This is the second year of our Implementing the Vision long-range plan.

Over the summer, Administrative Council and Academic Leadership Council, in communication with the Board of Governors, developed the university-wide focus areas and action plan for the coming year. Those documents are now final and posted online.

Identifying focus areas

Last year we identified two focus areas:

1. Increasing the number of graduates while maintaining academic rigor and quality
2. Enhancing campus diversity and inclusion

This year’s focus areas continue with these two items and add “Funding” as a third focal point. This aligns with our work to develop a sustainable financial model in an era of declining state support (which I summarized in a prior note).

Highlights of the plan

Our action plan contains particular action items the university intends to work on this academic year. The action items are organized under the six areas set forth in the long-range plan. Highlights include:

• Continue to grow enrollment of domestic students and sustain enrollment of international students
• Strategically unbundle programs into stackable, micro-credentials and create nondegree training programs designed to provide participants with unique employment-applicable skills in strategic areas
• Expand and enhance transition support for new students
• Expand co-requisite course offerings
• Initiate structured scheduling pilot programs
• Collaborate with Faculty Senate to evaluate the reduction of the minimum number of hours required to graduate from 125 to 120
• Initiate long-term strategies to decrease the student-to-faculty ratio
• Increase the percentage of underrepresented faculty, staff and students
• Enhance faculty and staff cultural competency through training and development initiatives and activities
• Continue cultural consciousness/competency development for faculty, staff, administrators, students and the community to improve campus climate
• Implement college and unit level diversity and inclusion initiatives consistent with the Inclusive Excellence Strategic Plan
• Develop and implement the Bear POWER program, a two year program for students ages 18 to 26 with intellectual disabilities
• Increase efficiency by enhancing the university’s procurement policies and practices, negotiating favorable contractual terms, and evaluating opportunities to centralize and consolidate support staff services
• Evaluate and revise the tuition, fee and scholarship policies
• Evaluate opportunities to enhance campus facilities through public private partnerships
• Increase compensation for faculty and staff

Working together, I believe we can make progress on these action items and continue to build on the university’s success.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!