Strategic Plan
Prepared by College Faculty Advisory Council & Nicholas Vazsonyi, Dean
December 13, 2024
| meet the world
Mission, Vision, Values/Principles
STRATEGIC PLAN
Vision Our vision is to be a core contributor to Clemson’s AAU aspirations by being a nationally recognized premier Arts and Humanities College. Mission The College offers students opportunities to “meet the world.” We reach every student on this campus in and beyond the classroom. Our mission is to prepare students to lead fulfilling lives of work, play, and service, by placing a premium on creativity, deep thinking, transferrable skills, reflection, sensitivity and empathy toward our neighbors and the world. We recruit research and professional faculty who are at the forefront of their fields, producing internationally recognized work. At the same time, our faculty are passionately dedicated to teaching: they inspire curiosity, foster the spirit of inquiry Principles and Values CAH is committed to fostering an academic environment in which students are trained to explore the languages, literatures, art, music, theatre, cultures, and ideas of humans and their communities, both locally and globally, from the ancient to the contemporary periods, and thus to “meet the world.” We aspire to create a community where diverse ideas and perspectives are encountered. We equip our graduates with the tools to navigate and meaningfully shape our complex and interconnected world. Interdisciplinarity within the College and in collaboration with colleagues across Clemson and beyond drives our academics and research.
| Introduction THE COLLEGE OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES comprises six academic departments: English, History and Geography, Interdisciplinary Studies, Languages, Performing Arts, and Philosophy and Religion. It has 235 full-time faculty and 58 full-time staff members. The six departments offer a total of 11 undergraduate major degree programs, three master’s, and two PhD programs. There are 1,103 majors, 47 master’s, and 70 PhD students currently enrolled. Across its general education courses, the college generates over 90,000 credit hours a year. The research faculty are high performing, publishing in leading peer-reviewed venues, creating musical compositions, designing stage productions, and winning prestigious grants and fellowships, running as high as $3.5 million.
The faculty and staff of the College spend significant time and energy serving their colleagues, the students, the institution, the community, and the profession.
Purpose of the Strategic Plan
The new College of Arts and Humanities (CAH) began operations on July 1, 2023, having previously been part of the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities. The new College is using this strategic planning exercise to engage in a college-wide conversation to consider and articulate its identity, its purpose, and its mission. The goal for this strategic plan is twofold. The first is to demonstrate alignment between the College and the University’s new strategic plan, Clemson Elevate. The second is to formulate a concise and focused document that can and will guide College decision-making for the next five years.
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Pre-Professional Education Training in arts and humanities can be a pathway to a wide range of careers. CAH has and will continue to build on strengths in pre-law training, as well as language and international health and language and international business programs, to name just three. Fulfillment/Enrichment Courses and extra-curricular activities in our college address the complete person, and bring a richness of intellectual, emotional, and spiritual fulfillment that is unique at Clemson. Goals for Student Experience To support the development of innovative courses, workshops and seminars, and opportunities for faculty-student collaboration to support undergraduate research and to help enhance critical reading, historical perspective, and artistic appreciation. Action Items for Student Experience (Clemson Elevate Targets for 2028) 1. Maintain 6-year undergraduate graduation rate at 90.6% (CAH has already met its mandated target of 88.4%). 2. Increase 4-year graduation rate from 74.3% to 77.8%.
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| Goal 1: No. 1 Student Experience Teaching in all its forms and mentoring students constitute major strengths of the College, and we embrace the goal of fostering an exceptional student experience. This includes our commitment to creativity- and research- informed teaching in small class size arts and humanities courses that is the hallmark of the high-quality student experience at R1 and AAU universities.
3. Increase Freshman to Sophomore Retention rate from 89.3% to 92%. 4. Maintain 6-year doctoral graduation rate at 75% (CAH Target 60%).
Additional Objectives 5. Fully professionalize student advising to ensure faculty mentors are only needed for upper-division subject- specific and post-graduation advising. Completion target for full staffing AY 2026-2027. 6. Increase student participation in study abroad from 25% to 30% by 2028 by increasing endowments to offset travel costs. 7. Continue developing study abroad programs, including a year-round signature program that would include the option to take gen ed coursework, allowing students across majors to participate while maintaining progress toward their degree. 8. Seek to launch a new Ph.D. in English by Fall 2027.
The College tagline is “meet the world”. This idea encapsulates all student-related initiatives in the College and includes activities such as:
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Expansive, broad-minded curricula
Global challenges classes
Critical inquiry
Experiential learning
Fostering undergraduate research
Study abroad
• Bringing intellectually diverse scholars, recognized at the highest level of their fields, to campus to interact with students
CAH achieves this goal by emphasizing:
Writing Advanced writing skills are crucial for success in any career a Clemson graduate pursues. All CAH departments place a premium on developing students as writers. Ethics We believe that ethics, as a field of inquiry in the humanities, should be studied and applied across the curriculum of our college and beyond.
