Five Year Business Plan



DraftAugust 23, 2018Graduate College2018-2023 Strategic Plan<graphic to be inserted>Table of Contents Executive Summary from the DeanThe Structure of the Graduate CollegeGraduate College Administrative DivisionGraduate Interdisciplinary Programs (Academic Division)Strategic Vision, Mission and ValuesEnvironmental Scan: Successes, Challenges and OpportunitiesSome Recent Successes/AccomplishmentsChallengesOpportunitiesCollege Strategic Goals, Strategic Actions and Implementations1. Engaged, Effective and Efficient Graduate Education1.1 Increasing the Size and Range of Graduate Education1.2 Building a More Diverse Graduate Student Body1.3 Promoting More Effective and Engaged Graduate Education2.Advancing and Innovating Interdisciplinary Research and Study2.1 Graduate Interdisciplinary Programs (GIDPS)2.2 Fostering Interdisciplinary Study Outside the GIDPs3.Support Services and Synergies for Graduate Students and Partners3.1 Student Finance3.2 Admissions3.3 Graduate Student Academic Support3.4 Graduate Center3.5 Fellowships and Community Engagement4.Services and Synergies for GAs, Faculty, Administrators and Staff 4.1 Graduate Assistant Employees4.2 Staff Services4.3 Faculty and Administrative Services5.Infrastructure and Information TechnologiesTracking our PerformanceExecutive Summary From the DeanThe Graduate College at the University of Arizona has a dual function. It is both an academic college, serving as the home to 17 Graduate Interdisciplinary Programs (GIDPs), and an administrative support unit whose goal is to advance and improve graduate education across the entire university to meet Arizona and the country’s workforce needs. Our goal is to enhance and continually improve the experiences of all our graduate students from the time they are beginning to consider post-baccalaureate education through their first position after graduate school. With a rapidly changing landscape for graduate education and subsequent careers, departments cannot stay abreast of all major trends and challenges. Our leadership is critical to having an agile Graduate College within an agile university.The academic mission of supporting interdisciplinary education and fostering cross-college collaborations is in alignment with the University’s interdisciplinary values. The Graduate Interdisciplinary Programs (GIDPs) provide a central mechanism that allows faculty from different disciplinary units to collaborate by jointly advising students with broader perspectives. Graduate Interdisciplinary Programs transcend departmental boundaries by facilitating cutting edge teaching and research at the nexus of traditional disciplines. The high value placed on interdisciplinary research and education is indicative of the University of Arizona’s enthusiasm and commitment to fostering innovation and creativity among its faculty and students. In line with the University’s strategic plan, the GIDPs are especially critical to Pillar II, tackling the Grand Challenges--critical problems at the edge of the human endeavor and Pillar III: the Arizona Advantage—driving economic, social and cultural impacts in the 4IR. Interdisciplinary education of this type continues to grow, and a central goal of the Graduate College is to see these programs grow and to foster new ones.In providing central support and leadership, the Graduate College supports Pillars I (Student success for a changing world) and V (Institutional Excellence). By continually improving our service role, we help students succeed, and we contribute to being an agile university for 4IR. We accomplish this through a threefold mission:Our mission is built upon a foundation of Service to prospective and current graduate students, faculty/staff, academic programs and colleges, and central administrative units. Principal activities include essential central administrative and IT services for program admissions, professional development, degree progress and certification, fellowship awarding, assistantship contracting, financial services and human resources. In the rapidly changing world of graduate education and technological advances, we must constantly upgrade our policies and processes to keep pace and ensure students have a seamless experience. We also provide guidance and advice to programs on best practices and methodologies for improving graduate education as a whole, including but not limited to advice on fostering diversity in our student body, creating new opportunities for workforce development, providing students with affordable and efficient access to graduate education and promoting improved evaluation of programs and systems. We provide a core layer of Oversight to ensure quality and consistency in graduate program function concerning academic policies, administrative procedures and curriculum, as well as institutional research, assessment and Academic Program Review support for oversight of and consultancy for graduate program performance. This oversight function cannot, however, stand in the way of innovation and flexibility. To that end we continue to build better, more efficient, but also more flexible systems and policies. This oversight function must allow for collaboration from our stakeholders.Our highest commitment is Advancement of the overall graduate enterprise that includes advocating for graduate education and research, furthering academic excellence, diversity, interdisciplinarity and integrity, and helping to provide and facilitate student financial support from a range of sources. In a rapidly changing world, not all of our clients will be aware of the latest and best ideas in graduate education, so our leadership and broad vision are especially important. 22860028575Oversee – Policies & PerformanceManage and provide institutional assessmentsupport of program quality, curriculum & policiesAdvance– PromotionAdvocate for graduateeducation, diversity, integrity, interdisciplinarity and fundingServe – People, Processes & ProgramsCentral admissions, degree progress and business services forgraduate students, faculty/staff, academic programs and administrationUA Graduate College Mission00Oversee – Policies & PerformanceManage and provide institutional assessmentsupport of program quality, curriculum & policiesAdvance– PromotionAdvocate for graduateeducation, diversity, integrity, interdisciplinarity and fundingServe – People, Processes & ProgramsCentral admissions, degree progress and business services forgraduate students, faculty/staff, academic programs and administrationUA Graduate College MissionBy promoting innovative cross-college interdisciplinary studies and by serving, overseeing and promoting graduate education, we aim to further the educational, outreach and research missions of the institution as a whole.018034000Andrew Carnie, DeanGraduate CollegeThe Structure of the CollegeThe College is organized into two broad divisions, both of which work toward our vision and carrying out our mission. Graduate College Administrative DivisionThe Graduate College Administration is the