5-Year Strategic Action Plan by University of Hartford

[ 5 -Y E A R ]

STRATEGIC ACTION PLAN FOR ENSURING EXCELLENCE AND SUSTAINING SUCCESS

UHART START 2020–2025

STANDING S NOT AN OPT If you are reading this, you have great interest in the future of our beloved University. Thank you for your care, your commitment, and your enthusiasm. The University of Hartford is in an important and exciting transitional phase. We stand in a reasonable but delicate position of strength, rooted in our core principles and character, grounded on the success achieved during 63 years of growth. Still, we face the same societal and financial forces that now challenge all of higher education. 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. We need to undergo this transformation in short order, by 2025. To accomplish this, 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 will solidify the next half-century for our students and community, guiding and supporting us through any sacrifices that may be necessary. What follows is our action plan, the result of careful and inclusive deliberation over our direction and future.

STILL IS TION. Beginning in 2017, we hosted a series of formal and informal sessions with and for a variety of groups, including students, faculty, staff, regents, and parents. Participants described their hopes, joys, frustrations, and aspirations. A set of common goals and directions emerged, tied to our central missions: student success, intellectual and artistic excellence, and service to our communities. We also identified the personal, physical, technical, and financial infrastructures and realities needed to sustain our efforts. UHart Start was drafted in the summer of 2019, and was then reviewed and revised across our community—the President’s Council, the Staff Council, the Faculty Senate, the Student Government Association, and the Board of Regents all contributed before approval by the Board. This is, truly, our plan. All involved deserve thanks and recognition for their input. The plan’s successful implementation will require every member of our community to band together united in our shared love for the University of Hartford and commitment to the success of our students. It is an exciting time and I am pleased to be on this journey with all of you.

President Gregory Woodward

CONTENTS

UHart: 2025

Our Strategic Action Plan: UHart Start

UHart Start: NOW Strategic Phase 1

UHart Start: SOON Strategic Phase 2

UHart Start: LATER Strategic Phase 3

Roles and Contacts

UHART: 2 Our strategic vision, realized. This is UHart in 2025.

2025 HOW DOES UHART LOOK AND FEEL? •

Students are persisting at UHart in record numbers as our Center for Student Success and many other integrated support systems for students mature and assert their positive influences.

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The Francis X. and Nancy Hursey Center for Advanced Engineering and Health Professions has transformed our academic facilities and experiences.

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The current Sports Center has been retrofitted and expanded into a more modern Recreation and Wellness center, where students actively engage in collegiate athletics, recreation, intramural and club sports, and other wellness activities.

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Campus classrooms, labs, and studios are outfitted with best-practice technology and furniture.

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Our community is inclusive, equitable, and diverse in every way.

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An aesthetically pleasing and accessible campus offers abundant common areas, enhanced landscaping, new signage, and access to natural spaces such as the river and pond.

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Behind the scenes, the campus is more environmentally sustainable, thanks to new programs and practices in lighting, electricity, and facility upgrades.

HOW ARE WE REGARDED? We regularly earn high praise for our modern and successful curriculum, including the special advantage we provide students through exposure to the breadth of our schools and colleges. The exceptional academic, social, and career success of our students is an acknowledged result of outstanding advising, support, and mentoring within a modern and flexible curriculum. Pride in the University is high due to the quality and accomplishments of our faculty and staff, its distinctive educational experience, our robust culture of wellness and success in athletics, the intellectual and career successes of our graduates, the beauty of our physical campus, the growing philanthropy of our friends, and the inclusive excellence that characterizes our diverse community.

HOW HAS OUR ACADEMIC COMMUNITY EVOLVED? Undergraduate students experience a powerful integration of liberal learning and professional and artistic development. Drawing on an expanded University Interdisciplinary Studies curriculum, they find access and joy as they immerse themselves in all aspects and academic avenues of the University, developing intercultural knowledge and competence as a universal learning outcome. Graduates have undergone four years of career exploration, practice, and reflection. Academic major programs remain strong, but students have greater latitude in free electives, minors, or concentrations. Several new majors are now fully populated: nursing, exercise and sports science, occupational therapy, digital media and journalism, business analytics, robotics, and aerospace engineering. Our graduate programs focus on in-demand careers and foster cutting-edge skills and knowledge. Faculty have found creative ways to fulfill their University personality and work. Their roles, as appropriate, have become more differentiated and flexible, allowing for focus on professional practice, scholarship and creativity, and University citizenship. We have become a more world. A robust offering of diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice programming is readily available to all, promoting a safe, welcoming, inclusive campus culture. Our classes remain small, with talented faculty that are committed to students and devoted to excellence.

