5 minute read
Observations
A Strategic and Courageous Investment In UHart’s Future
Message from President Woodward
Dear Friends,
Each year brings the optimism and opportunity of a fresh start and a new, perhaps deeper, perspective. This academic year, the ever-evolving pandemic continues to dominate our experiences and has altered our individual and collective journeys, touching and shaping countless lives. UHart has carried on, rather valiantly, I believe, in moving our students onward in their growth and education. It has not been easy, but all of us should be proud of the successful but admittedly meandering journey we have taken together.
My personal journey has been difficult, but brightened by the support, understanding, and kindness shown to me and my family by so many people. My wife, Penny, remained strong and optimistic in her advancing and debilitating cancer over the past several years, and we are incredibly proud of the role she played in advancing research and treatment of leptomeningeal carcinomatosis. My family and I were humbled by the support shown through the development of the Penelope Woodward Scholarship Fund at UHart as well as through many heartfelt donations to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in her honor. Penny’s scholarship will be used to support future music educators, a career and mission that was so important to her. Please accept my sincere gratitude to all of you. The last few chaotic years have shown us that our health and wellness, and our opportunity to contribute to a communal movement towards safety and well-being, are all deeply connected to the lives of those around us, near and far. The care, commitment, and enthusiasm of our entire extended community has been present and impressive through these connections and contributions. We will need to seek and avail ourselves of this spirit and commitment to lift us up as the University moves through an important and exciting transitional phase.
The University stands in a reasonable but delicate position of strength, rooted in our core principles and character, grounded on the success achieved during more than six decades of growth. Still, we face the same societal and financial forces that now challenge all of higher education. UHart isn’t immune to these pressures, especially in the college-heavy Northeast, and we have therefore been focused on reviewing and adjusting our business model and offerings over the last several years. Our mandate is clear: we must rededicate ourselves to a strategic and courageous investment in the future of UHart, move from a good position in the marketplace to a stronger one, and emerge having secured a distinct and sustainable niche in the new normal of higher education in America. It is our students—and their success—that will remain our first priority.
To accomplish these goals, we will draw on our mission, vision, values, and identity. We will remain uniquely UHart, a university with exceptionally broad and liberal areas of study and enviable depth in professional training. Our commitment to UHart’s promise, and the strength to judiciously invest in that promise, will solidify a sustainable and impactful future for our students and community. Recent strategic conversations with the campus and the Board of Regents have produced an initial array of needed investments in the University— now we must make them real and powerful. Physical campus changes, especially in our residence halls; a richer environment and reality for our faculty and staff; selected support options and practices for our students; and necessary and, in some cases, long-overdue investments in the University presence in the marketplace are all about to unfold. I look forward to sharing all the components and dreams of our new strategic action plan that we created together— UHart Start—with our community, alumni, partners, and friends. It is an exciting time for the University and I am pleased to be on this journey with all of you.
OUR STRATEGIC ACTION PLAN: UHART START
Through careful study and far-reaching dialogue, our University community has identified key requirements for success in strategic planning. Our plan is:
INCLUSIVE
As the challenges we face affect all of us, our plan must incorporate the full spectrum of perspectives and needs represented within our community and must encompass all constituencies acting in concert to ensure successful and equitable implementation.
SUSTAINABLE
Our plan must confirm our enduring belief in the basic organization of our current University, which has been intentionally built in this shape to support a community with shared commitments to the UHart mission, vision, and values.
ACTIONABLE
To ensure we meet our challenges with urgency, enthusiasm, and accountability, our plan must include agreed-upon actions, with clarity on the specific roles, responsibilities, timelines, targets, and metrics involved in determining our success.
FLEXIBLE
While our plan must outline the steps necessary to build on an already strong academic enterprise, it must also include the flexibility to incorporate changes and new ideas as we evolve, with the possibility to alter timelines in response to new opportunities.
GOAL-DRIVEN
After engaging in an inclusive process that builds on our identity and highlights needed actions with flexibility, most of all, our plan must retain a consistent focus on our desired outcome: to ensure excellence and sustain success for the University of Hartford.
