Presenting Our University Strategic Plan (Staff)

February 4, 2014

Dear Colleagues:

With thanks for your participation in creating this document, I am pleased to report that the Board of Governors approved our University Strategic Plan today. This bold, five-year plan challenges our University community to work together toward a shared aspiration for Rutgers: to be broadly recognized as among the nation’s leading public universities—preeminent in research, excellent in teaching, and committed to community.

You can download a PDF of the plan or read it online at: http://universitystrategy.rutgers.edu. If you would like a hard copy of the strategic plan, please contact Brian Register in the Office of the President: bregister@oldqueens.rutgers.edu or 848-932-7865.

Our plan reflects the participation of thousands of members of our Rutgers community—faculty, staff, students, alumni, members of our governing boards, and friends of the University. During the planning process, we conducted a frank assessment of the challenges we face and outlined a strategy to meet those challenges. Through surveys, town hall meetings, retreats, focus groups, strategic planning committee meetings, and advisory group meetings, our University community developed a plan that surveys the current landscape of higher education and establishes priorities and goals that are specific to our institution. This is truly a plan written for Rutgers, by Rutgers.

I am confident that the goals we have set, the initiatives we have envisioned, and the integrating academic themes we have selected will advance Rutgers into the ranks of the nation’s most outstanding public research universities. But our work is just beginning. The next critical step is to form campus- and division-level strategic plans for Camden, Newark, New Brunswick, and RBHS. That effort, led by the chancellors, will be completed by the end of the academic year. Equally important, academic and administrative units across the university will look at the plan, assess their own areas, and set priorities consistent with the plan. In addition, in the coming weeks I will launch several University-wide initiatives that will begin to shape the vision outlined in our strategic plan.

With all the transformative changes that are happening at Rutgers, this is truly a singular moment in our history. Now is the time for bold action to achieve our enormous potential as a great state university. I encourage you to read the plan, and I look forward to your continued contributions as we work together to reach the goals we have established.

Sincerely,

Bob Barchi