Five-Year Strategic Plan
FY 2006-2010
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREAMBLE………………………………………………………………………. 3
OUR MISSION OUR VISION
OUR COMMITMENTS…………………….. 4
OUR CORE VALUES……………………………………………………………. 5
OVERVIEW………………………………………………………………………. 6
RESOURCE ASSUMPTIONS…………………………………………………... 8
OUR STRATEGIC
PRIORITIES………………………………………………10
CAMPUS PLAN……...…………………………………………………………..37
PREAMBLE
“A University
with tremendous potential.” This is how
we are often described by those who recognize the
An Exceptional Learning Environment
We aspire to create an environment that stimulates each member of our University community to achieve his or her full potential. This is the goal for our freshmen, and this is the goal for our most advanced scholars, whose personal learning elevates human understanding worldwide. The environment we envision includes inviting outdoor spaces that offer opportunities for engaging conversation, invigorating activity, or quiet reflection. Top quality, well-equipped indoor spaces including classrooms, research spaces, areas for relaxation and interaction, and libraries are also important as we envision our exceptional learning environment. Most important to our vision are students, faculty, and staff who represent a broad diversity of thought, background, ethnicity, and perspective who find inspiration through their interactions with each other.
In becoming
a place of possibility we must transform the invisible barriers of systems, processes,
and resource constraints by forging them into tools that provide seamless
support to students, faculty, staff, and the communities we serve. In this way, possibilities are made real,
constrained only by the imagination.
From helping students discover unrealized dreams, to assuring top
quality healthcare for
A Destination for the World’s Best Thinkers
The
Changing Directions initiative has enabled us to more keenly focus on our
vision of being a destination for the world’s best thinkers. The ability to focus on excellence in
everything we do will attract the best researchers to our outstanding programs,
the best faculty to teach our top students and the best students to consider
the
Realizing
our aspirations requires rigorous analysis, keen focus, and a willingness to
make difficult decisions. Our strategic
plan reflects a new way of thinking, a new sense of urgency, and our new
commitment to making the hard choices required to achieve academic excellence.
OUR
OUR VISION
OUR COMMITMENTS
OUR
OUR VISION: The
An
exceptional learning environment
A
place of possibility
A
destination for the world’s best thinkers
OUR COMMITMENTS:
OUR CORE VALUES
Our core values describe who we are and how we fulfill
the University’s mission.
A DIVERSE AND INCLUSIVE COMMUNITY
People are the source of our strength. Their different perspectives, backgrounds and experiences make us stronger. We treat people with respect and share decision making to create a climate that supports the success of all who learn and work here.
EXCELLENCE
We hold to the highest standards in all we do and we invest our resources accordingly.
INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURIAL
ACTION
We explore new approaches, challenge the status quo, and foster creative endeavor.
INTEGRITY
We honor our commitments; take responsibility for our actions; are honest, fair and just in all we do; and stand ready to make informed decisions for the good of the community.
PARTNERSHIPS
We create synergies and expand opportunities through
collaborative and interdisciplinary approaches.
As
OVERVIEW
The
The
University’s main campus is located 70 miles from
Since its establishment
in 1885, the
DEFINING OUR ROLE
After more
than a century of service, the University has been challenged to more
explicitly define its role in the State and higher education community. This challenge is prompted in part by the
Arizona Board of Regents’ 2002 “Changing Directions” initiative, which
acknowledged the need for
Using the concept of Focused Excellence, the University proposes to build on its heritage and potential as a student-centered research university at the forefront of discovery, and to leverage limited resources accordingly. As the strategic plan is implemented, well-articulated areas of focused excellence, within colleges as well as at the University level, will help guide resource investment. We recognize that organizational clarity and direction, informed decision-making, deliberate implementation, and rigorous process of assessment are required for the University to achieve its aspirations.
THE STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS
This document reaffirms our mission, advances a vision for the future, describes a set of values that will guide decision-making, and details five strategic priorities necessary for the University to become what we know it can be. This strategic plan is not intended to highlight specific colleges, units, or the University’s ongoing efforts to provide top quality research and education. Plans specific to each college and unit are developed at those levels. The University’s plan is implemented through the President and his Cabinet, University offices, and college deans. Progress is monitored through annual reports, as well as through academic, sunset, and unit reviews. The Arizona Board of Regents also monitors progress. The University’s plan is a guide for decisions at all levels.
In recent
years separate strategic plans for the Main Campus and
Two explicit themes emerged from these conversations. The first: The University of Arizona must achieve absolute clarity in its intention to become a top-ten public research university. The second: We require additional resources to realize our enormous potential, and must be creative in the quest for those resources.
