The lead institution in this proposal is the University of Oregon. UO faculty and administrators have developed this proposal, in consultation with faculty and administrators at Central Oregon Community College, the Central Oregon University Center, Central Oregon community leaders, and appropriate persons from partner institutions as described below. The University of Oregon is fully responsible for all representations made in this proposal, and will be responsible for the performance of the Central Oregon higher education campus.

The University of Oregon presents this proposal in partnership with a number of other institutions, which either currently bring, or have a desire to bring programs to Central Oregon. In most cases these programs are either in areas or are delivered in ways that do not compete directly with the programs that the University of Oregon intends to bring to Central Oregon. The UO programs and these partner programs will mutually benefit from the growing variety of courses that will be made available in Central Oregon through the proposed new campus, since students in any of the programs will have access to all of the courses available through UO/Central Oregon. Hence students in Central Oregon will benefit.

The partner institutions and a brief description of the programs each institution intends to offer are listed below. The memoranda-of-understanding or letters of intent between UO and each of these institutions have been separately submitted, and constitute the formal agreements. We describe the programs in more detail in the Academic Affairs section under the discussion of curriculum.

• Eastern Oregon University will have its own division as a part of the Central Oregon campus, and will continue to offer all of its current programs through this division.
  Eastern and UO will coordinate offerings so as to minimize duplication while maximizing opportunities for students.

• Portland State University will continue to offer its statewide master’s degrees in Social Work, Business Administration, and Public Administration (including the specializations of non-profit management, health administration, tribal administration, and on-line transmission of related courses), the MPA in Health Administration, and the Oregon Master of Public Health through the Central Oregon campus. PSU will also consider offering other graduate or post-graduate programs, with a focus on programs that have impact on urban issues.
• Southern Oregon University plans to offer courses that will allow students to obtain minors in Criminology and in Hotel and Restaurant Hospitality, when taken in conjunction with another bachelor’s degree offering, such as UO’s Social Science degree.
• Oregon Health Science University will provide selected degree programs in nursing at the baccalaureate and graduate levels.
• Oregon Institute of Technology will offer a degree program in Information Technology, and will consider other allied health and engineering technology programs
• Linfield College will continue to offer its bachelor’s degrees in Accounting and in Management.

In addition to these partnerships, we will honor two agreements between OSU and the COUC. One year will remain on an agreement to subsidize OSU’s offering of majors in Communications and in Natural Resources. If sufficient demand for these offerings has been demonstrated at the end of the existing agreements, we will work with OSU to support their continuation as a part of the UO/Central Oregon campus. Two years will remain on an agreement to deliver six upper-division computer science courses. We will work with OSU to integrate these offerings into our minor in Computer Information Technology, and OIT’s major in Information Technology.

OSU also has a Liberal Studies degree, which it offers statewide in various formats. The degree is offered as a continuing education degree through OSU Statewide. The typical OSU Liberal Arts student is one who returns to school part-time to complete a degree, and the typical time to degree is several years. We will encourage OSU to continue to offer this degree, and do not see it as a direct competitor to our social science and humanities degrees. Indeed, some students in either a UO program or in the OSU Liberal Studies program will benefit from the availability of courses in the other program.

The Central Oregon campus will be the equivalent of a freestanding "college", such as the colleges on the Eugene campus. For the purposes of this proposal, we will refer to this college as UO/Central Oregon. We would prefer to make a final decision on naming this institution in consultation with constituents in Central Oregon, if this proposal is approved. We believe that positioning the campus as a college with an appropriate name will provide UO/Central Oregon with the level of independence and name recognition that are important for its identity as the center for higher education in Central Oregon. At the same time, as part of UO, the Central Oregon campus will enjoy the cachet and other benefits of being a part of a world-recognized and valued university.

As a college of UO, UO/Central Oregon will be treated as an equal to UO’s other schools and colleges–the college of Arts and Sciences, the College of Education, the Lundquist College of Business, and the Schools of Music, Law, Journalism and Communications, and Architecture and Allied Arts. However, UO/Central Oregon will not be limited to a set of academic disciplines, as are the schools and colleges on the Eugene campus. Rather, it will encompass the entire range of programs offered in Central Oregon, as would a free-standing institution. In order to best benefit from the nationally ranked programs and expertise within the existing UO schools and colleges, and to maintain appropriate accreditations, links will be established between UO/Central Oregon program areas and their counterparts on the Eugene campus. This will also facilitate easy movement of students and faculty between the Eugene and Central Oregon campuses.

As shown on the following page in the Organizational Chart, Figure 1, academically UO/Central Oregon will initially consist of six divisions, the Divisions of Science and Mathematics, Social Sciences, Humanities, Education, Extended Studies, and an Eastern Oregon University Division. Each of these divisions will be headed by a Division Director, and will have major and minor degree offerings as described below under the section on curriculum. In all cases, degrees received through the first four divisions listed will be UO degrees, just as those received by students on the Eugene campus. If the student receives 45 or more credits at UO/Central Oregon, that student may also receive a certificate of graduation from the Central Oregon campus.

