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Strategic Directions

THE STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA

Missoula, Montana

2008-2011
2008 Revision

INTRODUCTION

The University of Montana-Missoula’s Strategic Directions rest firmly upon the revised statement of Strategic Directions for the multi-campus University (Revised 2008) and the vision, mission, and goals of the Montana University System as articulated by the Board of Regents (revised 2008). These Directions chart the course for the University during the next four years.

The Montana Creed

The community of scholars at The University of Montana has committed to pursue personal and academic excellence.

Choosing to join The University of Montana community obligates each member to a code of civilized behavior.

I will practice personal and academic integrity; I will respect the dignity of all persons;
I will support and protect the rights and property of others;
I will discourage bigotry, while striving to learn from differences among people, ideas, and opinions;
I will demonstrate concerns for others, their feelings, and their need for a supportive environment for their work and development;
I will cherish the natural and built environment, and act and live in sustainable ways.

Allegiance to these ideals requires that I refrain from and avoid behaviors that threaten the freedom and respect every individual deserves.

MISSION STATEMENT

The University of Montana-Missoula pursues academic excellence as demonstrated by the quality of curriculum and instruction, student performance, and faculty professional accomplishments. The University accomplishes this mission, in part, by providing unique educational experiences through the integration of the liberal arts, graduate study, and professional training with international and interdisciplinary emphases. The University also educates competent and humane professionals and informed, ethical, and engaged citizens of local and global communities; and provides basic and applied research, technology transfer, cultural outreach, and service benefiting the local community, region, State, nation, and world. (Revised November 2004)

VISION STATEMENT

In pursuit of its mission, The University of Montana will

• Educate students to become ethical persons, engaged citizens, competent professionals, and informed members of a global and technological society;
• Increase the diversity of the students, faculty, and staff for an enriched campus culture;
• Attain the Carnegie Commission status of Doctoral Research–Extensive University (50 or more doctorates in at least 15 fields annually) and increase funded research to $100,000,000 annually by 2011;
• Pursue more partnerships – especially with the local communities, businesses and industries, public schools, community and Tribal colleges, State and local governments, and universities abroad – and expand the training and technology transfer programs to promote community and economic development;
• Develop the capability and infrastructure for use of information technology to increase the efficiency and productivity of the campus and the State; and
• Involve and engage the faculty, staff, students, alumni, partners, and friends of the University in institutional governance.

CORE VALUES

• Learning experiences of high quality designed to allow students to realize their full potential with student success as the primary objective;
• Basic and applied research that contributes to knowledge and meets the needs of the State, region, nation, and world;
• Diversity and community among students, faculty, and staff;
• Affordable access to higher education for Montanans;
• Effective and efficient use of resources, providing full accountability for all funds; and
• Service to the citizens, communities, regions, business, industry, State, and world.

STRATEGIC GOALS

• To sustain and enhance the quality of student life through:
  1. Continuous improvement of undergraduate education;
  2. Improved advising and counseling services;
  3. More effective recruitment and retention, but reduced resident undergraduate enrollments;
  4. Diversity in student services and life; and
  5. A safe and supportive campus environment;
• To expand and strengthen two-year education offerings;
• To strengthen and broaden graduate and research programs and increase graduate enrollments;
• To attract, retain, and support a diverse and excellent faculty and staff;
• To provide comprehensive information technology and related services;
• To develop the campus in accordance with the master plan and maintain the facilities;
• To assure a stable financial environment, emphasizing new resource acquisition and the effective and efficient use of resources; and
• To contribute appropriately to the cultural and economic development of the State.

STRATEGIC CONTEXT

The next five years will offer challenges and opportunities to the faculty, staff, and students of The University of Montana in myriad ways. The four-year horizon allows the University to respond to changing conditions within the external environment, most notably the anticipated decline in the high school cohort group and the need to accommodate an increasing flat world. The University will, in all likelihood, not achieve every goal and objective enumerated in this document by 2011, but will either make progress or modify the goal(s) or objective(s) in question. As a result, the statement of Strategic Directions for The University of Montana- Missoula serves as a dynamic indicator for the direction of travel but does not depend on the achievement of each and every goal or objective as currently envisioned. All institutions, especially those that not only survive but prosper as well, must have the flexibility to maneuver and to grow in response to challenges and opportunities, always within the context of strategic directions that reflect the institutional mission, vision, culture, and aspirations.

