University Planning

A generative planning process is underway and will be completed in the spring. 

Leadership
Tokumbo Shobowale, EVP for Business and Operations
Stephanie Browner, Interim Provost and EVP for Academic Affairs
Jennifer Hobbs, SVP for Administration and Chief of Staff
Anne Adriance, SVP for Marketing and Business Development
Melanie Hart, SVP for Equity, Inclusion and Social Justice and Chief Diversity Officer

Support and Coordination
Leads:
Lisa Bonner, AVP, Business Services
Jin Kim, Deputy Provost for Academic Planning and Administration
Jane McNamara, Interim Senior Director and Chief of Strategy, Office of the Provost 

Additional Staff:
Loretta Ferrari, AVP, Budget Planning
Irwin Kroot, AVP, Human Resources
Shawn Ogiba, AVP for Enterprise Applications and Business Intelligence
Lisa Preston, VP, University Marketing

For more than two years, the university has been engaged in inquiry, listening, and analysis from operational, cultural, financial, and social justice perspectives. Our planning process is shaped by the faculty, staff, and students across the university, who have made a commitment to teach, research, study, and work at The New School, and share in creating the university's future. 

The following reports collectively bring all of those observations together.

• Reimagining Sessions — a series of meetings held in August 2020 with leaders across our campus that provided insights to improve the structures and services supporting our academic mission 
• Community Engagement Surveys — a university-wide survey and series of small-group dialogues held in spring 2020 with students, faculty, and staff to inform university planning 
• Campus Climate Assessment — a university-wide process launched in 2018 aimed at shedding light on the university community’s  experiences with and perceptions of diversity, equity, and inclusion on our campus 
• CoRE Project — an 18-month initiative involving hundreds of faculty and staff members, designed to identify ways to better serve our students and one another

The New School is planning for a robust in‑person student experience both inside and outside the classroom starting in fall 2021 and beyond. Our goal is to re-open our New York City campus in fall 2021 for a return to in-person teaching and learning. 

While we don’t yet have all the answers about how our New York City campus reopening will unfold, the Teaching and Learning section of our COVID-19 Community Guide features an overview of the academic experience in the coming year, including answers to many frequently asked questions. 

In the 2019 surveys (e.g. NPS), The New School Community indicated that our data are siloed, our applications are fragmented, and our experience is disintegrated. We had a long history of bringing in new systems to fix the problems created by existing systems - which itself created more complications. The New School IT department has partnered with select business champions to begin creating The New School Platform (TNSP), a single unified platform that will seamlessly integrate our disparate systems across the university. 

The foundation for this platform is currently in development, which includes initiatives such as creating “Data Lake” (our single source of truth - SSoT) and implementing an “integration engine” (iPaaS) solution.

Service Portal
A key functionality of the TNSP will be a Service Portal, which will streamline our current service delivery model and provide staff and faculty with a single destination for institutional knowledge and requests. Early potential capabilities for this platform have been drawn from the Common Challenges Research Project (CoRe):

• A Knowledge Base of institutional information, sometimes referred to as an “intranet” 
• Consolidation of space-utilization data into one central reservation system
• University wide chatbot initiative - rollout of an expert system with AI capabilities, connected to key TNS systems, allowing our community to quickly ask questions, access key information or personal information, get status updates on existing requests or questions, and be routed to live experts as needed

Questions? Contact Ben Sanders at [email protected]

Encompasses major initiatives to develop external partnerships and business opportunities as means to significantly increase revenue.

Parsons Entrepreneur Academy
The New School launched the Parsons Entrepreneur Academy, a digital platform that will provide world-class online training, mentoring, and networking opportunities for creative professionals looking to create a business around their art. The platform will connect creatives with industry professionals and entrepreneurs around the world, and foster a community for audiences to collaborate and contribute to new and exciting ideas.

Staff leads:
Anne Adriance, SVP for Marketing and Business Development
Mariana Amatullo, Vice Provost For Global Strategic Initiatives
Steve Melzer, Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives

Questions? Contact Steve Melzer at [email protected]

This is the work of improving our administrative structures and processes while respecting and acknowledging the unique nature of The New School.

This initiative involves assessing roles, responsibilities and processes in the following areas. The timeline, approach and participants for each will be different. Read on for details.

Human Resources and Finance
A design team composed of subject matter experts from Human Resources, Finance, and college administration is working to develop recommendations for more flexible and responsive organizational structures. 

Questions? Contact Lisa Bonner at [email protected]

Marketing+Communications
This team’s primary objective is to create common understanding and shared standards for the roles and responsibilities between the Marketing and Communications department (M&C), and marketing and communications roles at the colleges and in other administrative departments. This work includes 1) clarifying support provided by M&C, the colleges and other administrative departments, as well as any necessary third parties, and 2) establishment of standards for how college and administrative teams’ marketing and communications priorities are determined, shared, and aligned.