unit that serves, oversees and advances all of the graduate programs offered at the University of Arizona. The Graduate College works with the broader faculty, the Graduate Council, the Faculty Senate, the Graduate and Professional Student Council and specifically with Graduate Program Coordinators and Directors of Graduate Studies from over 130 graduate academic programs to promote graduate education for over 8000 graduate students across the University. The GC comprises almost 50 staff members (about 25 core staff); approximately one-half of the overall payroll is supported by non-state funding (extramural grant support, local funds and fees). In addition to the traditional staff roles, we have added several faculty fellows who are ‘boundary scanners’, finding innovative ways to link us to the newest and best trends in graduate education. These boundary scanners prevent tunnel vision and have served as visionary and disruptive leaders who help us move beyond the status quo.Below are some of our responsibilities:Pre-grad school training and research experiences (e.g., Undergraduate Research Opportunities Consortium, UROC).Help for programs to identify students that would fit their programs and recruitment (Recruitment and Marketing Communications).Oversight and management of Graduate Admissions.Support for Diversity and Inclusion programs (e.g. McNair, Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD), Student Affairs Research Program (STARs), Access Fellowships).The academic home for 17 Graduate Interdisciplinary Programs (GIDPS).Policy and oversight over graduate programs and courses to ensure high quality education and curricular support.Leadership and advocacy on critical issues facing graduate students (e.g. compensation rates and workload of GAs, time to degree, retention and completion rates, the importance of graduate students to the teaching and research mission of the institution).Preparing Teaching Assistants.Ensuring English proficiency for international students.Management of the student educational experience, e.g. milestones, comprehensive exams, dissertation defenses). This is all highly individualized for the student, so we use a mix of federated program coordinators and directors of Graduate Study along with our Graduate Student Academic Services (GSAS) office.IT support for managing all the administrative systems (Slate, GradApp, GradPath, UAVitae).Funding support for students (Graduate Tuition Scholarships, Graduation College Fellowships, Access Fellowships), as well as resources for finding outside funding (Financial affairs and Office of Fellowships and Outreach).Outreach Opportunities to broaden their experience (e.g. Coverdale Peace Corp Fellows, University Fellows).Professionalization Experiences: Grant writing, CV preparation, GradSlam, presentation workshops, financial literacy, preparing students for careers outside Academia (Grad Center, University Fellows Program, Postdoctoral Affairs).We have 5 physical locations: Admin 3rd Floor: Dean’s Office, Admissions, GSAS, IT, GIDP Administration, Business and Finance Office, Data and Analytics, Recruitment and Marketing CommunicationsDiversity House: Office of Diversity and InclusionGIDP North: Administrative Offices for bio-medical GIDPsUniversity Services Building: Office of Fellowships and Community EngagementThe Graduate CenterOur Organizational Chart is below.Dark Blue: Dean Level StaffPurple: Faculty Director/Faculty Associate PositionsLight Blue: Staff/Appointed-led departments in the College. Graduate Interdisciplinary Programs (Academic Division)Graduate Interdisciplinary Programs (GIDPs) are the academic division of the GC. GIDPs are graduate majors run by interdisciplinary committees of faculty from across the University, and they are focused almost exclusively on delivering graduate education without the other elements and responsibilities of regular departments. They are often built around Grand Challenges. GIDPs are a significant (but far from the only) manifestation of interdisciplinary education at the UA. The GIDP Office facilitates the many activities of GIDPs via a small core central staff, plus several part-time student assistants and shared IT and business staff with the Administrative Division. In addition to the central office, about half of the 18 GIDPs each have a Program Coordinator funded through GIDP; the other half have coordinators that are supported by a closely-related unit (such as a research center). The current GIDPs are listed below.American Indian StudiesApplied BiosciencesApplied Ethnomusicology and Intercultural Arts ResearchApplied MathematicsArid Lands Resource SciencesCancer BiologyCognitive ScienceEntomology & Insect ScienceGeneticsGlobal ChangeIndigenous Food Energy and WaterNeurosciencePhysiological SciencesRemote Sensing & Spatial AnalysisRoshan GIDP in Persian and Iranian StudiesSecond Language Acquisition & TeachingSocial, Cultural, and Critical TheoryStatisticsStrategic Vision, Mission and ValuesStrategic Mission of The Graduate College The Graduate College provides central support and leadership to serve, oversee, and advance all aspects of the graduate enterprise at the University of Arizona.The Graduate College provides the guidance, oversight and support that ensure the citizens of Arizona and beyond receive an engaged high-quality graduate education. We strengthen the contributions of traditional disciplinary programs by providing a venue for interdisciplinary research centered around the students in our Graduate Interdisciplinary Programs. By providing consistent and efficient mechanisms for the administration of programs and by promoting best practices in graduate education, we help to guarantee that our graduates will be global leaders in research, teaching and community engagement. Strategic Vision of The Graduate College The Graduate College will become one of the best public graduate schools in the nation and a national model for the efficient delivery, innovation and promotion of graduate education for a rapidly changing and diverse workforce. The Graduate College will achieve this goal by collaborating with academic and administrative units to attract and educate outstanding students to achieve scholarly excellence in world-class graduate programs at the University of Arizona, and by becoming a national and international model for best practices in graduate education. Such excellence will allow our students to tackle the critical problems at the edges of the human endeavor and to drive economic, social and cultural advances in Arizona and around the world.Core Values ExcellenceInterdisciplinarityAccessDiversityIntegrity LeadershipServiceSupportPromotionImpactEnvironmental Scan: Successes, Challenges and OpportunitiesGraduate education at the University of Arizona is a healthy and vibrant enterprise. Although our graduate student body is small for a university of our size and research profile, it is of the highest quality, with 29 of our Ph.D. programs being ranked in the top 20 by the NRC. Our graduate student