Imagine 2030: Our Strategic Vision

Innovate

(verb): 1. To make changes in something established, especially by introducing new methods, ideas, or products

We will encourage and support innovation and creativity, enhance our leadership in transformative curricular and co-curricular experiences, and expand and deepen student engagement to enrich the student experience and prepare students to excel in an ever- changing global society.

Goals

1. Become a national leader in transformative curricular and co-curricular experiences.

• Sustain, grow, and deepen GC Journeys as a vehicle to promote essential skills and experiential learning opportunities.

• Support innovative pedagogies, and transdisciplinary and transcultural relationships.

• Continue developing innovative and flexible curricular and co-curricular opportunities to increase student engagement.

• Develop programs and initiatives to foster ethical, reflective, and engaged leaders and professionals who are dedicated to excellence.

2. Serve learners at all stages of life to prepare them for the opportunities and challenges of an ever- changing world.

• Develop and sustain adaptive and visionary strategies that respond competitively to current and future job market needs.

• Design and implement flexible and pedagogically innovative curricular opportunities that develop essential skills which promote the ability to work and thrive in a variety of settings (including global literacy, critical thinking, problem solving, emotional intelligence, communication, teamwork, adaptability, creativity, and leadership).

• Develop and support academically robust and competitive graduate offerings which prepare students to adapt and excel in a constantly changing job market.

• Provide a variety of impactful lifelong learning opportunities to meet the educational needs of people at all stages of life.

• Grow graduate enrollment.

3. Build and sustain an institutional infrastructure and operations that foster innovative approaches across the university.

• Develop and implement an entrepreneurial funding model for the university, seeking opportunities for revenue generation for the university as well as immersion opportunities for our students.

• Create an Institute of Innovation and Design to serve as the hub of innovation on campus.

• Build an organizational structure to recruit, admit, and support graduate and non-traditional students.

• Identify resources, seek new external grants, and increase collaboration with internal and external partners to support scholarly research activity by faculty, staff, and students.

• Promote sustainability initiatives which conserve university funds, protect natural resources, preserve the environment for present and future generations, and prepare students to be advocates for and leaders of a more sustainable future.

• Create and sustain institutional structures and initiatives that position our faculty, staff, and students as global citizens who respond with agility and creativity to the threats and opportunities of an ever-changing world.

Distinguish

(verb): 1. To make noteworthy or remarkable: to give prominence or distinction, 2. To mark as separate or different

We will demonstrate the importance of our unique liberal arts experience in preparing students for today’s complex working world, and in doing so, refine and strengthen the university’s reputation for attracting the highest caliber students, faculty, and staff.

Goals

1. Clearly define a shared understanding of our unique liberal arts experience.

• Solidify a clear set of experiences that signify the hallmarks of the university’s unique liberal arts mission.

• Communicate this shared understanding to the campus community.

2. Develop and implement a new brand campaign to expand and enhance our statewide and national reputation.

• Elevate specific aspects of our liberal arts experience that are unique and compelling and build on the strengths of the university.

• Develop a marketing and communications content strategy that continuously demonstrates the importance of our unique liberal arts experience.

• Apply a consistent visual identity system with enterprise-wide branding standards for GCSU and our athletic programs.

3. Deepen our collective commitment and shared goals across campus to align with the mission and vision of GCSU and embody our shared identity and brand.

• Operationalize the unique liberal arts experience of the university’s transformative experiences, curriculum, and co-curricular activities.

• Expand undergraduate research/creative endeavors as a key element that differentiates the university.

• Emphasize that students, faculty, and staff have an important role to play in terms of being brand ambassadors and demonstrating the ways that their work contributes to our shared identity.

• Use a consistent set of narratives and a shared language to describe strategic aspects of the GCSU experience.

Empower

(verb): 1. To give (someone) the authority or power to do something, 2. To make (someone) stronger and more confident, especially in controlling their life and claiming their rights

We will promote and foster an environment that encourages and supports holistic wellness, nurturing connectedness, resilience, well-being, and the desire to lead and thrive for all students, faculty, and staff.

Goals

1. Develop an actionable campus plan that enhances the holistic health and well-being of students, faculty, and staff.

• Develop and implement GCSU’s next QEP: Bobcats FIRST: Finding Inner Resilience and Skills to Thrive.

• Increase the percentage of faculty and staff trained to offer support to students all along the continuum of the mental health spectrum.

