Community members share input on UNT’s future to help shape the upcoming 5-year Strategic
Plan
Innovative. Leader. Responsive. Thriving. Student focused. Welcoming. Transformative.
Great place for employees. World class.
Those are the words most frequently used by faculty, staff, and students who participated
in the recent Campus Conversations when asked how they hoped to describe UNT in the
next five years. This spring’s Campus Conversations brought together a few hundred
UNT faculty, staff, and students to share input about UNT’s future and to learn about
UNT’s process for developing the university’s five-year Strategic Plan. The sessions
were led by UNT’s Deputy to the President Marjorie Barrett and Jaclyn Le, UNT’s Chief
of Strategy and Planning.
The hour-long sessions started with an overview of the project and included information
on the timeline for launching the upcoming strategic plan at President Keller’s Nov. 5 State of the University.
While participants were largely positive about UNT’s future, it was clear the university
has challenges to overcome. UNT must focus on its mission and strategic efforts to
leverage opportunities in the North Texas region as one of the nation’s most powerful
and fastest-growing economic engines. Concerns about potential enrollment declines
and tight budgets were top of mind as participants considered UNT’s “right now.”
Strengths, Assets and Differentiators
Each group shared thoughts about UNT’s unique identifiers. In every session and often
multiple times in a session, the following were identified as UNT’s greatest strengths,
assets, and differentiators:
-
- Tier 1 research university
- Prime location — opportunity of the North Texas region/proximity to DFW coupled with
the small town feel of Denton and a pretty campus
- Vibrant educational experience with offerings spanning the arts, humanities, social
sciences, and STEM
- Talented, supportive faculty, and staff
- Student population — talented, smart, determined, focused; many are first-generation
college students
- Student Life/Experiences — many opportunities for students — everything from world-class
libraries to D1 athletics
- ROI: affordability coupled with the quality of programs and services
The following attributes also were identified in the sessions:
- Commitment to student success among faculty and staff
- Many employees willing to adapt to best support students
- Collegial and collaborative community
- Focus on health and wellness
- Staff who are knowledgeable about practices to increase accessibility for students
- Orientation, first-year, and international student support
- Wide variety of programs across arts, humanities, and STEM disciplines
- World-class College of Music, specifically jazz
- Arts and design programs
- Logistics and mobility research
- Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science
- Vetted residency (approved by the state) for student teaching
- Accelerated academic programs/Quicker pathways to degrees for professionals
- Interdisciplinary research centers
- Resilient, creative, driven students
- Grit and determination
- Resourceful
- Willingness to collaborate, think outside of the box, innovate/try new things
- Not as tied to tradition
- Proud
- Smaller campus allows students to attend and not get lost in a large college atmosphere
- UNT at Frisco should be seen as a market expansion opportunity
- Growth opportunities in Frisco, especially with Universal, PGA, and Omni
- Working with industry to provide project-based learning and prepare students for careers
- Potential to expand corporate education
Prioritizing Goals
Each session was marked by the group working collectively to prioritize a list of
potential initiatives and provide input on each. Across all six groups, student success
initiatives ranked among the top three priorities with research efforts also consistently
ranking high.
These priorities included:
- Expanding career preparation and career-connected learning opportunities for students
- Making curricular pathways more efficient to enable increased student retention and
timely graduation
- Increasing research and discovery opportunities for UNT faculty and students