Moving Forward
The strategic framework envisions how we sustain excellence and build upon it to meet the emerging opportunities of our time. It is designed to help us define what it means to be a leading public research university now and into the future. It is grounded in our mission and is ambitious yet practical. The strategic framework offers a high-level vision with the flexibility that schools, colleges, divisions, and partners need to align their work to collectively achieve it.
We will hold ourselves accountable
By aligning our efforts around shared priorities, tracking meaningful metrics, and reporting regularly on our progress, we will collectively ensure that UW–Madison continues to move forward.
Shared ownership
Each school, college, division, and major administrative unit will be invited to interpret this framework in its context, identifying achievable unit-level priorities and metrics that align with the four institutional priorities and speak to our shared Community Commitments for belonging and engagement.
Cross-campus alignment
The provost will work with deans to foster alignment with the strategic framework. All campus leaders are encouraged to establish priorities and initiatives so they can be approached university-wide and at the school, college, divisional, and unit levels, enabling and encouraging vertical and horizontal alignment rather than isolated efforts.
Coordinated goal setting and tracking
We will report regularly on a set of university-wide indicators, some of which are already in place and others that will be developed. Illustrative categories include:
- Student success and experience: Retention and graduation rates; time to degree; post-graduation outcomes, including career placement, graduate school admissions, and share of students who graduate debt-free; measures of engagement and well-being.
- Research, creative, and innovation impact: Research expenditures; growth in key interdisciplinary areas; major grants, awards, and external recognition; artistic and scholarly outputs; markers of innovation and economic development.
- Public impact: Reach and depth of engagement across Wisconsin; survey responses from Wisconsinites; contributions to civic life; evidence of impact on communities and regional economies, as well as our impact nationwide and across the globe.
- Organizational health: Employee experience and retention; progress toward sustainability goals; indicators of financial strength; evidence of reduced administrative burden and improved service quality.
An invitation
Everyone in our community is invited to engage, contribute, and make our shared vision a reality through their daily work and interactions.