The
The
RESOURCE ASSUMPTIONS
Over the past two years public
universities have increased tuition rates significantly. It is understood that this rate of tuition
increase cannot continue without pricing some students out of the market. In developing plans, it is anticipated that
the tuition rate will increase relative to the top of the bottom one-third of
the fifty flagship universities. The
One indication of the University’s commitment to research is found in its ambitious construction agenda. Research facilities currently under construction include: the Institute for Biomedical Science and Biotechnology (now known as BIO5), the significant addition to the Optical Sciences building, and the Chemistry building expansion. These projects coupled with ongoing renovations to existing laboratory space are expected to result both in improving the University’s grant winning competitiveness and in broadening the types of grants University faculty will be able to seek. The expanded and updated spaces, as well as the University’s increased competitiveness are the basis for assuming an eight to ten percent increase in total grants and contracts.
It is expected that gifts to the University will continue to grow but not at the rate experienced during the midst of the capital campaign. For the most part, gifts continue to be restricted in use. Therefore, the University cannot rely on increased gift income to offset increasing operating and other costs. As pledges are realized, the University’s endowment will increase in the long term.
A program
of Focused Excellence is continuing to identify those programs essential to
maintaining the
Even as the
public demand for higher education is increasing, public universities in all
parts of the nation are experiencing additional cuts in the state funding when
measured in dollars of constant value. These
cuts continue a 30-year trend that has resulted in a lower proportion of state dollars
going to public higher education while health care programs, corrections, and
other portions of the state budget have required greater shares. We are appreciative of the last year’s State appropriation
that allowed the
|
|
FY 2005 Estimate (thousands) |
|
General Funds |
333,692.1 |
|
Other Appropriated Funds |
119,022.9 |
|
Other Non-appropriated Funds |
500,728.2 |
|
Federal Funds |
344,644.8 |
|
Program Total |
1,298,088.0 |
|
Total FTE Employees |
6,481.1 |
OUR STRATEGIC
PRIORITIES
The
During the next five years, the
I.
Build a
world-class and diverse academic community at the forefront of discovery.
II.
Increase
student engagement, achievement, retention, and graduation rate.
III.
Extend the
concept of a land-grant university to position the
IV.
Achieve a
strong financial foundation.
V.
Increase
recognition as a research university committed to an outstanding educational
experience and connected to its community and the world.
Focused Excellence
Strategic Priority I
Build a World-Class and Diverse
Academic Community
at the Forefront of Discovery
A world-class, diverse faculty aided by pre-eminent graduate assistants and an engaged academic community are essential to an agenda of focused excellence in research, scholarship, and creative expression. Moreover, competitive compensation for faculty, graduate assistants, and staff; building maintenance and renewal; and information technology investments and upgrades, as well as other structural components of the University, are necessary to offer students quality learning and research experiences. Success in this agenda will position the University to promote a vital State economy and provide its citizens with and outstanding quality of life.
Priority Detail
Top-quality, experienced faculty, graduate assistants, staff, and administrators are essential to building a world-class and diverse academic community at the forefront of discovery. Chronically inadequate compensation precipitates the loss of valuable human resources across the campus and threatens the very concept of focused excellence. These losses, too commonly in academic areas of strategic emphasis, create shortages in many of the areas where experience is essential. The University has been able to recruit top-notch faculty but not always able to retain them. The consequences reverberate throughout the community. The quality of the learning environment and the capacity to attract the secure research funding at the historic rates of growth will diminish if this trend continues. It is well understood that State support alone is inadequate to fund a return to competitive faculty salaries but developing additional funding sources is both difficult and slow. The availability of funds from reallocation efforts can also be delayed due to responsibly phasing out rather than abruptly terminating academic efforts. While it took decades to build a distinguished faculty, that same faculty could be lost in a few short years. The need to act immediately is urgent, but our efforts to address this problem, through reallocation of resources and prioritization of state allocations have encountered some resistance. There seem to be no solutions without distributed pain.
The Comprehensive Campus Plan map (appendix A) shows the University’s commitment to quality research, scholarship, creative endeavors, and teaching activities. The added space will better accommodate both current and new research programs in optics, chemistry, medicine, biotechnology and other areas of the University emphasis. In addition, significant renewal and maintenance dollars are required to protect the State’s investment in the University’s physical plant and to keep buildings and equipment operating. These inescapable needs put additional fiscal pressure on the fundamental activities that are at the heart of the University’s mission.
First-class information technology is required for the University to provide a twenty-first century environment for instruction, research, outreach, and institutional
management. To provide students with the technological proficiency necessary for them to successfully compete in the work force and for instructional and research faculty as well as staff to perform at a requisite level of efficiency, computer software and hardware need to be available and current. This requires diligent commitment to a constant upgrade cycle. In a manner identical to building renewal, information technology requirements place additional demands on monies required for other purposes.
