FORT SMITH -- The University of Arkansas at Fort Smith is starting to make a plan for the next five years with input from the community.
Chancellor Terisa Riley said one of her goals this academic year is to create a strategic plan for UAFS covering 2023 through 2028. The university's current plan started in 2017 and runs through the end of this year.
"The significance of that is that 2028 is our 100th anniversary as an institution of higher education, so that's incredibly exciting," Riley said. "We will set several goals for ourselves through that strategic plan process, and ultimately work to achieve all of those."
While some goals in the new plan will be more aspirational for UAFS than others, Riley said the university has a "great team" and believes achieving those goals will entail both monitoring progress made toward them and ensuring the university is transparent with information pertaining to them. Crafting the plan will involve both internal and external stakeholders.
UAFS hopes to present the new plan to the University of Arkansas System trustees for approval in May, Riley said.
DEFINING A STRATEGIC PLAN
The plan for 2017-22 was created under the leadership of former Chancellor Paul Beran prior to him leaving the university in 2018. The plan identified four initiatives for the university to achieve, as well as strategies for doing so. The initiatives included:
• Increase enrollment, retention and graduation rates of students.
• Provide an "innovative and holistic" educational experience with a focus on academic opportunities supporting economic growth and development.
• Increase workplace productivity, collaboration and innovation by fostering and championing professional growth and development for faculty and staff.
• Strategically align resources to support university objectives.
Riley, who became chancellor in July 2019, said she believes a strategic plan in higher education is about an organization recognizing its mission, vision and core values. The plan outlines what the organization hopes to do and grow, as well as how it can meet the needs of its region.
Riley said one thing UAFS, a regional public institution, needs to make sure it does in its plan is align its academic programs and what's being taught with what's actually needed in the career fields students pursue.
"The goals typically align with how you plan to extend those educational offerings so that you're educating more people, that you're educating them in the career fields that are most important and really kind of being futuristic about what you see happening within the career pathways in your region," Riley said.
A strategic plan often talks about how an organization aligns its resources to meet its goals and how it intends to invest in the people responsible for educating students and their own career paths, according to Riley. She believes another area of focus in UAFS' next plan will be increasing the research and scholarly activity it provides and applying that activity to solve real-world problems.
GETTING FEEDBACK
The university assembled a steering committee composed of faculty, staff, students and administrators to create the plan's goals using information gathered from stakeholders with help from an outside firm, Riley said.
Rachel Putman, associate director for strategic communications for UAFS, said the school issued a request for proposals for strategic planning consulting services Jan. 27. The work included supporting the committee to produce a final plan, as well as another plan to monitor and evaluate its implementation.
Five companies submitted proposals, Putman said. UAFS chose to hire MGT of America Consulting, a firm headquartered in Tampa, Fla., at a cost of $142,479. Riley said Friday the institute shared this cost with the UAFS Foundation.
Blake Rickman, vice chancellor for advancement at UAFS and executive director of the UAFS Foundation, said Tuesday the steering committee has 12 members, including himself. It was formed before the academic year began Aug. 22 with Carey Tucker, UAFS vice chancellor for finance and administration, as its chairman.
"I'm excited to see the next iteration of the strategic plan for UAFS because I do think it will be very important for the next phase of this institution," Rickman said.
Rickman said the university and MGT are gathering data for the plan. UAFS held an open forum Aug. 18 in which MGT asked the wider campus community basic questions pertaining to the university's mission, vision and values, such as what the institution means to them.
Feedback will be solicited from specific bodies on campus as well, including students, faculty, staff and their respective groups, according to Rickman. External stakeholders -- including alumni and corporate partners, as well as the community at large -- will be engaged as well.
Faculty, staff and student representatives will all have a chance to meet with MGT, Putman said.
Rickman believes as input is gathered for the plan, steering committee members will relay the resulting conclusions to the bodies on campus they represent.
"If you think about all of the different aspects of the institution that these roles touch, I think the goal is that we are carrying this information back to our groups to create this two-way channel of communication," Rickman said.
Riley said each department at UAFS will create its own plan to help the university achieve the goals it decides to pursue.
Rickman estimated this will happen in the spring.
"Once we essentially have these guiding priorities, I think it's going to be up to the respective colleges and departments to tie their day-to-day activities and the individual goals and [key performance indicators] to this bigger institutional plan," Rickman said.
Rickman said he believed UAFS and MGT will finish collecting stakeholders' feedback for the plan either by the end of this year or in early 2023. The plan will go through a series of approvals at the university before being submitted to the UA System Board of Trustees.
Lauren Weber (13) and Reagan Macha (5) of the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith collide on a dig Wednesday during the second set of the Lady Lions' 3-2 loss to Oklahoma Christian at the UAFS Stubblefield Center in Fort Smith. Feedback from students, faculty, staff and their respective groups will be used as the university develops a strategic plan for 2023 through 2028. Visit nwaonline.com/220925Daily/ for today's photo gallery. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)
Reagan Macha (5) of the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith serves Wednesday during the fourth set of the Lady Lions' 3-2 loss to Oklahoma Christian at the UAFS Stubblefield Center in Fort Smith. Feedback from students, faculty, staff and their respective groups will be used as the university develops a strategic plan for 2023 through 2028. Visit nwaonline.com/220925Daily/ for today's photo gallery. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)
Players for the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith react after a point Wednesday during the fifth set of the Lady Lions' 3-2 loss to Oklahoma Christian at the UAFS Stubblefield Center in Fort Smith. Feedback from students, faculty, staff and their respective groups will be used as the university develops a strategic plan for 2023 through 2028. Visit nwaonline.com/220925Daily/ for today's photo gallery. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)