The Provost and Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs and his staff are dedicated to providing leadership and assisting members of the university community in addressing the following goals aimed at maintaining and enhancing the university's reputation as the premier comprehensive university in Wisconsin. The goals are also aimed at helping the university to remain a nationally recognized comprehensive university and to become known within the next decade as the premier comprehensive public university in the Midwest.

In particular, the Provost and his staff will work diligently to assist Deans, Department Chairs, Directors, and other members of the university community in:

1. Ensuring the preeminence of teaching and learning at UW-Eau Claire.
2. Enhancing scholarly and creative activity.
3. Providing high quality programs that enable the university to meet the evolving needs of our students, our region, the State of Wisconsin, and the Midwest.
4. Making collaboration integral to our activities.
5. Sustaining an environment where all students have the opportunity to succeed.
6. Preparing all students for life in a multicultural world.
7. Sustaining an environment in which all university personnel--faculty, academic staff, and classified staff--have the opportunity to succeed and in which there is a strong sense of community, shared governance, and institutional efficiency as well as effectiveness.
8. Expanding connections and partnerships with citizens, communities, governments, businesses, and agencies in our region.
9. Increasing external support for University programs and priorities.
10. Providing leadership in strategic planning.

The above goals were developed by the Provost and his staff and have been reviewed and endorsed by the Academic Affairs department chairs, directors, and deans. Specific means of addressing these goals are outlined below. The Provost and his staff are working to develop operational plans to assist in working toward the accomplishment of these goals.

Goal 1: To ensure the preeminence of teaching and learning, the Provost and his staff will work with others to focus attention on:

• sustaining an environment where learning and the creation and sharing of knowledge are central to everything we do;
• assisting faculty and staff in integrating teaching, scholarly and creative activities, and in promoting the exchange of ideas in accordance with the goals of the UW-Eau Claire baccalaureate degree;
• assessing student learning collegially and continually using the data obtained to improve programs;
• addressing the articulation of general education and baccalaureate degree learning objectives;
• reaffirming the university's commitment to freedom of thought, inquiry, and expression;
• recruiting and retaining a highly-qualified and diverse faculty, academic staff, and administrative support staff;
• recruiting and retaining outstanding students, including new and transfer undergraduate and graduate students;
• addressing workload issues that emerge from faculty participation in new modes of teaching;
• recognizing and rewarding those who create opportunities in and out of the classroom for enhancing the preeminence of teaching and learning;
• developing and maintaining accessible, functional and attractive facilities that support learning;
• integrating advances in information technologies into the living and learning environment as appropriate to the curricula; and
• maintaining a strong library which provides rapid access to information and serves as a nexus for learning.

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Goal 2: To enhance scholarly and creative activity, the Provost and his staff will work with others to focus attention on:

• addressing workload issues that emerge from faculty participation in faculty/student research collaboration and other scholarly and creative activities;
• supporting research and other scholarly and creative activity including grant development that leads to the generation, integration, and dissemination of knowledge;
• sustaining a culture conducive to scholarly and creative activity;
• encouraging departments to implement personnel plans supportive of scholarly and creative activities consistent with shared governance and the University's mission and goals;
• cultivating student collaboration in faculty scholarly and creative activity;
• providing students and faculty with access to and training in the use of advanced technologies supportive of research, scholarly, and creative activity; and
• recognizing and rewarding creative and scholarly activities .

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Goal 3: To provide high quality programs that meet the evolving needs of our students, our region, the State of Wisconsin, and the Midwest, the Provost and his staff will work with others to focus attention on:

• strengthening existing undergraduate and graduate programs in accordance with our evolving strategic plan;
• exploring new opportunities for program development including niche programs that capitalize on our strengths and resources to meet regional needs;
• assisting members of the university community in their efforts to integrate knowledge with the development of values, professional ethics, and the teamwork, leadership, and citizenship skills necessary for students to make meaningful contributions to society;
• assisting members of the university community to make teaching and learning more efficient as well as more effective;
• recognizing and rewarding those who develop and sustain high quality programs, including those offered by outreach and extension offices and those offered on evenings and weekends, that meet the evolving needs of our students and service region;
• maintaining a coherent and integrated general education program;
• providing experiences in and out of the classroom that attend to issues of diversity in culture, ethnicity, and gender;
• promoting a global perspective;
• offering evening, weekend, and outreach and continuing education programs that provide retraining and meet professional certification and other community needs;
• providing opportunities to learn from external communities through such experiential learning settings internships, cooperative education, service-learning, and other field activities;
• providing opportunities for students to participate in activities that meet the requirements of Title II with regard to accommodating those with disabilities and to provide opportunities for participation in a competitive intercollegiate athletics program that meets Title IX requirements; and
• providing opportunities for enhanced wellness.

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Goal 4: To make collaboration integral to our activities, the Provost and his staff will work with others to focus attention on:

• recognizing and rewarding those who create opportunities in and out of the classroom for collaborative activities for students, faculty, academic staff, and administrative support staff;
• leveraging our membership within the UW System to advance the University's mission;
• encouraging, recognizing, and rewarding interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary/cross-unit collaboration;
• promoting collaborative courses and programs between and among departments, schools, and colleges within the University,
• monitoring the quality of student living/learning opportunities by working with groups such as the Student Development Council and the Student Life Commission of the Student Senate, and
• promoting collaborative and innovative exchanges with other educational institutions and organizations to maximize the efficient use of resources and enhance learning opportunities for all members of the University community.