Administration in the Colleges
The College Deans and Vice Deans are in early stages of discussing the timeline and approach for administrative revisions to roles, responsibilities and processes. They anticipate fully embarking on this work in early 2021. Any changes in college administrative roles and processes will not impact future academic structures that might be developed as part of strategic planning.

The university is continuing its work to secure a sustainable and strong future for generations to come. Space-related costs are second only to faculty and staff costs as the largest expense category for the university, and comprise approximately 24% of our annual operating budget. Making the best use of our space is an important part of this process and one of the ways in which The New School can strengthen its financial position. You can read more about the range of measures we are taking here.

Guiding Principles
As we prepare to return to campus in Fall 2021, the allocation and design of campus space presents unique challenges and opportunities. First and foremost, at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic will still be a reality, it is essential that our spaces reflect the highest standards for health and safety. Doing so will require significant adaptations, and the adaptations we make for the fall term should inform longer-term planning for space use and our work model. This phase of space planning will draw on the best spirit of The New School, asking us to think openly, learn and adapt iteratively, and be focused on creating positive change. We are guided by the following principles:

1. Model innovation. Demonstrate our value for new ideas, experimentation, and iteration.
2. Focus on the big picture. Orient plans and decisions to what is best for the university as a whole.
3. Prioritize our academic mission. Maximize space for teaching, learning, research, creative practice, and academic work and engagement led by our faculty.
4. Put students at the center. Serve the academic, social, and emotional well-being and development of students.
5. Advance equity. Ensure equitable access to resources, with consideration given to differing needs based on identity, conditions, and circumstances.
6. Value people. Seek, learn from and contribute positively to the experiences, perspectives, and needs of all whose work creates and supports our success, and who both contribute to and draw from this community.

Questions? Contact Mochi Liu at [email protected]

The Needs Assessment (PDF) survey findings provide compelling support for the university to embrace a hybrid work model for our administrative staff in the long term. As a next step, we have established a working group charged with identifying the policies, practices, training, and resources required to support all administrative staff regardless of their future work modality. 

Sponsors
Lisa Bonner, Business Operations
Jin Kim, Provost Office

Chair
Abbey Chieffalo, Business Operations

Members
Geycel Best, Labor Relations
Jackie Clark, Eugene Lang College
Seth Cohen, New School for Social Research
Keisha Davenport, Student Success
Kristen Gartside, Strategic Enrollment Management
Maria-Elena Grant, Marketing & Communications; Staff Senate
Tanesha Jemison, Parsons School of Design
Ilana Levitt, Human Resources
Kayla O’Daniel, Information Technology
Jean Oei, Space Planning
Matthew Sullivan, College of Performing Arts
Stephanie Szitanyi, Schools of Public Engagement
Anna Thibeault, Provost Office
Andrew Toulas, Libraries, Collections and Academic Services

Charge
To enable a successful transition to hybrid work, this group will:

• Identify policies, practices, training, and resources required to support all employees regardless of their future work modality (new or updates to existing)
• In collaboration with other university subject matter experts, develop and recommend solutions to the appropropriate area leader for approval (e.g. VP of HR)

The executive sponsors, Tokumbo Shobowale and Stephanie Browner, are responsible for identifying (or confirming) the individual(s) responsible for implementing each approved solution, the timeline to which it must be implemented, and holding them accountable for meeting that deadline.

This group is not responsible for determining who should be on campus or remote, but rather how to best support all employees in a hybrid organizational work model. Membership in the group is made up of individuals across the organization who represent the different services, people, and work modes that will exist in the future. Efforts were made to include individuals who are not presently serving on other Fall 2021 planning committees, and who are closer to the work being impacted by these solutions. Representatives are expected to report back to their units (down, across, and up) for input and recommendations.

Primary initiatives of this group are to:

1. Serve as the “business client” for collaborative spaces on campus that serve hybrid workers, or where individuals need to interface with remote/hybrid workers

2. Review and recommend new policies or policy amendments

3. Ensure university culture extends beyond the campus, with particular focus on employee health and well-being, networking, and community engagement

Group may be disbanded and reformed with new membership if ongoing support is required.

Questions or recommendations? Contact Abbey Chieffalo at chieffaa@newschool.edu or submit this form anonymously.

As President McBride and Interim Provost Browner have discussed widely with the university community, The New School is engaging in a strategic planning effort in 2021. Moving toward a strategic planning process will help us to articulate, prioritize, and make our shared goals actionable, in ways that will make a significant, positive, and lasting difference. This spring, dialogue with the community is informing the development of the timeline, model, and structure for strategic planning. Communication around this developing process will be ongoing. Please continue to check this website for additional information.