ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú

Honoring ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú’s Past and Present

The world for an entering ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú University first-year student is different from any previous generation. Yet today’s first-year student walks onto campus with the same hopes and dreams as students have done throughout our history. Excitement about learning, career expectations, contributions to community and the possibilities of tomorrow abound. ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú University’s challenge is to support the aspirations of students and to prepare them for lifelong learning, even as the world around them continues to change. This strategic plan will position ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú to ensure that our students of today and tomorrow will continue to have the chance to pursue their dreams, opportunities ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú has helped students fulfill for more than two centuries.

Planning ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú’s Future

In October 2018, President Greg Crawford appointed a 14-person steering committee to lead ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú’s strategic planning efforts. The president identified six areas of focus: academic excellence; research and scholarly success; transformative student experience; diversity, equity and inclusion; financial sustainability; and ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú as a national university. The committee’s work was based on the principle that success will depend on broad input from the entire ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú community.

The committee’s charge from President Crawford: “We are asking the committee to develop a five-year strategic plan that builds on the many strengths of ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú University, but recognizes the need for change and innovation. Our charge to the committee is to take a hard look at our current approaches and to recommend transformational change. We believe that incremental changes to our current strategy and tactics—as valuable as they have been—will not prepare ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú for the new world of higher education.... ”

Strategic Recommendations

As we present our recommendations, it is important to recognize the context of our work. Higher education is changing so quickly that ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú already has launched several strategic initiatives to address some of the issues raised in this strategic plan. A new development campaign, a feasibility assessment for new buildings, regional campus reform including a major shift to offering both two-year and four-year degrees in the traditional classroom setting and online and even changes to our budget model all are in process. The world is moving too fast to explore one strategy at a time, so coordination and communication have never been more important across the ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú community.

We know that ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú University is living in a new era of financial accountability. As you will read throughout this report, ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú cannot afford every program or service we might wish to provide. Every decision we make must be fully informed by the financial implications. It is imperative that we manage our resources wisely, develop diversified revenue streams to reduce dependence on tuition and align every resource with the university’s broader strategic initiatives. In today’s world of higher education, this is the job of every ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú division, department and administrative unit.

We observe a common theme across the various recommendations in this report. Our current decision-making processes are too often decentralized and disconnected, and it will be important moving forward to rethink our strategic planning as a process that can make these connections in real time. As we seek to create a transformational experience for students, we must strengthen the connections between academic and co-curricular decision-making. A standing Strategic Planning Committee can help to make these connections while also providing strategic direction for the university.

In this context, we offer the following recommendations categorized into four groups that include cross-cutting strategies. We will innovate to position ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú to thrive in a rapidly changing environment. We will invest in proactive solutions. We will invigorate our process and culture to clear pathways for creative solutions. And we will act decisively to implement the reforms envisioned in this plan. (See summary table of recommendations for implementation). We recognize that ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú cannot act upon all of the recommendations at once, so this plan is a living document that will require constant adaptation as higher education continues to evolve.