UHART: 2025

diverse faculty and staff, representative of our students, region, and

7 7

HOW HAVE WE CHANGED ENROLLMENTS AND BUDGETS? We now have approximately 4,500 full-time undergraduate students and 2,000 graduate students. Graduate online education has grown by 25 percent from 2020 levels, and professional education and certificate programs have grown by at least 50 percent over the same time frame. Approximately 2,800 undergraduates and 200 graduate students live in University housing. First-year students have an admission yield of at least 15 percent. Enrollment from more academically prepared students has grown by 20 percent since 2020. First- to second-year retention is at 82 percent. Six-year graduation rates for all students is now 70 percent, with no distinct cohorts below 60 percent. We offer degrees, certificates, and classes in several formats—at several professional locations and for several professional enterprises. Increased strategic partnerships with industry leaders have yielded valuable new scholarships and diverse internship opportunities. Career and graduate school placement for graduates is at least 90 percent. The annual budget is balanced with an appropriate contingency. Our compensation is on par with our peer institutions and we expect regular increments and equity adjustments for faculty and staff.

THIS IS ENSURED EXCELLENCE AND SUSTAINED SUCCESS. THIS IS UHART IN 2025. Our University, favored with an outstanding faculty, powerful student-tofaculty ratio, exemplary full-time to part-time faculty ratios, and an abundant and excellent staff support network, can deliver on these promises. We will build on our strengths with added financial stability and sustainability through a profitable business plan—with an adequate contingency—that returns resources for reinvestment. We will deliver outstanding return on investment on student-driven enrollment revenue, including tuition, room, and board. We will attract

UHART: 2025

students with in-demand academic programs that lead to career success,

taught by exceptional faculty, set in a competitively appealing residential campus. We will draw students to unique experiences such as a curriculum that leverages the excellence of all of our schools, a learning-rich student life, and opportunities tied to the professional community. We will inspire ambassadors with a nurturing, safe, diverse, and gracious campus culture that prides itself on respect for all and unwavering ethical behavior. We will contribute to the economic, intellectual, and artistic development of our region, state, and world.

THIS IS WHERE WE’RE GOING— TOGETHER. Our Strategic Action Plan—and our commitment to our students, to ourselves, to each other, and to our University—will get us there.

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 challenge 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

UHART START: 2025

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.

UHart Start, our strategic action plan, achieves these requirements through six overarching goals with assigned directives to be implemented in three phases across our University. Together, through our commitment to this plan and to each other, we can and will be successful in fulfilling the vast potential of the University of Hartford—for our students, faculty, staff, alumni, partners, and friends. What we do as an institution is critically important for the future of this country, this planet, and even the human race. We must build such a strong and enduring university that its successes and influences will remain a constant and joyful source of knowledge, strength, and service.

SIX GOALS TO ENSURE EXCELLENCE AND SUSTAIN SUCCESS 1: Realize Our Student Commitments. Because we ask questions, champion solutions, and ceaselessly create, UHart Start focuses on teaching and learning. We will: • Rapidly evolve undergraduate and graduate curriculums and pedagogies • Create a distinctive and rigorous University of Hartford student experience • Prioritize the creation of an outstanding faculty dedicated to the University mission

2: Commit Ourselves to the Success of All Students. Because students are our lifeblood, UHart Start emphasizes return on their investments of time, money, and effort. We will: • Deliver excellent career and graduate placement results for our students • Provide exemplary support services and programs in a safe,

