Administration News

UH strategic plan establishes future goals

The University's strategic plan establishes five key goals. | File photo

The University’s strategic plan establishes five key goals. | Sydney Rose/The Cougar

UH outlines the University’s accomplishment hopes over the next 10 years by crafting a strategic plan with goals to follow for the years to come.

Led by Provost Paula Myrick Short and dean Dennis Reynolds, the plan aims to provide a roadmap for the direction of the University. 

“A strategic plan helps set the goals, you know, the direction you’re taking,” Short said. “And then you can make those kinds of decisions that you have to make in an organization – to put resources, to do the planning, to do the work to meet those goals.”

The plan establishes five key goals. 

The first is student success. Provost Short defines this as becoming one of the top 50 schools in the nation, as listed in the U.S News and World Rankings report

“(Becoming a top 50 school) has to do with focusing on creating a learning environment that is creative and dynamic, and developing the kinds of degrees that are important to our students so that their experience here is an A-plus experience,” Short said.

The second goal is making the University’s research departments nationally competitive. Throughout the last decade, UH has been able to earn itself the status of Tier One Carnegie designation for highest research activity. 

The University hopes to use that status to combat local, national and international problems, as well as support faculty and students in earning honors at the highest levels.

Third is social responsibility. UH is based in the historic Third Ward of Houston and hopes to strengthen the relationship with residents in the area. There are also hopes to create an equitable society in Houston.

The fourth goal is to create an environment that’s supportive for student-athletes.

“The idea is also to have the best platform for our student-athletes; giving them what they need in order to be competitive,” Short said. “It’s important to them that they have every chance to be recognized as competitive, and achieve goals for them and help them be successful.”

For the final goal, UH hopes to give competitive funding to current and potential students. The University hopes to achieve this by pushing for more fundraising and by seeking legislative support.

Throughout the pandemic, the strategic plan team has found ways to adapt that are very similar to the rest of the world. 

“We’ve done a great job, (COVID-19) has provided an opportunity for us that I never envisioned,” Reynolds said. “We’ve talked for 16 months, we’ve harvested this, this is awesome, and I think this was a good opportunity for us.”

The University has set a high standard for themselves, but they are hopeful and passionate about their mission to grow as a school.

“We are a resilient University, and we will fight to get the resources we need to do these things for the benefit of our students and our faculty and our community and our staff,” Short said.

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