The Division of Extended Studies will facilitate programs offered by our partner universities other than EOU, as well as continuing education courses offered by UO. The EOU Division will offer the programs currently offered by EOU, as well as any programs they might offer in the future. Degrees offered through these two divisions will be those of the offering institution.

In addition, UO/Central Oregon will have local administrative public responsibilities within the Central Oregon community, that extend beyond those the Eugene schools and colleges have within our Eugene community. Therefore, UO/Central Oregon will be headed by a "chief executive officer", a Vice Provost for Central Oregon and Dean of the college, who will report directly to the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Oregon.

The Vice Provost for Central Oregon will be responsible for all activities undertaken on the Central Oregon campus, as well as for the relationship between that campus and COCC. In addition, this person will oversee UO/Central Oregon activities for the broader Central Oregon community. To assist the Vice Provost in these activities, we have defined three other administrative positions. While the campus is small each person in these positions will have multiple responsibilities, including in some cases teaching responsibilities. An Associate Vice Provost for Academic Programs will assist the Vice Provost and Dean in the management of academic programs, as described briefly below, and in more detail in the following section. An Assistant Vice Provost for External Affairs will assist the Vice Provost in community relations and in fundraising.

An Associate Vice Provost for Student Affairs and Administration will assist with the management of these areas, and their close interface with the comparable areas at COCC. In these areas, we intend to "subcontract" extensively with COCC. We intend to avoid duplication of services wherever possible in these areas, and to provide the services directly by UO only when there is a clear academic or financial reason for doing so.

Finally, the COCC Library Director will also serve as Director of UO/Central Oregon Library Services. UO will fund a full-time professional librarian as a member of the COCC library faculty to assist with UO/Central Oregon library needs. The University of Oregon has already facilitated the membership of the COCC library in the Orbis library network. It is the only community college library member of Orbis.

The initial persons to hold most of these positions have been identified. Many are already serving Central Oregon in comparable positions as a part of UO’s existing science, social science, humanities, education, and community outreach activities, and as the director of COUC. Thus the timeline for installing the administrative team is immediate–the team is in place and ready to begin the establishment of UO/Central Oregon upon the designation of University of Oregon as the institution responsible for this campus. More detail on the specific personnel who have agreed to lead in the establishment of UO/Central Oregon is found in Appendix A.

With the exception of the Vice Provost for Central Oregon, we anticipate that this leadership team will remain in place through the early years of the development of UO/Central Oregon. As soon as the Legislature has agreed to fund this campus, UO will undertake a national search to fill the key position of Vice Provost for Central Oregon. This search will involve input from Central Oregon constituents in a very substantive way. UO Provost John Moseley will continue to serve also as Acting Vice Provost for Central Oregon until this position can be filled on a permanent basis. Thereafter both UO Provost Moseley and UO President Dave Frohnmayer will continue to be directly involved and supportive in the development of UO/Central Oregon.

The primary limit on the autonomy of UO/Central Oregon is based on the fact, stated in the assumptions, that "accreditation of academic programs will fall within the framework of accreditation of the managing university." This means that the links to the Eugene campus must be substantive, and that a closely cooperative attitude must prevail. All of the degree programs offered by UO/Central Oregon will be accredited either through UO, or through a partner institution. Thus UO or the appropriate partner institution will continue to maintain an appropriate degree of oversight over the faculty who teach in those programs and over what is taught, as is currently the case.

On the other hand, we will give UO/Central Oregon the capacity to operate, as much as possible, as an independent entity. The Vice Provost for Central Oregon will have decision-making authority over what programs can be offered (consistent, of course, with the ability of the Eugene campus to provide the program), over administrators and budgetary matters on the Central Oregon campus, and over the faculty who have been approved to teach on the Central Oregon campus when they are engaged on that campus.

Given UO’s long history of cooperative relationships, and our strong desire to see the Central Oregon campus succeed, we do not see the limitations necessary to assure quality and maintain accreditation as problematic. We believe that the administrative staff we have chosen to develop UO/Central Oregon will be able to work closely with the Eugene campus to assure that accreditation is respected and maintained, while allowing the new campus to operate within Central Oregon as an "independent" entity.

The Provost of the University of Oregon oversees all academic programs and has the ultimate authority to resolve any conflicts. Given this fact, UO’s full intention to establish an outstanding Central Oregon campus, and our understanding that the success of such a campus is directly dependent on strong support from the Central Oregon community, we are confident that the dynamic tension between autonomy and limits will be a productive one.

The proposed UO/Central Oregon administrative team has already developed excellent relationships with COCC administrators. Indeed, some of the key UO/Central Oregon administrators will hold dual appointments with COCC. While recognizing that COCC and UO/Central Oregon are separate entities, it is our goal that the two administrations work as a cohesive team in providing access to full higher education services in Central Oregon.

Achieving this goal will require effective working relationships and the establishment of a shared culture between the two institutions. The University of Oregon has already demonstrated our ability to achieve such working relationships and shared culture in the successful programs we have established to date in cooperation with COCC.