There has been a lot of talk in recent weeks about “SMAs”: Strategic Mandate Agreements. These are the “contracts” that the provincial government is negotiating with each university, which will govern the areas in which the institution is anticipated to grow in the coming three years. At the end of November 2013, all Ontario universities received a template for the expected documentation, and were given a submission deadline of December 20th. Three weeks is not exactly a lot of time in which to undertake such an exercise, but the task was made easier by the fact that a lot of thought and energy has been devoted in recent months to developing Carleton’s Strategic Integrated Plan, launched to the public last autumn … so much of the basic groundwork was already in place. The SMA process is potentially an important one, since the Ministry must approve all new programs proposed for government funding, and it was made quite clear that any new programs in our pipeline would need to be included in this document. Frankly, that will make life somewhat easier. Rather than going to an extraordinary amount of effort to develop a new program, only to have it subsequently rejected for funding by Queen’s Park, the SMA, when finalized and signed by both parties, should in theory constitute a sort of “pre-approval” in principle for the future directions being taken by each institution. Of course, given the uncertainty of minority governments, and the likelihood of a new provincial election in the late spring, it is impossible to know for certain how seriously these agreements will be taken.
News of the SMA process reached me in Rome in early December, and I shall confess that I was slightly puzzled to receive an E-mail from the Provost with “SMA” in the subject line … since it came on a day when I was participating in a conference which also used those same initials as a form of shorthand: an international gathering of those whose research intersects with the important early medieval church of S. Maria Antiqua, recently restored with the financial support of the World Monuments Fund. But any confusion on my part was short-lived, and I would like to thank the two FASS associate deans, Pauline Rankin and Sukeshi Kamra, who ably managed our Faculty’s contribution to the process in my absence.
The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences has expanded its offerings quite significantly over the past decade, particularly at the graduate level, and we don’t have a lot of new programs in the development stage. The exception at the undergraduate level is of course the Bachelor of Global and International Studies (BGINS), an initiative co-sponsored by FASS and the Faculty of Public Affairs, which will build on Carleton’s increasingly “international” focus, its strength in the study of global culture including languages, and of course its position in Ottawa, the nation’s capital. This is one of the largest and potentially most significant undergraduate initiatives that this Faculty will have undertaken in many decades, and I am pleased that Sukeshi Kamra will be co-chairing the committee charged with turning the concept into a reality, with the first intake of students now planned for September 2015. Whereas most other “Liberal Arts” faculties are attempting to hang on for dear life in the current economic climate, at Carleton we are taking a bold step forward towards engaging in a more structured way with the larger planet. It is an exciting time … and yes, a little bit daunting. But the potential for BGINS is enormous, and I am a huge believer in attempting to shape the world I must live in, rather than being a hapless and passive victim of external circumstances. This is an important opportunity for the Faculty to shape its future, and in so doing to ensure that future.