Good practice in technology resource management requires planning and budgeting around equipment life-cycles, especially given the pace of today’s Information Technology (IT) industry. There are several areas to consider in resource management, desktop hardware, server-based hardware, institutional applications, desktop software, database software and tools, middleware tools, and more. Funding commitments to refresh information technology have not been consistent across the areas. For example, large investments in mainframe based equipment have been coupled with multi-year commitments of operating funds from central organizations, such as the Center for Computing and Information Technology (CCIT). However, expenditures in other categories, notably desktop computing equipment, have not been treated as recurring expenses and appropriately budgeted. This is especially true for large-scale applications projects such as Matrix, where technology refresh requires a large annual ongoing investment of about $500,000. Planned growth must not simply consider occasional critical needs, but most provide an orderly design for build-out and maintenance of the IT infrastructure. The movement from responding only to critical needs to orderly build-out requires a consistent, reliable resource stream.
The knowledge-based economy is characterized by an unprecedented focus on both the quality of human capital and infrastructure support. States are competing for future economic prosperity and recognize that higher education is the determining engine of success. Building a world-class and diverse academic community at the forefront of discovery is of prime importance if the State is to effectively compete in the global economy.
INITIATIVES
A.
Build a more
academically robust and diverse student body
1. Revamp
recruitment efforts to attract diverse and academically talented students from
2. Establish admission standards and processes that increase the quality of the student body and ensure that those who are admitted are likely to succeed.
3. Increase financial aid packages to recruit top scholars and other students with high academic promise.
4. Provide
financial aid to ensure access for
5. Increase the number of quality graduate students by developing effective recruitment and retention packages.
B.
Recruit and
retain a world-class, diverse faculty.
1. To expand discovery, enhance student-faculty interaction and support the faculty more fully.
2. Invest in cluster hires to better leverage available funds and create intellectual synergies.
3. Recognize and reward entrepreneurial scholarship and creative expression.
C.
Build and
strengthen world-class programs.
1. Assess, invest in, and build upon institutional success in attracting and retaining world-class talent.
2. Support and bolster individual and departmental productivity.
3. Invest in information and technological resources including the technology refresh required to meet research demands, address emerging trends in academic disciplines, and support innovative approaches to educational delivery.
4. Establish and adapt a Network Master Plan that supports focused excellence initiatives by implementing a state of the art communications infrastructure.
D.
Create, strengthen,
and support collaborations across departments and programs, both within and
across colleges.
1. Provide financial and resource incentives for interdisciplinary collaboration.
2. Make building and space allocation decisions that support collaborative efforts.
3. Ensure that interdisciplinary efforts are recognized and rewarded.
E.
Create
synergies and leverage resources in the University’s recognized areas of
strength
1. Invest resources to enhance core disciplines and programs.
2. Involve the Technology Research and Initiative Fund (TRIF) initiatives: water, optics, biomedical science and biotechnology, information technology, and workforce development in cooperative programmatic efforts that maximize the use of resources.
3. Explore and articulate new or emerging themes to optimize interactions across disciplinary boundaries in potential areas of focused excellence.
F.
Create a
culture that supports the success of all members of the University community.
1. Create an environment in which civility, social responsibility, and ethical behavior are expected and demonstrated.
2. Emphasize University values as criteria in the selection of leadership at all levels.
3. Provide all employees with development opportunities in order to enhance professional growth and effectiveness,
4. Implement performance feedback systems, including post-tenure review, aligned with the University’s values and strategic plan.
5. Strive for universal design to increase access to services and facilities for people with disabilities.
G.
Increase the
equity and competitiveness of total compensation packages offered to faculty,
staff, appointed personnel and graduate assistants.
1. Develop incentives for obtaining dollars.
2. Conduct regular market studies and adjust salary levels considering focused excellence.
3. Regularly allocate internal resources to retain individuals essential to fulfilling the University’s mission.
4. Conduct regular salary equity studies and address internal salary disparities within and between units.
RESOURCES
|
Incremental Costs; constant/nominal dollars; in thousands |
|||||
|
|
FY 2006 |
FY 2007 |
FY 2008 |
FY 2009 |
FY 2010 |
|
General Funds |
12,925.5 |
7,588.6 |
7,649.9 |
7,688.1 |
7,651.8 |
|
Other Appropriated Funds |
0.0 |
1,487.7 |
1,562.1 |
1,640.2 |
1,722.3 |
|
Other Non-appropriated Funds |
2,257.9 |
2,844.7 |
|||