UW-La Crosse Strategic Plan
Sustaining Excellence
The UWL Strategic plan is comprised of 4 pillars which focus on students, community and employees.
Increasing community engagement
UWL embraces community engagement as a key component to our teaching, scholarly, & service mission.
Increasing community engagement
Goals
- Initiate strategies that create and promote increased opportunities for students’ community engagement that are academically grounded.
- Measure, assess and create accountability structure for community engagement across UWL.
- Market mutually beneficial relationships between UWL and private/public organizations in the greater La Crosse community, state, region, and globally; in particular, focus on the importance of public/community engagement in advancing UWL’s mission centered on the value of a Liberal Arts education.
- Integrate community engagement into UWL policies and procedures.
- Secure funding to support continued community engagement.
Metrics:
Increase participation in internships/clinical/field experiences by UWL Students to 65% of graduating seniors.
62% of UWL Seniors reported participation in internships/clinical/field experiences on the 2017 NSSE survey.
Expand number of partnerships reported on the UW System Partnership Collection.
3,243 Partners were reported across all 6 areas of 2016-17 UW Partnerships Report.
- 2015-16, 3215
- 2016-17, 3243
- 3300
Increase number of projects in progress or completed through the Project Opportunities Board.
5 of the 65 projects received in FY 2016 or FY 2017 have been completed.
Increase number of student hours reported for volunteering in the community annually.
UWL Students reported completing 15,905 hours of community service in 2017-18 as reported by the University Centers and Athletics Department Annual Reports.
Actions
- A Director of Community Outreach Position has been approved by the Joint Planning & Budget committee and will be advertised in the spring of 2019.
- The Center for Advancing Teaching & Learning has partnered with Wisconsin Campus Compact to hold trainings for faculty on how to include service learning in courses and provide other engagement resources.
- The UWL website page devoted to community engagement has been updated and made more user friendly.
- Instructors will be using the UGetConnected online portal to locate, assign, monitor and evaluate service-learning opportunities for students.
Achieving excellence through equity & diversity
UWL is committed to being an equitable & welcoming community to maintain our status as a high quality & competitive university.
Achieving excellence through equity & diversity
Goals
- Achieve demographic equity in access and retention for students, staff, faculty, and administrators. Equity liaison initiative
- Provide fully inclusive educational experiences for all students.
- Ensure that all employees are engaged in creating a dynamic and welcoming campus community.
- Make UWL's Equity & Diversity efforts highly visible and coordinated across campus.
Metrics:
Reduce gaps in first-to-second year retention between not-first-generation and first-generation students. The current retention rate of not-first-generation students is 86%. The retention rates of first-generation students over the past three years:
- 2015, 85%
- 2016, 78%
- 2017, 83%
- 2018, 77%
- 86%
Reduce gaps in first-to-second year retention between not Pell eligible students and Pell eligible students. The current retention rate of not Pell eligible students is 85%. The retention rates of Pell eligible students over the past three years:
- 2015, 84%
- 2016, 80%
- 2017, 84%
- 2018, 77%
- 85%
Reduce gaps in first-to-second year retention between students in the majority race/ethnicity group and students of color. The current retention rate of the majority race/ethnic group is 84%. The retention rates of students of color over the past three years:
- 2015, 81%
- 2016, 77%
- 2017, 79%
- 2018, 81%
- 84%
Increase UWL’s compositional diversity of faculty and academic staff. Monitor to ensure it meets or exceeds the median value of the UW Comprehensives (12.8% in 2017, excluding UWL) overall as well as across employment categories.
- 2015, 10.8%
- 2016, 9.7%
- 2017, 9.5%
- 2018, 10.1%
- 12.8%
UWL has an overrepresentation of persons of color among our “unskilled” staff (per 2017 Affirmative Action report). The intent of this metric is to review compositional diversity not just overall, but across various job categories, similar to how we monitor achievement gaps of students.
Increase UWL’s compositional diversity of the student body, both undergraduate and graduate. Monitor to ensure it meets or exceeds the median value of the UW Comprehensives (11.2% in 2017, excluding UWL).
