Oakland University faculty and staff members with creative ideas on how OU can realize its 2010 vision are invited to submit pre-proposals to the Provost’s Office by Wednesday, May 1.

The pre-proposals should summarize how new initiatives might strengthen Oakland’s undergraduate educational experience through change that draws on the university’s strengths and will help Oakland become a university of distinction.

“It is important that ideas are not created in isolation,” says Virinder Moudgil, interim provost and vice president of Academic Affairs. “If our undergraduate experience is to be far reaching, the individual elements must have continuity. Look for interdisciplinary approaches and links between projects and programs that together can create powerful and lasting change.”

OU faculty and staff should consider the following broad categories when developing pre-proposals:

• Alternative models of teaching and learning — experiential, student-directed, cross-disciplinary, site-based. These can be collaborative ideas that bridge the existing curriculum.
   
• Global perspectives and international experiences.
   
• Increased opportunities for research (including interdisciplinary approaches).
   
• Integration of new technologies — both to enhance the learning process and to create deliverables for students to take with them.
   
• Community engagement, partnerships and internships in workplace and academic settings.

Submissions will be reviewed for common themes, creativity and the power to bring distinction to OU’s undergraduate experience. Weight will be given to interdisciplinary approaches. A few of the most outstanding projects may be funded as early as this summer, depending on availability of resources and potential donor involvement. And, with the University Senate’s assistance, formal requests for proposals will be drafted for solicitation this fall.

“Before the call for formal proposals goes out, I am hopeful that the Senate will also take an active role in reviewing the profile that the Oakland community articulated during the visioning process,” Moudgil says. The profile document can be found on the Web site.

“I would hope that this process could take place this spring and summer as we are reviewing pre-proposals and making final preparations for the launch of our capital campaign,” Moudgil says.

Some of the money raised during Oakland’s recent telemarketing campaign will be added to other university sources to strategically fund pre-proposals from the academic units to advance 2010 curricular development.

“I hope employees will join me in thanking Vice President Susan Goepp and her University Relations staff for their hard work on behalf of our faculty and students,” says Moudgil. “The department chairs and deans will soon be receiving letters notifying them of the restricted dollars the telemarketing campaign raised for their programs.”