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Objectives for Research (Clemson Elevate Targets for 2028) 1. Increase citations per capita (5-year average) from 3.1 to 3.5
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2. Increase peer-reviewed journal articles (4-year average) from 1.2 to 1.9 3. Increase annual externally funded research awards from $0.6M to $0.7M 4. Increase annual research proposals from $3.0M to $4.0M 5. Increase annual PhD graduates from 10 to 13 6. Triple the number of grant proposals coming out of the College by 2028 7. Over the next 4 years, increase by 5% per year the College support for faculty research activities (conference travel, course releases, summer salary). 8. Continue increasing enrollments in the Digital History PhD program to reach 30 students by Fall 2028. Additional Objectives 9. Create an accessible research website that houses information on funding and research opportunities. This website should cater to each department, offering specific information relevant to research in the discipline. 10. Hire college-level program manager to assist with pre- and post-award procedures, communication, and responsibilities.
| Goal 2: Enhancing Research
CAH faculty are already performing at a high level of productivity fully commensurate with Clemson’s R1 status. The College is committed to Clemson Elevate’s target of “doubling research” by 2035. While we understand this to be largely reflected in research dollars, high-profile research productivity in the arts and humanities is evident in academic and creative publications, as well as professional activities that increase visibility and reputation. We recognize and value such accomplishments when evaluating research productivity. While Clemson captures data on journal articles, several disciplines in the College consider books to be the gold standard. Moreover, the AAU membership committee “gathers data on book publications to represent scholarship at AAU institutions – especially in the fields of arts, humanities, and social sciences” (source: https://www.aau.edu/who-we-are/ membership-policy). Goals for Enhancing Research • Conduct a review of course release and sabbatical practices in aspirational R1 and AAU institutions and institute a plan to meet these practices by 2028. • Review annual review and TPR guidelines to ensure that grant writing is recognized and valued in the review process. • Research best practices for supporting faculty in grant writing (hiring a grant writer, public presentations or campus visits from funding agencies, compensated talks and workshops led by Clemson faculty who have previously received grants, etc.). • Leverage revenues generated by the new RBB budget model to fund additional tenure-track faculty lines to promote increased research productivity
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| Goal 4: Humanities Center
CAH already supports a Humanities Hub that funds campus lectures, faculty research, and features high-profile annual events. In the process of working towards a fully-fledged Humanities Center, the Hub should continue its current activities, and seek new ways to increase the profile and visibility of the hu- manities on campus and in the region. Sixty-five out of 69 AAU universities have a physical Humanities Center. South Carolina is the only state in the region that has no Humanities Center. The Clemson Humanities Center would provide an intellec- tual hub for scholars and students in the humanities, arts, and humanistic social sciences and engage interdisciplinary conversations across the University. It would host scholars from the nation and the globe to present their work to each other and to the Clemson community. Some of its goals would include: 1. Support, create, and disseminate research in the humanities and build bridges to the general public 2. Foster collaborative work across all disciplines 3. Assist with grant applications and post-award activities; actively pursue its own funding in the form of grants and endowments 4. Organize and host visiting scholars, symposiums and conferences to increase the intellectual vibran- cy of campus life 5. Model and facilitate open and respectful dialog on campus and restore civil discourse.
| Goal 3: Transforming Lives
The CAH has a unique opportunity to meaningfully transform lives through innovative programming and community engagement initiatives. By leveraging our academic expertise and resources, we can enrich the educational experiences of our students including fostering collaboration with non-academic communities and community-based organizations to address pressing societal issues. The overarching goal will be to establish CAH as a hub for interdisciplinary dialogue, social impact, and transformative learning experiences. Goals for Transforming Lives • Gradually increase, in the next 5 years, the number of departments and faculty that actively engage with Non- Academic Communities through applied Arts & Humanities programs and initiatives. • Gradually increase, in the next 5 years, the number of courses that integrate students’ experiential learning (service-learning, community engagement, study abroad, transformative classes addressing pressing issues, Capstone projects, workshops, performances, etc.) initiatives which are transformative to our students and to the communities involved. Objectives for Transforming Lives 1. By Fall 2026 establish a College Community and Alumni Engagement Administrative Support Office. 2. The number of courses that integrate students’ experiential learning (service-learning, community engagement, study abroad, transformative classes addressing pressing issues, Capstone projects, workshops, performances, etc.) initiatives increase from 4% to 20% by Fall 2026. 3. At least 60% of our undergraduate students, and 30% of our graduate students complete at least 5 hours per semester of experiential learning (service-learning, community engagement, study abroad, transformative classes addressing pressing issues, Capstone projects, workshops, performances, etc.) related activities by Fall 2027. Additional Objectives for Transforming Lives 4. At least $100,000 are provided by the college, annually, in scholarships and research assistantships in a community engaged grant or program initiative to graduate students from SC underrepresented groups. 5. Each Department will strive to obtain at least one community development/empowerment external grant annually with a subaward to Clemson i 6. College-wide study abroad program participation – currently at 25% – should increase by 5% per year until 2028.
| Goal 5: Development/Advancement
The College seeks support from alumni and donors to help fund its priorities in achieving the top three goals of student experience, doubling research, and transforming lives, in alignment with the Clemson Elevate strategic plan. Briefly, our top three priorities are: 1. Seek $10M endowment for the creation of a Humanities Center 2. Raise at least $1M in scholarships to support study abroad. 3. Seek external funding for at least one additional named or endowed professorship for each department.
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| Goal 6: Well-Being
We believe that mental, physical, and emotional well-being are crucial to encouraging the best performance of students, faculty, and staff. Promoting an appropriate work-life balance, improving compensation and financial rewards, and paying attention to other issues impacting morale are a central concern to the college. Specific action items to promote well-being include: 1. Advising and mentoring are key to student success and well-being. In addition to continuing its current plan to achieve a 4-year professional advising model, scheduled to be in place by 2026, the College will encourage and support departmental plans to foster and maintain robust faculty mentoring of majors. By providing one-on-one guidance, support, and development opportunities, faculty mentoring can help students navigate their academic and future professional journeys. Mentoring can also facilitate local networking to bring opportunities, career exploration, and personal growth. 2. Develop opportunities for intentional relationship building among students, faculty, and staff within each department. 3. Using merit pay increase opportunities to address faculty salary compression and adjust entry-level and across-the-board minimums for each rank. 4. Continue to increase pay rates for lecturers. 5. Periodically review staff PDs and commensurate salary levels at least every 5 years.
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www.clemson.edu/cah
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