To address the issues we currently face, I have created a list of seven goals that I believe will lead IUP to a brighter future. Although these are listed as the president’s goals, they are goals for everyone at IUP. If we all pitch in and work this plan, we will arrive at a future where IUP is a shining star in higher education.
Below are some examples and details behind each goal.
For more background and context regarding my goals, please refer to my White Paper.
Goal 1: Keep every student who comes to IUP.
(Be an exceptionally student-centered university)
Example Ideas for Achieving this Goal
- Become so adept at student-centeredness that we keep every student who comes to IUP.
- Build a best-in-class student support infrastructure.
- Assign a navigator to every student.
- Use a few advanced, focused technological tools to help assess, track, and Train all on their use and require all to use them.
- Identify obstacles to student success and eliminate them without regard to current practice or tradition (real or imagined)[1]
- Maintain high standards. Provide the support to help students rise to those standards.
Goal 2: Grow market share in traditional market.[2]
Example Ideas for Achieving this Goal
Be exceptional at:
- Offering popular, high-quality majors/programs of interest to potential students and to employers, the commonwealth, etc.
- Invest adequate resources in those programs to ensure they are high quality.
- Eliminate or reduce/repurpose other programs.Aligning marketing and recruiting resources.
- Pricing competitively, including optimizing financial aid and discounting.
- Judiciously expand the sharing of academic programs.
Goal 3: Educate other student groups (open new markets).
Example Ideas for Achieving this Goal
- (Re)Grow international enrollment—likely in new areas of the world to replace, e.g., China.
- Dual enrollment.
- Re-enrollees (whether to finish traditional degrees or to gain needed knowledge and skills).
- Alternate packaging of existing expertise and programs for new student markets.
- College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Goal 4: Grow IUP’s reputation.
Example Ideas for Achieving this Goal
- College of Osteopathic Medicine
- Research university
- Student centered
- Quality at an affordable price
Goal 5: Engage the (internal and external) IUP team in realizing the vision.
Example Ideas for Achieving this Goal
- Communicate consistent and clear messages, repeatedly, in multiple media and multiple channels.
- Invest in those who choose to be engaged in building the future.
- Minimize the negative impact of those who can’t or won’t be engaged.
- Design and implement new, true shared governance for IUP’s future.
Goal 6: Find alternate revenue streams to support work.[3]
Example Ideas for Achieving this Goal
- Sponsored research activity
- Philanthropy
Goal 7: Focus Resources on the Highest Priorities to Ensure a Sustainable, Thriving Future.
- In pursuing this broad agenda, IUP must pay careful attention to its employees at all levels. We must make sure that we have the right people on the bus4 and that those people receive appropriate professional development, support, and authority to move forward.
[1] UPC has a list. In fall 2023, a subgroup will begin working collaboratively university-wide to problem-solve.
[2] Every other college and university is trying to do this at the same time.
[3] This requires engagement and results from each IUP college, starting with the dean and including an appropriate and cost-effective support infrastructure, e.g., from the IUP Research Institute or from University Advancement.
[4] To borrow from Good to Great by Jim Collins.
Have a Student Success Story to Share?
By sharing examples of initiatives, projects, or methods that have helped promote student-centeredness in your respective areas, you can help drive positive change throughout our institution.
Report a Barrier
Have you identified a process, form, rule, procedure, or something else that may be a barrier for student success? Submit it to the Barriers Subcommittee of the University Planning Council.