Over the past 18 months, we've developed our Strategic Academic Plan. Campus leadership, our Academic Senate, and many faculty, staff and students have invested a tremendous amount of time and energy in the SAP process, for which I am deeply grateful.
Your energy has driven this process and produced extraordinary results. I recently met with a national fundraising consultant who noted that he had seen hundreds of strategic academic plans. He said ours was the most exciting and unique plan he'd ever seen. That is UCSC. That is your work. I'm delighted to now be able to share this document with you and to invite your assistance and participation in a survey to prioritize the array of potential initiatives outlined in the document.
History
In the 2017-18 academic year, we connected with thousands of campus stakeholders, reached consensus on Design Principles, activated vital interdisciplinary and cross-campus collaborations, and planned working groups to study ways to reduce Barriers that stand in the way of research, teaching, and learning on our campus.
In July through September of the 2018-19 academic year, we invited community feedback on a first draft of the SAP. We incorporated that feedback into a second draft. We also articulated Academic Priority Areas and identified faculty leaders to network across campus and highlight cross-campus faculty hiring opportunities for the deans to consider. Several barrier-reduction working groups launched. From December through early March, we welcomed the community's insights on the second draft. Now through May 10, I'm excited to share the final draft.
Final Draft SAP
The ideas offered by our faculty, students, staff, alumni, and leadership led to the impressive set of possible design principle initiatives in the SAP document. It contains concrete goals, initiatives designed to foster and accomplish these goals, accountable leadership, and metrics designed to help us assess whether we are meeting our goals. Please review the plan. Our next step involves prioritizing the initiatives, and identifying those that our community believes are most beneficial to achieve each design principle.
Survey to Prioritize Initiatives
I seek insight on prioritization from our entire campus community, and I invite you to participate. Please share your feedback on our campuswide survey by midnight May 10. Reflecting on your input and considering insight offered by the Senate and campus leadership, I will designate those initiatives that will be targeted as part of the SAP. Campus leaders will then develop action plans and timelines that will be shared with the community. Initiatives not identified for this project may still be pursued by individual campus leaders.
Thank you for your commitment to our campus and its mission; to our students, faculty, staff; and to our broader community of alumni, allies, and supporters.
Timeline
- April: A final revision of the SAP will be available for review.
- May: The final round of comments is due May 10. The feedback will be incorporated into the final version.
- June: The plan will be published.
- Summer and fall: Action plans and timelines for initiatives will be developed and shared.
Questions
As always, I welcome your SAP-related questions or concerns. Feel free to email me at academicplan@ucsc.edu. Finally, please consider attending one of the upcoming Town Halls on April 30, May 8 or May 9. Check sap.ucsc.edu for times and locations.
