Arts and Science deans from western universities will hold their annual meeting on the Washington State University campus April 14 and 15. The group calls itself “Pac-10 + 2” because the deans represent schools in the Pac-10, Hawaii and Alaska. Twenty-one deans and associate deans representing eight universities confirm plans to attend.
“All of these universities benefit from knowing more about each other,” said Barbara Couture, dean of the WSU College of Liberal Arts. “(The association with other schools) has helped me work with our department chairs and directors to make sure that our programs compete well with other programs offered in the west.”
This year Couture and Michael Griswold, interim dean of the College of Sciences, are co-hosting the program.
Tight state budgets are giving the conference an especially serious note this year. “We will be featuring discussion about strategic planning, competitive faculty hiring and maintaining quality programs in an era of decreasing resources,” said Couture.
According to Couture, there is a benefit to hosting the group. “It is an opportunity to showcase our programs as they complement the programs of all the distinguished institutions in the Pac-10. It is particularly important in the area of graduate education given that each of the Pac-10 schools is a recruitment source for WSU.”
Visiting deans will also experience some of the new and world-class aspects of WSU, including the opportunity to tour the new shock physics building, a tour of the new digital recording studio in Kimbrough Hall, an overview of the new addition for the Edward R. Murrow School of Communication and a presentation on the university’s integrated marketing campaign.
