Decisions based on the Report of the Jackson School Vision Committee

To:  Executive Vice President & Provost Sheldon
       Ekland-Olson
       Vice President Juan M. Sanchez
       Dean Mary Ann Rankin
       Dr. William L. Fisher
       Dr. Gary A. Kocurek
       Dr. Paul L. Stoffa
       Dr. Scott W. Tinker
       Members of the Jackson School of Geosciences

April 29, 2004

Dear Colleagues:

In the wake of the report of the Jackson School Vision Committee, we have engaged in several months of discussion about the existence, the identity, and the character of the Jackson School of Geosciences. This period has allowed us to consider a great range of relevant matters with appropriate depth and care. Now it is time to close out this period by making choices. I am writing to convey the decisions that I judge best able to foster the degree of success that all of us hope to achieve from the Jackson gift.

In my letter of April 1, I discussed the considerations involved in these decisions in quite some detail. Since that time, I have received a sizable volume of mail from members of the Jackson School and from other participants in the process. Moreover, I convened two groups of leaders to air out the more important possibilities and concerns at greater length. The spectrum of ideas and rationales has been defined well in this debate; consequently I will not argue for the choices that I convey here, except in one instance.

Here is what I conclude:

1. We will proceed to create a federated school. There is essentially uniform support for this organizational form.
   


2. The new school will be organized at the campus level and will be led by a dean reporting to the Executive Vice President and Provost. There is division on this matter, with quite a few people favoring a college-level school. After taking great care with this point, I conclude that creation of a campus-level school is justified by the extraordinary opportunity facing us and by the unusual combination of units encompassed by the Jackson School. More important, I conclude that the campus-level school furnishes the best chance to make the most of that opportunity. This is a time for invention and new thinking about the sciences of the earth and how they are developed, taught, and practiced. I believe that the creation of a new school led by a dean will promote what is needed more effectively than any other organizational option.
   


3. The Vice President for Research will be the second-level officer for the Director of the Bureau and will have a responsibility to facilitate the essential outside relationships required for the Bureau's work in the manner of large organized research units that continue to report to that vice president.
   


4. The organization and operation of the school must support each of the constituent units in the pursuit of its distinct mission. The leadership of the principal units must retain considerable influence and authority. The executive committee of the school, providing advice to the dean, should include each unit leader and perhaps should be limited to the unit leaders.
   


5. The dean will have strategic authority manifested in four powers:

1. Authority to approve new appointments of faculty members in the Department and the Institute and of technical staff members at the highest level in the Bureau.
   


2. A dean's voice in the promotion and tenure process.
   


3. Authority to appoint unit leaders, with approval from the Executive Vice President and Provost (for the Department and the Institute) and the Vice President for Research (for the Bureau).
   


4. Executive authority over the use of earnings from the Jackson endowment.

The dean must refrain from attempting to manage the constituent units, but will have the obligation to uphold quality by exercise of the defined powers.

1. All hiring and promotion of faculty members in the Department and Institute and of key technical staff in the Bureau will be reviewed by a strong appointments committee advisory to the dean.
   


2. The Jackson endowment should never be used in a way that eviscerates the incentive for a faculty member, a technical staff member, a program, or a unit to compete for resources and distinction. It should be employed only to provide an edge in competition.
   


3. There will be a Jackson Endowment Advisory Committee to advise the dean on specific requests and general strategy. However, the dean will have the right of final decision. The advisory committee should go beyond the unit leaders to include leading members of the faculty or technical staff. Two other faculty members might be appointed, one each by the Provost and the Vice President for Research, to assure that consideration is given to the full scope of activity defined by Mr. Jackson, which extends to activity outside the three principal units.
   


4. Once a year, the dean will review the past year's commitments and the current principles of use with line officers above the school, including the President, the Executive Vice President and Provost, and the Vice President for Research. A similar review will be provided to the Geology Foundation Advisory Council.
   


5. The President will retain ultimate responsibility for assuring that the endowment is used in a manner respecting the donor's ambition for achievement and excellence.
   

Beyond these basic principles, there is much about the structure and operation of the Jackson School that remains to be defined. Also, there is an approval process for creation of the school that must be respected. Accordingly, the Provost, the Vice President for Research, and I will jointly appoint a Jackson School Implementation Committee to carry development through the point where the federated Jackson School comes officially into being. We will proceed to establish this group before May 10. In the meantime, we invite your nominations of those to serve. You may write or speak to any of us.

At an appropriate point in the approval process for the federated school, the Provost will initiate a search for the new dean. The actual appointment of the dean will, of course, be contingent on securing the required approvals.

Please let me close with a note of appreciation for Dean Mary Ann Rankin, who has proven herself as a remarkable leader for the College of Natural Sciences. I hold her in the greatest esteem for her achievements and for her commitment to quality and performance. She was also among the small number of UT people whom Mr. Jackson regarded as “his team,” thus she was integral to the concept of the gift and she did much to secure Mr. Jackson's confidence in the possibilities at the University. There is a powerful irony in the fact that I now have concluded that the Jackson School should be organized apart from the College of Natural Sciences. I have not reached that conclusion lightly. But I do believe that the change is necessary, given the exceptional circumstances involved here, to maximize the chance for top-level scientific achievement and leadership. I recognize that Dean Rankin has legitimate reservations about this decision. She has articulated her reasons forthrightly and quite effectively. I very much appreciate the collegial manner in which she has done so and appreciate even more her commitment to make this university as strong as it can possibly be. I know, too, that she will continue to take a personal interest in the Jackson School and will feel pride in its successes.

Thank you all for your patience and your engagement thus far. I look forward to a period of invention in the months ahead.

 

Sincerely,

Larry R. Faulkner
President

 

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