Western Michigan University is committed to being learner centered, discovery driven, and globally engaged as it transitions into the next strategic planning cycle. In the first year of the University Strategic Plan (2012-13), the infrastructure and processes necessary to fully embrace the three visionary pillars through an integrated
strategic planning structure was developed. During the second (2013-14) and third (2014-15) years, WMU transformed its strategic planning efforts to focus on strategic priority areas based on the outcomes from the previous years. The University is now ready to transcend to next level of planning management maturity by initiating integration of strategic planning with enterprise risk management and implementation of integrated campus-wide program review.
The Gold Standard 2020, the University Strategic Plan, incorporates a number of stakeholder recommendations and improved structure. Stakeholders will notice a shift in terminology that will better reflect aspirational Goals, measurable Objectives, and prioritized Strategies that are designed to provide standardized reporting
terminology, accountability measures, and a platform for integrative planning.
While the University Strategic Plan will guide the way for five years and allow time for meaningful institutional goals to be achieved. Objectives and strategies will have annual benchmarks to measure progress and be responsive to significant changes impacting the WMU. The Institutional Effectiveness Measures will be used to monitor critical and highest-level University functions, as well as provide assessment for continuous quality improvement throughout plan implementation and resource allocation processes.
The three pillars, learner centered, discovery driven, and globally engaged, will continue to be the broad vision.
The Gold Standard 2020 will embrace the original five strategic goals with revised phrasing and reorganization.
Goal #1 Learner Success
Ensure a distinctive learning experience and foster the success of students.
WMU fosters learners that are critical thinkers, knowledge expanders, and solution providers. WMU students engage in broad learning experiences through which they apply knowledge in a practical context. These include curricular and co-curricular opportunities that encourage engagement. WMU prepares profession-ready, lifelong learners who remain active with the University and contribute to the social development and economic vitality of their communities.
Goal #2 Promoting Innovative Discovery
Promote innovative learning, discovery, and service.
WMU continually pursues innovative approaches to learning, discovery, and service. WMU embraces collaboration and leverages resources to offer new academic programs that are responsive to the needs of students and society.
Goal #3 Research, Scholarship, and Collaboration
Advance WMU as a doctoral high research university.
WMU is flexible and responsive to the ever-changing demands of the world. To meet the needs of society, WMU investigates, develops, and produces new knowledge; contributes to technological and economic advancement;
and elevates the human condition through community outreach and engaged scholarship.
Goal #4 Inclusive Excellence and Equity
Ensure a diverse, inclusive, and equitable community.
WMU cultivates a diverse and inclusive community that recognizes the value of each individual and helps ensure civility and respect for all people. In doing so, WMU embraces a diverse community in which all stakeholders are prepared to understand the complexity of issues and perspectives needed to offer solutions to world challenges.
Goal #5 Sustainable Stewardship
Advance economic and environmental sustainability practices and policies.
WMU supports a culture of sustainability by modeling practices and policies that result in increased flexibility to respond to economic and environmental challenges. Allocation of resources will be transparent and in
accordance with strategic planning priorities creating stability across funding cycles, respecting the individual needs of students and employees, reducing our environmental footprint, and relying on assessment and accountability to ensure continuous improvement.
Learner Success
Goal #1: Ensure a distinctive and supportive learning experience that fosters success.
Objective 1.1: The student learning experienceis heightened through innovative and responsive co-curricular programming.
Strategies
a. Increase opportunities for student interaction and engagement on all WMU campuses/sites.
b. Develop and implement the Signature Designation to support student engagement and distinction.
Objective 1.2: The student learning experience prioritizes application and experiential learning.
Strategies
a. Increase student participation internships, cooperative education, and global experiences.
b. Cultivate cultural awareness through engagement with the arts and humanities.
c. Coordinate and promote off campus, non-classroom, and service learning opportunities for all students.
d. Enhance career preparation services and provide more opportunities for professional engagement to increase student return on investment.
e. Increase involvement of undergraduate and graduate students in research and creative activities.
