Course credit should be given for undergraduate research. Expansion of the Freshman Seminar model would allow for early integration of research with teaching, capitalizing on direct faculty-student contact and the opportunity for faculty to share their passions for their field. Marketability must be taken into account in fields where only a few undergraduates would naturally go on to graduate training. Provision should be made to include skills that have market value. A n alternative model might allow for faculty to specialize in teaching or research for a set length of time with appropriate recognition of that specialty in tenure consideration.
Time is the biggest pressure, exacerbated by the current academic calendar.
Semesters or year-round scheduling with either 4 equal quarters or trimesters would allow for more seminars and less intense individual teaching loads. Faculty could take off various terms, depending on their and their department's needs. This radical restructuring would require overhauling the tenure and promotion practices as well as the calendar, but might be the appropriate approach. Although approval for radical change by one institution would probably not be forthcoming until the system-wide issues are more resolved, the climate for change is improved over what it was perceived to be in the recent past. I t was concluded that the UO may not be as special as we have come to believe simply because there is insufficient clarity about what we deliver to convey our mission adequately to parents and students.