UHART: 2025

nourishing environment

3: Promote a Vibrant, Diverse, Inclusive, and Socially Just Community. Because we are a junction of many communities, UHart Start models equitable engagement practices. We will: • Cultivate, develop, and educate an inclusive UHart community

4: Achieve and Maintain a Sustainable Budget. Because we rely on student-produced revenue without an expansive endowment, UHart Start reorients our financial model. We will: • Develop practices that ensure accountability and predictability across campus • Strive for sustained and predictable enrollment that sustains the business model • Create, examine, and enhance revenue streams, including philanthropy

5: Revitalize the Physical Plant. Because we believe physical proximity promotes positive educational outcomes, UHart Start focuses on campus placemaking. We will: • Create best-practice learning spaces, residential experiences, and facilities • Build a more environmentally sustainable campus

6: Elevate Brand Identity, Positioning, and Strategy. Because we have clear advantages, UHart Start outlines a favorable position in the higher education marketplace. We will: • Define and implement a compelling, consistent, and authentic brand identity • Galvanize action by our audiences to meet learning, enrollment, and fundraising goals The president and chief operating officer will lead our University’s engagement and ensure the Strategic Plan’s success. The University’s Resources, Planning, and Priorities Committee, led by the provost and chief financial officer, will monitor progress and match budgetary planning with priorities and progress, providing semiannual reports to the campus, president, and Board of Regents.

UHart Start: Now

STRATEGIC PHASE 1 Objectives slated for completion between 2021 and 2023. To set a foundation for our future and address our most pressing issues, what must we accomplish now?

GOAL 1: REALIZE OUR STUDENT COMMITMENTS • Identify and infuse essential learning outcomes distinctive to a University of Hartford undergraduate education, including written and oral communication, critical thinking, teamwork, quantitative literacy, and intercultural competence. • Continue to assess and refine the undergraduate University Interdisciplinary Studies curriculum, with an emphasis on integrative learning and the incorporation of our Essential Learning Outcomes. • Offer post-graduate experiences, including degree and non-degree programs, that respond to the needs of professional and geographic communities. • Leverage the assets of our schools and colleges to provide all students with the opportunity for breadth of study and exploration of personal interests. • Develop and offer a series of experiences and reflections throughout the four undergraduate years to help bring meaning and purpose to their lives and inform their decision making in career direction, life interests, and personal values. • Support and reward the use of a variety of teaching modalities, including online and hybrid courses and programs. • Develop a system of faculty appointment types, roles, and rewards consistent with our evolving student commitments and changing demands in the external environment. • Implement partnerships between Career Services and the Colleges to ensure a robust and intentional arc of career development. • Revitalize the undergraduate first-year academic, social, and residential experience, beginning with Orientation and continuing throughout the year.

GOAL 2: COMMIT OURSELVES TO THE SUCCESS OF ALL STUDENTS • Centralize graduate recruitment and admission efforts for improved service, elevated academic profiles, increased international student enrollment, and greater student diversity. • Ensure successful transitions before, during, and out of college for all students. • Provide timely and ongoing academic and social support to students. • Use technology to help identify students in need of help and communicate among the various groups to provide assistance across a wide variety of interactions and activities. • Design and implement individual and group support services for specific marginalized populations. • Deliver high-quality advising for all students across all years of study, seeking to support all students through to graduation. • Continue to close the gap in retention and graduation among all students and students of color. • Develop and implement data-informed retention strategies at the undergraduate and graduate levels. • Continue to build a community-based public safety operation and staff focused on solidifying a safe campus and building positive

UHART START: NOW

interactions and engagements with our students.

GOAL 3: PROMOTE A VIBRANT, DIVERSE, INCLUSIVE, AND SOCIALLY JUST COMMUNITY • Enroll, support, and retain a diverse student population. • Increase the racial diversity of our faculty and staff. • Develop a robust and significant roster of events and learning opportunities related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice across our campus and community. • Provide ongoing training and development for faculty and staff at all stages of their careers. • Develop curricular innovations that address diversity and a global education and engagement across all programs.

