What is the Academic Plan?
The academic plan sets the vision, goals, and actions that will
guide the University of New Hampshire over the next five years.
Why are we referring to the plan as a blueprint
for the future?
The blueprint metaphor reinforces the notion that we can all benefit
from a set of basic instructions as we build the university of tomorrow.
What does the plan cover?
The plan is organized around five key themes—discovery, engagement
and outreach, resourcefulness, institutional effectiveness, and
community.
1. Discovery
The goal
• Discovery describes the core educational experience that
unites everything faculty, students, and staff do at UNH. The term
emphasizes students' role as "active shapers" of their
own intellectual, artistic, and social development. Discovery begins
in the student/faculty relationship and the production of new knowledge
and creative expression, but it reaches beyond the classroom/lab
to encompass the broadest possible range of activities that foster
"practical" skills such as service and citizenship.
What we can do
• Create high quality learning experiences by placing undergraduate
teaching and opportunities for undergraduate and graduate research
at the center of academic life. Create coherent and diverse learning
experiences by encouraging collaboration among academic departments,
and between academic departments and those that support them, including
Honors, UROP, CIE, Writing Center, CFAR, and other offices. Support
centers of excellence in graduate education.
2. Engagement and Outreach
The goal
• Engagement and outreach have to do with how faculty, students,
and staff interact with the public through the University's teaching,
research, and service programs. UNH is committed to extending its
expertise and services to meet the challenges—economic, technological,
social, scientific—facing New Hampshire, New England, the nation,
and the world.
What we can do
• Continue to promote volunteer and service learning opportunities
to students and faculty; enhance collaborative partnerships between
UNH faculty and research centers, and the interests of business, industry,
government, and communities. Strengthen ties among NHPTV, Cooperative
Extension, the University libraries, and DCE. 3.
Resourcefulness
The goal
• By maximizing our diverse revenue streams and making the
most efficient use of our resources (human, natural, financial,
etc.), the University will be able to relieve pressure on tuition
and fee rates and attract the highest quality students, faculty,
and staff possible.
What we can do
• Develop advocacy networks of students, faculty, alumni,
and friends to help increase state appropriations; increase alumni
participation and gift-giving; enhance faculty competitiveness in
obtaining sponsored grants; develop enrollment targets that balance
in-state and out-of-state students and student diversity; develop
financial aid plan that balances academic quality and accessibility
and improves retention; use Responsibility Center Management to
build on current strengths and invest wisely in new opportunities.
4. Institutional Effectiveness
The goal
• Our commitment to institutional effectiveness requires that
we assess the quality of our teaching, research, and outreach programs
on a continual basis, so that we can direct our resources to foster
excellence where it already exists and correct poorly performing
areas.
What we can do
• Assessment calls on us to find ways to measure how well
students are learning; how well we are able to recruit faculty who
can balance their roles of teaching, research, public service, and
administration; and how well we enable faculty, students, and staff
to be successful in their roles. Finally, it calls for a review
of the impact responsibility center management (RCM) has on the
quality of and demand for programs, and establishing an Institutional
Effectiveness Committee to monitor our progress.
5. Community
The goal
• The University of New Hampshire is a community whose members
share a particular set of values. Among the most prized is diversity.
Our community should be a welcoming place for underrepresented populations,
which includes minority faculty, students, staff, and extension
educators, as well as nontraditional and international students.
Along with diversity, our community holds citizenship and respectfulness
among the highest values.
What we can do
• The goal of fostering a community that is diverse and respectful
calls on us to take steps to actively recruit underrepresented faculty,
staff, extension educators, and students. It also calls on us to
support orientation, mentoring, and professional development programs
that help underrepresented populations succeed once they are here.
Our goal of fostering a participatory and shared governance requires
us to continue our system of shared decision making that also acknowledges
the leadership of our faculty.
Why should we have a plan?
The academic plan focuses our energies on
understanding our strengths and then continuing to build on them.
It is not a call to transform the University into something new
and different. In fact, we are already engaged in many of those
things the plan calls for.
What does it mean for me?
The academic plan should guide you each day as you carry out the
business of the university.
Who will carry out the plan?
The President and Provost have asked the University's leadership
to implement the plan through a variety of action items. The leadership,
in turn, is working with faculty and staff across campus to fully
implement the plan.
Who is responsible for making sure it happens?
The President and Provost have ultimate responsibility. But, we
all have a stake.
How will it affect the way we do business?
What is discovery all about?
Discovery is the basis for everything we do at the University. It
serves as the basis for our newly-revised general education program
and is the central theme of our marketing and branding initiatives.
Why resourcefulness?
By using our resources efficiently, the University can rely less
on tuition and fee rates we pass on to students.
Why is diversity important?
A diverse university community enhances the academic and social
experience of all who participate in the life and programs at UNH.
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