Institutional Research and Planning

"Bread and Butter" Goals

The University's "bread and butter" goals are those that we (faculty, staff, and students) must reach if we are to be an excellent comprehensive state university. UWG would survive if we fail to meet them, but we would find it difficult to fulfill our mission.

These are the goals we believe are necessary for the University's success over the next five years:

1. Commitment to UWG's mission and goals. University and College administrators must agree on the University's direction and goals, and must work together to achieve them. 

2. Enrollment management. We must improve undergraduate and graduate recruitment and undergraduate retention while continuing to raise admission standards.
Recruitment:

a.	Improve the reputation of UWG among high school guidance counselors, teachers, and college-bound students. (See "Public Relations" below.)
b.	Develop focused recruitment plans aimed at qualified and diverse high school students.
c.	Build stronger ties and articulation agreements with the two-year colleges of the University System of Georgia (USG) and the technical colleges of the Department of Technical and Adult Education (DTAE).
d.	Develop focused recruitment plans for our graduate education programs.

Retention:

a.	Enhance the Freshman Center.
	-	Consider expanding its role to encompass more than the freshman year, with an appropriate name change.
	-	Give it a central physical presence on campus.
	-	Develop more peer tutoring and mentoring programs.
b.	Develop a comprehensive strategy for academic advising, perhaps in conjunction with the enhancement of the Freshman Center.
c.	Develop students' ties to UWG so that they want to stay until they earn their degrees rather than transfer to other USG institutions. (See "The University Experience" and "Campus infrastructure" below.)
d.	Increase undergraduate admissions standards each year as we have since 1997.
e.	Increase scholarship support and counseling for students with emergency financial needs.

3. Academic programs. Academic excellence is the essential goal of the University. Academic programming must be shaped by the mission of the University.

a.	Use periodic program reviews to ensure that departments and programs are mission-driven.
b.	Allocate resources for the improvement of existing programs and the development of new ones only in accordance with our mission as a comprehensive state university.
c.	Give high priority to obtaining and maintaining accreditation for every program for which a national accrediting agency exists.
d.	Include faculty-directed student experiential learning, research, creative, or professional activities in academic programs whenever possible.
e.	Ensure that the general education program offered in the core is coherent and rigorous, with learning outcomes that can be clearly and consistently communicated.

4. Public relations. Public relations must become a campus-wide focus. Too often, UWG’s image does not reflect who UWG is and what UWG does well. Inaccurate public perceptions of the University are a prime barrier to UWG’s continued progress.

a.	Launch a campus and statewide campaign to define and promote UWG as an excellent comprehensive state university, targeting the visionary goals defined in the strategic planning process.
b.	Use campus resources, particularly mass communications students, faculty, and equipment, to maximize the effectiveness of Public Relations (PR) office activities.
c.	Encourage faculty and staff members, administrators, and students to participate in Public Relations initiatives.
d.	To increase participation in PR, form a subcommittee of the General University Matters committee of the Faculty Senate to take the lead on the Committee’s existing charge to recommend policy and procedures for public relations. The subcommittee should include representatives from the administration, staff, and student body in addition to its faculty members.

5. The university experience.  Faculty and Staff must improve the quality of the university experience for both commuter and residential students if West Georgia is to fulfill its mission. To improve recruitment and retention, faculty and staff must change the sense of many students that UWG is just the place where they take classes.

a.	Give students a reason to stay at UWG on weekends.
b.	Continue improving the programming and facilities of the University Center.
c.	Tie commuter students into the life of the campus.
d.	Explore ways to provide off-campus transportation to improve access to entertainment, shopping, and residences.
e.	Continue to encourage cultural, ethnic, racial, and gender diversity in students, faculty, and staff, and to work to ensure that equal opportunities and resources are available to all.
f.	Recognizing both the appeal of having an on-campus multipurpose stadium and the difficulty of fundraising, study the feasibility of building a multipurpose stadium.

