Task Force on Workforce Planning: Design Process Update

Welcome back to campus. I hope you had a restorative winter break and that the new year is off to a good start. Thank you to all who attended the December town hall hosted by the FAS Task Force on Workforce Planning, where we shared findings from the first (diagnostic) phase of the Task Force’s work and introduced the broad contours of our future administrative model. As 2026 begins, we are moving into the second phase: detailed design.

At the end of the diagnostic phase, Dean Hoekstra accepted the Task Force’s recommendation to adopt a federated model for administrative services — one that keeps the benefits of local, dedicated support for faculty, researchers, and students while enhancing coordination and consistency across the FAS. Our goal is to build an administrative operating model that is more consistent and equitable, easier to navigate, and better aligned with our academic mission, while preserving the strengths of local support that our community values.

In this next phase, 10 design teams, bringing together more than 80 staff and faculty members from across the FAS, will define the roles, processes, governance, and support structures needed to bring that model to life. You can find the list of teams and their focus areas here.

Each design team member has a deep understanding of their respective functions and our current systems, ensuring the future model will be both effective and realistic. Between now and late spring, design teams will develop the ‘blueprint’ for the future federated administrative operating model. Their work will be iterative, informed by data, and shaped by input from across the FAS community.

Your perspectives remain essential. Design teams will gather input from colleagues through targeted discussions, feedback sessions, and other forums as their work evolves – including through Staff and Faculty Advisory Groups that are currently being established. Task Force members and other leaders will also attend team meetings to answer questions and seek more feedback. In addition, we are reopening the Ideas Box, which many of you used last summer to share anonymously more than 150 suggestions, concerns, and innovative ideas. The Ideas Box features new questions and will remain open until February 27.

We are committed to sharing updates as the design work progresses. Final recommendations will be reviewed and approved by Dean Hoekstra before transitioning to the implementation phase later this year.

Let me close by expressing my sincere appreciation for your engagement, patience, and partnership throughout the process. This work is complex, and it touches every part of our community. Your thoughtful participation and leadership has already strengthened the Task Force’s work and will continue to be critical as we refine our administrative ecosystem in service to our teaching and research mission.

Warmly,

Mary Ann Bradley
Interim Dean for Administration & Finance
Faculty of Arts and Sciences