Strategic Goals

Five Year Strategic Plan

2006-2011

Final Draft

For UNT System Board of Regents Approval, May 12, 2006
The University of North Texas Five Year Strategic Plan

2006 – 2011

MISSION:

The University of North Texas is a recognized student-centered public research university where we harness the power of ideas through a culture of learning based on diverse viewpoints, interdisciplinary endeavors, creativity and disciplined excellence.

This is accomplished through a broad and balanced array of programs where well-prepared students and dedicated scholars and artists collaborate with our local and global communities in the creation, integration, application and dissemination of knowledge. In this way, UNT creates an enriched and sustainable future for our students, state, nation and world.

VISION:

The University of North Texas will be recognized for its educational, intellectual, research, public service and cultural achievements. UNT will be a diverse and inclusive institution creating the knowledge and innovations that will shape our future, while cultivating excellence in the next generation of scholars and leaders for the global community.

It will be our aim to become leaders in the education of the young men and women of Texas, fitting them to credibly fill the most important positions in business and professional circles. We desire the cooperation of all who believe in higher education and who want to see our state in the very front of intellectual as well as material progress.

J.C Chilton, September 16, 1890

In his opening-day speech our founder, Joshua C. Chilton, spoke of the role this university would play in creating abundant opportunity and a bright future for our students and our state. Chilton’s passionate thinking about the “independent, original and progressive” character of higher education still ignites and illuminates the modern University of North Texas and its members.

From its humble beginnings on the second-floor of a hardware store building, UNT has emerged as a thriving university with a legacy of excellence in a broad range of academic areas. It ranks among the top 4 percent of U.S. Colleges and Universities and is the flagship of the UNT System, serving more than 32,000 students.

UNT’s growth has occurred in the context of a world that is increasingly more complex and interconnected, and where universities are called upon to provide the intellectual and cultural capital to shape a global society. As a university that is flexible and responsive to change, UNT has a strategic advantage. Our traditions of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship will serve us well as we move forward.

Through the University of North Texas Five Year Strategic Plan we reaffirm our university’s values, traditions and commitment to discovery and knowledge. We embrace change and respond more strongly than ever to needs of the broad public we serve. The opportunities for research, scholarship and creative expression encompassed by this plan will elevate our university and its members to expanded levels of leadership in this new world.

UNT’s development as a recognized, student-centered public research university is deeply rooted in our enduring core values. The core values of our university, like the character of an individual, provide the foundation for both stability and change, guiding our choices and grounding our work.

Students and Learning. Students come to the university to develop their identity, build their understanding and expand their gifts. Mentored by excellent teachers, they become the co-creators of the future and provide both purpose and hope to local and global communities.

Opportunity and Diversity. Opportunity and diversity are closely intertwined. Opportunity is enhanced through contact with diverse individuals and ideas. The active exchange of viewpoints and cultures expands and encourages full participation in a world where multicultural and international connections are a daily occurrence.

Scholarship and Research. UNT takes seriously the charge to seek out, develop, and disseminate new ideas. Research, creative activities, and innovation are essential to the process and outcomes of higher education and are a vital gift to society.

Community and Connectivity. UNT places a high value on community and fosters a spirit of collegiality, collaboration, and synergy that generates creative energies and nurtures new ideas. The contributions of each member are crucial to the success of all.

Partnership and Outreach. UNT acts within local, national, and global communities to share ideas, resources, and opportunities for our mutual benefit. As a truly engaged university, UNT is committed to finding ways to apply knowledge to the realities of everyday life.

Integrity and Stewardship. At UNT, each of our values is upheld by an unwavering commitment to fiduciary and ethical responsibilities, including the highest standards of truth, humaneness, justice, stewardship, and freedom.

UNT’s emergence as a student-centered public research university will clearly reflect the depth and breadth of its commitment to developing the whole person and building an enriched and sustainable society. This rooted transformation requires a close look at the words that describe its purpose. Through them the university itself is defined and shaped.

As a STUDENT CENTERED university, UNT places the learner and the process of learning at the very heart of its activity, creating a synergy between faculty and students. It fosters peer and mentor relationships that spark intellectual curiosity. It uses innovative technologies to bridge distances and to create connections. UNT engages students as participants in the process of knowledge creation – in the classroom and in the laboratory - challenging and supporting them as they grow. It opens the doors of opportunity by building a breadth of understanding, keen intellectual skills, disciplinary expertise, and professional relationships. UNT creates a diverse and inclusive community that enriches life with new experiences, warm memories and deep friendships.

