Schools to give reports to Boschini
By Jacque Nguyen
Staff Reporter

The university will soon be seeing a new face in the third floor office of Sadler Hall — Victor Boschini Jr. will arrive June 1 as chancellor and administrators say they are ready for him.

Mike McCracken, dean of the College of Science and Engineering, said like Chancellor Michael Ferrari did, Boschini will try to learn about TCU’s academic community and the TCU community will try to learn about him.

“As a group, I think that the deans and other academic administrators want to convey to Dr. Boschini the excellence of university academic programs and to impress upon him our dedication to maintaining and enhancing academics at TCU,” McCracken said.

Various deans said they had the chance to make presentations of their schools to the Board of Trustees at different times during the year.

McCracken said Provost and Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs William Koehler will share these presentations with Boschini. The presentations include background information concerning each school or college, recent achievements, goals and aspirations and an estimate of the resources that might be required to achieve these goals, McCracken said.

Ferrari said when he arrived in 1998, he met with many departments and colleges to learn about the goals and concerns from faculty and staff.

“(The meetings and reports) have been an extremely valuable avenue for discussing priorities and setting goals and assessing progress toward the fulfillment of those goals,” Ferrari said.

McCracken said the goals for the College of Science and Engineering include establishment or enhancement of a number of programs. He said the college also expects to invite Boschini to visit departments and research labs as his schedule permits.

Sam Deitz, dean of the School of Education, said department members are putting together a set of documents, brochures and plans to share with Boschini when he arrives to help him learn about the program.

“We hope Dr. Boschini learns from all this information that he is coming to a place with an excellent School of Education,” Deitz said. “Our faculty work very hard to prepare teachers who are exceptionally well prepared for the challenges of today’s schools and our students are in very high demand across the Metroplex.”

He said he also wants Boschini to be aware of the school’s needs in terms of faculty, budget and space.

“In our plan, we call for two additional faculty members, two funded chairs to improve the research and teaching in the school and an expanded upgraded facility so that the (School of Education) can do even better in preparing teachers, counselors and principals for the 21st century,” Deitz said.

Dean of the M.J. Neeley School of Business Bob Lusch said the school is not changing any strategies and still has the same goals and visions included in its report to Boschini.

“We are focusing increasingly on improving the quality of everything we do and especially in regard to student and faculty recruiting,” Lusch said.

Rhonda Keen-Payne, dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences, said she expects Boschini will be faced with difficult choices.

“The chancellor will help us make resource allocations and system decisions that stretch us,” Keen-Payne said. “Where can we be most efficient? Where can a few dollars make a big difference? Are there programs that must be eliminated or reduced in scope so that other programs can grow?”

Keen-Payne said she hopes Boschini will give the college 10 new positions, support for graduate students and two new buildings.

She said Boschini will find that the deans work together as a team.

“We support each other’s units as an academic division,” Keen-Payne said. “At the same time, we are the primary voice for our colleges. We’ll do all we can to continue to advance our goals, facilitating our students and faculty.”

j.f.nguyen@tcu.edu