We have reason to be proud of the School of Arts and Sciences. Ten of the School's departments are ranked among the top ten in academic reputation by the National Research Counsel, and eight of its graduate programs are ranked in the top ten. By almost every indicator, the College has one of the premier undergraduate programs in the nation.

But every organization needs to step back on occasion, take a careful look at itself, and decide what direction it wishes to take. Working with the SAS Planning and Priorities Committee (a faculty advisory group) as well as with department chairs, we have recently released for comment a draft strategic plan to the Arts and Sciences community. The plan is an effort by a new administration to identify initiatives most likely to accelerate the School's progress toward a position of preeminence in American education. It is designed to advance our three integrated missions: conducting research that advances the frontiers of knowledge, providing unrivaled undergraduate education in the arts and sciences, and training graduate students who will be the future leaders in teaching and research.

Faculty quality is one of the most important factors in achieving success in each of the School's missions. To renew and enrich our faculty, we intend to enhance flexibility by reducing the ratio of tenured faculty through recruitment of mostly untenured faculty, while increasing the representation of minorities and women. Thirty-five of our faculty members have received offers from other universities this year, an indication of the extraordinary talent in the School. Our lives would be easier if we had assembled a faculty that no one wanted to recruit, but that is the road to mediocrity. We must provide the best working conditions for our faculty in order to recruit and retain the best. The plan calls for making salaries more competitive with our peer institutions and for providing greater support for research, a critical element of faculty distinction.

To advance the School's educational programs and reputation, we will target for investment departments and initiatives that are leaders in creating new knowledge, that are fundamental components of an undergraduate liberal arts education, and that make important contributions to interdisciplinary and interschool programs. The departments identified in the plan are English, history, biology, psychology, economics, and political science. These six departments accounted for two-thirds of the majors among 1999 College graduates. Besides increasing the size of these departments through faculty appointments, we will be planning and building first-rate teaching and laboratory facilities for the biology and psychology programs.

Our undergraduate programs must aim at equipping students with the tools they will need to understand and participate in contemporary society, to engage in lifelong learning, to have productive careers, and to exercise responsibility and leadership as citizens. The strategic plan outlines some curricular initiatives for achieving these goals and organizing a 21st century undergraduate education. The faculty will be taking a close look at our eleven-year-old general requirement and is planning to test some innovative curricular and pedagogical initiatives in an "Experimental College." We expect that a cohort of 200 freshmen in the fall of 2000 will undertake a pilot curriculum in place of the general requirement. One component of that initiative will be a set of four broad-based, interdisciplinary, team-taught courses.

Emerging areas of knowledge encourage us to establish new programs in science literacy; community studies, which will build upon our outstanding service-learning curriculum; visual arts and visual culture, which will include a program in film studies; and international perspectives, which will help graduates navigate a shrinking and increasingly interconnected world. Trustee Robert Fox's recent extraordinary gift will enable us to add training in leadership to curricular and extracurricular activities, including the development of oral communication skills.

We'll be working to improve existing programs that provide opportunities for undergraduates to conduct research under faculty supervision, and we'll offer more Freshman Seminars. Students consistently tell us that their most powerful learning experiences come from working closely with faculty in the classroom and lab, in the field, and on special scholarship projects. To help undergraduates make the most of the intellectual opportunity SAS offers, the plan calls for expansion and integration of our advising services and better coordination of career planning, which will include a non-credit course, Lessons in Leadership, that will bring to campus successful College alumni.

The School will continue its commitment to rigorous graduate education, enrolling smaller cohorts of exceptional students who will receive fellowship assistance throughout their graduate studies. To remain competitive, stipends must be increased and the terms of graduate fellowships improved. First-year teaching assistants will take part in expanded workshops and pilot teacher-training programs to help assure that the excellent scholars we turn out also excel at teaching. SAS will also continue to develop new professional master's programs.

With a strong foundation on which to build, the School will use its new plan as a blueprint for excellence as it enters the 21st century. I invite all alumni to read the new plan and give us your feedback. We'd be happy to send a copy on request, or you may read it online at http://www.upenn.edu/almanac/v45/n27/sasplan.html.