UHD Strategic Plan 2022–2027

The University of Houston-Downtown's 2022–2027 Strategic Plan outlines the school's mission to help students succeed and move up economically. UHD calls itself a "student-ready" institution that finds and builds on each student's strengths. The plan sets goals around student success, knowledge-sharing, and community engagement. It also looks ahead to a 20-year vision of becoming the top choice for Houstonians who want to give back to their communities.

Strategic Plan Dashboard MISSION The University of Houston-Downtown is a dynamic and welcoming community of faculty, staff, students, and regional partners dedicated to nurturing talent, generating knowledge, and driving socioeconomic mobility for a just and sustainable future. The University of Houston-Downtown is a dynamic and welcoming community of faculty, staff, students, and regional partners dedicated to nurturing talent, generating knowledge, and driving socioeconomic mobility for a just and sustainable future. This new Mission Statement shows that UHD is an institution that is driven by public purposes, and it clearly addresses the university’s role in serving the needs of the region and the city. We continue to stay true to our first purpose, which is to educate our students. As a student-ready institution, we boost student success by being prepared for the students whom we recruit and enroll. Our students become members of an academic community that identifies where their potential lies and acts to nurture their innate talents. With the reputation of being an engine of students’ socioeconomic mobility, the university equips students to serve a common good rather than seeing their degrees solely as a private gain. Our commitment to generating socially impactful knowledge through thoughtful inquiry is manifested by our marked ability to bring the expertise of our students, faculty, and staff together with that of community partners to explore and exchange ideas and to search for solutions to seemingly intractable problems. We are also committed to engagement with and outreach to the city and region, and we encourage our students through experiential and applied learning to consider the implications of public service and collaborative problem-solving as they bend to work toward a just and sustainable future. VISION The University of Houston-Downtown will be the university of choice for Houstonians and all seeking to contribute to the social, intellectual, and cultural lives of their communities. The University of Houston-Downtown will be the university of choice for Houstonians and all seeking to contribute to the social, intellectual, and cultural lives of their communities. Our vision is forward-looking and reveals the new paradigm that will establish the culture of UHD for the next 20 years. The vision to make UHD a university of choice will require dedication from the university’s community. Promoting institutional and inclusive excellence and engraining them as practices in every area of the university will get us to this point. However, in addition to our internal efforts, we will need the support of external partners. We invite existing and future collaborators to join us in effecting organizational and operational changes so that we can indeed become a model public, urban university. STRATEGIC GOALS Our goals signal our most critical priorities for the next five years. With these goals, we can move closer to our 20-year vision. A. Enhancing Student SuccessEnhance the student experience to increase retention and graduation rates and enable students to learn and grow in all aspects A1 Evaluate and improve current advising model and offer intentional student support including robust and intrusive advising, academic support, and faculty and staff peer mentorship. A2 Enhance and increase institutional financial support and literacy for all students to help them complete their degrees in a timely manner. A3 Engage students and families in curricular and non-curricular activities to enhance students’ involvement in their education. A4 Inspire students to discover meaningful connections, explore their interests, and participate in experiences while pursuing their degrees in a timely manner. A5 Cultivate an environment of well-being that empowers our campus community to establish and sustain healthy practices. B. Strategic Learning PartnershipsCultivate a diverse portfolio of institutional partnerships to promote experiential learning B1 Establish a central database for scholarly/creative activities and experiential learning (managed by dedicated staff) and student, faculty, staff, and community partners' knowledge creation to foster collaborations, inside and outside the university, and to make tools and opportunities available. B2 Develop cross-sector partnerships to address workforce needs by aligning academic programs to increase value to partners and maintain high quality reciprocal relationships. B3 Implement institutional messaging, training, and practices that promote collaboration and sharing of partnership resources. B4 Establish a standard set of practices to outreach to and engage with community partners to maintain high quality, reciprocal relationships. C. Dynamic Learning EnvironmentCultivate a dynamic learning environment C1 Identify gaps and develop programs and that are relevant to students' and societal needs. C2 Identify models and modes for program delivery that meet our student demands. C3 Offer incentive programs for faculty/teacher development to enhance expertise and student success. C4 Create an academic master plan with policies, procedures, and processes that promote timely development of new programs and review of existing programs. C5 Review low completer programs to determine continued relevance of low-use programs. D. Engaged Faculty and StaffBe the employer of choice D1 Establish funding mandates in the budget planning process that produce competitive salaries for faculty and staff. D2 Revise and improve faculty recruitment and staff hiring practices to broaden talent invested in serving the UHD student population. D3 Establish and implement a faculty and staff workload study to gather data to resolve workload issues; revise policies and evaluation rubrics around faculty and staff workload to promote know creation and dissemination. D4 Develop and implement a plan to reduce employee turnover, increase retention, and foster employee engagement. D5 Develop a robust set of employee policies that address flexible work environment, promotion processes and career path achievement goals. D6 Increase the funding pools for staff to increase development opportunities. D7 Establish an ombuds position to be an advocate for staff in employee issue. E. Sustainable Operations Maximize our operational portfolio E1 Develop and implement a plan to increase new revenue streams. E2 Develop a campus master plan and create a long-term implementation schedule. E3 Create a business process improvement plan to make administrative operations more efficient and effective. E4 Implement a plan that addresses university renovations in coordination with deferred maintenance. E5 Enhance the culture of philanthropy across UHD with the development of a comprehensive fundraising plan. E6 Implement finance strategy related to infrastructure to promote grants. E7 Develop a budget model that fosters collaboration, transparency and aligns resources with University’s strategy priorities. F. Elevated Visibility & RecognitionEnhance the reputation and visibility of UHD F1 Measure the impact of the marketing plan and include extensive stakeholder input and feedback to expand as needed based on findings. F2 Revise UHD website so it is user friendly and uniquely UHD (i.e., We are the Gators!) and promote it on various social media platforms and marketing activities to increase online engagement and visibility. F3 Establish a database of faculty and staff regarding their areas of expertise and willingness to engage in various types of media outlets to increase visibility. F4 Establish a position in each college that actively maintains all the college social media accounts to increase visibility (possibly a student worker). F5 Research UHD rankings and decide which best fit our values and directions as an institution and focus on increasing the criteria to increase rankings. F6 Develop and administer a survey to measure the public perceptions of UHD. F7 Develop a strategy and protocols for ongoing and comprehensive alumni engagement to increase partnership; hire dedicated alumni leadership to increase alumni engagement and giving. F8 Build out the ‘Buy Blue’ project. G. Impactful Knowledge CreationPromote knowledge creation and dissemination G1 Establish a central database for scholarly/creative activities and experiential learning (managed by dedicated staff) and student, faculty, staff, and community partners' knowledge creation to foster collaborations, inside and outside the university, and to make tools and opportunities available. G2 Implement faculty and staff strategy related to workload policies (D3). G3 Implement program to spur grant applications to promote grants and the research/creative pipeline. H. Enhancing Student EnrollmentIncrease headcount and semester credit hours of new students H1 Increase new student registration to maximize tuition revenue. H2 Develop and implement an admission matrix to identify academic and financial support opportunities for new undergraduate students. H3 Integrate new and custom technology solutions to better engage, service, and enroll students in the digital era. H4 Increase communication and strategic awarding of state, federal, and institutional aid to increase recruitment and retention of students. H5 Expand partnership opportunities with external entities to enhance engagement, communication, and student transition. H6 Implement annual college-based targets to include application, headcount, and SCH goals for all student types to maximize tuition revenue.