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Goal 5: To sustain an environment in which all students have the opportunity to succeed, the Provost and his staff will work with others to focus attention on:

• recognizing and rewarding faculty and staff, for excellence in advising, mentoring, and providing related services to students;
• recognizing and rewarding students for excellence in all pursuits through scholarships and recognition activities;
• maintaining a user-friendly admissions process that facilitates the recruitment of qualified students;
• ensuring that students of varying ages, ethnicity, cultures, and economic circumstances are well served;
• facilitating timely graduation through class availability and effective retention, advising, career counseling, career development and life planning skills, mentoring, and tutoring;
• maintaining and enhancing the quality of all academic support services;
• providing an affordable education without sacrificing quality;
• ensuring an efficient, effective, and user-friendly financial aid system;
• maximizing extramural funding and on-campus employment to help student's to defray educational costs;
• providing students with opportunities to acquire and/or to enhance competencies in the use of technologies;
• promoting physical, mental, and emotional health; and
• maintaining an accessible, safe, healthy and attractive environment and a welcoming campus climate.

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Goal 6: To prepare all students for life in a multicultural world, the Provost and his staff will work with others to focus attention on:

• reaffirming the university's commitment to diversity;
• recruiting and retaining a highly-qualified and diverse faculty, academic staff and administrative support staff, and student body;
• recognizing and rewarding those who create opportunities in and out of the classroom for enhancing student understanding of and appreciation for diversity, including culture, disability, gender, sexual orientation, etc.;
• implementing Plan 2008;
• providing study abroad and National Student Exchange program opportunities for students and teaching and research opportunities abroad for faculty; and
• providing opportunities for international students and international faculty to study and teach at UW-Eau Claire.

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Goal 7: To sustain an environment in which all university personnel--faculty, academic staff, and classified staff--have the opportunity to succeed and in which there is a strong sense of community, shared governance, and institutional efficiency as well as effectiveness, the Provost and his staff will work with others to focus attention on:

• working to enhance the intellectual life on campus while simultaneously striving to strengthen academic citizenship including participation in governance and campus activities;
• providing an excellent work environment with effective professional development programs that assist all employees in meeting their job requirements and in preparing for advancement;
• stressing flexibility as a desirable characteristic when hiring new personnel and recognizing and rewarding those whose flexibility enhances institutional efficiency as well as effectiveness;
• recognizing the personnel implications of the growing importance of external grants to the University's activity;
• ensuring reward systems are compatible with the University's mission and goals by reviewing the multiple roles of university personnel through the various stages of their careers;
• integrating advances in information and communication technologies into work environments;
• enhancing a sense of community to ensure that all university personnel have as a common purpose the achievement of the overall goals of the University;
• providing leadership in strategic planning across the University and in allocating Academic Affairs resources in accordance with the goals and priorities that emerge from that planning;
• reviewing and modify policies, procedures, and processes, as necessary and where possible, to simplify and/or to remove barriers to fulfillment of planning goals and to enhance the efficient operation of the institution;
• assessing university programs and related activities to assure that they fulfill our mission and goals and to identify areas of needed improvements and change;
• striving continuously to improve communication and information-sharing at all levels; and
• acknowledging openly the collective responsibility of all members of the University community in achieving the University's goals.

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Goal 8: To expand connections and partnerships within our region, the Provost and his staff will work with others to focus attention on:

• encouraging, recognizing, and rewarding those who develop and maintain mutually beneficial working partnerships with public and private sectors within our region, including, but not limited to outreach and extension activities;
• encouraging, recognizing, and rewarding those who develop and maintain mutually beneficial relationships with cultural institutions and other educational institutions and units in our region, including Chippewa Valley Technical College, UW System colleges and universities, public and private schools, CESAs, and etc.;
• promoting activities that enable the university to serve as a regional center for intellectual, cultural, athletic, and life-long learning;
• developing community-centered programs and activities, consistent with our mission and goals, that serve the needs of external communities; and
• involving alumni and emeriti faculty as valued participants in the on-going life of the university.

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Goal 9: To increase external support for university programs priorities, the Provost and his staff will work with others to focus attention on:

• increasing substantially the proportion of campus resources generated by private giving;
• strengthening links with our alumni and emeriti faculty that optimize an on-going commitment to the success of the University;
• increasing our effectiveness in obtaining grants and contracts, consistent with the university's mission and goals;
• implementing all-source budgeting to leverage existing funding in the pursuit of extramural funding; and
• conveying a clear message to the public that the University plays an essential role in the cultural, intellectual, health-related, and economic development of our region.

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Goal 10: To provide leadership in strategic planning, the Provost and his staff will work with others to focus attention on:

• improving understanding of the principles of strategic planning as they apply to a university setting;
• working with members of the university community to review and to improve existing assessment and planning processes in accordance with principles of strategic planning;
• developing new accountability, assessment, and planning processes to better integrate information from across campus;
• allocating resources in accordance with the goals and priorities that emerge from planning processes; and
• recognizing and rewarding members of the university community who provide leadership in strategic planning and resource allocation in accordance with the goals and priorities that emerge from strategic planning.

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