GOAL 4: ACHIEVE AND MAINTAIN A SUSTAINABLE BUDGET • Develop a University model for school/college enrollments and staffing sizes that, as a collective enterprise, creates a balanced budget. • Continue to seek efficiencies in staffing models that preserve resources and reduce expenses. • Make intelligent use of all spaces for maximum value. • Make intelligent use of technology for operational success and efficiency. • Assess the budgetary options for full and adjunct faculty deployment and ratios. • Create a sustainable resource allocation plan for schools/colleges/divisions.

UHART START: NOW

• Enhance international student recruitment and enrollment.

• Continue to refine the staffing, size, and structure of the Office of Development and Alumni Affairs. • Grow a robust and vibrant alumni network of engagement. • Grow the parent network into a substantial enterprise. • Explore the feasibility of, and set the stage for, a comprehensive campaign, beginning with first steps around staffing, strategy, marketing, and donor engagement.

• Assess enrollment patterns and projections to adjust the portfolio of programs at all levels to attract and retain new student populations. • Assess and expand enrollment in select existing programs, strategically using more sophisticated data, financial aid planning, and yield strategies. • Seek new revenue through the expansion of learning options for professional and adult education, online learning, certificate programs, and professional partnerships. • Create budget guidelines and practices that have adequate checks and balances, ensure robust review and accountability, and provide regular and reliable data.

GOAL 5: REVITALIZE THE PHYSICAL PLANT • Create welcoming spaces for all students to promote educational and personal goals and develop a strong sense of community. • Create learning spaces and pedagogical configurations for the 21st century. • Engage in an ongoing renewal and elevation of our teaching spaces. • Develop the efficient use of existing facilities, including learning spaces, to accommodate new or expanding programs. • Develop a multi-year plan for the renewal of residence halls. • Explore and engage in Phase One of Recreation and Wellness renewal plan; Field House/Track and Field. • Explore options for more sustainable practices.

UHART START: NOW

GOAL 6: ELEVATE BRAND IDENTITY, POSITIONING, AND STRATEGY

• Maintain an exceptional new hartford.edu website with continuous improvement in digital tools and resources. • Develop and execute annual comprehensive and data-informed strategic marketing plans for the University and individual schools and colleges.

PHASE ONE SUMMARY: Having undergone a thorough evaluation phase, our academic programs, services, budgets, resources, partnership opportunities, and delivery methods are now fully vetted. The process of updating our curriculums, services, facilities, and business model is well underway, with commitments to our values infused throughout our academic and student life experiences. New offerings that build on our inclusive culture and increase return on investment have already been fully planned if not launched. Marketing, outreach, and enrollment efforts have taken shape. Across our community, the stage is set for the University of Hartford to flourish.

UHart Start: Soon

STRATEGIC PHASE 2 Objectives slated for completion between 2023 and 2025. Having completed an evaluation phase and begun our initial transition, which transformational activities must be completed soon?

GOAL 1: REALIZE OUR STUDENT COMMITMENTS • Begin campus conversations around elevated academic rigor and achievement. • Promote a culture of continuous improvement through data-informed assessment. • Define and implement a robust program of financial support for graduate students, mainly in the form of graduate assistants who bring new work responsibilities to campus that reduce expenses for the University while providing an outstanding experience for the graduate student. • Leverage corporate and community partnerships for the intellectual, entrepreneurial, and career development of our students. • Re-examine the undergraduate residential experience across four years, creating opportunities for personal and academic development, as well as reinforcement of Essential Learning Outcomes. • Develop a roster of student life and residential programs

UHART START: SOON

to support a set of student experience learning outcomes.

GOAL 2: COMMIT OURSELVES TO THE SUCCESS OF ALL STUDENTS • Complete the refinement of an outstanding first-year program. • Complete the growth of an outstanding second-year program. • Develop an intentional and robust educational path towards career discovery exploration, experience, and achievement.

GOAL 3: PROMOTE A VIBRANT, DIVERSE, INCLUSIVE, AND SOCIALLY JUST COMMUNITY • Enroll, support, and retain a diverse student population. • Recruit and retain faculty and staff who are committed to the mission and goals of the University. • Recruit and retain faculty and staff who are representative of the multiplicity of diversity in the wider community. • Analyze and address equity gaps in the achievement of essential and student learning outcomes.