- 2015, 9.3%
- 2016, 9%
- 2017, 10%
- 11.2%
Actions
- The Equity Liaison Initiative is a strategic, cooperative, campus-wide effort to identify and close equity gaps affecting students and employees. An Equity Liaison is a faculty or staff member designated within each unit who analyzes and interprets equity data, gathers relevant resources, and advocates for evidence-based strategies to help their unit better anticipate and address equity gaps.
- In addition to the work of the Equity Liaisons, the Vice Chancellor of Diversity & Inclusion is collaborating with academic deans and department chairs to recruit, retain, and promote diverse staff and faculty.
- The Admissions Office has convened two small groups to review recruitment from different vantage points. Group #1 will consider how to be more inclusive of faculty in the student recruitment process and Group #2 will consider how the Office of Multicultural Student Services, Athletics and others can collaborate with Admissions staff.
- Created the Division of Diversity & Inclusion Spring 2018
Investing in our people
UWL recognizes that our status as a high quality and competitive university depends on our faculty and staff.
Investing in our people
Goals
- Prioritize employee compensation.
- Promote an environment of employee inclusion, ownership and engagement.
- Create clear and consistent assessment and accountability policies for all employees.
Metrics:
Work toward achieving 92% of external market parity compensation across all employee classifications. View the CUPA salary review.
Faculty
- 2016, 89%
- 2017, 89%
- 2018, 87%
- 92%
Instructional Academic Staff
- 2016, 97%
- 2017, 97%
- 2018, 94%
- 92%
Non-instructional Academic Staff
- 2016, 100%
- 2017, 99%
- 2018, 95%
- 92%
This is an aspirational goal for UWL, which would require investment of $2.5 million dollars in FY19 dollars. External market parity is CUPA for Faculty, IAS, and matched NIAS positions. Other sources, such as UW System match are used when CUPA data is unavailable. As part of UW La Crosse’s commitment to Sustaining Excellence and the focus on Investing in our People, the University has distributed lump sum payments to eligible staff. View Lump Sum Payment Allocations to University Staff.
Monitor expenditure of Educational Assistance benefit funds each year across employee classifications (academic staff, university staff, etc.).
Educational Assistance Benefit paid out to UWL employees
2018-19 (as of 3/15/19)
2017-18 (as of 01/01/18)
Sustain high levels of employee engagement as reported on Employee Engagement Survey. View the current levels of engagement report.
94%
Positive engagement
Spring 2018
(additional metric to be included based on outcome of Employee Engagement Survey working group)
Actions
- Use national data metrics to assess employee compensation. Work toward achieving 92% of external market parity compensation across all employee classifications.
- The University conducted an Employee Engagement Survey in spring 2018 and will continue to assess employee engagement through a bi-annual survey. The University will also develop mechanisms for responding to survey results.
- Using the results of the Employee Engagement survey, the University is identifying and building upon existing and new initiatives that are relevant to enhancing employee engagement.
Advancing transformational education
High-impact teaching & learning opportunities that are proven to aid student success across diverse backgrounds.
Advancing transformational education Goals and Metrics
Goals
- Increase the opportunities for students to engage in high-impact practices by graduation.
- Monitor persistence and retention rates with the goal of improvement.
- Expand international/global learning opportunities for all students.
- Enhance graduate education.
- Increase opportunities for cross-disciplinary teaching and learning.
- Evaluate and revise the General Education program.
Metrics:
Increase retention of first-year students to 90%.
- 2014, 85%
- 2015, 86%
- 2016, 83%
- 2017, 86%
- 2018, 84%
- 90%
Increase retention of transfer students to 80%.
- 2014, 81%
- 2015, 77%
- 2016, 76%
- 2017, 77%
- 80%
Expand participation in first-year seminar to 100% of new first-year students and selected transfer students.
- 2014, 18%
- 2015, 12%
- 2016, 17%
- 2017, 23%
- 2018, 31%
- 2019, 27%
- 100%
Increase the number of UWL students graduating with an education abroad experience to 23%.