These Directions presume that the environment in the State will remain fiscally austere, necessitating that the University must develop and implement action plans that depend on self- help as well as State assistance. The fact of self-sufficiency will increasingly characterize the condition of the University, since the evidence suggests at best incremental changes in current trends. During the last decade, the University relied on enrollments and student tuition revenue, private gifts and donations, and externally funded grants and contracts to assure progress toward institutional goals. While relatively flat, State support nonetheless provided the vital leverage needed to succeed in this environment. State support will remain critically important, but the magnitude of that support as a percentage of the University’s total budget will in all likelihood grow marginally. As a result, the faculty and staff of the University will have to devise even more creative funding sources. Most importantly, the University will have to manage this change in its fiscal foundation while pursuing its primary mission as a public university charged to serve the public interest.

This context provides the linkages that bind together the various elements of the University’s Strategic Directions. The University cannot possibly fulfill its programmatic and fiscal goals and objectives without taking active steps to assure achievement of its enrollment, fund-raising, sponsored programs, and alternative revenue targets. In a similar vein, the University cannot achieve the needed enrollments without attending to student needs, interests, and success, in terms of financial assistance, curricular and extra-curricular activities, and realization of individual potential; nor can it succeed in raising private funds without maintaining the quality of its programs and engaging the faculty and students in research and creative activities to extend the frontiers of knowledge and respond to community, State, national, and world needs; and it cannot compete successfully for external contracts and grants without assuring that the faculty and students have the facilities and supporting infrastructure that empower them to succeed.

Finally, the University cannot achieve these strategic goals except through careful planning and implementation. The vision looks to the fulfillment of the mission and the maintenance of a “University for the 21st century.” Planning within the various sectors of the University, coordinated through the Executive Planning Council and the Strategic and Budget Planning Committee, will outline the initiatives and projects to assure that outcome for The University of Montana. During the planning period from 2008 through 2011, The University of Montana will take deliberate actions to assure the pursuit of the institutional mission and vision. Doing so will require the collaborative participation of all segments of the campus community, through established governance processes. The outline of tasks and activities that follows will guide the administrators, faculty, staff, and students responsible for initiating and coordinating the efforts to accomplish the objectives.

STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS

The work to fulfill the mission and realize the vision will require engagement of all sectors of the University. The following statement of goals provides direction, while those comprising the sectors have the responsibility to implement initiatives and projects in response, all under the oversight of the President and Vice Presidents.

GENERAL GOALS

• Engage groups and constituencies on and off campus;
• Cultivate and project a service attitude and orientation, emphasizing student success;
• Revise existing and develop new policies for a family-friendly and diverse campus;
• Refine the budget planning process;
• Involve all sectors of the University in the planning processes; and
• Implement fully the Quality of Worklife Program.

FINANCIAL GOALS

• Develop and implement a financial plan to accommodate the programs, staffing, and facilities by 2011 assuming
  1. Modest increases in State appropriations;
  2. Moderate annual tuition increases;
  3. Increased reliance on “best practices” with reallocation of savings;
  4. Increasing funded research expenditures to $100,000,000 and indirect cost recoveries to $12,000,000 in FY 2011;
  5. Continued reliance on super tuition and delivery and facility fees as appropriate;
  6. Increasing auxiliary revenue; and
  7. Increasing private support and new revenue streams.
• Increase student financial assistance for undergraduates and graduates from various sources by $5,000,000 annually by 2011;
• Continue to index mandatory student fees selectively;
• In partnership with the Foundation, focus fund raising on endowed student financial assistance (need-based and merit-based), endowed chairs, and targeted facilities for the next four years;
• Develop a strategy to raise faculty, staff, and administrative salaries to peer averages by 2012;
• Increase Library staffing, operations, and acquisitions budget to meet needs by 2011;
• Increase Operation and Maintenance expenditures to the level required to maintain the facilities by 2011;
• Identify and pursue federal appropriations to build institutional capacity;
• Pursue technology transfer and business incubation, with at least five new spinoffs during the 2011 biennium;
• Identify and develop two new alternative revenue streams by 2011;
• Continue facilities development and renovation in response to programmatic requirements and reduce the deferred maintenance index by 2011; and
• Seek and satisfy State matching funds for endowed Chairs in graduate education in response to economic development needs of the State by 2011.