body is growing and becoming more and more diverse. We have made excellent progress toward our previous Strategic Plan and will continue building on those successes, a few of which are listed below:Selected examples of recent successes and accomplishments:Creation of the Graduate Center: A central resource hub for graduate students. Our programs and partnerships across campus?are designed to help students develop inclusive leadership skills and collaborative opportunities. The center provides professional development that increases student success both within and beyond the Academy. By fostering interdisciplinary engagement with diverse communities, the Graduate Center supports students as they prepare to address society's grand challenges and shape a changing world.Creation of The University Fellows Program: The program includes a fellowship offered to the University's highest-ranked incoming doctoral and masters students. Recipients of the fellowship receive a competitive financial package, professional development programming, mentoring and community engagement opportunities, and a richly interdisciplinary cohort. The goals of the University Fellows Program are to recruit the best students to the University of Arizona; develop interdisciplinary scholars, artists, and practitioners who are the next generation of leaders; and promote collaborative innovation on campus and throughout our broader communities.Increase in enrollment (8067 students in 2017 versus 7056 in 2012) and degrees awarded (2411 in 2017 versus 2009 in 2012)Many new accelerated Masters Programs (33), dual degree programs (134), graduate Certificates (84) and an emerging set of offerings in micro-credentialing (badging). In 2015, we created an office of Recruitment and Marketing Communication to boost centralized messaging and provide central support to program-specific recruitment activitiesRoll out of GradSlate: a new enterprise-wide Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool for graduate recruitment. Many new grants to support increased diversity including Sloan, NSF and training grant INDIGI-FEWS, NIH Initiatives to Maximize Student Development, the Nutritional Sciences USDA National-needs grant, LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate Started year-round version of the UROC program to support undergraduate preparation for graduate school.We are now the top AAU R1 University in terms of the percentage of underrepresented minorities in graduate programs (22%). #1 in PhDs awarded to Native Americans. #8 in PhDs awarded to Hispanics.We surpass our peers in interdisciplinary dissertations with 50% of our PhDs reporting an interdisciplinary dissertation versus 41% for High Research Universities (2017 from Survey of Earned Doctorates).13 rotating step-down partnership hires to support GIDPs have been made and 7 more are planned.Almost entirely paperless admissions and academic services platforms.GradFunding Newsletter to over 2000 people and the Fall NSF GRFP Application Support Programs supports between 75 and 100 NSF GRFP applicants annually.Increased TA stipends by 11% and RAs by 9% in the last 5 years.In response to workload complaints, instituted obligatory TA and RA evaluations using the TA/RA conversations tools. Instituted new, improved Program Description Guide which includes transparent data on completion rates, time to degree, proportion of international and underrepresented students, females, and acceptance rates.ChallengesHere are some of our most pressing challenges.1) Student Fundinga)Graduate Programs, funding and budgets are all in the academic colleges (except GIDPs), but the responsibility for graduate education lies with the Grad College. We must advocate for greater financial investment by the Academic colleges to grow the Graduate Enterprise at all levels. Increased costs of graduate tuition challenge grant PIs to provide support for GRAs.Increased costs of graduate education make it harder for self-funded graduate students to come to graduate school and to complete their degrees in a timely manner. The latest Survey of Earned Doctorates shows that 28.2% of our PhDs have more than $30,000 in debt, exceeding the 22% average for the highest research institutions.Federal discretionary budget cuts have eliminated, reduced or delayed extramural funding for graduate student fellowships (e.g., Jacob K. Javits, Fulbright-Hays DDRA, Homeland Security Fellowship), delaying the completion or reducing the scope of research and timely advancement to degree among top graduate students.The loss of subsidized loans for graduate students through federal financial aid has increased the cost of attending graduate school and adds to the debt burden of graduates. Increased costs of living have required many students to work multiple jobs, reducing the amount of time and focus available for academic pursuits2) Graduate Assistant (GA) work-life. Students are concerned that compensation rates are low and workloads are too high. GTA training is inconsistent and often needs greater attention. Relatedly, GA evaluation is inconsistently applied across the institution.While we have been able to increase TA stipends, external budget constraints have contributed to stagnant graduate student salaries, which have not kept pace with living costs and inflation.3) The Composition of our student body: We have a significantly diverse student body. But there is room for improvement. Gender needs to be addressed in certain colleges. When it comes to diversity and inclusion, our emphasis for the past 20 years has been on pipelines and recruitment. We now have to turn more of our attention to supporting UR students, retaining them and helping them to achieve their academic goals. Changes to immigration policies have made the U.S. less attractive to potential international students. While we increased international enrollment by 10.6% from 2012 to 2017, we do not anticipate large increases in residential PhD students.The make-up of the student body and the career opportunities for our graduates are very different than they have been in the past. In light of this, we need to: Better prepare students for careers outside of academia by examining our curricula and academic infrastructure and provide more professional development opportunities outside the classroom and lab for all studentsStudent Success Metrics: Time to degree and Completion rates. We are right at the National Average for these metrics. We should be a national leader. Institutional Collaborations and Organizational EffectivenessThe Graduate College is not very visible on campus. We offer many services and opportunities for students, faculty and staff. However, we’re often told that people are unaware of these. We must do a complete evaluation of policies, procedures and infrastructure (e.g. our software infrastructure) to ensure that we are serving the needs of graduate programs and students in ways that are both efficacious and efficient and meet the needs of the employers and students graduating our programs. This