chancellor's annual report
2004-2005 Highlights
Dear Colleagues:
As students and instructors returned to the classroom in September, scientists reported that polar sea ice, which has helped to keep the climate stable for thousands of years, had shrunk to the least amount of ice cover for more than a century. They warned that the Arctic has entered an irreversible phase of warming and that the Northern Hemisphere may have crossed a critical threshold beyond which the climate may never recover.
Not unlike the Arctic ice cap, public higher education in America is undergoing a sea change marked by a shrinking of state and federal support. The UW System now receives 25.6 percent of its funding from the state, down from 33.7 percent a decade ago. While state support has decreased by 24 percent, the price for instruction paid by students and their families has increased by more than 50 percent in the same time period. In the five years that I have been Chancellor of UW Oshkosh, the annual tuition has increased 66 percent from $2,998 to $4,981. Since we cannot keep increasing the price of public higher education, if it is to remain accessible to the public, we must find innovative ways to control cost and convince elected state and federal officials to make public higher education a very high priority for major reinvestment of public funds. At the same time, we need to continue to creatively adapt to an uncertain and ever-changing social, economic and political environment.
Here at UW Oshkosh, we focus our strategic attention on our highest priority: delivering high-quality educational opportunities to our students. Despite the daunting challenges of these difficult times, the strength and talents of our faculty, academic and classified staff members and the accomplishments of our students are attracting notice statewide and nationally. Our broadly shared and transparent strategic and operational planning process, which helped us initially to shape a set of Governing Ideas, continues to serve our campus well. Evidence of our success is presented throughout the Annual Report with pages 4–5 devoted to key University-wide highlights. Please review pages 8–11 to learn how UW Oshkosh is engaging the community. Our strategic planning process provides a framework for ongoing assessment and a catalyst for innovation, within which we succeed in engaging people and ideas for common good.
We held a strategic planning retreat in January 2005 that was attended by more than 100 participants. At this retreat, we accomplished much.
- We assessed the status of our initial group of 23 high-priority, strategic action initiatives, and a clear consensus emerged for the following: 17 were determined to be successfully launched and accomplished; four were prioritized for continuing University-wide high priority strategic attention (Faculty Compact, the General Education Program, the Student Compact and Environmental Studies); and two were recommended for retirement from the list of high-priority strategic action initiatives.
- We assessed the strategic action initiatives proposed for the next three to five years by the colleges and other administrative units in terms of our ability to help each other. Although authority and autonomy for identifying a new set of initiatives were assigned to the colleges and the Provost, continuing challenges with revenues may affect our ability to launch and move these initiatives forward aggressively. We are in a more uncertain fiscal environment for pursuing new initiatives than we were five years ago, yet we need to establish priority initiatives to better fulfill our mission, achieve our vision and attract new resources.
- We initiated the next phase of our strategic and operational planning process by charging the University’s administrative team to develop drafts of the seven Key Operational Plans, which will provide the framework for conducting the University’s day-to-day operations over the next five years. Although the University’s operations are complex and interrelated, they are covered under seven plans:
1. Academic Program and Student Outcome Assessment Plan
2. Enrollment and Student Support Plan
3. Human Resources Support and Development Plan
5. Information Technology Plan
7. Advancement and Relationship Development Plan
During the spring, we continued to develop our strategic plans and initiatives with the creation of two, new University-wide initiatives (the Cross-College Collaboration Initiative and the Key Operational Plans Initiative) and with the sub-mission of initial drafts of the Key Operational Plans and their refinement at a series of three meetings held during the summer. Please see the diagram on page 3, which represents the alignment of the Governing Ideas, Strategic Action Initiatives of the four colleges and other units and the seven Key Operational Plans at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. Please also look over the Provost’s letter on pages 6–7, which highlights specific initiatives and programs that represent major accomplishments in these difficult times. Our stakeholders, both on and off campus, will be encouraged to review, debate and discuss the drafts of the Key Operational Plans, which are being posted on the University’s homepage beginning in October 2005. There is a set of interactive questions posted with each draft plan to which we hope community members will respond freely and at length. The advice, insights and commentary received in response to the unveiling of the plans and to the questions will be analyzed for suggestions that may be incorporated into revisions. For full details, please visit Key Operational Plans at www.uwosh.edu/strategicplan/keyoperation/memoandtimeline.php
Due to the inclusive, interactive and transparent structure of our on-going strategic planning process, we are well-positioned to review and reflect upon our strengths, weaknesses and challenges as an institution of higher education. In the upcoming academic year, we will be undertaking preparations for the self-study report for the North Central Association’s Higher Learning Commission Accreditation team, which will visit the campus early in 2007. For more information about the reaccreditation process, please visit www.uwosh.edu/nca_accreditation/
While, as I have stated elsewhere, I do believe the nature of our strategies and operational planning process is serving us well, it is not the major reason for the success of our academic community. In fact, compared with the core reason, it is a minor factor. The character, passion and commitment of the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh people and the quality of the everyday relationships between students, faculty, academic and classified staff are the core reasons for such success in such difficult times. Strategic plans, like course syllabi, are only as good as the people who develop and use them. A plan is one of many necessary conditions for success, but it is clearly not a sufficient condition. So, I hope you take some time to review the report and take pride in the many individual and collective accomplishments of your colleagues.
Sincerely,
Richard H. Wells, Chancellor