• Define, inventory, and minimize campus practices, policies, and procedures that hinder a climate of health and well-being.

• Increase awareness and utilization of campus and USG resources that support health and wellness for students, faculty, and staff.

2. Create a campus climate that actively encourages, supports, and fosters the campus plan for health and wellness.

• Enhance clinical services for mental health and substance misuse.

• Develop networks of peer-to-peer mentors/educators to serve in a capacity of first-level support to fellow students.

• Develop strategies and structures of support to foster staff and faculty well-being.

3. Create innovative initiatives and programming to enhance GCSU’s increased commitment to student, faculty, and staff well-being.

• Identify and build/enhance community partnerships for wellness and well-being.

• Create activities and experiences for faculty and staff that increase opportunities for on-campus health and wellness.

• Implement campaigns/programs to encourage help-seeking by de-stigmatizing mental health and substance misuse problems on campus.

4. Foster shared responsibility for promoting and enhancing the overall health and wellness of students, faculty, and staff.

• Increase academic departments’ commitment to overall student health and wellness by developing a health and wellness plan for students in their respective academic programs.

• Recognize and identify campus offices that demonstrate exceptional commitment to the overall health and wellness of students, faculty, and staff.

Engage

(verb): 1. To occupy, attract, or involve (someone's interest or attention), 2. To participate or become involved

We will cultivate an environment that promotes lasting positive change by collaboratively developing and sustaining meaningful, reciprocal relationships that value and elevate the contributions of all on campus, with local communities, with alumni, and beyond.

Goals

1. Pursue a culture of connectedness on campus that fosters positive morale and mutual respect for all students, faculty, and staff.

• Develop, promote, and support opportunities for engagement among students, faculty, and staff.

• Create an atmosphere of belonging and connectedness that promotes the retention of students, faculty and staff.

• Explore innovative ways of working that promote the balance of productivity and wellness.

• Increase employee satisfaction and retention.

• Increase transparency and communication of university-wide changes and developments across campus.

• Enhance the roles and voices of staff in shared governance systems.

2. Develop collaborative partnerships with local communities to advance the goals of both the university and the areas we serve.

• Increase participation with community boards, civic organizations, and local non-profits through a common calendar, representatives at organizational meetings, and regular presence at community events.

• Collaborate with partner organizations to collectively address pressing issues and support the well-being of the community at large.

• Provide students, faculty, and staff with comprehensive education and training about the communities with which they engage prior to community-based engaged learning experiences.

• Enhance pathways for local and regional students to attend the university by reducing obstacles to admission and enrollment.

3. Strengthen relationships between and among the university and alumni.

• Develop strategies, events, and programming designed to foster meaningful relationships with alumni.

• Enhance graduate education pathways and lifelong learning for GCSU alumni.

4. Establish mutually beneficial academic and industrial partnerships that extend the university’s reach beyond our region.

• Expand professional studies/continuing education programs that will bring value to businesses and industries across the region.

• Harness the expertise of the entire campus community to expand relationships with regional organizations that offer internship opportunities for students.

Advance

(verb): 1. To move forward in a purposeful way, 2. To make or cause to make progress

As the state’s designated public liberal arts university, we will cultivate a fair, just, and inclusive community that prepares our students, faculty, and staff to excel in a globally connected workforce.  

Goals

1. Broaden and enhance the recruitment strategies and retention efforts for students, faculty, and staff such that our campus more comprehensively reflects and serves the people of our city, region, and state 

• Increase representation of underrepresented students, faculty, and staff.  
• Develop and enhance support networks dedicated to the success of underrepresented students, faculty, and staff. 

2. Create a campus climate that fosters a sense of belonging  

• Establish and achieve benchmarks to create an inclusive campus environment.  
• Define, inventory, and address campus practices, policies, infrastructure, and procedures that impede or inhibit an inclusive campus community.  

3. Foster shared leadership to enhance individual skills and capacities to support, implement, and recognize innovative and inclusive curricular and co-curricular experiences  

• Promote and support learning and training opportunities for students, faculty, and staff around diversity of thought and experiences to enhance inclusive outcomes.  
• Develop curricular and co-curricular programming that provides students with experiences that enhance their understanding and cultivate their ability to meaningfully engage with people from different backgrounds, demographics, and perspectives.  
• Create a culture of shared responsibility for building an inclusive community.