Objective 1.3: An international learning experience prepares students for the globalized world.
Strategies
a. Increase broad-based participation in study abroad programs.
b. Internationalize the curriculum and increase other globally focused learning opportunities on campus.
c. Increase the number of international students at WMU.
d. Promote greater interaction between domestic and foreign students.
Objective 1.4: A learner-centered culture maximizes student retention and degree completion.
Strategies
a. Develop retention efforts appropriate to needs of sophomore and junior students.
b. Integrate best practices developed through First in World Grant to increase freshman retention.
c. Implement support programming to help students with varying levels of academic preparation.
d. Provide training to enhance employee understanding of how their roles support a culture of student success.
Objective 1.5: University community advances and sustains a respectful, healthy, and safe campus.
Strategies
a. Increase participation in employee and student wellness programs and learning opportunities.
b. Implement proactive outreach and intervention programs for faculty, staff and student mental health and well- being.
c. Increase communication and training on enhancing personal wellness.
d. Promote civility and collegiality as a campus climate norm.
e. Provide education and services that address bullying, sexual misconduct, and other acts of incivility.
Objective 1.6: The student-learning environment reflects the breadth and diversity of enrollment that is supportive of the University’s mission and strategic goals.
Strategies
a. Expand WMU’s recruitment and delivery of educational opportunities to new, targeted geographic markets.
b. Implement a comprehensive enrollment management plan to maximize program capacity and academic program goals.
c. Create effective mechanisms to create a “critical mass” of graduate students in high demand programs.
Promoting Innovative Discovery
Goal #2: Promote innovative learning, discovery, and service.
Objective 2.1: WMU’s academic programs respond to student and world needs through innovative, high quality curricula.
Strategies
a. Increase flexibility within the curriculum development process to respond to a rapidly changing world.
b. Revise general education curricula and develop university-wide support of learning outcomes.
c. Develop stronger connections across colleges to enhance educational opportunities and facilitate interdisciplinary programming.
d. Increase number of programs that have achieved national or international distinction.
Objective 2.2: The hiring and retention of a distinguished faculty ensures academic excellence, enhances innovation in discovery and pedagogy, and elevates the University’s reputation.
Strategies
a. Promote academic excellence through strategic investment in personnel, facilities, technology, and operations.
b. Create and sustain a culture that supports teaching excellence in all academic units.
c. Strengthen institutional structures that promote pedagogical innovations.
d. Support and recognize faculty and staff engagement in their professional disciplines.
e. Develop a succession plan for faculty, staff, and administrators.
Objective 2.3: High impact practices, informed by assessment of student learning, demonstrate academic excellence.
Strategies
a. Utilize assessment of student learning to continuously improve academic programs.
b. Expand integrative program review and planning to all programs for continuous quality improvement.
c. Provide opportunities for learning communities and experiential learning to enhance the academic experience.
Objective 2.4: Faculty research, scholarship, and creative activities enhance innovative and discovery-based pedagogy.
Strategies
a. Inventory resources deployed in support of discovery effectiveness, eliminate redundancies, and deploy “freed up”
resources to promote learning and discovery.
Objective 2.5 Position WMU as leader in graduate education.
Strategies
a. Increase financial support for graduate students.
b. Develop data analytics to review and assess student success in graduate programs.
c. Strengthen capacity of graduate programs to educate and graduate a diverse population (nontraditional, professional, and part-time) of learners in a timely manner.
d. Promote student engagement across disciplines to enhance the educational and campus experience of graduate students.
Research, Scholarship, and Collaborations
Goal #3: Advance as a major doctoral, high-research university that advances new knowledge and value-added discovery.
Objective 3.1: Strengthen WMU’s classification as a doctoral, high-research university in accordance with Carnegie Classification criteria.
Strategies
a. Establish clear expectations of University centers and institutes to stimulate interdisciplinary discovery, encourage innovation, and dissemination.
b. Foster a culture of collaboration by increasing opportunities for faculty to share their expertise and research across disciplines.
c. Create opportunities for scholarship and research activities that advance academic excellence.