As a PUBLIC university, UNT bears a special responsibility to the larger society. Its knowledge products – the innovations, scholarship, and creative endeavors of its faculty and the education provided to its students – are focused on the benefit of the communities it serves. It equips the workforce of the future, provides the innovations that drive commerce and builds relationships that enhance the flow of ideas and link our economy with that of a changing world. It is the place where complex problems can be addressed in ways that enrich the future. It is where society continues to be reborn.

In the past, the concept of a RESEARCH UNIVERSITY conjured up images of ivory towers and ivied walls where eccentric scholars studied obscure and isolated ideas. That is not what research looks like at UNT. Here research has more to do with making connections: between ideas, between disciplines, between students and teachers, between the university and the larger communities it serves. Research expands our horizons, using the power of ideas to tackle the complex challenges of our physical, technological and social worlds. It embraces the full range of human endeavor, from the arts to the sciences and from the humanities to business. It is through research that UNT embodies the gift of education at its fullest – giving the very future to our students and our society.

Developing the Plan

Building on the foundation of its “Vision 2015,” UNT began its strategic planning process in 2004, through the leadership of the Board of Regents, which challenged the university to answer key questions about its future. This exploration involved an in-depth look at the changes impacting higher education, including demographics, technologies, funding strategies, and legislative mandates and expectations.

Having grappled with these key questions, the campus community first turned its attention to planning in the area of academics as the heart of the university’s strategic plan. Over 200 faculty, staff and students were involved in face-to-face meetings and work sessions. Many others participated in web-based and paper surveys and offered their comments. Eight task force groups explored key areas for improvement and a steering committee of 20 faculty, staff and students, met weekly to draft the Academic Plan which was finalized in May of 2005 and served as a starting point for the rest of the strategic planning process.

In the spring of 2005, a group of 30 faculty, staff and administrators met to build a draft of the strategic plan. This draft was presented to the Board of Regents in November, 2005 and was further refined by key administrators, including all of the Vice Presidents and the Athletic Director. The university community provided feedback to this group through web-based surveys and open forums. The final plan was approved by the Board of Regents in May, 2006.

Overview of the Strategic Goals and Key Themes

UNT’s plan for its growth as a student-centered public research university is shaped by four goals and three themes. The four goals focus our energies in key areas of endeavor: education, research, engagement as a community / with our communities, and institutional effectiveness, directing our efforts in a way that will move us quickly forward.

Our three themes speak to the underlying commitments which drive our work, emphasizing the importance of connection as a catalyst for change. They include a commitment to diversity, which draws a variety of voices into close conversation; to internationalization, which recognizes that global interchange is a vital part of education and research, and to collaboration, which includes partnerships within the university as well as alliances with external constituencies. These connections move the university forward, anchoring it within the context of a multicultural, interconnected, collaborative community and providing the synergy needed to accomplish its goals. The themes are woven throughout our goals, in specific strategies and actions. We also highlight them by gathering the strategies most closely related to the themes in a single statement, clearly illustrating their importance to our growth.

To change aspirations to reality, UNT is identifying strategies, performance measures, targets and timelines for each goal and theme. UNT will measure its success and learn from benchmarks and best practices gathered from across the nation, building our work on careful assessment, clear accountability, judicious use of resources and creative adaptation.

GOALS and STRATEGIES

STRATEGIC GOAL 1: Excellence in Student-Centered Education

UNT will provide a stimulating, supportive and rigorous educational experience to a diverse student body, preparing students for leadership in a changing world.

