• Questions & Answers
• Priority/Action Areas
• The Connection between “Priority Action Areas” & Goals

The Planning and Budgeting Committee has been hard at work this semester. Campus involvement has been excellent, both with respect to attendance at the strategic planning forums and to the response to the survey regarding trends, values and priorities. The Committee has used this input to begin to develop narrative summaries of the University’s strengths, challenges, opportunities, threats, and core values – summaries that will soon be shared with the campus shortly for feedback. Summarized here is a set of "priority/action areas." These are to be addressed in the strategic plan for every organizational unit within the University.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Q. What is a "priority/action area"?

A. The University’s overarching goal is excellence and distinction in its programs and services. UND intends to move toward greater distinction and excellence by focusing on a limited number of goals and action strategies within each of several priority/action areas. Priority/action areas will provide the framework for specific goals and action plans, as illustrated later in this report.

Q. What is a "goal"?

A. For each of the priority action areas, UND will identify specific goals and appropriate indicators/measures of success. Each unit is asked to do the same, i.e., develop goals and action plans specific to the unit. The goals will describe the state we would like to achieve, expressed in measurable terms. Indicators and measures of success for each goal will be tracked and assessed annually as an on-going monitoring of progress.

Q. Who will develop the goals and action plans?

A. University-wide goals (and indicators/measures of success) will be developed by task groups specific to each priority area and recommended to the Planning and Budget Committee. These task groups may be existing groups (Council of Deans, Information Technology Planning Task Force, etc.), or new groups (see list in next section). In addition, each department/unit within the University is asked to develop unit-specific goals and action plans addressing each priority action area. These, too, will inform the overall strategic plan for the University.

Q. What happens next?

A. Each unit and task group is asked to begin the task of identifying specific goals and action strategies. Strategic planning workshops and training programs for facilitators will be offered later this spring.

PRIORITY/ACTION AREAS

Note: The committee will continue to refine the wording of these priority/action areas throughout the planning process – suggestions welcome.

• Provide a quality curriculum with a solid liberal arts foundation for each field of study to prepare students for rich, full lives, productive careers, and civic leadership.

University-wide Task Group: Deans Council

• Expand and strengthen the University’s commitment to research and creative activity, both as a means of enriching the learning environment and as a driver for economic development.

University-wide Task Group: To Be Named

• Serve the people of North Dakota, the region, the nation, and the world more effectively through applied and basic research, culture and arts programming, and economic development programs as well as through a comprehensive array of educational and academic programs.

University-wide Task Group: University Planning & Budget Committee

• Improve the campus climate for learning and living.

University-wide Task Group: To Be Named

• Optimize and stabilize enrollment to achieve the desired number and mix of students appropriate to the University’s mission.

University-wide Task Group: Enrollment Management Committee

• Optimize the use of information technology to improve student learning, research, and the administration of the University.

University-wide Task Group: Information Technology Task Group

• In support of all of the above, ensure that the University has a well-prepared, enthusiastic faculty and staff, first-rate physical facilities, an adequate financial resource base, and is appropriately and efficiently organized.

University-wide Task Group: University Planning & Budget Committee

• Responsible for recommending specific University-wide goals, action strategies, and measures of success to the Planning Committee. Each will consult with other appropriate existing groups and will invite input from the campus, and in some cases, the external community.

THE CONNECTION BETWEEN "PRIORITY ACTION AREAS" & GOALS

What follows is for illustrative purposes only. It is meant to indicate the connection between broad institutional priorities and the goals that must be developed at the University-wide and departmental level to make tangible progress. You will find below a re-statement of the priority action areas, and for each, examples of the kinds of areas that would be expressed as specific goals, objectives and action plans. In terms of departmental and unit strategic plans, all of these may or may not be applicable.

1. Provide a quality curriculum with a solid liberal arts foundation for each field of study to prepare students for rich, full lives, productive careers, and civic leadership. (University-wide Task Group: Deans Council)

Example Goal/Action Plan topics:

• Academic program quality

• Curriculum

• Faculty as teacher-scholar

• Experiential learning – e.g., "by 2005, all graduates will have an experiential learning component to their UND education"

• Globalization of curriculum

• Study-Abroad programs

• Program mix – new programs

• Faculty development

• Faculty/staff salaries – e.g., UND faculty salaries move to the 30th percentile or higher for doctoral institutions by 2008

