Building a New CASL

With CASL’s strategic plan now fully endorsed and in place the hard work of implementing our plan begins. Among the four priority areas identified in the plan one (Priority 4), in my view, looms large. Indeed, I would argue, that the overall success of the plan hinges on the college’s ability to make headway on this priority.

Priority 4. Enhance CASL’s Organizational Capacity
Central to CASL’s ability to meet all of the preceding strategic priorities is the need for the college to operate more efficiently and intentionally. The college’s organizational and financial structures have served CASL reasonably well in the past enabling the college to grow and flourish. The new realities of higher education, however, along with the recent erosion of CASL enrollments, requires a re-examination of our current practices with an eye toward rationality and deliberateness in the service of students, faculty, and the wider university community. Accordingly, the college views the enhancement of organizational capacities as a key prerequisite for the success of CASL’s strategic goals and for the college’s long-term health.

Over the many years of its existence CASL has been very successful on many fronts thanks to the great work of our faculty, staff, and students. Nevertheless, it is my view that the current college structure, which evolved in a haphazard and ad hoc manner, is not well suited to the current needs of our students, our faculty, or to the current higher education environment which require flexibility, nimbleness, and creativity.

With this in mind CASL is engaging in a review of its current organizational structure/culture with the end goal being the creation of a configuration for the college that that enables it to make the most of its rich human resources and of the creativity of our faculty and staff with a focus on goal orientation. Two groups of faculty are hard at work exploring possible organizational models for CASL. Their work will be shared with their faculty and staff colleagues on an ongoing basis and will be compiled and presented for a fuller discussion by the college when the fall academic term begins. It is far too early to say where this conversation may lead but I am excited that this dialog is underway and have been buoyed by the enthusiasm of the faculty engaged in this work. I am eager to see where this initiative leads and look forward to reporting out on the progress of this work.