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Strategic Imperative 1: Create a culture that welcomes all, inspires community, develops the individual, and engages the world.

We aspire to an arts and sciences culture, based on shared values and critical reflection on our history, that embraces diverse perspectives and inspires us to think courageously to address significant questions. We seek to create opportunities for constructive interactions that reinforce community by promoting shared identity, collaboration and responsibility to achieve our shared mission. The College of Arts and Sciences culture that we envision will honor and facilitate the leadership, contributions and achievements of its students, faculty, staff and alums by promoting the well-being of the individual, while deepening and broadening our connections to the local community, the state and the world.

Strategic Imperative 1.1. Create a culture that welcomes all

Goal: Identify programs and resources needed to attract and retain excellent, diverse students, staff, faculty and visiting scholars who are committed and passionate about contributing to our shared mission, and devoted to intentionally advancing a more democratic society.

Strategic Imperative 1.2. Create a culture that inspires community

Goal: Create opportunities for constructive interactions among all members of the College of Arts and Sciences community, and particularly between units, to inspire a sense of community by promoting transparency, accountability, inclusion, collaboration and a shared identity.

Strategic Imperative 1.3. Create a culture that develops the individual

Goal: Provide opportunities for each individual member of our college community to engage boldly in rich academic, research and professional work that deepens understanding of and compassion for themselves and others.

Strategic Imperative 1.4. Create a culture that engages the world

Goal: Partner with local, national and international entities to understand, innovate and engage in important global issues in order to deepen and broaden our connections to the local community, the state and the world.

Strategic Imperative 2: Teach to inspire intellectual dexterity, rigorous exploration, and encourage students, faculty and staff to deepen their connections with others.

The College of Arts and Sciences affirms the value of a liberal arts education, which, through both deep and broad intellectual exposure and exploration, enlivens our minds and enriches our humanity. A liberal arts education cultivates our capacities for imagination, critical thinking, problem solving and skillful communication.

The College of Arts and Sciences is a learning community in which students, faculty of all ranks and staff recognize that through active engagement we can both teach and learn from one another. Our areas of interest and expertise form a complex and interdependent mosaic. The College should provide encouragement and support to teaching faculty as they employ traditional and innovative pedagogical approaches, the goals of which are always to inspire intellectual dexterity, engage in rigorous exploration, and deepen our connections with others, so that we may meet the challenges of our changing world.

Strategic Imperative 2.1. Teach to inspire intellectual dexterity

Goal: Provide transformative learning experiences for all students that develop their ability to undertake intellectual work in a careful, thoughtful, and inclusive manner.

Strategic Imperative 2.2. Teach to foster rigorous exploration

Goal: Increase the opportunities available to a broad and inclusive spectrum of students for collaborative, rigorous, risk-taking, discipline-transcending and certificate- and project-based study.

Strategic Imperative 2.3. Teach to encourage students, faculty, and staff to deepen their connections with others

Goal: Cultivate compassion and community-building among all members of the College through teaching and research, trainings and workshops, and residential and Education Abroad programs.

Strategic Imperative 3: Prioritize our research enterprise by increasing investments in research and researchers, optimizing processes and recognizing and rewarding the intersection of research with teaching and service.

We aim to fundamentally stretch the boundaries of knowledge and develop groundbreaking ideas that help solve long-standing and emergent problems, create entirely new ways of thinking, or define novel areas for inquiry. At both unit and college levels, research and scholarship intersect with teaching and service and should be recognized as such in tenure and promotion processes. Research invigorates our teaching, facilitates opportunities for student training and mentoring, and feeds back into university and community interaction in the form of outreach and engagement. Our research and creative enterprises on campus will benefit from increased internal funding, new research facilities, expanded and democratized access to research leaves, administrative support, and a reduced burden from bureaucratic processes. A top priority is recruiting and retaining skilled and dedicated researchers from a range of backgrounds.

Strategic Imperative 3.1. Prioritize our research enterprise by increasing investments in research

Goal: Create opportunities for faculty, professional researchers, postdoctoral scholars, graduate and undergraduate students to excel in research and creative work.

Strategic Imperative 3.2. Prioritize our research enterprise by investing in the faculty, staff, and students who conduct research

Goal: Recruit and retain excellent and diverse researchers, and recognize the distinctive role of staff in research.

Strategic Imperative 3.3. Prioritize our research enterprise by optimizing processes to encourage excellence in research

Goal: Increase efficiency in operations and budgeting processes to encourage excellence in and allow maximum time for research.

Strategic Imperative 3.4 Prioritize our research enterprise by recognizing the intersection of research and scholarship with teaching and service

Goal: Develop formal mechanisms for recognizing and rewarding researchers whose research and scholarship intersect with teaching and service.