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Faculty Assembly

Executive Summary

Academic Strategic Plan

University of Colorado at Colorado Springs

 

 

UCCS has been involved over the past year in a process to update the Academic Strategic (Master) Plan.  The previous Academic Master Plan (for 1999-2004, updated in 2001) was scheduled to be brought up to date earlier, but was put on hold due to the financial exigencies in the state.  However, in May 2005 the campus adopted, and the Board of Regents approved, the ?Seven-Year Growth Plan,? a guide for comprehensive funding as a part of the strategy to increase overall enrollment to more than 9,000 students by the year 2012. 

 

In AY 2005-2006, the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (VCAA) assembled an Academic Strategic Plan Steering Committee to guide the development of the
plan.  The steering committee, chaired by the VCAA, was formed with broad input from the academic community and staff and student groups.  The committee hosted a series of ?campus conversations,? open discussion sessions that gave the campus community several opportunities to share with the committee their views on three questions:  (1) What new academic programs and initiatives should UCCS create and why; (2) What existing academic programs should be enhanced or re-directed to better meet regional, state and national needs; and (3) In what ways can university-community partnerships be strengthened and enhanced?  The steering committee also sought input from member of the community through the University Club and the Chancellor?s Roundtable. 

 

The Academic Strategic Plan Steering Committee reaffirmed the campus vision and values and created a set of principles for strengthening UCCS? academic programs and for the approval of new academic degrees and programs. The committee named several potential new programs (previously noted in the Seven-Year Growth Plan) as examples.  Several of those programs have already come to the Regents for approval:  the BA in Criminal Justice, the Bachelor of Innovation family of degrees, the DNP (Doctorate in Nursing Practice), and the PhD in Educational Leadership. 

 

In AY 2006-2007, the Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, working with the Deans Council and the Faculty Assembly, began the process of determining goals and strategies to implement the principles formulated the previous year.   A series of four goals have been formulated, with strategies to meet them: 

  • Guarantee a quality comprehensive educational experience that prepares students to excel personally, professionally, and as global citizens;
  • Invest in responsible growth of research, scholarship, and creative work that serve the campus and the public good;
  • Integrate the roles of teaching, research, and service in the academic lives of faculty;
  • Nurture innovation and entrepreneurship in support of campus, college, and university success.