We are committed to elevating student learning experiences in the College to inspire thinkers, innovators, problem solvers, and leaders.

Key Goals:

1.1. Provide innovative education and robust learning experiences.

• Develop innovative and distinctive degree programs.
• Design and elevate curriculum that develops problem solving, cultural awareness, and essential skills.
• Modernize pedagogy and leverage technology in the classroom to support instruction.

Actions:

• Assess current curriculum and identify opportunities for new degrees and courses to meet student demand and workforce needs.
• Ensure student learning outcomes and core assessments inform curricula design and needs.
• Support faculty workshops, training, and professional development funding to enhance pedagogy.

1.2. Improve student community, belonging, and access.

• Advance and support exploratory and first-generation students and increase retention and graduation rates.
• Increase need-based scholarships and support for high-impact and hands-on experiences.
• Create opportunities and spaces for students to connect with one another.

Actions:

• Identify opportunities to better support students from the start to finish of their academic journey.
• Partner with alumni and friends to expand philanthropic prospects to comprehensively support students and build a community of belonging for students in Arts and Sciences at UK.

1.3. Expand high-impact and hands-on opportunities.

• Increase opportunities for students to participate in research and scholarships.
• Expand internships and service-learning opportunities and foster mentorship by connecting students with stakeholders, community members, and alumni.
• Cultivate and support education abroad participation and global engagement.

Actions:

• Create new opportunities and expand existing support for students to engage in research and scholarships.
• Partner with internal and external stakeholders to offer internships for all majors in Arts and Sciences.
• Increase the number of students participating in education abroad.

1.4. Enrich student success with comprehensive support.

• Implement robust professional advising and faculty mentoring and programming.
• Provide career preparation to prepare students for workforce and graduate and professional programs.
• Enhance student academic support services and partner with others to increase use of College and University resources.

Actions:

• Revise undergraduate advising model to support students academically and partner with faculty to create mentoring plans for students to be supported in departments.
• Create and grow career advising and professional preparation in the College and in partnership with Stuckert Career Center.
• Sustain student support services and determine partnership to build stronger support mechanisms for students.

We are dedicated to investing in our colleagues’ well-being and promoting a strong culture within Arts and Sciences to support our mission of positively impacting the lives of people in the Commonwealth, nation, and world.

Key Goals:

2.1. Build an inclusive workplace culture.

• Establish expectations for collegiality, engagement, and transparency.
• Encourage community building by offering regular professionalization and scholarly workshops, training, and opportunities for groups of faculty and staff to meet with one another and interact with college leadership.
• Promote Arts and Sciences vision, mission, and brand within the college and beyond and publicize the importance of an arts and sciences education.

Actions:

• Increase faculty staff participation in professionalization workshops at the college and university and develop and implement enhanced orientations for new faculty and new department chairs.
• Assess current community-building events and increase offerings where appropriate.
• Assess communication strategies and ensure the Arts and Sciences values, vision, and mission are consistently promoted through marketing, website, social media, and communications.

2.2. Promote equity in terms of workload and compensation.

• Develop a College plan and opportunities for hybrid work for staff.
• Establish departmental DOE and FMER guidelines and standards that recognize the contributions of our diverse faculty members.
• Encourage departments to develop data-informed and equity-based service and teaching workload policies for faculty and workload expectations for graduate students.

Actions:

• Implement college staff hybrid work location plan and continuously evaluate for additional opportunities when appropriate.
• Establish departmental DOE Guidelines and FMER Standards and implement new FMER process using Faculty Success.
• Offer workshop and training on workload equity practices for faculty.
• Implement a comprehensive, college-level assessment plan to enhance data-informed, continuous improvement (e.g., UK@Work survey and Administrative Unit Assessment).

2.3. Expand recognition and rewards for faculty and staff.

• Increase number of College Awards as appropriate and publicly recognize faculty and staff accomplishments and honors.
• Increase external resources to expand the number of Endowed Professorships and Chairs in the College.
• Implement a transparent and inclusive awards nomination and evaluation process.

Actions:

• Recognize faculty and staff with annual awards ceremonies and increase in number of faculty and staff nominated for University, national, and international Awards and Honors.
• Discover philanthropic prospects and work with philanthropy to expand endowed professorship and chairs.
• Assess current faculty and staff awards and nominations and selections processes and revise as appropriate. Communicate processes for soliciting and evaluating awards nominations and recipients.

We will elevate and expand the College of Arts and Sciences’ research portfolio and foster scholarship across the humanities, social and behavioral sciences, and natural sciences and mathematics.

Key Goals:

3.1. Strengthen funded research across the humanities, social and behavioral sciences, and natural sciences and mathematics.

• Grow and support externally funded research activities in the College.
• Develop a plan for continuous improvement of research space and facilities across the College by seeking opportunities and partnering with others.
• Support grantsmanship and training for funding opportunities through workshops and facilitators.

