Transforming Lives: Student Success and Academic Achievement

UMA Community Engagement Process To Develop the 2021 – 2025 Strategic Plan

Timeline temporarily suspended due to COVID-19 response.

This Infographic shows a graphic of an analog clock corresponding to the timeline and various landmarks of the 2021-2025 Strategic Planning process. It’s “Time” for Strategic Planning! 2021-2025 The information on the clock is as follows At 2 o’clock (corresponding for February) February 4/5 - Open Forums; kick off strategic planning process February 10 - Message to UMA Community & Letters to Shared Governance February 11 - Cabinet Meeting - discuss process & invite input February 21 - Faculty Senate - discuss process & invite input February 24 - Send out the Survey Instrument February 24 - (week of) Round Table Discussions - first round At 3 o’clock (corresponding for March) March 2 - (week of) Round Table Discussions - second round March 9 - (week of) Round Table Discussions - third round March 10 - Cabinet Meeting - discuss process & findings to date March 13 - Survey Instrument ends* March 23 - Message to UMA Community re: findings to date March 27 - Faculty Senate - discuss process & findings to date At 4 o’clock (corresponding for April) April 3 - Shared Governance findings due** April 7 - Board of Visitors Meeting - discuss process & findings to date, invite input April 10 - Message to UMA Community: re: findings to date** April 13/15 - Open Forums - share findings & gather feedback April 14 - Cabinet Meeting - share findings & gather feedback April 17 - Faculty Senate - share findings & gather feedback April 22 Message to UMA Community - share findings & next steps for Fall 2020 At 5 o’clock (corresponding to May) Graduation - End of Spring Semester At 6, 7, and 8 o’clock(corresponding to June, July, and August) Administration works over the summer to develop a DRAFT Strat Plan At 9 o’clock (corresponding to September) Fall Semester Begins At 10 and 11 o’clock (corresponding for October and November) Another round of engagement to gather feedback on the plan At 12 o’clock (corresponding to December) End of Fall 2020 Semester – Plan Adoption

Printable Strategic planning 2021-2025 infographic (PDF)

UMA Mission Statement

UMA transforms the lives of students of every age and background across the State of Maine and beyond through access to high-quality distance and on-site education, excellent student support and civic engagement, and innovative professional and liberal arts programs.

UMA Vision Statement

As an engaged learning community, the University of Maine at Augusta will continuously pursue innovative and best-in-class pedagogy, technology and services to enhance student learning and success.  UMA is committed to delivering quality academic programs, on-site and at a distance, that prepare students to succeed as engaged citizens, professionals and leaders in enriching and advancing communities in Maine and beyond.

UMA Community Engagement

All members of the UMA community are invited to participate in a process to develop UMA’s 2021 – 2025 Strategic Plan.  Building on the 2016 – 2020 revised strategic plan, this effort will allow us to better define our collective vision for the future and align our limited resources, including human and monetary, behind those strategies that will help us to be most successful in fulfilling the vision.

The following list of questions is intended to engage our community in further defining the 2025 vision for UMA.  The exercise is intended to be visionary, looking forward to the final year of the strategic plan in 2025; therefore, most questions are worded in the future tense.  Participants should feel welcome to rephrase the questions or replace them if needed as you participate in this process.  Participants are also encouraged to provide input on any aspect of the strategic plan.  All voices are desired, with “UMA community” broadly defined to be inclusive of all stakeholders.

Vision Questions

  • What educational and community values are represented by this vision?
  • What will “high-quality distance and on-site education” delivered by UMA look like in 2025?
  • How will the UMA experience “transform the lives of students”?
  • How will the UMA community align to provide “excellence in student support”?
  • How will the UMA community support all students in civic engagement and experiential learning opportunities?
  • How will the UMA community expand support for workforce development throughout Maine?
  • What will UMA do to preserve and enhance a sense of community for all students, faculty and staff with this vision?
  • What are UMA’s strengths today and how will we evolve our core competencies to support this vision?
  • What challenges does UMA face and what new investments will be required to support this vision?

