The University of West Florida reached an important milestone as the Florida State University System Board of Governors unanimously approved UWF’s new five-year strategic plan at their September meeting.
The strategic plan maps out UWF’s institutional mission, president’s vision and strategic directions, goals and indicators of success through 2027. The Board of Governors’ approval is the culmination of an extensive process that included outreach to many stakeholder groups, including faculty, students, staff, alumni, business and community leaders throughout Northwest Florida and the state.
“UWF’s strategic plan is a clear and measurable blueprint for success not only for the University, but also for the region and the state,” said UWF President Martha D. Saunders. “Our plan addresses issues like meeting the need for superior talent in high-demand professions and developing innovation for local industry. That’s why input from community leaders and business executives was an essential part of the plan development.”
The plan aims to strengthen UWF’s culture of inclusion and civility and advance its commitment to research and community engagement while positioning the University as a catalyst for economic growth. It creates a blueprint for even greater impact through other key areas including student-centered and focused goals, academic programs and scholarships, employee success, operational excellence and infrastructure growth.
“The impressive accomplishments of UWF thus far are a source of pride for everyone impacted by the University — and we are just getting started,” Saunders said. “Guided by the strategic plan, our aspirations for the future are realistically within reach.”
For more information and to view the full 2022-2027 Strategic Plan, visit uwf.edu/strategicplan.
Well, CJ, we know that if you wrote it, it would be 243 pages of gripes.
So there’s that.
It’s pure political puffery to describe UWF’s nine page Strategic Plan as a “measurable blueprint.” It contains no actual metrics. There’s no way to measure success or failure. That’s too very convenient. I have a copy of UWF’s Strategic Plan for 2017 to 2022. It was even more cryptic and just four pages long. It would be an interesting exercise for a few concerned faculty and students with varied skill sets to independently review the 2017 to 2022 Strategic Plan to assess what was sought (there must be other documents to find) and what was actually achieved. Most importantly, how did its priorities translate into annual budget priorities. In many local governments, there’s no connection. Senior city staffers once told me that the city budget document was just for the council to approve and then they did whatever they wanted to do. That’s how many bureaucracies work.
You could also go back further to review the 2012 to 2017 Strategic Plan. If metrics do not secretly exist for the 2022 to 2027 Strategic Plan, you can easily come up with some to support the many “Indicators of Success” supporting the 20 Goals. It doesn’t say much about the caliber of people on the UWF Board of Trustees that they bought off on a skeletal, at best, nine page Strategic Plan, or an even more cryptic four page plan five years ago.