A half-day, post-Institute workshop on “Prioritizing Academic Programs and Reallocating Resources” was conducted by Robert Dickeson, senior vice president of the Lumina Foundation for Education and author of Prioritizing Academic Programs and Services. The workshop’s premise was that, in a time of resource constraints (stock market as well as enrollment), the most important revenue source for enhancing existing programs or developing new ones comes from reallocation. Three provosts who had gone through such processes on their own campus (and lived to tell the tale)—William Julian, Lindsey Wilson College (KY); Clark Hendley, Saint Joseph College (CT); and Suzanne Buckley, Franklin Pierce (NH)—offered advice and a willingness to talk with others going through this. The wide-ranging conversation addressed types of program review, data required, successful communication, and decision criteria.
    Dickeson discussed why reform, or the reallocation of resources, might be necessary:

• academic programs are permitted to grow without regard to their relative worth;
• campus strives to be all things to all people, rather than focusing;
• a growing incongruence between programs and the resources to mount them with quality; and
• across-the-board cuts that have led to mediocrity in all programs.

    He said “the price of academic program bloat for all is impoverishment of each…and the inescapable truth is that not all programs are equal.” Many reform efforts fail, he said, because they “focus only on the non-academic side of the budget (such as deferring physical plant maintenance) and ignore academics as too politically volatile.”
    Prioritization is key, Dickeson said, in a successful reform effort. Program prioritization permits:

• an analysis focused on pre-selected criteria;
• concentration on resource development and utilization, independent of structure;
• a focus on efficiency, effectiveness, and centrality to mission; and
• the ability to identify opportunities to increase revenue, reduce costs, improve quality, and strengthen the reputation of the institution.

    William Julian, provost and dean of the faculty at Lindsey Wilson College (KY) added that, “to many faculty, prioritizing academic programs is an oxymoron. Some will grant the necessity, but none will be comfortable.” Intelligent planning is crucial to the prioritization process, he said. “CAOs must know what they want and [quoting Julian’s First Law of Management Information] ‘do whatever is necessary to get what you need, when you need it, the way you need to see it’.”