Transforming the University: Preliminary Recommendations of the Task Force on Graduate Reform: Discipline Evolution

Abstract

The Discipline Evolution Task Force identifies the following five recommendations as having the greatest potential for transforming the University commensurate with its Strategic Positioning goals: • Establish a named and high-profile institute, modeled after the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University... to support interdisciplinary scholarship at the University of Minnesota. • Create internal faculty exchanges whereby faculty members work in a department or program other than their own for a semester or two.... • Establish a program similar to the faculty exchange program for graduate students to enable them to develop interdisciplinary expertise.... • Seed and, when appropriate, provide long-term support to new and transformational research initiatives that bring together teams of highly talented faculty and students.... • Implement meaningful systems for assessing existing centers, including the expectation that new and existing centers will close after five years unless there is a cogent rationale to continue them....