Alumni Board of Directors members:
If you have any questions or comments about the strategic planning
process and/or information presented here, please contact Carrie Heibler, Strategic Planning Steering Committee member, at or leave comments at the Strategic Planning website, https://campus.uwsp.edu/sites/projcollab/strategic/SitePages/Home.aspx,
where you will find more details and background materials.

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UWSP Strategic Planning

“With our roots in the heart of the state, Wisconsin's right-sized public university launches students on meaningful life journeys through transformational learning in the arts and sciences. Our open-minded, close-knit community— both on and off campus—inspires students to experience the world unfolding in new ways.” (UWSP Home Page)

UWSP’s strategic plan is driven by the university’s mission and guided by our vision and core values. Through this plan, we respect the UWSP heritage and tradition, while being creative and entrepreneurial. This plan is implementable and based on relevant data gathered over the last several semesters via numerous forums, surveys, and research by our Office of Policy Analysis and Planning. Our strategic planning process has been open, collaborative, and inclusive, drawing in over 200 faculty, staff, students, and community members who served on four task forces, which were essential to developing our initiatives and action steps.

Our goal with this strategic planning project is to establish a process that builds from areas of strength, promise, and opportunity to create a plan that will guide the future of the University. We are planning with several purposes in mind. These are:

• To set overall direction for the University.

• To identify institutional distinctiveness and comparative advantages.

• To identify strategic “best fit” with the University’s environment.

• To develop a small number of goals, and refresh or replace those goals as needed.

Through the strategic planning process, we are able to:

• Reaffirm Senate-endorsed Mission Statement.

• Decide where we want to be in 3-5 years.

• Define our Strategic Initiatives.

• Create an implementation plan.

• Develop an evaluation mechanism.

• Calibrate with decennial HLC accreditation.

Who are we? Senate-approved Mission Statement:

Through the discovery, dissemination and application of knowledge, UWSP stimulates intellectual growth, provides a liberal education, and prepares students for a diverse and sustainable world.

What do we value?

Student-centered environment
Critical thinking, creativity, and lifelong learning
Professional preparation
Community involvement and outreach
Ecological stewardship

What is our Vision?

UWSP will be recognized for its preparation of students and development of citizens who will affect local, regional, and global affairs and engage with the concerns of the world.

Through the following strategic initiatives, we will uphold our mission and realize our vision.

  • ADVANCE LEARNING
  • Goal: Create a culture of student success
  • Provide effective academic advising to help students make informed choices in their UW-SP program of study
  • Provide comprehensive support services to enhance the quality of the UW-SP experience for all students
  • Promote the values of wellness to develop students’ emotional and physical well-being in tandem with their intellectual growth
  • Improve the array of course offerings wherever necessary and practicable
  • Promote students’ development of personal and professional integrity, and social and political responsibility
  • Goal: Increase opportunities for learning

• Articulate clear and measurable learning outcomes in all academic programs and related student services areas

• Implement the revised Gen Ed program, which is based on measurable learning outcomes

• Implement a continuous improvement model of assessment that includes assessment of student learning and use of results to inform improvements in curriculum, pedagogy, resources, and student services

• Expand opportunities for faculty/student interaction (mentoring, co-produced research, research direction, etc.)

• Provide a range of high-impact and experiential learning opportunities (first-year experience, service learning, internships, study abroad, etc.)

• Support and expand faculty and staff professional development opportunities around teaching and learning

• Upgrade teaching and learning technologies, as appropriate

  • Goal: Cultivate an inclusive world view among all constituents

• Implement a comprehensive, assessable, Inclusive Excellence Plan that includes a long-term plan for diverse student, faculty, and staff recruitment and retention

• Expand opportunities for study and / or service learning abroad, via formal semester-long and short-term, credit-bearing arrangements

• Implement appropriate and assessable curricular revision that promotes cultural diversity and the principles of inclusivity

• Fund a range of programs—on campus and off—that bring in noted speakers and artists from a broad spectrum of viewpoints

  • ENHANCE LIVING
  • Goal: Create and enhance an environment for all that is conducive to learning and individual development

• Create a vibrant campus environment that is welcoming, safe, accessible, and supportive

• Provide facilities and amenities that support social, cultural, and recreational activities

• Provide programs and activities that encourage responsible lifestyle choices and wellness

• Enhance university residential facilities and engage community resources that enable people to live and learn in secure, comfortable, and attractive environments

  • Goal: Provide a campus culture that encourages engagement, responsibility, respect and inclusivity

• Communicate on a timely basis to all constituencies of the University community

• Build on current efforts to promote diversity and make inclusiveness a priority of the campus community

• Ensure open, transparent and participatory leadership practices, organizational structures and key decision-making processes

• Educate students, faculty and staff of their rights and responsibilities in the University community and beyond

  • Goal: Develop sustainable interactions between the University and its partners – local, state, regional, national, and global

• Ensure that the University’s intellectual, cultural, and recreational resources and activities enrich the lives of people throughout our community, state, nation, and world

• Expand programs that encourage students, faculty, and staff to engage with individuals, programs, and organizations outside the university through experiential learning, consultation, and volunteer efforts

• Create intentional communication structures that inform our local, state, regional, national, and global partners of events that may impact them

  • DEVELOP & LEVERAGE RESOURCES
  • Goal: Grow an entrepreneurial spirit

• Implement differential tuition

• Eliminate hurdles to successful grant writing and revenue creation

• Create a faculty and staff professional development fund

• Support intellectual property ideas

• Increase collaborative partnerships with private sector, agencies and NGOs

• Remove overload policy

• Grow generosity and institutional investment

  • Goal: Maximize University resources by working together

• Recruit and retain high quality faculty, staff and students

• Increase business office effectiveness

• Create a sustainability plan for energy, materials, recycling, facilities and usage/scheduling

  • Goal: Embrace economic sustainability

• Create an attractive, planned and coordinated built environment that reflects a flexible infrastructure

• Centralize a Project Management Operation

• Implement return on investment analysis in decision making

• Keep indirect grant revenues whole

• Implement decision empowerment

  • RESPECT & ADVANCE OUR LEGACY
  • Goal: Honor and perpetuate our institutional story

• Share our history and legacy with the greater community by expanding our media presence

• Educate and inspire students through professor interaction

• Promote environmental, intellectual, social and economic sustainability

• Integrate holistic wellness into our campus culture

• Provide educational opportunities and life changing experiences in and beyond the classroom

  • Goal: Engage and expand our community through outreach and collaboration

• Develop a lifetime connection and sense of community for our students

• Connect our alumni, parents and families with the university and each other

• Establish and strengthen reciprocal relationships with local businesses

• Increase educational and recreational opportunities in the community

• Maintain the symbiotic relationship between the city and the university