World Languages, Literatures & Cultures Task Force

Public ForumApril 8, 2014

Focus: Academic staff

How can we prepare ourselves to teach undergraduates and graduates for the future? How can we develop new competencies and strategies necessary to our students?

How can we improve advocacy, representation, communication beyond our individual departments?

How can we optimize our resources in a challenging fiscal environment?

We have a small window of opportunity to chart a vision for the future.

The departments of languages, literatures, cultures & linguistics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison share many things:

Our departments share many things:

--- great accomplishments

Our departments share many things:

--- great accomplishments

--- daunting challenges

thebestcolleges.org: UW-Madison ranked second in country for innovative foreign language study

"The University of Wisconsin-Madison is a leader in foreign language education and research and boasts some of the most prestigious departments of languages and literature in the world. Students can enroll in courses in dozens of modern and ancient languages and take part in study abroad programs to more than 100 different destinations on six continents. The school is also home to some other pretty amazing language-learning resources, including the Language Institute, which offers unique opportunities for research, cultural outreach, and language building."

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Top U.S. Universities in Undergraduate Degrees Awarded in CTLs (Spanish, French, German), 2011-12

Data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, National Center for Education Statistics, http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds

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Top U.S. Universities in Undergraduate Degrees Awarded in LCTLs, 2011-12Data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, National

Center for Education Statistics, http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/

2012-13 Credits Follow the instructor

Departments of languages, literatures and cultures

81,871

Mathematics 54,690

Chemistry 50,208

Economics 34,199

English 31,337

Psychology 27,114

Physics 26,193

History 24,780

Prepared for the WLLC Task Force, December, 2013

Challenges:

--- national level

--- consortial level (CIC)

--- campus level

--- departmental level

Challenges:

---- The challenges we face are pressing and urgent.

---- It is clear that we cannot maintain the status quo.

--- Any plan moving forward must address the challenges we face at the national, consortial, campus and departmental levels.

National level:

--- for decades study of less commonly taught languages has been heavily funded by Title VI and other federal initiatives. This funding source is shrinking and may be lost entirely.

Languages funded entirely by Title VI on our campus, 2011-2012(source: TALC report 2013)

FilipinoTibetanGreek (modern) TwiHindi UrduIcelandic UzbekIrish VietnameseKazak Yucatec MayaPashto Zulu

Languages partially funded by Title VI on our campus (2011-2012):(Source: TALC report 2013)

Arabic PolishDutch PortugueseFinnish SwahiliIndonesian SwedishKorean TurkishNorwegian Yoruba

We will be informed of the results of the current round of Title VI funding in August 2014.

We know there will be reductions in Title VI support levels

How will we fund these 27 languages?

Consortial level: --- The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, a major source of funding for the humanities, has announced that it is no longer interested in proposals from individual campuses. Instead, it will engage with institutions on the consortial level.

Who will represent the interests of our departments at the CIC level?

Consortial level:

--- There are ongoing discussions among CIC institutions about strategies for supporting LCTLs through institutional collaboration.

Who will represent the interests of our departments at the CIC level?

Campus level:

--- leadership priority to merge small departments into larger faculty governance and administrative units--- though our departments generate a very large number of credits (over 80,000), we are generally not well understood on campus with regard to our research and teaching missions--- we are encouraged to improve our effort in development but lack expertise and leverage at the UW Foundation

Campus level:

--- our building has long outlived its projected period of use and is ill-suited to our needs

--- we are encouraged to innovate in teaching and research but are hampered by the strictures of our departmental silos

Departmental level:

--- several departments encounter faculty governance issues because of their small size

Departmental level:

--- many key functions either fall by the wayside or fall on individual colleagues. These include:

--- TA training --- Undergraduate advising

--- Website maintenance, communications--- Introduction and ongoing support for new instructional technology--- mentoring and support of academic staff and classified staff --- grants/grant-writing

--- many key functions either fall by the wayside or fall on individual colleagues. These include:

--- development/fundraising--- faculty mentoring and support including consultation

on tenure and promotion cases--- lack of standardization of practices, TA appointment levels, etc.

Departmental level:

--- We miss key opportunities for innovation in academic programs and instruction: --- new interdisciplinary undergraduate majors

--- graduate degrees/certificates--- team teaching--- duplication of effort/courses--- digital humanities

Our range of choices

? ? ? ? ? ?

VH chairs School ofleader represents WLLCall of our departments,VH chairs formalizedas representative body

Our range of choices

The draft proposal for the WLLC has deliberately left a great number of important points vague, since we collectively need to articulate the specifics should we decide to move ahead.

Our range of choices

possible benefits for academic staff:

--- standardized practices and expectations

--- improved training and mentoring

--- representation in the administration of the school

--- more opportunity for advancement because of closer monitoring of opportunities for advancement

Our range of choices

possible benefits for academic staff:

--- clear guidelines for registering grievances