Task Force to Elevate the Arts and Design at UO

Charge to the Task Force
October 2026

Convened by: Office of the Provost
Chair: Kate Morris, Executive Vice Provost for Academic Affairs 
Final report due: November 30, 2026 

  Core Principles and Values  |  Timeline and Governance  |  Task Force Membership

The creative and performing arts are a defining dimension of the University of Oregon’s identity and an essential component of a comprehensive research university. The university has an opportunity to bring together two colleges with distinct programs but with synergistic missions, the School of Music and Dance (SOMD) and the College of Design (DSGN), in a single college. 

Such a college could leverage a more unified and coordinated structure to better highlight, promote, and strengthen the arts and design at Oregon. It could catalyze new interdisciplinary creative collaborations across music, dance, art, theater arts, art history, design, planning, and architecture, and expand events and public programming that draw visitors and attention to the university and to the state. 

This Task Force is asked to consider how that vision might be realized, and whether it should be. The work will be shaped by the distinctive strengths of arts, design, and planning units across campus, and by the people who know them best.

This work is rooted in an unwavering affirmation of the contributions of both SOMD and DSGN to the University of Oregon. 

The arts and humanities are an essential expression of the university’s mission. Through creative practice, applied research, performance, design, experimentation, interpretation, and embodied inquiry, the arts generate distinctive forms of knowledge and explore questions that conventional analytical methods alone cannot fully address. They cultivate creativity, disciplined practice, collaboration, and the courage to imagine what does not yet exist. An interdisciplinary approach to the arts connects disciplines, communities, technologies, and ways of knowing, fostering innovation, and deepening our understanding of human experience. 

The University of Oregon aspires to elevate the arts, planning, and design as driving forces for creativity, discovery, connection, and innovation across the university and beyond. 

The Task Force’s recommendations must honor and protect these values.  The task force commits to activating these values in its interactions and decision-making: trust and care; openness and curiosity; generosity and collaboration; creativity and multiple perspectives; and inclusion and responsible stewardship.

The Task Force is expected to engage in transparent, inclusive consultation. This should include multiple ways of receiving meaningful input and feedback from faculty, staff, students, and key external partners of SOMD, DSGN, and other connected units.  

• Meeting Cadence: The Task Force will meet weekly between September 28 and November 16, 2026.
   
• Final Report: The Task Force will submit a written report to the Provost by November 30, 2026, detailing opportunities and risks associated with creating a combined college that elevates the arts, design, and architecture, and if appropriate, draft a charge, membership, and timeline for a second-phase Task Force to create an implementation framework.

The university is addressing a $65 million structural budget deficit and is reviewing academic structures across campus as part of that work. This context makes a timely, thoughtful decision about potential restructuring important, and the Task Force’s recommendations should aim to strengthen the academic mission while contributing to the university’s long-term fiscal sustainability. 

Chair 

Kate Morris, Executive Vice Provost for Academic Affairs 

Deans

Sabrina Madison-Cannon, Dean of the School of Music and Dance

Adrian Parr Zaretsky, Dean of the College of Design 

College of Design

Colin Ives, Professor of Art

Maile Hutterer, Professor of History of Art and Architecture 

Susan Sokolowski, Professor of Product Design

Uli Dangel, Professor of Architecture 

Ben Clark, Professor of Public Policy and Management 

School of Music and Dance 

Lori Kruckenberg, Professor of Musicology

Shannon Mockli, Associate Professor of Dance

Sharon Paul, Professor of Music Performance 

College of Arts and Sciences

Bruce McGough, Divisional Associate Dean of Social Sciences 

Malek Najjar, Professor of Theatre Arts 

Staff Support

Anne Riggs, Office of the Provost