Memorandum

Principal  Academic Goals

As part of a system-wide planning process, the Board of Governors has requested that each institution submit an Academic Plan which will be updated annually. The Board's Academic Planning and Program Committee is working directly with the chief academic officers during this process. The Board acknowledges that each institution does internal planning but, at the same time, recognizes that the broadening of the planning process allows the Board to comment on goals, current activities and future plans in order to ensure the quality of the system as a whole. Eventually, it is intended that the Academic Plan will fold in other planning initiatives such as financial, facilities and technology plans.

The plan will go to the Board in June of 1998. The Academic Plan includes steps accomplished, short-range goals and long-range possibilities. As with any plan, it is dynamic and will change as circumstances warrant. In fact several items have moved from "future plans" to "change in progress" as the plan was being developed.

In developing the Academic Plan, two planning retreats with the academic deans have been held and various drafts of the plan have been shared with the academic deans and the Faculty Senate Executive Committee. There also have been several meetings with the Board's Planning and Program Committee to discuss the evolving plan. Our meetings have been productive and informative with the committee demonstrating a genuine interest in assisting the University as well as the system as a whole.

Although there is no required formal approval process for the plan, prior to its submission to the Board, I wanted to make it available to the University Community for your comments and suggestions. In offering your response, I ask you to consider that the Academic Plan is not intended as a checklist. Clearly, our resources will not allow us to do all that is being considered or even imagined. This is intended as a fluid process that will help us to sharpen our goals, make informed decisions, and respond to change in a more deliberate way.

For your convenience, additional copies of the plan are available in the libraries, the deans' offices, and the Faculty Senate Office. Please send your comments to me by e-mail at cygnet@uriacc.uri.edu or campus mail to the Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs in the Carlotti Administration Building.

Thank you for your assistance with this important process.

Back to Top