Chairs of two new faculty committees for Duke global
initiatives discussed their plans for the coming year Thursday and promised
faculty that they would study the small details underpinning new initiatives as
well as larger strategic goals.
Both the Global Priorities Committee (GPC) and the China
Faculty Council (CFC) were designed to assist faculty engagement in the
decisions that shape Duke's global initiatives.
Speaking before the Academic Council, Jeff Vincent,
professor in the Nicholas School of the Environment, said the 15-member Global
Priorities Committee, which was formed last year, will assess "university
and academic programs operating globally at the proposal stage and monitoring
implementation."
Vincent said there is no single template for global initiatives:
On each proposal, the committee, which has had four meetings since its launch
last year, will ask questions such as whether Duke should act alone or work
with collaborators or whether to focus on research, teaching and service or
some combination.
His committee will also review the many different Duke
programs with international operations/engagements, such as global health,
DukeEngage and the Center for International Studies, to seek coordination of
the various global priorities.
The committee will also look at programs "on the micro
level," Vincent said, and in particular he said the Duke Kunshan
University (DKU) proposal "is a standing item on our agenda."
While GPC studies Duke's efforts in all countries, Law
Professor Paul Haagen and the CFC are focused particularly on China. Haagen told
the Academic Council that while the DKU project is getting a lot of attention,
that effort represents only one part of Duke's research and teaching outreach
in the world's most populous country.
"Our charge is to look at finding opportunities that
can be developed in China," Haagen said.
"That includes DKU, but also many other kinds of programs. For example, the law school has extensive
cooperation agreements in China."
The committee has met just once, and Haagen noted that
"because this is a new way of faculty involvement, we are making up the
process as we go along. We want to try
ways in which faculty on the committee can interact with the larger Duke
community, the leadership and the Academic Council, and advise them on what
appears to be promising or less promising opportunities."
One of its early projects will be to create a DKU FAQ
webpage, which Haagen said should be ready within a month.
Other faculty groups are also reviewing different aspects of
global programs. Council Chair Susan
Lozier noted that John Payne, chair of the Duke University Priorities Committee,
will discuss DKU finances at an upcoming meeting.
Lozier cited a visit last month from Harvard professor
William Kirby, who has been hired by Duke as an adviser on the DKU project.
"We pressed him for his opinion on the risks of the
project," Lozier said. "He
replied there is no formula for sure success in China, but there is a path to
certain failure: Just relax your standards."
In other action, the council approved a new Fuqua School
master's program in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Duke's Academic Programs Committee had previously approved
the two-year master's of management studies in finance program and the Academic
Council had discussed the proposal at the September meeting.
Council members asked about gender, living wage and human
rights issues in UAE, as well as about the quality of the affiliated faculty in
the program.
Jennifer Francis, Fuqua's senior associate dean for
programs, said the faculty would be fully vetted by Fuqua in line with its
general rules for global programs. She
noted that UAE is open to women's education and said that the program leaders
were looking for a diverse faculty to set a strong example.