Doug Mader, UWAA President
A Road Map for the Future of the University of Wyoming
Your UW Alumni Association has been an integral part of an active fall on the UW campus, playing a role in charting the future for the university. In August, President Laurie Nichols appointed the Strategic Planning Leadership Council to provide overarching leadership for development of an integrated, comprehensive strategic plan to guide the university for the next five years. Tim Wilson (B.S. ’98), UWAA president–elect, and Keener Fry, executive director, were appointed to provide a voice for our alumni.
Since September, this inclusive, transparent planning process has involved an extensive series of campus-wide listening and dialogue session for the colleges, academic and administrative departments and topical sessions, including university structures and organization; undergraduate recruitment and enrollment; diversity and inclusion; student success; research, scholarship and graduate education; engagement and outreach, resource alignment and revenue; facilities plans; and athletics to name a few. These on-campus discussions were followed by 10 statewide discussions. All of these sessions provided a forum for the campus community and people around the state to express their ambitions for the university in these specific areas, along with identifying obstacles that must be overcome to achieve these ambitions.
The feedback and input from these constituencies have set the table for the Strategic Planning Leadership Council to begin drafting the strategic plan in January, with presentation of a draft to the campus community and stakeholders in March. Following approval by the UW Board of Trustees, the plan will be implemented at the start of the 2017–18 fiscal year, with college and unit plans finalized in fall 2017. You may follow the process at uwyo.edu/president/strategic-plans[BROKEN LINK].
So what does this process mean for the alumni association? First, we are appreciative for the association to have representation in this important process. Secondly, our board of directors will begin updating the association’s strategic plan adopted in 2015 to ensure the priorities of the university are reflected within our plans and that our plans are closely linked with the university-wide effort to imagine the future for UW. We will closely review our operating and funding structures and planned engagement activities to align the elements of our work more closely with the university’s in order to generate expanded awareness of, engagement with and support for the university. You may follow the progress of our strategic planning process at uwyo.edu/strategicplan2017, and we encourage you to participate as we provide the opportunities for broad participation from our alumni as we proceed toward implementation of the plan by September 2017. We are fortunate to have a supportive base of alumni and friends who believe in UW and understand the important part they play in advancing our future.
My best in Brown and Gold,
Doug Mader, B.S. ᾽98
UWAA President