Dear Fellow Monarchs:
Welcome to Ϲ’s Spring 2023 semester! As we officially begin another semester of excitement and growth, we do so at a special time in the storied history of our great institution. At the conclusion of 2022, we celebrated our first anniversary of earning the prestigious Research 1 status from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education and the continuation of our important work toward an integration with Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) to establish an academic health sciences center right here in Hampton Roads. These important initiatives will continue to gain momentum in the weeks and months to come.
And, later this month, we will officially launch our new strategic plan, “Forward-Focused: Where Innovation Meets Possibilities.” With broad distribution of the full plan to the campus and the community next week, I must take this opportunity to acknowledge the many individuals who participated in focus groups; served on the steering committee, subcommittees, or teams; reviewed the draft plan; and shared their feedback on our future work. With clear goals, as outlined below, as well as detailed strategies and robust key performance indicators, the engagement, partnership, and support of the Monarch Nation, especially our students, faculty, and staff, will be critical. Together, much progress and success will occur in the coming years!
Academic Excellence
Goal 1: Serve as a leading institution in the Commonwealth of Virginia in developing and offering relevant, signature academic programs to meet regional and global workforce needs
Goal 2: Provide high-impact experiences for all undergraduate students through experiential learning programs
Goal 3: Utilize cutting-edge pedagogy and advising best practices to enrich undergraduate and graduate academic programs
Goal 4: Develop infrastructure to support excellence in research and scholarship for undergraduate and graduate students
Goal 5: Accelerate the recruitment and retention of diverse faculty and academic administrators who are committed to excellence in teaching, scholarship, engagement, and mentorship
Branding, Marketing, and Communication
Goal 1: Build a unified and inspirational brand promoting local, regional, and national recognition for all entities of the University
Goal 2: Build infrastructure to optimize print, social media, and web engagement
Goal 3: Provide training to students, faculty, and staff on branding, marketing, and communication objectives, goals, standards, practices, metrics, and policies, as well as current best practices and emerging trends
Goal 4: Better integrate the physical campus in branding, marketing, and communication efforts through campus beautification endeavors by emphasizing projects that maximize the University’s brand identity, create a sense of place, promote wellbeing, foster a diverse community, and promote a unified look that engages students, faculty, staff, and guests
Corporate/Community Partnerships and Economic Development
Goal 1: Build internal infrastructure and culture for corporate and community engagement
Goal 2: Deploy a new infrastructure and culture to increase corporate and community partnerships
Goal 3: Expand innovation and entrepreneurship
Goal 4: Support economic wellbeing through economic development
Philanthropic Giving and Alumni Engagement
Goal 1: Create a more robust infrastructure for advancement-related activities and operations
Goal 2: Build a sustainable culture of philanthropy across the University
Goal 3: Expand the University’s alumni reach to foster pride and engagement
Goal 4: Increase overall annual support
Goal 5: Launch and complete a comprehensive capital campaign
Research Growth
Goal 1: Achieve national prominence in targeted emerging research areas in a manner that creates movement to the next higher quadrant of Carnegie R1 institutions, while maintaining, enhancing, and leveraging existing areas of strength
Goal 2: Foster a culture of faculty and administrative collaboration that enhances communication and focuses on solving problems and challenges in operating a robust research enterprise
Goal 3: Develop agile processes, tools, and systems to enhance faculty research opportunities, collaboration, and productivity, including greater coordination and support for research infrastructure
Goal 4: Reconceptualize the arts and humanities as crosscutting and integral to all disciplines by connecting scholarship in the arts and humanities with scholarship in science, engineering, health sciences, and other fields
Strategic Enrollment Growth
Goal 1: Grow targeted, high-demand programs to attract traditional undergraduate, online, transfer, military, international, and graduate students
Goal 2: Grow fully online enrollment
Goal 3: Enhance access and affordability to attract and retain students, while promoting affordability and completion by all student levels and modalities
Goal 4: Grow and support untapped Latinx enrollment
Goal 5: Engage community resources and family members to support recruitment and student success
Student Engagement and Success
Goal 1: Improve academic preparation, engagement, and advising of students to prepare them for academic and post-graduate success
Goal 2: Continue to provide an affordable college experience by offering additional financial support for students, reducing financial barriers that impede progression and success, and supporting student social mobility
Goal 3: Increase undergraduate student retention and graduation rates
Moving forward, our vision is clear. Together, we will be forward-focused, innovative, and entrepreneurial in propelling Ϲ to national and international prominence. With a strong commitment to our core values of accessibility, collaboration, excellence, global engagement, inclusion, innovation, and respect, we will proudly pursue our mission. We will continue to foster dynamic on-campus and global online learning for undergraduate and graduate students across a broad range of teaching, research, and service efforts, while enriching lives, promoting insightful and perceptive leadership, and motivating the pursuit of excellence in a diverse, inclusive, and supportive environment!
With Monarch Pride,
Brian O. Hemphill, Ph.D.
President