Objective 3.2: WMU’s strengths in research and engaged scholarship create mutually beneficial partnerships that address significant scientific, economic, and social problems.
Strategies
a. Invest in student innovation and entrepreneurism.
b. Actively support technology transfer.
c. Contribute to current and future workforce needs.
d. Create opportunities for researchers working on public policy and non-profit endeavors.
Objective 3.3: WMU’s community outreach is responsive to local, state, and regional needs.
Strategies
a. Renew commitment to the Campus Compact Action Statement, dedicating the University to work with other institutions to advance the public purposes of higher education.
b. Plan and improve practices and policies by achieving the Carnegie Community Engagement Reclassification by 2020.
c. Construct a unified vision for the University’s public engagement mission.
d. Develop rigorous, systematic evaluations of all outreach and community engagement programs.
e. Demonstrate economic and social value.
Inclusive Excellence and Equity
Goal #4: Promote social sustainability and ensure a diverse, equitable, and inclusive campus climate.
Objective 4.1: A diverse faculty, staff, and student population that enriches the learning and working environment.
Strategies
a. Remove barriers for the recruitment, retention, and participation of students from historically underrepresented groups.
b. Encourage intentional and focused efforts so that each employee group reflects the diversity found in the student body.
c. Study and enhance the retention of WMU employees from diverse backgrounds.
d. Enact unit specific strategies so that hiring practices encourage diversity in all its forms.
Objective 4.2: WMU models a welcoming and supportive university climate.
Strategies
a. Support professional development opportunities that promote global understanding and cross cultural sensitivity.
b. Increase intercultural competence.
Objective 4.3: Develop a system of continuous accountability and assessment that contributes to inclusive excellence.
Strategies
a. Develop a shared understanding of University-wide definitions pertaining to diversity and inclusion.
b. Improve assessments and accountability for inclusivity at every level of the University.
Objective 4.4: WMU advances as a viable setting for social sustainability.
Strategies
a. Provide services and support networks to ensure social equity, inclusion, interaction, safety, and respect.
b. Continue review and follow-through of compensation procedures to maintain market value salary and benefits.
c. Cultivate a work environment that is focused on service and that rewards success.
d. Improve employee workplace engagement.
e. Foster faculty, staff, and student responsibility through participation in shared governance.
Sustainable Stewardship
Goal #5: Advance economic and environmental sustainability practices and policies
Objective 5.1: WMU is a leader in responsible utilization of financial and human resource management, process, and deployment.
Strategies
c. Expand and improve integrated information systems for data-driven decision-making.
d. Promote transparency and institutional accountability in all institutional systems.
Objective 5.2: WMU strategically manages enrollment to meet its financial goals in strategic ways.
Strategies
a. Maintain the fundamental principle of accessibility to all academically qualified students.
b. Utilize innovative and sophisticated financial aid strategies, institutional research, and nationally competitive tuition models in enrollment management.
c. Be innovative in identifying and communicating with prospective students.
d. Implementation of the enrollment plan to anticipate changes in regional, national, and global factors that affect higher education.
Objective 5.3: WMU is a national leader in achieving environmental sustainability.
Strategies
a. Reduce energy consumption and recycle, reuse, and reduce waste.
b. Promote and reward conservation efforts.
c. Increase the number and scope of green programs.
d. Maximize the utilization of facilities and fixed resources.
Objective 5.4: Effective marketing and communications promotes the University’s distinctive mission.
Strategies
a. Develop and execute an external and internal communication plan that reflects the mission of the University that engages all stakeholders.
b. Define and disseminate to local, national, and global markets a coherent and consistent brand identity.
c. Engage in new digital strategies that will advance University marketing footprint.
Objective 5.5: Increase alumni awareness, pride, and investment in WMU.
Strategies
a. Effectively engage alumni as advocates for the University.
b. Increase student, staff, and faculty pride in the strengths of the University.
