2/24/09

Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor

UMass Lowell 2020: A Strategic Plan for the Next Decade

UMass Lowell 2020 will serve as the University’s next generation strategic plan, providing a blueprint for how the campus will achieve national and international recognition as a world-class institution over the next decade. 
The creation of this blueprint will be a year-long process that will engage faculty, staff and students from across the institution and will be completed in January 2010. A collegial, open and transparent process will guide the proceedings. Ten committees will assess the University’s current academic, research, partnership, fiscal, and physical plant status and recommend strategies to improve the campus’s achievement, reputation and rankings across these areas.

We greatly appreciate and value the participation of the more than 200 campus community members who are helping to draft the plan.

Overarching Campus Goals

Each committee is asked to generate specific objectives for their committee’s area of focus.  These objectives should be consistent with the campus’s overarching goal to achieve national and international recognition as a world-class institution, as expressed in the following ways:

• Improve the quality of academic programs on the undergraduate and graduate level
• Ensure that diversity and pluralism is addressed in all aspects of the strategic plan
• Improve the entire learning experience for students (academic, social, personal development)
• Increase research and scholarship
• Strengthen corporate and community partnerships
• Strengthen revenue sources
• Ensure that environmental sustainability is addressed in all aspects of the strategic plan
• Maximize infrastructure -- physical plant, technology, budget systems, and human resource review -- to support all goals
• Achieve recognition for the quality of academic programs, student learning, research and partnerships

Organization

The UMass Lowell 2020 Commission is chaired by Provost Ahmed Abdelal and Executive Vice Chancellor Jacqueline Moloney.

The UMass Lowell 2020 Commission is comprised of all members of the committees and includes about 200 people from around the campus. The Commission members will meet in committees throughout the year to generate recommendations within their area of focus.

The Steering Committee is comprised of the co-chairs of each committee as well as the members of the Work Group.  The Steering Committee will coordinate and synthesize the work of the Commission, drafting a final strategic plan based on the recommendations.

The Work Group is comprised of members of the Executive Cabinet and others who will support the work of the Commission by providing guidelines, facilitating communication, planning group meetings, and honing the final product.
An Advisory Group comprised of alumni as well as corporate and community leaders will provide feedback on the strategic plan as it develops.

Process

The committees will meet all spring and present their draft recommendations to the full Commission late in the spring. The Steering Committee will analyze and synthesize the recommendations and post them to the campus’s Intranet for comment. 

In the fall, the entire campus will be invited to Open House meetings to hear the recommendations and provide comment. Meanwhile, the committees will meet during the fall to establish benchmarks.

The final product from each committee will be a document of about three to five pages, with a brief narrative and a list of recommendations tied to resources and benchmarks.

The final draft of UMass Lowell 2020 will be refined by the Steering Committee and presented to the campus in January 2010.

Guidelines

The co-chairs of each committee have met with the Provost and the Executive Vice Chancellor for a briefing on the committee’s charge.  While the nature of the focus of each committee will necessitate some variation, each group will include the following steps as much as possible:

Assessment: What is the status/condition of your area now?  What are the strengths and weaknesses currently?  We can provide a facilitator for one of your meetings to conduct a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis if you like.

Objectives: What new or improved (or eliminated) measures, programs, or activities would bring your area to greater achievement, efficiency, and recognition over the next decade? There is an expectation that in many cases, theses objectives will call for increased globalization, diversity, and interdisciplinary efforts.
 
Resources: All good ideas are sought, but consider the resources involved.  If it is a high-cost or labor-intensive suggestion, have a plan for where the campus will derive revenue.

Marketing: If applicable, what is the nature of the people or groups you need to involve/influence/sell/communicate to in order to reach your objective? This will help inform marketing strategies.  (We do not strive to be a “best kept secret.”)

Benchmarks: Each objective should have, as much as possible, a benchmarking plan so the campus can determine the success of the activity.

Committee on Undergraduate Education
Co-chairs: Charlotte Mandell and Fred Martin
 
The charge to this Committee is to identify strategies for UMass Lowell to become nationally recognized for its quality of student learning and its undergraduate programs. As part of its charge, this Committee will conduct a thorough review and analysis of the core measures of success for academic programs such as student enrollment, scholarly activity, professional accreditations and AQAD (Academic Quality Assessment and Development).
 
This Committee should address the following questions:
1. How can we enhance student success as reflected in retention and graduation rates?
2. How should we assess the effectiveness of our academic programs?