Strategies

1.1 Assure a rigorous curriculum grounded in the respect for the contributions of various nationalities, cultures, backgrounds, abilities, and viewpoints, designed specifically to develop students’ appreciation of diversity and capacity for in-depth/critical thinking, and life-long learning;

1.2 Transform instruction in large-enrollment undergraduate classes to improve student learning outcomes;

1.3 Identify and provide strategic support only to those current and potential graduate and other academic programs which demonstrate high quality, high demand and/or centrality to the university mission and vision;

1.4 Challenge learners through increased involvement in peer and mentor relationships, service learning and other diverse learning opportunities, including engagement in partnerships with businesses, educational settings, social agencies, and creative venues in the North Texas region and beyond;

1.5 Improve student engagement, satisfaction and success by promoting communication, civility, leadership, clarification of values and identity issues, recreational/wellness activities and active student involvement in the life of the university;

1.6 Provide communications, services and programs designed to effectively transition new freshman and transfer students to campus;

1.7 Increase student involvement in interdisciplinary, international and multicultural activities inside and outside the classroom;

1.8 Support student-athletes’ academic development and achievements to realize retention and graduation rates at or above those of UNT’s NCAA counterparts;

1.9 Develop and implement comprehensive and integrated enrollment management and financial aid plans designed to increase the quality and diversity of the student body;

1.10 Increase retention and facilitate timely graduation through enhanced advising, progress tracking programs and facilitative educational cost structures;

1.11 Enhance career development opportunities for students and alumni, increase opportunities for student–alumni networking, and expand partnerships with outside employers; and

1.12 Provide training and development opportunities to enable faculty to excel in teaching and mentoring students, including the establishment of a Center for Teaching, Learning and Assessment.

STRATEGIC GOAL 2: Increased Research, Scholarship & Creative Activity

UNT will significantly increase its levels of funded research, scholarly productivity and artistic expression in order to enhance undergraduate and graduate education, contribute to economic growth, and improve UNT’s standing among peer institutions.

Strategies:

2.1 Increase the level of funded research activity at UNT;

2.2 Increase infrastructure support for research faculty to facilitate effective operations and research productivity;

2.3 Increase the research, scholarship and creative activity of tenure and tenure-track faculty across the university, strengthening faculty development, recognition and reward systems;

2.4 Increase the research, scholarship and creative activity of professional staff across the university, strengthening development, recognition and reward systems;

2.5 Develop effective relationships with government, business, education, the arts, and others, in local, national, and international venues, to facilitate, fund or disseminate research, scholarship and creative activity; and

2.6 Actively develop the UNT Research Park as a vehicle for intensive and collaborative research activities.

STRATEGIC GOAL 3: Enhancing Institutional Reputation, Community Engagement and Advancement

UNT will enhance an institutional image that reflects the university’s character, relevance, accomplishments and value; strengthen the reputation of its academic, research, creative and athletic components; and promote supportive and collaborative relationships with external constituents.

Strategies:

3.1 Strengthen and promote the university’s identity as a student-centered public research university through strategic and integrated communications, media, advertising, marketing, web-based technologies and campus-wide initiatives;

3.2 Illustrate to our publics the contributions of faculty, students and alumni to the creation of new knowledge and the cultural, social and economic well-being of our region, state, nation and beyond;

3.4 Promote university-community engagement to address the needs of our business and government partners, surrounding communities, and area residents, engaging them in the life and activities of the university;

3.5 Cultivate an informed and participatory university community through internal communication mechanisms that meet the information dissemination and feedback needs of students, faculty and staff;

3.6 Promote UNT’s traditions, school spirit, pride and prestige, increasing alumni, faculty, staff and student participation in university celebrations and educational, cultural and athletic events;

3.7 Improve fund raising activities through new constituent relationships programs, collaborative work with key personnel, and coordination of development activities across the university;

3.8 Align fund raising priorities and activities in support of UNT strategic goals including research/scholarship, student centered education, reputation and engagement, institutional effectiveness and the key initiatives arising from the pursuit of these goals;

3.9 Enhance communication and activities designed to increase involvement by alumni and friends in the life of the university and to increase membership in North Texas Exes;

3.10 Increase the visibility and reputation of UNT through hosted events, and local, regional and national media coverage of academic, athletic and other university activities and accomplishments; and

3.11 Conduct regular institutional research to address key questions related to institutional identity, reputation, engagement and other important concerns of external and internal constituencies.
STRATEGIC GOAL 4: Improved Institutional Effectiveness

UNT will improve managerial and operational accountability and effectiveness by developing the human, financial and physical resources necessary to achieve the university mission and vision.

