CREATING A BRILLIANT FUTURE

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

JANUARY 6, 2006

www.uis.edu/strategicplan

This is the first comprehensivestrategic plan for the Universityof Illinois at Springfield since1992, when we were still knownas Sangamon State University.We have been part of the

University of Illinois for 10years, and it is time for freshplanning, new thinking, and“Stretch Ideas” to move us wellbeyond what we have been andto lead us well into this century.

The University of Illinois atSpringfield provides an intellectually rich, collaborative,and intimate learning

environment for students, faculty, and staff, while servinglocal, regional, state, national,and international communities.

Mission Statement

UIS will be a premier smallpublic university offering innovative, high-quality liberalarts education, public affairsactivities, and professional

programs dedicated to academic excellence, to enriching individual lives, andto making a difference in theworld.

VIsion Statement

UIS will be recognized as one ofthe top five small public liberalarts universities in the UnitedStates.

We will achieve this by creatinga world-class liberal arts oriented undergraduate educational experience

reflecting many of the characteristics and best practices of small private liberal arts colleges, while building on our many strengths.Among those strengths areprofessional academic programs, graduate education,and public affairs activities.

Statement of Strategic Intent

The competitive analysis withother public and private collegesand universities indicates thatUIS has some of the most prizedattributes of private colleges –small class sizes, high-qualityprograms, most courses taughtby faculty with terminal degrees,personalized interaction betweenfaculty and students, and hands-on, experiential learning. Our students say, “My professorsknow me.” Classes and faculty

are accessible when studentswant them – daytime, evenings,and online. As a high-qualitysmall public university, UIS is farmore affordable than the privateinstitutions. Moreover, no otheruniversity or college has theadvantage of being located inthe vibrant Illinois state capital.In short, we compare favorablyin terms of quality, personalattention, affordability, and location.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS/ Distinctive competencies

This strategic plan is a historic,important document for theUniversity of Illinois atSpringfield. We need this plan. I heartily endorse it and urgeour many campus audiences –students, faculty, staff, alumni,and the central Illinois and global communities that weserve – to recognize where UIS is going.

We aspire to prepare students tobe lifelong learners who areengaged in their communities.We aspire to become recognizedas one of the top five small public liberal arts universities inthe United States. That is a boldand exciting statement about thefuture of UIS.

This plan shows us the way.Understanding and pursuing the six goals in this plan nowbecomes the task of every UISfaculty and staff member. Thisplan is not extra work for UIS. It is our work.

I offer my sincere complimentsand deepest gratitude to theStrategic Planning Committee, especially its chair, Dr. DonO’Neal, associate professor ofmanagement. This groupworked diligently, wrestled with language, and crafted a vision,mission, and plan of action thatwill carry us forward with greatenergy for the next five to tenyears.

– Richard D. Ringeisen

1. Academic Excellence

2. Enriching Individual Lives

3. Making a Difference in the World

4. Strengthen Campus Culture

5. Enrollment and Retention

6. Resources and Infrastructure

UIS will achieve academic excellence through excellence inteaching and learning and excellence in scholarship.

At UIS, teaching remains thecentral function and studentlearning is our overriding goal.UIS will create an environmentthat promotes engaged, active,and interdisciplinary learningwith the ultimate goal of preparing students to be thinkersand leaders in the world. UISaffirms its commitment to highstandards of scholarly excellence.Believing that active scholarshipis essential to excellent teaching,UIS is committed to developinga faculty of teacher-scholars, students who collaborate withfaculty on research and serviceprojects, and staff who areengaged in advancing the

professional practice in theirfields. UIS is in the process ofenhancing its undergraduatecurriculum while maintaining anemphasis on providing excellent graduate programs. Itis unique by reaching outaggressively to new, youngerundergraduate students even asit continues to reach out to non-traditional students with on-campus and an increasing number of online programs.

Selected initiatives: Expansion ofsupport for faculty and studentscholarship; Experiential andService Learning Institute; focuson lifelong learning and engagement in general curriculum; establishment ofhigh-visibility collaborative projects such as the EmiquonField Station.

Academic Excellence

The University of Illinois atSpringfield seeks to establish anatmosphere that contributes tothe intellectual, cultural, social,and personal enrichment of allits participants.

This document offers manyways to provide an intellectuallyrich and culturally diversecampus environment, including

expansion of arts facilities andprograms. All will be exposed toa campus community that isinfused with an appreciation ofdiverse cultural perspectives.

The campus environment willbe an inclusive and safe placefor different perspectives to beexplored.