ACADEMIC GOALS

• Restructure advising and related student success initiatives on campus by 2010;
• Sustain institutional accreditation in FY 2010;
• Identify new academic programs at all levels (certificate through doctoral) and means of support in response to identified needs and opportunities [specifically Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry (2009); Ph.D. in Business (2011), Ph.D. in Western Studies (2011); Ph.D. in Limnology (2010), Ph.D. in Water Resources (2010); Ph.D. in Materials Science with Butte (2011); certificate and customized training programs as needed by 2010 and continuing; D.A. in Audiology by 2011; Ph.D. in Speech Pathology by 2011; certificate and then major in insurance by 2010; others as appropriate];
• Implement a staffing plan to accommodate existing and new programs, provide technical assistance and service, and maintain the facilities by 2011;
• Double the number of graduate assistants and double the stipend levels in regular increments by 2013;
• Involve all upper division undergraduates in research and creative activities by 2011;
• Enhance service learning to include all graduating seniors by 2011;
• Extend existing and new programs through information technology to clientele with needs wherever located beginning in 2009;
• Complete the development and implementation of a comprehensive outcomes assessment program – with specific attention to General Education – for academic planning by 2009;
• Continue the schedule for the review of all programs – including centers, institutes, and other special entities – for continued relevance and strengthen or eliminate them as indicated;
• Develop the math and science teacher initiative for Montana in FY 2009;
• Develop graduate education, with renewed emphasis on the doctoral level, by FY 2010; and
• Seek formal approval of the Hamilton Higher Education Center in FY 2009 and initiate a Kalispell Higher Education Center in FY 2009.

STUDENT GOALS

• Refine enrollment management to achieve enrollment goals by FY 2010, with attention to incremental reduction of number of first-time resident students and increased graduate and transfer students by FY 2011;
• Implement recruitment strategies to maintain stable enrollment of 15,000 students by 2011;
  1. Reduce resident undergraduate enrollments to 8,000 by 2013;
  2. Increase Native American enrollments to 750 by 2013;
  3. Increase Summer Session enrollments to 5,000 by 2013;
  4. Increase international student enrollments to 750 by 2013;
  5. Increase graduate student enrollments to 3,500 by 2013; and
  6. Increase nonresident enrollments to 3,500 by 2013.
• Reduce freshman attrition rate to no more than 20 percent by 2011;
• Increase five-year graduation rate by 10 percent by 2011; and
• Expand and diversify study abroad opportunities and involve at least one-fourth of the undergraduate students in study abroad by 2013.

PROGRAMMATIC GOALS

• Establish the Endowed Chair in Cardiovascular Sciences by 2011;
• Establish the Endowed Chair in Neural Science by 2011;
• Develop the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center critical language initiative by 2011;
• Establish the Endowed Chair in Limnology at the Flathead Lake Biological Station by 2011;
• Establish Endowed Lectureships in at least four areas by 2013; and
• Establish the Executive Education Center in the School of Business Administration by 2010.

FACILITIES GOALS

• Construct and equip Native American Center by 2009;
• Construct a new College of Technology Building on the South Campus by 2011;
• Construct the Gilkey Executive Development Center by 2010;
• Construct the Montana Museum of Art and Culture facility by 2013;
• Construct the Alumni-Development Center by 2013;
• Construct Interdisciplinary Science Building by 2009;
• Construct new Forestry Building by 2013;
• Rehabilitate Oval by 2010;
• Construct and equip the Washington Education Center by 2009; and
• Expand Stadium as needed by 2009.

Through the standard governance processes, the Vice Presidents will assist in the development and implementation of annual plans to assure the fulfillment of these Strategic Directions.

July 2008