Strategies:

4.1 Increase funding and create new revenue streams (e.g. grants and gifts);

4.2 Develop and implement integrated management and resource allocation systems which align strategic/unit level planning, focus resource allocation, provide timely access to relevant information, facilitate implementation/direction of action plans, and require ongoing performance evaluation and continual improvement;

4.3 Align the campus master plan with the strategic plan, assuring that new construction, renovation and assignment of space reflect and support the UNT strategic goals;

4.4 Recruit, select, develop reward, and retain an increasingly diverse and productive faculty and staff of sufficient size and expertise appropriate for a recognized student-centered public research university; and

4.5 Review and, where appropriate, restructure faculty, staff and administrative workload, responsibility and reward structures.

KEY THEME: Diversity

UNT will actively strengthen its community by welcoming students, faculty and staff who bring a broad range of different viewpoints, backgrounds, cultures and ideas.

Strategies

A. Assure a rigorous curriculum grounded in the respect for the contributions of various nationalities, cultures, backgrounds, abilities, and viewpoints, designed specifically to develop students’ appreciation of diversity and capacity for in-depth/critical thinking, and life-long learning^1.1;

B. Challenge learners through increased involvement in peer and mentor relationships, service learning and other diverse learning opportunities, including engagement in partnerships with businesses, educational settings, social agencies, and creative venues in the North Texas region and beyond^1.4;

C. Improve student engagement, satisfaction and success by promoting communication, civility, leadership, clarification of values and identity issues, recreational/wellness activities and active student involvement in the life of the university^1.5;

D. Increase student involvement in interdisciplinary, international and multicultural activities inside and outside the classroom^1.7;

E. Develop and implement comprehensive and integrated enrollment management and financial aid plans designed to increase the quality and diversity of the student body^1.9;

F. Promote UNT’s traditions, school spirit, pride and prestige, increasing alumni, faculty, staff and student participation in university celebrations and educational, cultural and athletic events^3.6;

G. Conduct regular institutional research to address key questions related to institutional identity, reputation, engagement and other important concerns of external and internal constituencies^3.11; and

H. Recruit, select, develop reward, and retain an increasingly diverse and productive faculty and staff of sufficient size and expertise appropriate for a recognized student-centered public research university^14.4.

KEY THEME: Internationalization

UNT will enrich the preparation of its graduates and enhance its contributions to the global community by internationalizing the curriculum and increasing the involvement of students and faculty in educational and research opportunities that broaden their relationships at the international level.

Strategies

C. Increase student involvement in interdisciplinary, international and multicultural activities inside and outside the classroom^1.7;

D. Develop and implement comprehensive and integrated enrollment management and financial aid plans designed to increase the quality and diversity of the student body^1.9;

E. Develop effective relationships with government, business, education, the arts, and others, in local, national, and international venues, to facilitate, fund or disseminate research, scholarship and creative activity^2.5;

F. Illustrate to our publics the contributions of faculty, students and alumni to the creation of new knowledge and the cultural, social and economic well-being of our region, state, nation and beyond^3.2; and

G. Recruit, select, develop reward, and retain an increasingly diverse and productive faculty and staff of sufficient size and expertise appropriate for a recognized student-centered public research university^3.2.

KEY THEME: Collaboration

UNT will build mutually beneficial research and educational partnerships within and outside the university.

Strategies

C. Enhance career development opportunities for students and alumni, increase opportunities for student–alumni networking, and expand partnerships with outside employers^1.11;

D. Develop effective relationships with government, business, education, the arts, and others, in local, national, and international venues, to facilitate, fund or disseminate research, scholarship and creative activity^2.5;

E. Actively develop the UNT Research Park as a vehicle for intensive and collaborative research activities^2.6.

F. Promote university-community engagement to address the needs of our business and government partners, surrounding communities, and area residents, engaging them in the life and activities of the university^1.1`;

G. Cultivate an informed and participatory university community through internal communication mechanisms that meet the information dissemination and feedback needs of students, faculty and staff^3.5;

H. Improve fund raising activities through new constituent relationships programs, collaborative work with key personnel, and coordination of development activities across the university^3.7; and

I. Develop and implement integrated management and resource allocation systems which align strategic/unit level planning, focus resource allocation, provide timely access to relevant information, facilitate implementation/direction of action plans, and require ongoing performance evaluation and continual improvement^4.3.