includes working with Academic colleges to develop and maintain programs that are on the cutting edge and train the workers of the next generation.6)Graduate College Staff Support: Grad College staff salaries are low compared to other colleges on campus. We have made significant improvements, but we often lose our best employees to higher paying jobs elsewhere on campus. Opportunities The demographic profile of Arizona and the increasing number of undergraduate students from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds create an expanding opportunity to diversify graduate student populations.The confluence of cultures, environmental challenges and social challenges in the border region create opportunities for unique world-class programs that attract talented faculty and graduate students.Expanding the inclusion of courses offered through different modalities will hasten completion of degrees and increase the number of graduate students. New technologies provide us with new means of delivering a high-quality graduate education. We work closely with UA Online to increase the offerings of graduate programs and courses and to enhance the experience.Our Office of Fellowships and Community Engagement supports students in their efforts to apply for and obtain financial support for study, research, travel and professional development. Their efforts are vital in this era of low support for graduate education.With cuts in many fellowship programs, there is more emphasis on training grants. We need to build our capacity to be able to provide more support in development of training grants.In the new 4IR environment, change can be overwhelming. Those universities that monitor and adjust to new challenges will flourish. We have designed our systems to have the flexibility to respond. Our agility is an advantage.College Strategic Goals, Strategic Plans and ImplementationsEngaged, Effective and Efficient Graduate Education to Drive Student SuccessAs a unit serving the broader goals of advanced education in the State of Arizona, the Graduate College seeks to develop policies, procedures, and best practices that will contribute significantly to the local and global work force of highly trained professionals and researchers. Emphases include: Building our programs to full capacity and making the most effective and efficient resources in supporting the highest levels of education.Broadening and increasing the diversity of students who have access to graduate education.Motivating and incentivizing best practice among academic and service units to increase the number of students who complete their degree programs, and to decrease the time it takes to complete those degrees, thus creating a fully engaged graduate student body.Building flexible systems that allow us to innovate and respond to changes in our environment.1.1 Increasing the Size and Range of Graduate EducationThe best potential for growth is at the pre-doctoral level and through online offerings by encouraging and facilitating the development of professionally-oriented masters, certificates and badges.Goal 1.1.1Increase graduate enrollment by 10% by 2025 in units with sufficient capacity. Improve content marketing through social media, websites and webinars to increase UA brand awareness, taking advantage of our SLATE CRM.Develop a marketing plan for certificates and badges.Continue to work with UA Online to broaden the opportunities for online offerings.Create more capacity in programs by decreasing time to degree using the recommendations of our time to degree study.Expand recruitment efforts by developing free online preparation resources that will attract potential students.Enable centralized support for financial planning in units seeking to attract new cohorts of international students. Identify high demand fields and meet with relevant departments to assist their recruitment and curricular developmentHost an annual All-Arizona Research Conference and Graduate School fair to recruit Arizona students and to provide an opportunity for our undergraduate and graduate students to participateDevelop an infrastructure to showcase student research across the state of Arizona.1.2.Building a More Diverse Graduate Student BodyGoal 1.2.1 Increase the percentage of under represented students to 30% by 2025.Fully fund a group of faculty and graduate students who will give academic presentations at minority-serving institutions. Create a Graduate Ambassadors program to increase the recognition of the value of graduate education and the visibility of graduate research and to expand outreach to populations underserved by graduate educationAttend 15-20 recruitment events each year for 3 years using data to determine the best markets, scaling back in late years to those with the highest ROI; ROI will be measured by increased application volume and enrollment.Involve URM graduates in our recruitment. Have rotating videos and success stories on our website. Develop a system for identifying URM students at risk of dropping out and provide appropriate interventions on a timely basis.Develop a PostBac Prep Program—a one year, structured graduate school prep program targeting UA alumni and talented recent college graduates who seek enrollment into a UA grad program.Partner with the Alumni Association, multicultural alumni groups, SECD, civic organizations such as the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to identify needs and goals of employers and students.Goal 1.2.2Increase international enrollment by 10% in five years, focusing on programs that have the capacity to grow and where there is high demand.Create a Global Speakers Program leveraging their talent and expertise to address needs around the globe and expand UA’s reach and reputation.Effective delivery of graduate school preparation resources via social media, websites, and webinars.Expand the Graduate College’s currently limited in-person recruiting efforts at select global fairs and universities based on market analytics and predictive modeling generated through GradSlate.Partner with Office of Global initiatives to build partnerships where graduate recruitment builds on undergraduate recruitment.1.3Promoting More Effective and Engaged Graduate EducationMeasures of quality are moving away from a focus on inputs to outcomes. Hence improving Time to Degree, Completion, Placement, and debt level are high priority. With more focus on accountability and with costs increasing, efficiency is even more important.Goal 1.3.1 Reach the mean time to degree of our peers by 2025.Create 5 + 1 programs in select units on campus.Build upon current Graduate College initiative that offers small grants to programs who develop sustainable programs to improve time to degree.Send DGSs letters acknowledging good time to degree with copies to department head and academic dean.Distribute a summary of mean Time to Degree data to academic deans, department heads, Graduate Council, GPSC, and Faculty Senate.Work with academic deans to include Time to Degree data in faculty