Actions:

• Establish ad hoc research funding review committee to evaluate College-funded research proposals to evaluate proposals.
• Expand grantsmanship opportunities, Identify, and publicize opportunities for Humanities and Social Science sponsored research awards. Offer annual workshops to ensure faculty in these disciplines understand how to submit proposals through OSPA.
• Align opportunities and faculty positions to support University RPAs when appropriate.
• Identify funding opportunities to support renovation and expansion of facilities that support research in the college. Partner with others to collectively work on improving facilities.

3.2. Promote College of Arts and Sciences research.

• Highlight the success of researchers in the College.
• Encourage positive interactions with national media.
• Nominate and support our faculty and graduate students for national and international awards.

Actions:

• Create a research main page on college website and identify opportunities for social media communications including regular rotation of faculty research profiles on Departmental and College websites.
• Collaborate with VPR Honorifics Office to identify and promote faculty honorifics and awards opportunities.

3.3. Promote excellence in graduate education and expand graduate scholarly activity.

• Promote graduate research and leverage resources, including endowed funds, to support graduate research within the College and University.
• Evaluate the support structure and workload for graduate students and adjust as necessary to increase program quality and outcomes.
• Expand graduate student professional development opportunities and career pathways.

Actions:

• Evaluate TA Workload to ensure equity and graduate students have adequate time to develop research capacity and independent projects.
• Benchmark and evaluate graduate assistant stipends and benefits to ensure competitive with peers.
• Partner with the graduate school to leverage professional opportunities for multiple career paths.

We will intentionally cultivate an inclusive culture of trust, transparency, and accountability within the College and University.

Key Goals:

4.1. Develop communication strategies to build trust, transparency, and accountability.

• Revise the college website for effective communication including robust systems for faculty resources and administrative portal to enhance access and transparency.
• Develop a mechanism to document and communicate progress on strategic plan objectives and goals.
• Continue robust communications, including the weekly updates and social media engagement, highlighting faculty, staff, students, and alumni and work on improving communications amongst faculty and staff.

Actions:

• Redesign college website and expand administrative and faculty resources to ensure access and transparency.
• Increase college’s social media presence.
• Increase communication channels from the Dean’s office and central administrative units to departments by using the weekly newsletter and college administrative portal.
• Regularly report to the college and stakeholders on the progress that is being made toward achieving all the elements of the Strategic Plan, as well as any obstacles to their achievement.

4.2. Clarify and publicize college and university guidelines and procedures.

• Develop a robust college resource that provides links to thematically organized university (AR’s, GR’s, and Senate) rules to enhance transparency and access.
• Offer training and workshops to address guidelines and procedures as well as best practices for instruction, research, and service.
• Articulate roles of the staff and college leaders for college stakeholders.

Actions:

• Evaluate college policies and procedures and ensure compliance with AR’s, GR’s, and Senate Rules. Ensure all faculty and staff have access to college policies.
• Implement comprehensive training to ensure college leaders and staff understand standards, processes, and best practices.
• Standardize expectations and compensation for administrative appointments. Develop and communicate expectations and duties for administrative appointments.

4.3. Improve operational processes to foster efficiency and promote positive communications.

• Redesign business and administrative processes to effectively support faculty and staff.
• Promote financial health and leverage support for academic units and departments.
• Examine workflow processes between all levels to determine the most effective methods for positive outcomes which ensures timely information flow, clarity and transparency in communication, and opportunities for input to generate problem-solving solutions.

Actions:

• Evaluate administrative processes and workflow procedures and streamline as necessary to reduce processing time.
• Develop strategies for increasing college resources by leveraging new University financial allocation models while promoting college values. Streamline the college’s faculty hiring practices and workflow by utilizing the pro forma, establishing planning guidelines, and implementing an internal approval process.
• Evaluate departmental instructional staffing and course schedules and reduce reliance on non-recurring instructional staff as possible. Establish criteria by which non-recurring instruction requests will be evaluated.

We will foster outreach efforts that create mutually beneficial partnerships within the local community and Commonwealth, and among stakeholders and alumni.

Key Goals:

5.1. Spread positive communication with local, state, national, and international community.

• Communicate college successes and value to local, state, national, and international audiences (including students, parents, citizens, and partners).
• Streamline and focus communication channels to ensure cohesive and targeted messaging to internal and external audiences.
• Publish digital annual magazine that highlights the College’s impact (appropriate for alumni, donors, corporate community, internal audiences, community partners, etc.).

Actions:

• Develop quarterly external communication pieces via social media showcasing faculty, student, and college successes and value.
• Produce digital communications and/or magazine to increase engagement among alumni.
• Create opportunities to highlight and broadcast Arts and Sciences faculty in conversations about timely topics with students, colleagues, alumni, media, and the public.

5.2. Strengthen relationships and engagement with external partners.

• Encourage faculty engagement and outreach in public schools, community colleges, and communities across Kentucky.
• Facilitate collaborative outreach efforts across the college.
• Create opportunities for external partners, donors, and alumni to engage with students.

Actions:

• Develop criteria and processes to facilitate faculty outreach opportunities within public schools, community colleges, and community organizations.
• Consider how best to report Community Engagement and Outreach activities, including standardized assessment of impact.
• Create an annual College Award for Outreach and Engagement.