6. Student, faculty and staff morale. UWG must continue to improve the positive campus climate at UWG and to enhance the morale of our students, faculty, and staff members.

a.	Develop policies that address student and faculty concerns about class size to ensure that UWG can offer each student educational excellence in a personal environment.
b.	Develop clearer faculty workload, promotion, and tenure policies that are consistent with the University mission.
c.	Review staff workload, promotion, and compensation policies.
d.	Promote faculty governance through the Faculty Senate and its committees.
e.	Develop procedures for assessing and improving campus services for students.

7. External relations. UWG must work to improve ties off-campus.

a.	Increase the engagement of alumni in recruitment, fundraising, and public relations.
b.	Forge stronger and broader town/gown relations.
c.	Emphasize regional service in our academic and extracurricular offerings.
d.	Promote an understanding of cultural diversity within the region.

8. Regional collaboration for economic and community development. UWG must form partnerships with government agencies, businesses, and non-profit organizations that let UWG apply the resources of the University to the solution of our community’s economic and social problems.

9. Information technology. UWG must employ appropriate information technology to enhance student and faculty learning, provide access to distance education resources, and conduct the administrative functions of the University.

10. Campus infrastructure. UWG must develop effective plans to maintain infrastructure necessary to deliver university services.

a.	Allocate adequate resources to building maintenance: mechanical systems, roofs, carpeting,  paint, etc.
b.	Develop a comprehensive strategy for requesting and scheduling maintenance.
c.	Develop adequate budgets for computing and networking technology.
d.	Treat replacement of computers and networking equipment as recurring budget items rather than as one-time capital expenditures.
e.	Explore ways to improve student housing to compete effectively with UWG’s peer institutions.

11. Capital campaign. UWG must raise money and expand sources of funding beyond the local community. State funding and current external fundraising activities like A-Day cannot meet UWG’s needs for facilities. Therefore, in conjunction with UWG’s new centenary date of 2006, hold a multi-million dollar capital campaign.

Visionary Goals: The "Three Fives"

The University of West Georgia (UWG) will achieve national recognition as a leader among, and model for, state comprehensive universities in these five areas:
• faculty-directed student research and professional activities
• the Honors College and Advanced Academy
• the First-Year Program
• technology across the curriculum and
• innovations in professional preparation.

The foundation for each of these goals is provided by one or more existing programs or activities that offer a starting point for our efforts. All the goals satisfy the criteria defined in the charge of the University Strategic Planning Committee:
• Enhance educational excellence in a personal environment
• Multidisciplinary, they are feasible and assessable and
• Funded or externally fundable.

Each goal also meets an additional criterion set by the committee: all will support the University’s efforts to achieve its “bread and butter” goals, including recruitment and retention.

The “three fives” define for the University community areas in which UWG should work to achieve national recognition. It will be up to those who carry out the later phases of the strategic planning process to decide how individual units should participate in achieving the goals and, based on those decisions, how our progress towards reaching them can be assessed.

Faculty-directed student research and professional activities.
Faculty-directed student research and professional activities complement classroom learning by providing opportunities for learning by doing and by reflection on doing. UWG can build on existing programs like the Celebration of Scholarship, Big Night, the debate program, the Concerto Competition, and the Sigma Xi research paper competition to become national leaders in this area.

The activities best suited for a particular student will depend on the discipline and the talents and interests of the student. Appropriate experiences may include theoretical or applied research in collaboration with a faculty member; creative work under the supervision of a faculty member; community service, co-op, and internship positions on or off campus related to the student’s area of study, with faculty members providing the structure for reflection on the “real world” experience; and academic competition under faculty guidance, like debate tournaments and investment management contests.

Given this wide range of activities, each academic department at UWG can participate in the achievement of this goal. In addition, student research and professional activities can contribute to the success of the other visionary goals.

UWG’s national standing, in this area, can be assessed by using such measures as:

1.	Rates of participation in experiential learning activities.
2.	Number of publications in undergraduate research journals, of juried exhibits and performances by students, and of adjudications.
3.	Amount of external funding for student research.
4.	Number of student presentations at academic and professional conferences.
5.	Success in academic competition.

The home unit responsible for this goal would be a Center for Student Research and Professional Activity.

