Strategic Directions and Priority Initiatives

In order to achieve this strategic vision for UGA in 2010, the University has developed three strategic directions for the coming decade to guide its program development and its search for and allocation of public and private support as it seeks to become one of the world's premier universities:

Each of these strategic directions will be carried out through institutional and college or unit-based initiatives. Initiatives with institutional priority are identified here, organized under the three strategic directions; college/unit initiatives are listed with the college and unit plans in the companion strategic planning documents, "Strategic Plans of the Principal Units of the University of Georgia" and "Plans for New Units at the University of Georgia"; also available at www.strategicplanning.uga.edu.

Strategic Direction 1

BUILDING THE NEW LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

In order to provide our students with opportunities for success in the digital age and to provide Georgia with a steady stream of highly educated, flexible, diverse, culturally sensitive, emotionally as well as academically intelligent, and technologically sophisticated citizens for the 21st century economy, UGA must develop the highest level of information technology, access and support, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for students, faculty and staff. It must create new academic and certification programs to support the many ways in which the new information technologies are transforming traditional academic disciplines, such as the New Media Institute and its New Media Certification Program, the Department of Computer Science and its Certificate in Computing, the Masters in Internet Technology, the Digital Media Lab and the Electronic Teaching Library. It must strengthen programs and facilities for the digital age, including the reengineering of the King Law Library to become a state-of-the-art facility for law students and current members of the bench and bar, and the establishment of a Center for Information Technology to house and showcase UGA's computing and information technology-based teaching, learning and research initiatives.

The University must also educate its students to be effective leaders in the complex arenas of business and government, and is establishing leadership programs to do so. The Institute for Leadership Advancement in the Terry College and the Student Leadership Development Programs provided by the Office of Student Affairs, for example, are designed to provide specialized leadership training for all University students through classes, mentoring, and/or the Internet.

The ultimate measure of UGA resides in the quality of its teaching and learning. In order for UGA to thrive, that teaching and learning must fully utilize the unique opportunities presented by UGA's status as a research university, by its residential nature, by its service mission and by its large size. The UGA Honors Programs is, and should continue to be, in the vanguard of this effort with new teaching, learning, and student service programs to take advantage of UGA's recruitment of the very best high school students. Increasing the national profile of the Honors Program, and its premier undergraduate scholars, the Foundation Fellows, will drive UGA's reputation as a first-rate university for undergraduate instruction.

As a research university, UGA should assure that each undergraduate student has the opportunity to engage in a significant research experience and should use that opportunity as a means to attract students. A highly visible office of undergraduate research should fully inform students, faculty and staff about research opportunities, seek private and grant funding for student faculty collaboration in research, and sponsor an annual undergraduate research symposium.

As a residential university, UGA should maximize its unique and beautiful physical campus in the manner outlined in the newly adopted physical master plan to promote the creation of a true community of scholars. This residential character will be enhanced by renovating existing on-campus housing and building new on-campus housing with the goal of doubling the number of students residing on campus. UGA will greatly enrich both its residence life facilities and programs, in part through an integration of its in-class and out-of-class experiences. By 2005, the University will have greatly expanded the existing academic presence in the residence halls to include more classrooms, stronger academic support services, innovative cultural programs, state-of-the-art computing environments, and a significant faculty presence. By 2010, the University will have fully in place a residential college system in all undergraduate halls which creatively and persistently extends the life of the mind to students to wherever they live on-campus.

In order to build on the University's greatest strength, the quality of its teaching, UGA intends to become the finest teaching university in the country. The University will launch a "superior teachers program" designed to attract, reward and retain the best cadre of undergraduate teachers in America by 2010. These teachers, and all UGA faculty, will be actively and vigorously supported in their teaching through expanded instructional and faculty development programs.

[ SEE THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT CHART ]

Strategic Direction 2

RESEARCH INVESTMENT

Achieving the top ranks of American research universities, so critical to the future economic development of Georgia and to the education of its students, will require an unprecedented level of commitment from the University and the state of Georgia. In order to reach that level, UGA will need to focus its current and new resources on areas of (1) greatest strength; (2) greatest external funding opportunity; and (3) greatest opportunity for national distinction. These areas of strength with great external funding opportunity include environmental sciences; biosciences generally and genomics in particular; the biomedical area; behavioral and social sciences; and technologically aided agricultural research and service programs, such as digital imaging and diagnostics. Those with greatest opportunity for additional national recognition include history, public and international affairs, areas of English such as humanities computing, literary studies and creative writing; Art; and Music, including the Center for New Music.

Initiatives to achieve the next level of success in research and creative work will include: Creating one hundred endowed research professorships; increasing graduate enrollment by 1255 students, through a strong endowment for superior graduate student support, and by producing access to a health care program for graduate students; focusing faculty hiring decisions on selected areas of research excellence and opportunity, and making competitive "startup" funding available centrally in areas of focus; and developing support for the construction of badly needed research facilities in key areas of institutional strength, including: a major hospital for Veterinary Medicine; an addition to the College of Pharmacy, including space to support UGA/MCG biomedical initiatives; the several facilities being developed in support of the Center for Applied Genetic Technology (including transgenic research facilities for cattle, poultry, swine, fish and most major crop plants); and substantial new facilities to support the life sciences, including the College of the Environment, the Institute for Integrated Genomics and the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases.

Significant expansion of engineering through establishment of a Faculty of Engineering will broaden the capacity and reinforce the opportunities for research, external funding and student experiences in all of the sciences and expand the application of cutting-edge research to meet the challenge of economic development.

[ SEE THE RESEARCH INVESTMENT CHART ]

Strategic Direction 3

COMPETING IN A GLOBAL ECONOMY

In order to serve Georgia and Georgians in the 21st century, the University of Georgia must accelerate dramatically its international dimension in a variety of ways: By strengthening its current international programs that have achieved international distinction, such as the Center for International Trade and Security and the Carl Vinson Institute of Government's International Center for Democratic Governance; by establishing new academic programs focused on the international dimension of academic disciplines, such as a School of Public and International Affairs, a new College of the Environment; and the Terry College's and the Warnell School of Forest Resources' Global Partnership Programs; by increasing the number of languages taught and the variety of methodologies for teaching languages; by increasing the number of students engaged in study abroad by a factor of ten by the end of the decade; by strengthening the area studies programs of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and by developing UGA Study Abroad Centers throughout the world.

Being globally competitive also means that UGA must be globally competitive in Athens as well as abroad. The city and the University of Georgia are in a constant and significant conversation about their mutual needs for both growth and economic development, and about the indispensable value of mutually developed and supported quality-of-life elements of our college community: Good schools; tree-lined streets and boulevards; historically preserved and protected homes and buildings; bike trails; interconnected green spaces and walks; outdoor cafes, sitting and gathering areas; live musical performances in public areas; the creation of a riverside "green way" along the Oconee River; and the development of attractive "border crossings" between the University campus and the shops and cafes and other businesses of Athens will all serve to make both the University and the multi-county Athens community competitive for the quality of life to which each aspires.

Athens and the University of Georgia can build on their current synergy and strengths to become, in this time of rethinking the built urban environment in America signaled by the "smart growth" phenomenon, a state, regional and national model for mutually advantageous development of academic and urban life on a human scale. The national and international expertise provided by the Division of Public Service and Outreach, the School of Social Work, the Colleges of Education and Family and Consumer Sciences and the School of Environmental Design, supported by the Office of University Architects, guided by the University's and the City's recently developed physical master plans, will support this effort to compete globally for superior students, faculty, staff and economic development.

[ SEE THE GLOBAL ECONOMY CHART ]