and department evaluations.Because some highly productive faculty have many students, urge programs to assign a co-chair to dissertation committees who can monitor student progress and encourage shorter time to degree.Goal 1.3.2Increase our completion rate for doctoral degrees to 65% by 2025.Increase writing support for graduate students at the dissertation stage. Continue Graduate College initiative that offers small grant to programs who develop sustainable plans to improve completion.Share program completion data with academic deans, department heads, Graduate Council, GPSC, and Faculty Senate.Schedule meetings with departments with low completion rates, asking them to develop a plan to improve completion.Work with academic deans to include completion data in evaluating programs.Send DGSs letters acknowledging good completion with copies to department head and academic dean.Because some highly productive faculty have many students, urge programs to assign a co-chair to dissertation committees who can monitor student progress and provide extra support toward completion.Goal 1.3.3 By 2025, increase placement rates by 10%. The Graduate Center will establish an ongoing program of outreach that enables students to learn about and gain experience with non-academic careers. Disseminate findings on alternative PhD Career Pathways with suggestions for improvement.Institute ongoing tracking of graduate student employment beyond the Graduate College pilot group.Add additional programing in the Graduate Center, focusing on non-academic jobs.Build a national internship-coordination program for graduate students.Create a library of impact videos of graduates now working in non-academic careers. Have them appear on our website or possibly connected to our PDG.Develop an outreach campaign to employers.The Graduate Center will assist programs in developing their alumni networks of mentoring current students who aspire to employment in multiple career pathwaysWorking through the Graduate Council, develop workshops to train faculty to mentor students in multiple career pathways and to assist students in annual Individual Development Plans.Working with academic deans, incentivize faculty efforts to create curriculum that embeds career outcomes work in core courses.Goal 1.3.4Improve graduate student retention by 10% by 2025.Create a faculty mentoring training program group with representatives from each college who are committed to learning best practices and disseminating them to colleagues.Train faculty in inclusive mentoring through a UA training program initially provided by an outside group (National Research Mentoring Network.)Pay faculty fellows in each college to train faculty in their college about mentoring and to provide on-site advice to students.After pilot period, expand with graduate students mentoring undergraduates.Create a Faculty Mentor group in the Graduate Center who can serve as go-to mentors outside of a student's department.Join with GPSC to lobby for modern, affordable, international and family friendly housing within walking distance of campus.Join with GPSC to lobby for campus child care.Re-envision the onboarding process for incoming studentsCreate a virtual campus community for prospective and current students with multi-language campus tours, social media, online chats, webinars and webcasting of campus events, and connections to campus resources.Make graduate student mental health a higher priority. This will not only provide needed support, but will also provide a competitive advantage in URM-related grant submissions that look for specific, targeted, deep institutional commitment to student success.Goal 1.3.5Bring the GPSC back under the Graduate College to engage them in a more collaborative relationshipWork with the Dean of Students office to transfer advising and staff support to the Graduate College.Sponsor special collaborative sessions to continue and enhance collaborations with undergraduate student leadershipFind new, larger office space for GPSC leadership and activities.Assist and advise GPSC leadership on revising and updating governing documentsWork with GPSC to develop their own strategic plan for the advancement of Graduate and Professional Students issues. Goal 1.3.6By 2025, reduce the number of grievances by 50%.Compile a list of best practices, starting with improving comprehensive exam models, research mentoring, and defense procedures.Analyze complaint data and exit survey data to identify common problems and problematic programs.Hold focus groups with students to identify problem areas.Apply for funding for Faculty Retreat and workshops to share best practices with Directors of Graduate Studies.2.Advancing Interdisciplinary Research and StudyThe Graduate College’s Academic Division is home to 17 Graduate Interdisciplinary Programs (GIDPs). These programs train students in cutting edge research that do not fall within a particular traditional departmental unit. These programs bring with them special challenges. There are no faculty tenured in GIDPs, so they rely on the good will of faculty and departments for their instructional needs. They are generally not tied to undergraduate programs nor to departmentally housed research labs, so graduate funding through the University’s traditional sources is rare. An important goal for the college is to secure centralized funding for these units to secure their standing in the institution. The College also fosters the University value of interdisciplinarity more broadly. In order to encourage cross-disciplinary collaborations, it assists in the creation of non-GIDP interdisciplinary programs, dual degrees and certificates. 2.1Graduate Interdisciplinary Programs (GIDPs)GIDPs are the touchstone of interdisciplinarity at the University of Arizona. The oldest GIDP, Genetics, was founded 50 years ago and the programs continue to hold a key role in promoting research and education in innovative and cross-cutting ways. But the administrative structure of the GIDPs provides unique challenges to their success. One challenge is to measure and demonstrate the value of the GIDPs. The new GIDP titles and dashboard now allow us to integrate GIDP activities into UAVitae. Goal 2.1.1Seek greater recognition for interdisciplinarity in promotion and tenure and in faculty annual evaluations. Develop a letter sent on a regular basis to department heads about the institutional value of interdisciplinarity and how they can measure and reward it in their faculty’s annual evaluations and P&T decisions.Finalize dashboard with UAIR with new GIDP titles showing the impact of GIDPs in reports from UAccess Analytics.Goal 2.1.2 Develop program and college level promotional materials to publicize GIDPs and their impact on the University and Community.Provide support to GIDPs in the production of brochures and newsletters.Create impact videos highlighting each GIDP.Provide a refresh on all GIDP websites, updating with the most recent information.Goal 2.1.3 Improve financial support for GIDP operations and students