Goals of the UAPC Implementation plan such as attaining Carnegie Research II status while at the same time improving undergraduate and graduate education or adding faculty, while appropriate specific goals, do not really get to the heart of the matter. Such goals can only be achieved by us performing our academic duty and by performing it well. All of us, in every decision we make, must consider how what we propose to do will strengthen this institution. Faculty, staff, departments, and schools working together will lead to such benchmarks as attaining Carnegie Research II status or Association of Research Library membership on this journey. Our journey must not end there, however.
Current faculty have a very large responsibility on our journey in exercising their academic duty.
They must hire and then mentor the best new faculty whose faces and perspectives reflect the diversity of our society. Because of the abundance of qualified applicants in the marketplace, we have the good fortune to select from among numerous outstanding scholars. These new faculty must be scholars who will, with support and mentoring by their senior colleagues, establish national reputations in their fields and become exceptional teachers, but as importantly, these new faculty must be able to contribute to the Jesuit, Catholic tradition and mission of this university. Search committees and Deans have the primary responsibility in this critical assessment before hiring. Secondly, we must make the right tenure decisions, based on sound judgements which assess scholarly stature at the national level, quality teaching, mentoring, and advising, and contribution to the mission of the University.