Recognized Sectors of the UMA Community

The President also requests the senior administration, the Faculty Senate, the Professional Employees Assembly, the Classified Employees Assembly, the Student General Assembly, and the Board of Visitors to engage in this process by responding to the Vision Questions and by recommending proposed revisions, if any, to the vision statement, strategic plan and accompanying strategies.  There is no set format for submitting these initial recommendations for the revised vision, plan and strategies.

Open Forums Kickoff – noon to 1pm

Bangor Campus – Eastport Hall Room 124 – February 5th
Augusta Campus – Fireside Lounge – February 13th – rescheduled

At the February Open Forums (the Augusta forum will include a video feed for the UMA Centers and the broader community), the President will kick off the strategic planning process, which will conclude in Fall 2020.

Round-table Discussions

Posted April 10, 2020 – Find the summaries for the round-table discussions and the mission/vision online survey results here.

The President will offer a series of round-table discussions facilitated by two or more members of the senior administration to engage cross-sector discussion on the Vision Questions and input on the strategic plan.  Three sessions each will be scheduled on the Augusta and Bangor campuses.

Bangor Campus – Eastport 124: 

  • 2pm-3pm on February 26
  • noon-1pm on March 3
  • 10am-11am on March 12

Augusta Campus – Randall Student Center Fireplace Lounge: 

  • noon-1pm on February 28
  • 10am-11am on March 2
  • 2pm-3pm on March 10

UMA Centers: 

Center Directors will promote the time and location and facilitate their Center round-table discussions.

Rumford – Room 309 – 2:30pm-4pm – March 5
Lewiston – Room 218 – 2:30pm-4pm – March 5
South Paris – Room 117 – 2:30pm-4pm – March 5
Saco – 11am-1pm – March 12
East Millinocket – 2pm-3:30pm – March 18
Rockland – 2pm-3:30pm – March 23
Ellsworth – 4pm-6pm – March 25
Brunswick – 3:30pm-5pm – March 26

Updated 3.2.20

Survey I: Mission/Vision Questions

Posted April 10, 2020 – Find the summaries for the round-table discussions and the mission/vision online survey results here.

February 24th to March 13th
An online survey will be emailed to faculty, staff, students and stakeholders to engage further input on the Vision Questions and the strategic plan.

Response to Vision Questions and Initial Recommendations

Due:  April 3rd

The President requests the senior administration, the Faculty Senate, the Professional Employees Assembly, the Classified Employees Assembly, the Student General Assembly, and the Board of Visitors to provide their respective responses to the Vision Questions and their initial recommendations for the revised vision, plan and strategies no later than Friday, April 3rd.

Open Forums Update – noon to 1pm

Bangor Campus – Eastport Hall Room 124 – April 13th
Augusta Campus – Fireside Lounge – April 15th

The President will hold open forums (the Augusta forum will include a video feed for the UMA Centers and the broader community) to provide feedback to the UMA community on what was heard during the engagement process (roundtable discussions, survey instrument and initial recommendations).

Next Steps

In the Fall 2020 Semester, we will wrap up the strategic plan.  Senior administrators and others will work over the summer to develop a DRAFT 2021 – 2025 Strategic Plan reflecting the priorities and ideas put forth through the round table discussions, survey instrument, and initial recommendations from the recognized sectors of the UMA community:  senior administrators, the Faculty Senate, the Professional Employees Assembly, the Classified Employees Assembly, the Student General Assembly and the Board of Visitors.

We will use the Fall Open Forums, as well as additional round table discussions and a survey instrument to ensure additional input is received on the DRAFT plan before adoption.  We will also ask the recognized sectors of the UMA community to weigh in again before the Cabinet moves to approve a final 2021-2025 Strategic Plan in late fall.

Resources

Link to full text of the UMA 2016 – 2020 Strategic Plan (metrics revised January, 2020) (PDF)

Link to the Archive for Vision 2.0/2016-2020 Strategic Planning process

Link to the 2020 NECHE Interim Report – January 2020 (PDF)

Link to the 2019 Great Colleges to Work For Survey results (PPT)

Link to the 2017 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) results snapshot (PDF)

Link to the 2019 Spring UMA Graduating Student Survey results (PDF)

Link to the Fall 2019 UMA Adult Learner 360 Report (Word)

Printable UMA Community Engagement Process Document (Word)