UHART START: SOON

• Continue to develop curricular innovations that address diversity

and a global education and engagement across all programs.

GOAL 4: ACHIEVE AND MAINTAIN A SUSTAINABLE BUDGET • Determine if there are programs or initiatives that have outlived their best years and positive results or that consume more than a reasonable number of resources for the return in engagement. • Achieve maximum operational and budgetary efficiency, including more centralized operations, more transparent budgeting practices, and a deeply engaged Office of Human Resources and Development. • Grow expectations and revenue from the Office of Sponsored Programs, benefiting faculty and student research, and University-wide programs and initiatives. • Continue to develop new revenue through the expansion of learning options for professional and adult education, online learning, certificate programs, and professional partnerships. • Develop key partnerships for resource support. • Increase philanthropy through modern practices and a continued growth in planned and leadership giving. • Engage in the next scheduled steps of a potential

UHART START: SOON

comprehensive campaign.

GOAL 5: REVITALIZE THE PHYSICAL PLANT • Begin initiatives to invest in new residence halls. • Achieve a physical campus that is attractive, welcoming, and easy to navigate, while encouraging and intentionally improving upon environmentally sound and sustainable practices. • Make all campus buildings and grounds more attractive, accessible, comfortable, and conducive to community. • Establish new recreation and wellness opportunities that promote a healthy experience both physically and mentally for our students, knowing that both have a powerful impact on a student’s overall success.

GOAL 6: ELEVATE BRAND IDENTITY, POSITIONING, AND STRATEGY • Enhance the University visit experience through tours, signage, wayfaring, and the appropriate promotion of the many ongoing campus improvement initiatives and building projects. • Evaluate, document, and share improved resources, processes, and training for emergency and crisis communication and response. • Focus on the development of a marketing/recruiting

UHART START: SOON

campaign for graduate students.

PHASE TWO SUMMARY: We are now fully vested in the continued growth of our highest-leverage priorities and have made great strides toward the ultimate fulfillment of our agreed-upon goals. We have identified and agreed to necessary sacrifices. Our student and faculty experience, program offerings, business model, physical campus, and outward-facing identity now resemble—and may match or even surpass— our collective vision for 2025. Across our community, we have fully embraced an exciting future.

UHart Start: Later

STRATEGIC PHASE 3 Ongoing objectives slated to start by 2024. As we reorient our University to its future state, what initiatives and activities must we install to ensure excellence and sustain success later?

GOAL 1: REALIZE OUR STUDENT COMMITMENTS • Examine the role of a global perspective and content within all academic programs and expand travel abroad opportunities and engagement for all students. • Engage in practices that encourage and elevate academic achievement and lofty intellectual goals. • Study and possibly create a graduate school at the University that encompasses and coordinates all graduate programs. • Support and reward the use of research-based, cutting-edge pedagogies in all disciplines, at all levels, including the use of academic technologies.

GOAL 2: COMMIT OURSELVES TO THE SUCCESS OF ALL STUDENTS • Continue the refinement of, and engagement with, a modern set of student life learning outcomes and analysis for undergraduates.

GOAL 3: PROMOTE A VIBRANT, DIVERSE, INCLUSIVE, AND SOCIALLY JUST COMMUNITY • Develop programming for the University community that contributes to personal health and wellness, and community inclusiveness. • Develop, implement, and communicate policies and procedures that are clear, accessible, and in support of our mission and values, including our commitment to equity and justice.

GOAL 4: ACHIEVE AND MAINTAIN A SUSTAINABLE BUDGET • Engage in a sustained and targeted system of continuous improvement and efficiency, ensuring that resource investment is maximized and revenue margins are healthy and sustainable. • Increase revenue from summer and other auxiliary activities. • Advance the efforts of alumni and parent groups.

• Set and achieve aggressive targets for major gifts and planned giving. • Move through the silent phase of a comprehensive campaign (if undertaken). • Increase occupancy in residence halls.

UHART START: LATER

• Continue to refine data and wealth screening.

