On April 2, University of Utah President Taylor Randall informed the President’s Leadership Council of the university’s decision to move forward with its new strategic plan, Impact 2030. This decision follows recent legislative actions that will influence university operations.
Every five years, the university implements a new strategic plan to most efficiently guide development across various areas on campus. With the current strategic plan set to conclude in 2025, President Randall and Chief Strategy Officer Brett Graham presented Impact 2030 to the U Board of Trustees on April 8.
“[Impact 2030] provides an opportunity for the university administration, working with the entire community, to, in many ways, plant a flag and say, ‘this is where we are going,’” Graham said during the board meeting.
The plan took more than a year to prepare. The process incorporated administration, faculty members and broader university community members by providing opportunities to participate in town hall sessions, surveys, focus groups and more.
Goals
The vision for the new strategic plan aligns with the U’s mission.
“[Impact 2030 is motivated by] preparing students to be leaders and global citizens, but also the generation of knowledge and education, and also ultimately driving towards quality life,” Graham said to the board.
There are three main goals, or pillars as described by Graham, of Impact 2030: student success, research and innovation and service to the community.
“It’s really on these pillars that holds up the opportunity to really drive things forward,” Graham said.
Through the service pillar, Impact 2030 will dedicate much of its focus to mental health-friendly policies, wellness programs and the West Valley initiative.
In terms of student success, the U hopes to increase the number of students and focus on helping those students graduate. To boost this goal, there will be a further emphasis on the utilization of resources like Navigate U and U Student Success, as well as a focus on engagement, belonging, mental health resources and community outreach regarding U of U research.
The university aims to expand the student body to 40,000, achieve an 80% 6-year graduation rate, place 90% of graduates in jobs and boost annual research funding to $1 billion.
The future of Impact 2030
In order to implement the plan’s goals, the U encourages individual colleges, departments and centers to align their focus to Impact 2030’s objectives.
“If you think about what is required to make these objectives come about, and this really having the aligning function that we want it to do, it comes down to these three areas; funding, integration and talent,” Graham said.
Following the discussion about student employment targets, the board approved Impact 2030 without opposition.
“We’re making progress,” Provost Mitzi Montoya said during the April 8 board meeting. “It is very hard to move these needles, and particularly to do so faster than a typical path that would lead us on this journey. But we’re determined to get there by 2030.”