We are recommending that the work be divided among 4 subcommittees—although there will certainly be some overlap in the content of these committees.  
 
The Breadth Subcommittee

1. How can we develop an Honors program that is recognized regionally and nationally?
2. What new or enhanced programs or activities could we implement to enrich interdisciplinary learning? Gen Ed?
3. How can we produce globally-competent graduates?
The Experiential Learning Subcommittee

What new or enhanced activities and programs would improve experiential learning, including
 
• Cooperative education
• Service learning?

The Student Support Subcommittee

1. How can we develop and support a more diverse undergraduate student body, including:
• Recruitment
• Advising
• First-year programs
 
2. What new or enhanced programs or activities would maximize our use of educational technology in support of learning?
   
The Strategic Growth Subcommittee

What strategic growth opportunities for the campus’ academic programs does the Committee recommend?
1. Signature programs
2. Interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary programs
3. Undergraduate involvement in research

Committee on Graduate Education
Co-chairs: Don Pierson and Robert Giles

The charge to this Committee is to identify strategies for becoming nationally recognized for the quality of our graduate programs. As part of your charge, please conduct a review and analysis of the core measures of success for academic programs such as student enrollment, scholarly activity, and professional accreditations and AQAD.

This committee should address the following questions:

1. How can we further develop master’s programs that enhance workforce development regionally and nationally, including professional master’s programs and dual bachelor/master’s programs?
2. What measures should we use to further develop the excellence and distinctiveness in our doctoral programs, including consideration of establishing university-wide graduate faculty groups?
3. How can we better partner with industry to recruit students?
4. What IT and Web strategies would help strengthen recruitment and other support for graduate education?
5. How can we improve the quality of academic programs and support services for graduate students?

Committee on Research and Scholarship
Co-chairs: Partha Chowdhury and Julie Chen

The charge to this Committee is to assess current efforts in research and scholarship and to identify strategies for strengthening these efforts.
This committee should address the following questions:

1. What strategies should we use to enhance research and scholarship?
2. How can we increase external funding in support of research from federal agencies, corporations, and foundations?
3. How can we strengthen collaboration with other UMass campuses?
4. How can we strengthen partnerships with industry in order to support commercialization efforts that will boost economic development of the state with emphasis in the northeast and the Merrimack Valley?
5. How should we manage and evaluate the University’s research centers?

Committee on Corporate Partnerships and Urban Engagement
Co-chairs:  Steve Tello and Oneida Blagg

The charge to this Committee is to identify ways to strengthen our engagement with the community, which includes corporations, nonprofit organizations, K-12 schools, and municipalities.  An assessment of current and proposed activities would include an analysis of how they contribute to the campus mission “to enhance the intellectual, personal and cultural development of its students through excellent, affordable educational programs. The University seeks to meet the needs of the Commonwealth today and into the future and supports the development of sustainable technologies and communities through its teaching, research, scholarship and engagement.”

This committee should address the following questions:
1. Why do companies and communities seek partnerships with the university?
2. What is the nature of these partnerships?
3. What is the benefit to the campus and to the external organizations in existing partnerships?
4. What are the costs to the campus and to the external organizations in existing partnerships?
5. How do these activities relate to the mission and the role of the University?
6. What criteria should the University use in assessing and prioritizing existing and future partnerships (both corporate and community)?
7. How can partnerships be structured and supported to provide lasting benefit to our students and their respective academic programs?

Committee on International Partnerships
Co-chairs: Krishna Vedula and Jie Wang

The charge of this Committee is to assess the current status of the University’s various international programs and partnerships and make recommendations that will further develop these programs and partnerships with an eye to both providing opportunities for our students to become globally competent as well as bringing more international students to campus.  As part of this charge, the Committee will review the administrative and organizational capacity of the University to support growth of these initiatives.

This committee should address the following questions:

1. How can we provide opportunities for students to have meaningful and substantive international learning experiences, including traditional study abroad as well as experiential learning?
2. How can we establish partnerships among our faculty and students with those from universities around the globe, across disciplines, in scholarship, research, economic development projects, and public diplomacy?
3. How can we better reach out to immigrant groups in the area to meet their higher education needs?
4. How can we involve our international alumni in these efforts? 
5. What external funding opportunities are available to make these programs self-sustaining?