- 2014, 23%
- 2017, 19%
- 23%
Increase graduate enrollment to 1,000 students.
- 2015, 758
- 2016, 818
- 2017, 818
- 2018, 867
- 2019, 963
- 1000
Actions
- Examine the ways in which institutional practices, student experiences, and faculty teaching practices impact student retention (partnering with the Reimagining the First Year [RFY] Initiative.
- Monitor equity gaps in retention and partner with SP Priority “Equity & Inclusion” to identify best practices for addressing equity gaps.
- Hire of new Director of Student Success (July 1): Jo Arney (formerly in the department of Political Science and Public Administration) joined the Provost’s Office in the role of Director of Student Success. Her duties include special attention to high-impact practices and retention efforts.
- Faculty Senate and Student Association passed Phase I revision of current General Education program, cutting the program from 48 to 42 credits and adding a mandatory first-year seminar (FYS 100) for all new students and transfer students with fewer than 30 credits. FYS 100 will be run as a pilot in Fall 2019.
- Develop tools/training/grant opportunities for faculty, staff and students on how to incorporate global learning into curriculum and co-curricular activities.
- Successfully completed internationalization review of UWL as part of Year 1 for the ACE Internationalization Laboratory. The ACE Lab committee members will be preparing recommendations for a UWL strategic internationalization plan, due by July 2019.
- Strategically develop new programs and expand/revise existing programs by providing creative, logistical, and resource support; focus should be on programs that a) match faculty expertise with societal needs and b) increase non-traditional program delivery systems to expand student success.
- Enhance the graduate student experience by recruiting a more diverse graduate faculty and student population, increasing financial support, improving university-wide communication, and providing more graduate-specific services.
About
Mission
The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse provides a challenging, dynamic, and diverse learning environment in which the entire university community is fully engaged in supporting student success. Grounded in the liberal arts, UWL fosters curiosity and life-long learning through collaboration, innovation, and the discovery and dissemination of new knowledge. Acknowledging and respecting the contributions of all, UWL is a regional academic and cultural center that
prepares students to take their place in a constantly changing world community. The university offers undergraduate programs and degrees in the arts and humanities, health and sciences, education, and business administration. The university offers graduate programs related to areas of emphasis and strength within the institution, including business administration, education, health, the sciences, and the social sciences.
Vision
The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse aims to foster within each student the curiosity, creativity, and tenacity necessary to solve the regional, national, and international challenges of the 21st century. The university's official motto mens corpusque ("mind and body") will continue to guide our direction as a student-centered university committed to a quality education for the whole person. As such, it will continue to provide opportunities both inside and outside the classroom for the development of sound mental, emotional, and ethical skills, as well as general well-being. Our students, faculty, and staff will experience the world through constantly evolving technologies and cultures. Thus, the skills of effective communication, critical thought, leadership, and an appreciation for diversity must be the hallmarks of a UWL education.
Values
Fassett Cotton, our institution's first leader, serving from 1909-1924, conceived the original University of Wisconsin-La Crosse educational philosophy of the total development of the individual. Later, history professor and Dean of the College of Arts, Letters, and Sciences, William M. Laux (1922-1967), suggested the symbols of our official university seal along with the accompanying Latin phrase, mens corpusque ("mind and body"), to exemplify our collective commitment to a high quality education for the whole person.
The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse values:
- The mens corpusque educational philosophy that recognizes each student as a whole person and aspires to enhance both mind and body through the noble search for knowledge, truth, and meaning central to a wide range of high quality learning experiences and scholarly pursuits.
- Diversity, equity, and the inclusion and engagement of all people in a safe campus climate that embraces and respects the innumerable different perspectives found within an increasingly integrated and culturally diverse global community.
- A high quality of life and work balance, incorporating best practices for shared governance and the acquisition and efficient management of resources, equitable compensation, general wellness, and social, environmental, and economic sustainability.
- Civic engagement and a renewed commitment to the Wisconsin Idea, in which our socially responsible campus serves as a resource for our increasingly intertwined local, state, and global communities, collaborating and sharing resources and expertise to improve the human condition.