University of Oregon Provost Scott Coltrane put the call out Friday for input on the proposal process to hire clusters of faculty in key academic areas that will help "move the needle quickly" on excellence at the UO.

Coltrane addressed 50 to 60 faculty members and others at the fifth of six academic planning discussions that began in December and will conclude March 18.

Friday's focus was on the provost's Faculty Excellence Cluster Hire proposal, which would add 12 to 15 new faculty members over the next three years by identifying key areas of research and teaching, and bolstering them with clusters of two to five new faculty members each.

"There could be two or three faculty on campus doing something, and with two or three more faculty, it might be the best in the country," Coltrane said. "We want to facilitate that kind of thing."

The cluster hires would be targeted at faculty members who do research and creative activities inside and outside traditional academic disciplines, or in cross-disciplinary areas of study. Coltrane's draft of the hiring program calls for small groups of existing faculty to work with their deans and schools or colleges to develop the most dynamic areas for cluster hires.

Coltrane encouraged faculty members to weigh in on the cluster hires proposal process through an online Qualtrics link.

"What I'd like to know is, does this sound reasonable (and) will it work?" he said. "It's doable, but for our culture, will it work?"

Coltrane hopes to finalize details of the cluster hire proposal process by Friday, March 14. The deadline for cluster hire proposals to be submitted to the provost's office will be May 1.

He expects to pull funding for 12 to 15 hires over the next three years from existing budget resources, but said the program could grow if significant donations are identified through the university's ongoing fundraising campaign.

"There isn't a huge pot of startup money for this, so we'll have to be creative," Coltrane said.

The final discussion in the provost's academic planning series will be from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 18, in Gerlinger Lounge.

- by Joe Mosley, UO Office of Public Affairs Communication