The Strategic Plan Development Group (SPDG) has published a draft of the University of Iowa Strategic Plan 2016-21 and is seeking campus feedback.

The current draft combines input already gleaned from open forums, reports, and meetings with campus groups. The SPDG has so far hosted more than 30 meetings and forums involving more than 500 UI constituents, 160 of whom attended open forums last spring semester.

“I think the committee did a good job soliciting ideas and has done a great job responding to community feedback,” says UI Student Government President Rachel Zuckerman, who attended student-focused open forums last spring.

“It’s been a good process so far, but we shouldn’t forget that at some point someone’s got to put it down in a succinct fashion—succinct enough for people to pick it up and use it to help make decisions,” says David Johnsen, dean of the College of Dentistry, who attended a dean’s meeting with the SPDG and two open forums.

The five-year strategic plan draft outlines in five pages a proposed vision for the university’s future and the strategies for realizing it. A preface and an explanation of the draft process also are included. The draft will be revised based on campus feedback at open forums and meetings this fall, and on data and recommendations collected by SPDG members.

SPDG members consulted student, faculty, and staff governance bodies and reviewed data and recommendations from more than 15 campus groups, task forces, strategy lists, and department and college reports.

“From the outset, we wanted student involvement,” says Nicole Jardine, a fifth-year psychology and brain sciences PhD student. Jardine also serves as the Graduate & Professional Student Government secretary, is a former Graduate Student Senate president, and a former member of the Student Advisory Committee for Campus Improvement.

Jardine was invited to join SPDG in the spring of 2016 because of her experience and dedication to working with UI graduates and undergraduates.

Jardine heard from various student groups, such as the Black Student Union and the Multicultural Nursing Association, and worked to meet their needs in the strategic plan. She says many of the groups expressed interest in increasing understanding among community members with diverse identities and backgrounds.

Zuckerman echoes this sentiment.

“Students want to see affordability and inclusion at the forefront of our strategic plan,” she says. Zuckerman also says she was excited by discussion at the open forums regarding “high-impact opportunities” for students to learn and grow outside the classroom.

Johnsen says the strategic plan should not only provide a sense of direction and guide resources, but should also “indicate what we aspire to and what we are not going to do or be.”

“I don’t think we should try to do the same things as community colleges or regional state universities,” says Johnsen. “Those niches are already occupied.”

For example, Johnsen says, the UI should work to attract qualified students, including those who aspire to attend graduate and professional school.

“The UI should be—if not the place—then one of the top places in Iowa where a valedictorian can get a world-class education,” he says.

For Johnsen, that means protecting and building on the UI’s strengths as a top research institution.

Sarah Hansen, co-chair of the SPDG and assistant vice president for student life, says she and co-chair David Cunning are energized by the engagement of the campus in this important conversation.

“We are looking forward to continued dialogue this fall in order to develop a strategic plan that will truly serve as a guide for our institutional decisions over the next five years,” she says.

The SPDG is composed of 18 members, including nine faculty, eight staff, and one student from separate departments and offices across campus.

The SPDG will submit a final document to Vice President for Student Life Tom Rocklin and Provost P. Barry Butler on Oct. 1, after which the final plan will be made public and Strategic Implementation Teams will begin implementing the plan’s strategies.

SPDG members will host open forums in the fall. All forums are open to all members of the campus community:

• 4:30 to 6 p.m. Aug. 31 in 2520D University Capitol Centre (UCC)
• 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Sept. 2 in the Melrose Conference Center, fifth floor, Pomerantz Family Pavilion (PFP)
• 1 to 3 p.m. Sept. 6 in the Illinois Room, 348 Iowa Memorial Union
• 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept. 8 in 2520D UCC

Read and learn more about the strategic plan draft on the Office of the Provost's website. 

Attending the public forums occurring this fall is one of several methods for providing feedback.

The SPDG created a feedback form for community members unable to attend forums and continues to meet with student, faculty, and staff groups.

Its co-chairs, Sarah Hansen and David Cunning, are available to campus groups seeking a meeting.