Dear University Community Members,
Thank you for taking the time to think with me about the University’s plans for the next five years. Our strategic planning process began with the question I asked you last fall: “What does the University of Richmond want to be known for as we move forward?” In conversations across campus, with alumni across the country, and through the Web site, I received responses to this question from many hundreds of people.
Many of you have asked me about those responses. The answers to “the question” have been remarkably consistent and focused around a few themes:
- The University’s proud past
- Our commitment to academic excellence
- Our responsibility to provide students with opportunities both inside and outside the classroom to develop ethical judgment, leadership skills, and the tools to live a life of meaning
- Our obligation to ensure the affordability of a Richmond education to all students
- Our dedication to creating a diverse, representative University community
- The importance of our relationship to the local Richmond community and our responsibility for shaping an engaged citizenry
Those themes have provided the framework—the principles—for the University’s next strategic plan.
As you review this first draft of the strategic plan, I welcome your thoughts. I think of this draft as a first articulation of the collective goals expressed by students, staff, faculty, board members, alumni, and parents in recent months. As you’ll see, there are lots of questions yet to be answered, and I want to know from you whether we’ve identified the right principles and what we have left unaddressed. There will be opportunities for plenty of face-to-face conversations, but I want to use this Web-based format to ensure that every member of the University community will have the opportunity to comment on every word of this first draft of the plan, regardless of when the meetings are held or who attends.
Once the University community has had a chance to comment on this draft, all of that advice and the goals and action steps proposed by the working groups will inform a second, more fully articulated strategic plan draft. That, too, will be posted to this Web site for community comment. The frequently asked questions about the strategic planning process provide more information about the timetable for drafts and comment.
The University is poised to take full advantage of its unique strengths. It is important that the strategic plan lay out bold, meaningful goals that are worthy of our collective effort and the generations before who have given us this opportunity. I appreciate your taking the time to let me know whether you think the principles and questions here will enable us to fulfill our particular promise.
Best,
Ed Ayers