by increasing fund raising efforts to support student travel and research by an additional 5% in donations each year for the next 3 years. In collaboration with Foundation Arizona, develop a fund-raising strategy for student research and travel support, including but not limited to fund raising events, direct mail and phone campaigns and targeted donors.Assist GIDPs in setting up industrial and/or community advisory boards.2.2Fostering Interdisciplinary Study Outside the GIDPsGoal 2.2.1Facilitate broader experiences for students, including internships in government, the community, and industry.In coordination with faculty and programs, develop lists of opportunities for students to engage with industry and the community and distribute that information to students.Develop a database of internships and practica.Continue meetings with UAF to establish working connections.Goal 2.2.2Increase dual degrees by 10% by 2025 and add an additional 45 certificates by 2025.Continue to promote and encourage programs to establish dual degrees and certificates. Advertise dual degrees and certificates to applicants. Most students learn of these opportunities only after admission.Work with GPSC, Graduate Council, Graduate Center, and Career Center to promote dual degrees and certificates, emphasizing increased career opportunities.Market certificates to our Post-docs.Goal 2.2.3Transition 5-10 department-based programs into interdisciplinary programsUsing GIDPs as a model for breaking down department/College silos. We will invite programs with broad vision to consider restructuring their programs in the model of GIDPs – although not necessarily in the GIDP admin purview. Interview key stakeholders in programs that have transitioned from departmental programs to GIDP (e.g. Physiological Sciences) and those that have transitioned from GIDPs to departmental programs (e.g. Biomedical Engineering), to evaluate the process of transition, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the GIDP type organization vis-à-vis departmental programs. Develop organizational and budgetary plans with deans and department headsEngage faculty in broad discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of such a transition.3.Support Services for Graduate Students The mission of the College’s Administrative Division is to provide support to academic units and students in matters of policy, student finance, degree processing, and admissions. The college also provides limited support for academic support services, such as grant writing, grant processing and hosting and outreach programs, as well as sponsoring limited travel support to graduate students. These services are primarily funded by non-state sources such as admissions and processing fees. The college aims to improve these services making them more efficient and more effective, while at the same time driving forward the University’s strategic priorities. Our service role is critical to Pillars I (Driving Student Success) and V (Institutional Excellence).3.1Student FinanceThe success of the graduate enterprise is largely a function of the funding available to students. A goal of the Graduate College is to see that graduate education is as affordable as possible, given ballooning expenses and the constraints imposed by a general lack of funding from traditional sources. Recent changes to federal rules concerning financial aid for graduate students have also made affordable loan options less available. Goal 3.1.1 Decrease the number of graduate students leaving the University of Arizona with more than $30,000 in student debt to 22% (the mean for Research universities) by 2025. In collaboration with the financial aid office, the Graduate Center and GPSC, create personal finance management tools and additional training (online debt calculators for graduate students, personal finance mini-courses and workshops). Target programs with the largest percentage of students with excessive debt and provide special educational opportunities.Provide greater assistance in applying for grant and fellowship funding.Goal 3.1.2 Build a university culture where a minimum 4-5 years of guaranteed funding for doctoral students is the norm. Provide on-going guidance to programs to dispel the myth that UA will not allow multi-year financial offers to graduate students.Work with College Deans to develop a "Tuition Safety Net" pool, which will cover tuition for students in semesters/years where either their supervisor's grant funding has lapsed or where a department has lower than expected teaching revenues and cannot support student.Work with the foundation to develop targeted external fellowships/externally funded GA positions, in partnership with corporate partners. Work with the RDI office to build new support mechanisms for Pis who apply for /receive Training Grants. 3.2 AdmissionsAdmissions works closely with campus partners such as CESL, International Student Services, and UA Online. With challenges facing international and online students, this collaboration is essential. Admissions’ goals focus on building on our successes and finding new ways to improve our processes and client services. Our GradApp is built on aging technologies that, over time, will become more difficult to maintain and keep secure. Maintaining GradApp or developing a new software platform is critical.Goal 3.2.1Increase the speed, agility, and capacity for developing, maintaining, and enhancing the technologies that support Graduate Admissions for the entire University, while also promoting a shared sense of ownership over admissions processes and recourses.Update GradApp to more modern-looking system, with better tools for dossier review. Create an admissions work center in UAccess. Work with Graduate College IT to use GradApp to better manage the defer process for international students as it relates to the visa deadline.Provide “update” training to long-term Graduate Coordinators so they are familiar with new features and are using the product to their best.