Committee for Facilities Renewal and Campus Master Planning
Co-chairs: Joanne Yestramski and John Ting (December launch)

With the assistance of the Department of Capital Asset Management (DCAM), UMass Lowell is establishing a campus master plan, which will lay out what facilities are needed to support the campus’s strategic plan.  This long-term capital planning exercise will inform the multi-year financial planning process to be conducted by the Committee on Financial Planning and Budget Review.

This committee should address the following questions:

1. How do we ensure a systematic capital renewal of current facilities in addition to new construction required to meet long-term strategic planning goals? 
2. How do we ensure environmental sustainability as a primary component of UMass Lowell’s Strategic Plan?
3. How do we ensure that the campus provides access to accommodate the needs of a diversity of people?

Committee on Financial Planning and Budget Review
Co-chairs:  Kathy Carter and Steve O’Riordan

This committee has two charges:  to review and make recommendations on the FY2010 budget, as well as to establish a multi-year, integrated budget model and process to ensure long-term financial stability.
 
UMass Lowell must be a financially stable enterprise over the long run in order to meet the campus’ ambitious agenda to grow enrollments, improve facilities and build research capabilities.   A multi-year planning process that embraces prudent financial controls, transparency, cost containment, energy management, revenue enhancement, and optimal sizing of the institutions, functions and activities, will help make that agenda possible.  Given the importance of our human capital, the multi-year planning process will also consider the changing human resource needs of our institution and its faculty and staff, including performance management, position management, organizational development, succession planning, leadership and other training, and compensation strategy.  The institution will establish and monitor goals for selected financial indicators to be determined as part of multi-year financial planning and modeling.  

This committee should address the following questions:

1. How can we increase revenue by growing graduate, undergraduate and CSCDE enrollment?
2. What are effective business models for managing auxiliary operations?
3. How can we secure the funds needed for expansion and/or improvement of academic, residential, and student life facilities?
4. What measures must we take to ensure continuous prudent financial controls, transparency, cost containment, and energy management?
5. How can we implement assessment for performance management, position management, training, and compensation strategy?
6. How can we best establish operating and capital budget priorities?

Committee on Informational Technology
(Delayed Launch)

This committee is charged with assessing the current status of Information Technology capabilities in order to increase the quality and utilization of technologies for both academic and administrative functions.
This Committee should address these questions:

1. How can we implement high-speed converged network capabilities, smart classrooms, Internet 2, and other infrastructure requirements for current and future research and teaching needs?
2. How can we ensure the security of the IT environment and the new ERP system?

Committee on University Advancement
Co-chairs: Beth Shorr and Robert Tamarin

The charge to this Committee is to transform the University’s Advancement program by developing a strategic plan to dramatically increase private revenues with new, sustainable sources of funding, to expand the scope and scale of student scholarship, and to strengthen the relationship between the University and its alumni. 

This committee should address the following questions:

1. How can the University’s Advancement program be organized to dramatically increase private philanthropy?
2. How can the University’s Advancement program include the entire campus to find new and sustainable sources of funding?
3. How can the campus strengthen its ties with alumni?
4. How can the campus grow its endowment?
5. How can the University begin to engage students in philanthropy as soon as the students arrive on campus?

Committee on Branding and Marketing
Co-chairs:  Patricia McCafferty and Gary Mucica

The charge to the Committee on Branding and Marketing is to plan a brand strategy program to strengthen the University’s image and reputation for excellence. The committee will engage representatives from all University audiences in discussions about core mission(s), public image, key strengths and qualities that distinguish UMass Lowell from other institutions. This will involve analysis and development of messaging, taglines, logos, brand delivery and uniform standards across all marketing vehicles. The result should be a consistent message and defined brand that is endorsed by the University community and its stakeholders.

1. What are current strengths and weaknesses of the campus’s branding and marketing efforts?
2. What is the campus brand? If not known, how should it be determined?
3. How can we ensure consistent branding across all media including print, Web, marketing, advertising and events?
4. How do we effectively communicate our interest in attracting diverse staff, faculty and students?
5. What specific messages or “talking points” best embody the campus and its strategic goals?  If not known, how do we determine what they are?
6. How can we integrate those messages into the communications and marketing for all academic, research, and partnership programs of the campus?
7. How can we ensure that all members of the campus community know and support the messages and have them in formats that are easy to use?
8. How can we ensure a flow of effective, current content to the campus Web site?

Member of the UMass Lowell Strategic Planning Commission, co-chaired by Executive Vice Chancellor Jacqueline Moloney and Provost 
Ahmed Abdelal, can be found at www.uml.edu/chancellor/docs/2020_commission.pdf