GOAL 5: REVITALIZE THE PHYSICAL PLANT • Complete Recreation and Wellness upgrades, Phases One and Two (Field House/Track and Field). • Begin planning for Recreation and Wellness, phase three (Sports Center upgrades). • Begin construction on the new resident hall(s).

GOAL 6: ELEVATE BRAND IDENTITY, POSITIONING, AND STRATEGY • Improve University visibility and awareness by leveraging spending power for comprehensive advertising campaigns, implementing strategic media relations efforts, and creatively sharing stories and messaging in academics, arts and performances, partnerships, athletics, and faculty activities. • Achieve a fully integrated, personalized, and analytical

UHART START: LATER

communication experience for all audiences, internal and external.

PHASE THREE SUMMARY: We have achieved and advanced our maturity as a modern, future-facing enterprise, and actively broken new ground as a sustainable and equitable institution. Initial objectives may have shifted following new opportunities and unseen challenges, but we have emerged from a deliberate and strategic transformation with renewed strength and purpose. Our efforts have earned enhanced recognition from incoming students and their parents, the broader communities we serve, employers of our graduates, alumni, donors, partners, competitors in the higher education marketplace, and the world at large. Across our community, we have realized our promise of ensured excellence and sustained success, and eagerly await the next chapter in our legacy. We’re here because of the diligence and dedication of our students, staff, faculty, and community. We’re here because of you. Thank you.

How we’ll measure our success. To hold ourselves accountable to our ambitions and promise, the UHart Start Strategic Action Plan includes a set of metrics related to each of our goals. How we measure is as important as what we measure. Whenever possible, data for these metrics should be disaggregated by social and cultural categories including but not limited to race, gender identification, sexual orientation; and by segments of the community such as part-time versus full-time, college, department, and level of study.

GOAL 1: REALIZE OUR STUDENT COMMITMENTS

WE WILL TRACK THE SUCCESS OF OUR EFFORTS IN THE FOLLOWING AREAS:

GOAL 1: REALIZE OUR STUDENT COMMITMENTS Student Profile/Admission/Enrollment • Total University enrollment • Credit hours generated • Enrollment in online and remote courses • Enrollment in post-graduate non-degree programs • New program enrollment • Graduate student enrollment by program Faculty Profile/Engagement • Student/faculty ratio • Average class size • Program review performance on external accreditation and internal reviews • Trends in faculty development activities related to teaching and learning • Trends in adoption of high-impact practices and other research-based pedagogies • Trends in number of post-graduate, non-degree offerings

GOAL 2: COMMIT OURSELVES TO THE SUCCESS OF ALL STUDENTS Student Success at the University • Percentage of students in Honors Program • Enrollment in courses, minors, certificates outside student home colleges • Numbers of students in experiential learning activities, including practica and internships • Undergraduate student participation in activities • Graduation rate (4, 5, 6 years) • Degree conferrals by college, degree level, and year • First- to second-year retention • Degree completions • Exit survey, considering quality of education and instruction • Exit survey, considering quality of career advising and mentoring • Average student debt at graduation • Percentage of students who participate in study abroad • Performance on measures of integrative learning • Performance on essential learning outcome rubrics: written/oral communications and critical thinking • Engagement in phases of career development • Results of National Survey of Student Engagement • Collegiate Learning Assessment • Student success post-University • Increased post-baccalaureate career outcome rate • Alumni survey (post five years), how well prepared for graduate school/first-time position • Employment/education status upon graduation • Post-graduation starting salaries

GOAL 3: PROMOTE A VIBRANT, DIVERSE, INCLUSIVE, AND SOCIALLY JUST COMMUNITY Student Profile • Student enrollment profile • Percentage of first-generation students • Percentage of international students • Profile of students receiving financial aid • Exit survey, sense of security and safety, sense of community • Climate survey results • Aggregate performance on Intercultural Knowledge Competence and Teamwork rubrics • Trends in number of post-graduate, non-degree offerings Faculty/Staff Profile • Profile of faculty by rank and appointment type • Profile of staff by position type • Profile faculty in leadership positions • Promotion rates for faculty and staff • Retention of faculty and staff • Campus Climate Survey quantitative and qualitative results (every five years) • Surveys and assessment measures following training, professional development, and initiatives