The Honors College and the Advanced Academy.
The Honors College at UWG is one of fewer than fifty such colleges in the U.S., and has developed a strong foundation for future growth. The Advanced Academy is one of fewer than ten such programs in the nation.

The development of the Honors College and the Advanced Academy can work hand-in-hand with each of the five visionary goals by increasing the likelihood of success in each. By strengthening the Honors College and the Advanced Academy ties to other programs like international studies, the Honors College can contribute to the success of other programs while fashioning a unique niche for itself.

UWG’s national standing, in this area, can be assessed by using such measures as:

1.	Growth in enrollment in the Honors College and the Advanced Academy.
2.	Admissions standards.
3.	Breadth of Honors offerings.
4.	Participation of Honors and Academy students in research and professional activities.
5.	Admission of Honors graduates to graduate and professional study.

The home unit responsible for this goal would be the Honors College.

The First-Year Program.
Building on the work of the Freshman Center, the First-Year Program would provide an integrated approach to the academic, social, and personal development of UWG’s freshmen.

The First-Year Program would offer programs such as learning communities for groups of freshmen who would take classes together; peer mentors for learning communities; access to LIBR 1101 for all at-risk students; service-learning opportunities; and comprehensive academic advising.

UWG’s national standing, in this area, can be assessed by using such measures as:

1.	Listing in the University of Colorado’s “College and University Service-Learning Programs” directory.
2.	Staff presentations at the National Conference on the First-Year Experience and publication in the Journal on the First-Year Experience.
3.	External funding for support of first-year programs.

The home unit responsible for this goal would be the EXCEL: Center for Academic Success.

Technology across the curriculum.
UWG should develop a comprehensive strategy for incorporating information technology into academic programs and student services. The University should:
•Develop high-tech minors and programs for students in the humanities, natural and social sciences, business, and education
•Ensure that every graduate is competent in the use of information technology in his or her discipline, and
•Become a leader in the innovative use of asynchronous learning environments to support both distance education and classroom instruction.

An institutional focus on technology across the curriculum could contribute to UWG’s success in faculty-directed student research and professional activities and in regional economic and community development. It could also help provide distinctiveness for the programs of the Honors College.

UWG’s national standing, in this area, can be assessed by using such measures as:

1.	Inclusion in Yahoo! Internet Life’s list of Top 100 Wired Colleges.
2.	Listing in the Sloan ALN Consortium Catalog of On-Line Educational Programs.
3.	Publications and presentations in asynchronous learning journals and presentations at asynchronous learning conferences.
4.	Disciplinary recognition for the integration of information technology into academic programs, particularly in traditionally low-tech disciplines in the humanities and social sciences.

The home unit responsible for this goal would be an expanded Center for Teaching and Learning.

Innovations in professional preparation.
Drawing on resources from the three Colleges, College of Arts and Sciences, College of Education, and Richards College of Business, UWG should become a national model for innovations in professional preparation grounded in the scholarship of teaching and learning.

This goal links two core elements of the historical mission of state universities like UWG: professional education and a commitment to excellence in teaching. To reach it, the challenge will be to infuse the systematic investigation of teaching and student learning into professional preparation.

Achieving this goal can help satisfy urgent state and national demands for innovation in teacher preparation while strengthening the professional and pre-professional programs offered by the three Colleges. Moreover, insights gained through the scholarly study of teaching and learning can be generated by and can contribute to the work of faculty members in any discipline. While the focus of the goal is on improving professional education at UWG, the benefits will accrue across the University.

Achieving this goal will require support by the University and the Colleges for the scholarship of teaching and learning in all disciplines and collaboration among the Colleges to promote innovation in professional preparation.

UWG’s national standing, in this area, can be assessed by using such measures as:

1.	Participation in the Teaching Academy Campus Program of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
2.	Recognition by scholarly and professional societies for work in professional preparation and the scholarship of teaching and learning.
3.	External funding.
4.	Improvement in acceptance rates to professional schools.
5.	Improvement in passing rates on professional licensure and certification examinations.
6.	Media coverage of our innovations in professional preparation.

The home unit responsible for this goal would be a Center for Innovations in Professional Preparation.