• General education

• Teaching excellence reward structure

• Honors Program – e.g., establish an endowed Honors College by 2005

• Forensics program

• Library

• Scholarship program

• Assessment

• Athletics/academics

2. Expand and strengthen the University’s commitment to research and creative activity, both as a means of enriching the learning environment and as a driver for economic development. (University-wide Task Group: To Be Named)

Example Goal/Action Plan topics:

• Level of R&D funding, e.g., "$100 million in R&D funding by 2005"

• Entrepreneurship programs

• Faculty development

• Partnerships

• Research support (seed money, start-up support, other help)

• Reward structure

• State (ND) and regional economy

• Numbers of endowed chairs and professorships

3. Serve the people of North Dakota, the region, the nation, and the world more effectively through applied and basic research, culture and arts programming, and economic development programs as well as through a comprehensive array of educational and academic programs. (University-wide Task Group: University Planning & Budget Committee)

Example Goal/Action Plan topics:

• New degree programs

• Numbers of graduates by field

• Partnerships with business, industry, economic development agencies, social service agencies, reservations, other institutions of higher education

• Applied research programs

• Level of R&D funding

• Incubator programs

• Entrepreneurship programs

• Faculty reward structure

• Faculty recruiting

• Arts programming

• Museums

• Library

• Small Business Development program

• Criteria for promotion/tenure

• State (ND) and regional demographics and economy

• Information technology

4. Improve the campus climate for learning and living. (University-wide Task Group: To Be Named)

Example Goal/Action Plan topics:

• Quality and types of services to students

• Diversity

• Campus safety

• Support services

• Faculty and staff recruitment and retention

• Salary scales

• Organizational efficiency

• Benefit programs

• Reward programs

• Career development

• Governance structure

• Athletic teams/nickname

5. Optimize and stabilize enrollment to achieve the desired number and mix of students appropriate to the University’s mission. (University-wide Task Group: Enrollment Management Committee)

Example Goal/Action Plan topics:

• Enrollment size, e.g., "The University will have an annual fall headcount enrollment of xx,xxx by the year xxxx. Approximately xx % of this number will be undergraduate students and xx % will be graduate students. We will admit a freshmen class of x,xxx each fall by the year xxxx. Summer school enrollment will be above the national mean for universities of our size and type by the year xxxx."

• Student mix, e.g., "By the year xxxx, the student-mix profile of the student body will be as follows:

o Ratio of UND to non-UND graduates enrolled in our graduate programs = xx/xx or lower.

o Transfer students will increase from xxx to xxx.

o International students = x % of student body (current = x %)

o Minority students = x% of student body (current = x %)

o Residence hall student numbers will reflect our current housing capacity of approximately x,xxx students.

o Non-traditional students will comprise at least xx % of the student body (currently xx %)"

• Continuing Education – e.g., 20,000 people served by 2005

• Graduate programs – e.g., graduate credit-hour production moves to 30% of UND total by 2005

• Admissions standards

• Athletics

• Out-of-state recruitment

• Diversity

• Evening/weekend programs – e.g., 10 or more undergraduate degree programs available entirely after 5 p.m. by 2001

• Articulation with two-year schools – e.g., all UND programs fully articulated with all two-year institutions within 250 miles by 2004

• Dual credit

• Partnerships – e.g., with schools

• Student quality

• Marketing

• Retention rate

• Graduation rate – e.g., six-year rate moves from current rate to ____ by 2005

6. Optimize the use of information technology to improve student learning, research, and the administration of the University. (University-wide Task Group: Information Technology Task Group)

Example Goal/Action Plan topics:

• Use of technology to enrich courses

• Training

• Development of broadcast capacity

• Service support

• Keeping hardware and software up to date

• IT competencies of graduates

• Computer proficiency of entering students

• Organization of IT at UND

7. In support of all of the above, ensure that the University has a well-prepared, enthusiastic faculty and staff, first-rate physical facilities, an adequate financial resource base, and is appropriately and efficiently organized. (University-wide Task Group: University Planning & Budget Committee)

Example Goal/Action Plan Topics:

• Faculty/staff recruiting

• Organizational structure

• Faculty/staff training/development

• Salary structure

• Benefits

• Campus physical plan/master plan maintenance

• Facilities needed

• Space utilization

• Campus signage, beauty

• Private giving

• Partnerships

• Endowment level – e.g., $1 billion by 2010

• Scholarships endowed

• Seed money research fund

• Target grant support levels – e.g., $100 million by 2010

• Legislative relations

• Public relations