to its peers, needs to think and
act creatively in order to stay on top.
"We compete by being entrepreneurial and aggressive in
attracting resources; for 28 years in a
row, we have led the nation in extramural research
expenditures," she said. "Given the current
economic environment, potentially difficult federal funding
climate and continuing globalization, it is
imperative that we strategically plan for maintaining our
excellence in the context of these changing
times."
The goal of the Framework planning process, she said,
is to develop an integrated and inspired
plan that articulates a shared vision for what will define
a great university in the 21st century, sets
priorities for deepening the university's excellence and
further differentiating JHU from its peers,
and identifies crosscutting initiatives to ensure greater
impact.
"Our aim," she said, "is to positively impact society
through improved research, scholarship,
creativity, teaching and professional practice."
Johnson said she expects the process to produce a
specific set of recommendations and a
funding plan.
The wheels were recently set in motion with the
appointment of a Provost Steering Committee,
chaired by Johnson, and the establishment of three working
groups focused on Discovery, People and
Ways and Means.
Each working group will comprise 20 to 30 faculty,
students and staff and be led by a faculty
chair and co-chairs appointed by the provost upon
consultation with the Council of Deans and various
academic councils, and from faculty nominations.
The Discovery Working Group plans to identify five or
six crosscutting initiatives in research,
scholarship and education that offer the greatest strategic
opportunities for the university as a
whole to move forward among its peers. It will also help
translate the university's discoveries and
application of knowledge for the benefit of the local
community and global society.
The group will be chaired by Marilyn Albert, professor of
neurology in the School of Medicine, and co-chaired by
Adam Riess, professor of physics and astronomy in the
Krieger School; Stephen Teret, professor of health
policy and management in the Bloomberg School; and
Barry Aprison, associate professor in the
Department of Interdisciplinary Studies in the
School of Education. Facilitating will be
Michela Gallagher, vice provost for academic
affairs and Krieger-Eisenhower Professor in
the Krieger School's Department of Psychological
and Brain Sciences, and Pamela Cranston, vice
provost for international programs.
The People Working Group will examine how the
university educates students at all levels,
propose ways to better support faculty and staff in their
desire to attain the highest levels of
excellence and suggest strategies to recruit and retain the
outstanding students, researchers, faculty
and staff who will define JHU over the next several
decades.
David Bell, the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the
Humanities and dean of faculty in the Krieger
School, will chair this group with co-chairs Janice
Clements, the Mary Wallace Stanton Professor of
Faculty Affairs and professor and director of the
Department of Comparative Medicine in the School
of Medicine, and Ralph Etienne-Cummings, associate
professor of electrical and computer engineering
in the Whiting School. Jonathan Bagger, vice provost for
graduate and postdoctoral programs and
Krieger-Eisenhower Professor in the Krieger School's
Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Paula
Burger, dean of undergraduate education, will facilitate.
The objective of the Ways and Means Working Group is
to develop planning and financing
mechanisms to invest in intellectual, administrative and
physical environments in order to foster
creative scholarship and learning. J. Brooks Jackson,
Baxley Professor and director of the
Department of Pathology in the School of Medicine, will
chair. Jane Guyer, professor and acting chair
of Anthropology in the Krieger School, and Gerald Masson,
professor of computer science in the
Whiting School, will serve as co-chairs. Scott Zeger, vice
provost for research and the Frank Hurley
and Catharine Dorrier Professor of Biostatistics, and
Stephanie Reel, vice provost for information
technology and chief information officer, will facilitate.
Roughly 80 faculty, student and administrative leaders
will serve on the three working groups
and steering committee. Their charge is also to solicit
ideas and proposals from across the university.
Subgroups will be organized to engage other faculty, staff
and students to address specific issues
that arise. In addition, the university is in the process
of establishing a collaborative Web site where
work group progress will be posted and people can share
their own ideas about how to build the best
possible Framework for the Future.
The timeline for the Framework, Johnson said, is
aggressive.
The initial reports from the working groups will be
submitted by Sept. 1, at which time updated
strategic plans from the nine academic divisions and the
libraries are also due. The chairs and co-
chairs of the working groups, along with the provost and
vice provosts, will develop from these
submissions a first draft on which the university community
can provide feedback in early October.
Johnson anticipates that a second draft will be
submitted to the board of trustees by
December so that it is available to inform and inspire the
new president when he or she arrives, and
help in identifying programmatic needs that will be aligned
with a set of priorities for the next fund-
raising campaign.
"Johns Hopkins has always been distinguished by a
faculty committed to making a difference
beyond the confines of academia. We live in a moment of
history in which the knowledge and skills
represented here are more essential than ever," she said.
"There are global challenges--economic,
environmental and political--whose solutions depend on the
discovery and application of new knowledge
and on a new generation of critical thinkers. Because the
challenges we face are crosscutting, so too
must be our strategies for addressing them. Framework for
the Future is intended to create the
infrastructure so that the Johns Hopkins community can
contribute better than ever before."
To solicit ideas for the Discovery Working Group from
as broad a constituency as possible, the
Provost's Office is requesting proposals for initiatives in
research, scholarship, creativity, teaching
and practice that cut across disciplines and schools within
the university (see sidebar below).
Instructions for submission of proposals, due July 1, are
available at
www.jhu.edu/framework.