(See also Communications goals below in section 5)3.3 Graduate Student Academic ServicesWe have a strong history of excellent service to our students and academic departments and of bringing technology to improve our processes. An effective and efficient GSAS office contributes to better completion and time to degree as well as high satisfaction from our clients. Goal 3.3.1Continue our efforts to provide internal training for GSAS staff, Graduate Coordinators and Directors of Graduate Studies to ensure quality service and the highest level of performance. Develop testing skills among GSAS staff to implement improvements to GradPath.Develop query modifying and query building skills among GSAS staff so they can access the data they need promptly.Identify potential needed dashboards.Increase face-to-face visits to departments by 50% by 2025.Do annual review of existing online and in person training and update as needed.Present at new student orientations to familiarize students with Graduate College policies, services offered by GSAS.3.4 Academic and Outreach Support: The Graduate CenterIn addition to providing administrative and academic support to students and programs, we seek to offer professional training and other outreach programs. Our Graduate Center has laid the foundation of such training, but resources have limited how many students we can serve.Goal 3.4.1 Increase the access for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows to professional training (such as grant-writing, mentoring and advising skills, job-seeking, teaching training, laboratory management training, etc.)Seek input from GPSC, Graduate Council and programs as to which programs are most needed. Analyze data from exit survey to determine needs.Seek faculty and external experts who can provide some programing.Provide additional training workshops.Work with GPSC to better market workshops.Hire an additional graduate student to help manage proposed training.Develop more online resources for professional development.Create two institution-wide (GRAD6XX) professional development courses, offered as a collaboration between the Graduate Center and participating programs. One course would be an overview of professional development for first year PhD students, and the second would be tailored to the professional development needs of third year PhD students.Develop networks that serve as career resources for current students.Goal 3.4.2Create new on-boarding and just-in-time student support videos.Working with GPSC, identify priority list of 15 topics for graduate orientation and support.Create 3-minute videos with student voices from across departments and programs, representing diverse perspectives.Coordinate with UA partners to determine optimal distribution and promotion.Provide the on-boarding in a digital format for students to interact with on demand, at no cost.3.5. Office of Fellowships and Community EngagementThe Office of Fellowships and Community Engagement (OFCE) provides support to graduate students looking for financial support for study, research, travel and professional development. It also provides a robust program of engagement with non-profit organizations, government, outreach units of the UA and educational institutions. Goal 3.5.1By 2025, increase student grant applications by 20%.Identify units across campus in promoting opportunities and educating those with an interest in effective programs.Work with faculty committed to student engagement at the graduate level to expand the scope of the Outreach Assistantship to better focus on issues of mutual concern and community benefit (e.g. water, education, public health issues). Share outcomes and what is learned through poster sessions, reports, public forums, and social media.Develop an evaluation tool and more guidance for Outreach Assistantships which are managed on campus, but occur at off-campus sites.Provide support for undergraduates involved in community engagement and service through Peace Corps Prep and other programs focused on international issues and travel. Continue to coordinate with OGI, UA Peace Corps Recruitment Office and Peace Corps Prep, U.S. Peace Corps, and outreach units on campus.4.Services for Graduate Student Employees, Faculty, Administrators and Staff4.1Graduate Assistant/Associate EmployeesAt the University of Arizona, we view Graduate Assistant/Associate (GA) positions as an important means of providing added value to education for our graduate students by providing on-the-job training for our future researchers and university instructors. GA positions provide opportunities for graduate students to learn the philosophy and craft of teaching and research in their fields, while providing on-going financial support to the GA themselves. Critical issues for our GA employees include:Improving compensation levels to reflect skill levels and training.Evaluation and regularizing GA workload expectations.Improving the hiring processes for GAs.Providing greater and more helpful classroom training and mentoring for GTAs.Providing a more systematic and regulated system for GA evaluation.Goal 4.1.1 Reach the mean TA and RA salaries for our peers by 2025.Publish compensation rates so that potential students have realistic expectations.Distribute to programs and academic deans a comparison report about our peers’ compensation rates and the cost of living.Goal 4.1.2 Follow up on our 2017 GA workload and satisfaction survey every 3 years and improve working conditions for TAs and RAsBased on 2017 results, revise survey and engage GPSC in the revisions Develop better Project Management Training for PIs in collaboration with RDI. This could include RA management, Data Management, Lab management, IRB etc. Modify offer letter template to include links to resources and information on workload expectations.Distribute information on RA resources through Graduate Center.Work with Provost’s Faculty affairs office to develop a plan on how to hold faculty accountable for RA supervision, ideally through annual peer evaluation and P&T.By 2020, working with the Graduate Council and GPSC, the Graduate College will develop a template for departments to report hours.The Graduate College will repeat their workload study every 3 years to identify problems and to track whether reported problems have seen improvement.Work with academic deans to survey local TA training. Work with departments where problems have been identified. Topics may include class-size, workload expectations, discipline specific TA training, resource availability.Investigate models of TA training at peer institutions, in order to see if we can improve the gap between available training and expectations. Create a workload management module for our online TA training.Develop a TA supervisor training workshop.Modify offer letter template to include links to resources and information on workload expectations. Distribute information on TA resources through Graduate Center and GPSC.Work with Provost’s Faculty affairs office to develop a plan on how to hold faculty accountable for TA supervision, ideally through annual peer evaluation. Develop a system for tracking TA Conversation and RA Conversation evaluation documents and ensuring that all Gas get evaluated every semester.Goal 4.1.3Provide training for 20% of TAs in evidence-based learning methodologies and TA training bootcamps. In year 2 of this initiative, provide training for 20% of TAs, then use the graduates of bootcamp to train other TAs in subsequent years.Develop 2-3 week paid TA-training boot camp(s).Build TA learning communities that meet regularly, led by exemplary instructors.Create a reward system to make outstanding teaching a sought-after goal among UA graduate student instructors.4.2Staff ServicesThe Graduate College supports the academic mission of the institution by providing critical services in coordination with staff and service professionals around campus, contributing to institutional excellence and student success. The college must constantly work to develop the skills of its own employees, to