GOAL 4: ACHIEVE AND MAINTAIN A SUSTAINABLE BUDGET Revenue/Expense Management • Full-time undergraduate revenue as a percentage of total revenue • Net full-time undergraduate revenue as a percentage of total revenue • Full-time graduate revenue as a percentage of total revenue • Net full-time graduate revenue as a percentage of total revenue • Tuition undergraduate discount • Tuition graduate discount • Profile of other net tuition revenue as a percentage of total revenue • Net room and board revenue as a percentage of total revenue • Five-year change in operating revenue • Five-year change in net tuition revenue • Staff increment historical data and national salary benchmark progress Alumni Engagement/Endowment Performance • Annual endowment returns • Annual fundraising goals in all areas (unrestricted, restricted, endowment) • Review of matching fundraising goals to institutional priorities • Progress on comprehensive campaign initiative

GOAL 5: REVITALIZE THE PHYSICAL PLANT Physical Plant and Campus Experience • Annual investment in instructional technology • Annual investment in learning space renewal and redesign • Annual and five-year progress on physical plant prioritization list • Exit survey quality of learning and living spaces • Facility Operating Index • Facilities Condition Index • Percentage reduction in campus carbon footprint • Sustainability STARS index points • Student housing retention

GOAL 6: ELEVATE BRAND IDENTITY, POSITIONING, AND STRATEGY Brand and Reputation • Application, acceptance, and yield rates • Comprehensive, strategic marketing communication plans for schools/colleges and audiences • Analytics on print and digital campaigns that effectively drive web traffic and conversions (enrollment, donors) • Digital engagement on hartford.edu (tools, page views, bounce rates, time on page) • Reach, engagement, and paid advertising dollars spent on social media platforms • Improved visit attendance and experience—on campus and virtually—as recorded from attendance rates and prospective student surveys • Market research results on UHart brand perception and recognition • Increased University visibility: honors, awards, rankings, partnerships • Number of media pitches and placements for University leadership, experts, initiatives, and programs

ROLES AND CONTACTS Who is: RESPONSIBLE • The president and chief operating officer will lead plan engagement across the University • Individuals and departments listed in the plan will activate key objectives • The Resources, Planning, and Priorities Committee (led by the provost and chief financial officer) will monitor progress on the plan, match budgetary planning to its requirements, and provide semiannual reports to the campus, president, and Board of Regents ACCOUNTABLE • The president and chief operating officer will ensure the Strategic Plan’s success CONSULTED • President’s Council • Staff Council • Faculty Senate • Student Government Association • Board of Regents • Individuals across the University through ongoing dialogue within designated communication channels INFORMED • All current and prospective University of Hartford students, staff, and faculty • Key partners, donors, and alumni • Our broader Hartford-area communities • The world at large

CONTACT LIST We need you to help ensure our plan’s success! Want to get involved? Have a question? Please get in touch with the following relevant contacts:

Office of the President 860.768.4417 | president@hartford.edu Office of the Provost 860.768.4505 | provost@hartford.edu Dean of Students 860.768.4285 | akopec@hartford.edu Academic Affairs 860.768.4504 | provost@hartford.edu Division of Student Success 860.768.4999 | css@hartford.edu Office of Admission and Student Financial Aid 860.768.4296 | admission@hartford.edu | finaid@hartford.edu Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice 860.768.4220 | cgrant@hartford.edu Office of Finance and Administration 860.768.5107 | finacctng@hartford.edu Office of Development and Alumni Affairs 860.768.2400 | impact@hartford.edu | alumni@hartford.edu Office of Marketing and Communication 860.768.4610 | uofhart@hartford.edu Facilities 860.768.7925 | facilities@hartford.edu

hartford.edu

“UHart Start 2020–2025: Five-Year Strategic Action Plan for Ensuring Excellence and Sustaining Success” booklet published August 2021 based on the “UHART START University of Hartford Strategic Action Plan, 2020–2025” document approved by the Board of Regents in February 2021. All content contained herein is legally nonbinding and subject to change.