Vice Chancellor and Provost Deborah A. Freund unveiled SU’s new Academic Plan—a blueprint for the institution’s academic future—to the University community last spring.       The plan aims to advance the University’s vision of building on its strengths and protecting its student-centered excellence while expanding research opportunities and productivity in key strategic areas. It also seeks to shore up SU’s position as a national leader in blending liberal arts with professional education while confronting the scholarly and educational demands of a new century.       The plan calls for securing the University’s academic foundation through four initiatives: ensuring greater faculty success; ensuring greater student success; refocusing graduate education; and enhancing the intellectual climate through diversity. Four signature experiences—integrating theory and practice; blending liberal arts and professional studies; promoting internationalization and inclusion; and emphasizing elegant writing—are identified as hallmarks of a Syracuse University education.       The plan also cites four areas for strategic investment: information management and technology, environmental systems and quality, collaborative design, and citizenship and social transformation. Over the next decade, close to $50 million in programmatic, curricular, and research support will be committed to these areas. (For detailed information on the plan, go to acadplan.syr.edu on the web.)       To better inform alumni of the Academic Plan’s nature and scope, Vice Chancellor Freund spoke recently with Kevin Morrow from Syracuse University Magazine. Their conversation follows.

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