develop their careers and make their working lives safe, satisfying and productive. In addition, it must help service personnel around campus in their use of Graduate College systems and make them familiar with Graduate College policies. Many strategies to improve training for staff, both internally and externally, are embedded in earlier sections of this plan.Goal 4.2.1Establish a standing commitment of grad coordinators to identify areas needing improvement or to suggest new initiatives.Hold quarterly meetings to discuss common issues.Create and monitor grad coordinator discussion forum (as opposed to announcement listserv).Provide training on important issues (e.g., changes to Title IX processes, IMSD and other funding updates, new policies).4.3Faculty & Administrative ServicesThe College provides support services to faculty and administrators who work with graduate education. Some of the relevant goals and strategies appear in earlier sections of this plan. We also provide training for faculty, DGSs, and Graduate Coordinators. Goal 4.3.1Promote the use of data for decision making.As part of our ongoing workshops for DGSs, include information on using Graduate College data.Create online tutorials on using Graduate College data.Provide regular SLATE funnel reports to collegesAdd this information to resource packets for new DGSs.Create a new data page on the Graduate College website.Increase outreach to faculty and staff to effectively utilize program data. GRT will offer several workshops each semester.GRT will monitor new research to ensure we are effectively measuring our programs and student outcomes. GRT will identify needs and assist UITS with the development of new dashboards.GRT will continue to serve on Rankings Taskforce and contribute to maintaining and improving our rankings.5.College Visibility and CommunicationsThe graduate college has an amazing set of facilities and services for the University community. But we are consistently told that people don't know about what we do, or what resources are available to them. As such we will be making it a priority to better communicate with our students, our faculty, our support staff, other units on campus, applicants, alumni and the community as a whole.Goal 5.1.1Develop a comprehensive communications and marketing strategy for the college.Create a working group to develop a comprehensive plan for communicating and marketing the services of the college.Revisit current communications tools.Create collaborative relationships with communications groups elsewhere on campus to seek input and advice.Implement and customize GradSlate for communications for Admissions, GSAS and Grad Center, including reminders and prompts for completing required paperwork and forms.Create an online suggestion box for staff to provide the Grad College with feedback.Develop a semi-annual newsletter, highlighting policy and personnel changes in the Graduate College.Hire a professional Web Designer to improve our web presence and the look and feel of our application system.Do a complete update and refresh on our website. Goal 5.1.2Increase the visibility of the Graduate College, nationally as well as within Arizona.Host Western Association of Graduate Schools in 2019.Develop a suite of online resources for undergraduates considering graduate education.More aggressively promote National award competitions.Create a newsletter directed at politicians, industry leaders and the local community.Develop a Social Media Tiger team to increase our visibility and impact on major Social media platforms. Integrate these platforms with our website. Ensure a more prominent presence in national Graduate organizations, grant agencies and government sectors.6.Infrastructure and Information TechnologiesA critical component of any service unit’s success lies in the infrastructure it provides to the institution as a whole. This includes both physical facilities and support through information technologies. Current challenges include a limited amount of office space, and the fact that College space is disbursed across the campus (Diversity House, GIDP North, TOB, among others). With increasing demand and increasing complexity, one of our biggest challenges is to have sufficient FTE in our IT division to meet ever increasing needs. We added a Business Analyst Senior who works with IT and our other offices to liaison with UITS. He provides oversight/management for our large initiatives that have campus-wide impact, such as UAVitae. He also helps develop training materials for our systems. Clearly our IT group is central to the systems that power our plan. Goal 6.1.1Keep pace with current and emerging information security standards, protocols, and requirementsMigrate MS servers and desktop systems to CatNet 2.0. Upgrade desktop workstations to most recent Windows.Migrate Grad Drupal websites to UA Quickstart for improved branding and built-in accessible tools. (see also communications goals above)Goal 5.1.2Keep pace with Web Accessibility standards and guidelines. Provide IT Accessibility training for web content managers and other electronic document publishers.Better integrate trainings with access provisioning. Examples: Required GradApp/Admissions training for departmental roles in GradApp. and Required Web Accessibility training for content editors in Drupal, etc. Adopt web architecture and tactics that support modular and API-based web application development. Goal 5.1.2Enhance our existing systems, build new ones and integrate with UA tech effortsSurvey online students to determine if GSAS and Grad Path are meeting their needs, and make adjustments as necessary.Replace the Help Desk software.Develop a Tech Refresh Schedule that is maintained, as much as possible, 3 years out.Goal 5.1.3Streamline and/or contribute to improving business processes for our internal and external partner stakeholders.Continued and/or expanded participation in campus IT Community and governance initiatives. E.g. UAccess Student governance, Information Security (3) CatNet Core, "One IT"/IT Community, Developer brown bags, CatCode, and other code-sharing.Identify and minimize single points of failure, particularly where knowledge redundancy is an issue.Tracking Our PerformanceThe Graduate College already conducts a number of self-measures to evaluate progress in strategic goals. These measures include exit surveys from graduate students, regular UAccess data review by the GRT group, and reporting of data to national resources such as the NRC, CGS, and AAU. It coordinates its data gathering closely with UAIR and OIA. The GC receives regular input on policy and prioritization from the two faculty governance groups (the Graduate Council and GIDPAC) and from students via GPSC. The GC management team will meet each semester to evaluate the goals and actions outlined in this plan to measure success using the data sources mentioned above and to re-evaluate progress towards the goals outlined here. ................
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