Selected initiatives: AnnualCampus Dialogue; developmentof comprehensive master planfor the arts, including a newbachelor’s degree in Fine Arts;more bridges to the communitywith civic engagement and vol-unteer and service learningopportunities; enhancement ofintercollegiate athletics.

enriching individual lives

With its location in the statecapital, UIS has always had aspecial emphasis on publicaffairs, citizen engagement, andeffecting societal change. Thisgoal echoes and updates thosetraditions through the theme ofMaking a Difference in theWorld. This theme is conceptualized as a series ofactivities related to reflection,dialogue, and action on publicpolicy and civic culture, resulting in engagement withthe world outside the university.

The focus includes local, state,national, and global concerns.All undergraduates will participate in engagement activities; graduate students willcontinue to have numerousopportunities for hands-onlearning and research. The campus will continue to buildon its solid record of accomplishment in publicaffairs, applied research, andtraining activities – paying special attention to public policyand the civic culture.

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Making a difference in the world

Selected initiatives: EngagedCitizenship Common Experience(ECCE) as part of the generaleducation curriculum; entrepre-neurial activities in the Collegeof Business and Management;faculty involvement in policydevelopment in Illinois; IllinoisDemocracy Project; internationalcollaborations; more bridges tothe nonprofit sector in centralIllinois.

Faculty, staff, students, andalumni from every part of UISengage in activities that make adifference in the world. Eachindividual and discipline provides a unique contribution:education, business, professionalprograms, natural sciences,social sciences, and humanities.In other words, Making aDifference in the World is ashared responsibility.

The University of Illinois atSpringfield seeks to establish anatmosphere that contributes tothe intellectual, cultural, social,and personal enrichment of allits participants.

This document offers manyways to provide an intellectuallyrich and culturally diversecampus environment, including

expansion of arts facilities andprograms. All will be exposed toa campus community that isinfused with an appreciation ofdiverse cultural perspectives.

The campus environment willbe an inclusive and safe placefor different perspectives to beexplored.

Selected initiatives: AnnualCampus Dialogue; developmentof comprehensive master planfor the arts, including a newbachelor’s degree in Fine Arts;more bridges to the communitywith civic engagement and volunteer and service learningopportunities; enhancement ofintercollegiate athletics.

strengthen campus culture

By improving access and opportunity, the University ofIllinois at Springfield will enroll,retain, and graduate a largerand more diverse student bodyengaged in classroom and technology-enhanced education.UIS plans to grow to 6,000 on-campus students and willalways be a “small university”in the best sense of the word.

Selected initiatives: A one-stopenrollment services model thatincludes the entire array of student enrollment services;assertive programs to help students make the transitionfrom high school or communitycollege to the university; Centerfor First-Year Programs.

ENROLLMENT AND RETENTION

UIS has lofty goals and aninspiring vision. Many of theaction steps to pursue our visionrequire the allocation of newresources and the reallocation ofcurrent resources – financial,human, and physical. UIS willmake bold decisions and will

find the resources to implementthe goals in this strategic plan.This plan not only allows us tofocus more specifically on whatUIS wants to become but alsogives us a framework withinwhich to allocate and reallocateresources.

Resources and infrastructure

This plan identifies many specific needs, including physical enhancements: moreinternal and external gatheringspaces (sometimes called “thirdspaces”), a Student Center,another residence hall, more laboratory facilities, and a

renovation of Brookens Libraryand the metal buildings. Theplan also highlights the need tofind more extracurricular opportunities for students, tocreate a comprehensive plan forcultural and arts activities, andto address salary equity

This plan sets UIS in pursuit ofa bold vision: to become one ofthe top five small public liberalarts universities in the U.S. Ithas exciting implications for students, faculty, staff, and thecommunity we serve. Studentswill benefit from the personalized attention, smallclasses, and high-quality programs. Faculty will benefitfrom the unique emphasis that

UIS places on teaching andexpanding opportunities forscholarship and service. UIS,the high-quality liberal arts university in Springfield, willoffer high-quality professionaland public affairs programs.And the local community, thenation, and indeed the worldwill be visibly and recognizablyenhanced by the expertise andoutreach of the UIS community.

issues and salary competitiveness for staff andfaculty. We estimate needs of$4.351 million in annuallyrecurring funds and $95,000 inonetime, non-recurring fundsover the next five years to

implement our goals. We havealso identified a need for $89million in capital funds forsome of the initiatives in thisstrategic plan and for buildingsidentified in the campus masterplan of 2000.