Academic Affairs Mission Statement and Strategic Plan

The mission of Academic Affairs is to facilitate the critical pursuit of knowledge in an environment of civility and tolerance by providing excellent educational opportunities for all UNF students through a focused use of resources in scholarly programs that have relevance to the broad range of constituencies served by the university and that are subject to rigorous and ongoing scrutiny and improvement.

Four encompassing and mutually informative goals derive from this mission statement, included below.

Goal 1: Advance the recruitment of academically ready and culturally diverse students and set occasions for their success.

• Action 1.1: Implement universal tracking system pilot and create academic program maps to increase student completion rates.
• Action 1.2: Strategically recruit FTIC and Florida Associate of Arts students in accordance with BOG enrollment targets while increasing both academic profile and diversity.
• Action 1.3: Recruit graduate students in line with institutional priorities, diversity enhancement, and, where applicable, new programmatic entry standards.
• Action 1.4: Continue to develop initiatives in areas of advising to increase university retention and graduation rates.

Goal 2:Advance the scope and quality of academic programs in a manner consistent with the mission and resources of the university.

• Action 2.1: Monitor as appropriate new and existing undergraduate and graduate programs in conjunction with the program review and strategic planning processes.
• Action 2.2: Expand efforts to increase student political participation and civic engagement via the ADP.
• Action 2.3: Generate detailed Quality Enhancement Plan and begin its implementation; recruit academic departments and other units to lead implementation.
• Action 2.4: Focus assessment on meaningful student learning outcomes in general education, academic majors, and all graduate programs. Begin installation of the Voluntary System of Accountability.
• Action 2.5: Implement strategies to maximize the effective utilization of AA resources particularly in light of recent budget reductions.
• Action 2.6: Facilitate Academic Leadership Development.
• Action 2.7: Implement Provost's special task force to refine university mission.
• Action 2.8: Develop first-year programming to facilitate the transition, integration, and engagement of freshman students.
• Action 2.9: Install a system for program review that includes student learning as a core element and uses assessment findings within the review. Report findings externally, as has been the practice, and use feedback internally to improve student learning.
• Action 2.10: Foster the inclusion of diversity as an aspect of curriculum and academic programming.

Goal 3: Advance the diversification and scholarly engagement of the faculty.

• Action 3.1: Develop, propose, and implement strategies for enhancing the diversity of the faculty profile.
• Action 3.2: Hire new OFE Director and expand the linkage between faculty development activities and larger institutional priorities.
• Action 3.3: Increase external research funding.
• Action 3.4: Highlight faculty scholarship and research activity.

Goal 4: Advance community outreach and partnerships.

• Action 4.1: Establish an office for community-based learning to advance and oversee initiatives designed to increase civic awareness and engagement of students.
• Action 4.2: Inventory the service needs of the Jacksonville community and develop initiatives to address those needs.

View the University of North Florida's entire Strategic Planning document.

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