UHart Start
Our Timeline
Our Timeline
Because our UHart Start Strategic Action Plan sets a transformation goal of 2025, our objectives must be well-coordinated yet flexible. See what’s in the works for each of our three major phases.Phase 1: NOW 2020 - 2023
Slated for completion between 2021 and 2023, the first phase of UHart Start prioritizes objectives that are achievable on a shorter timeline to set a foundation for further efforts.
What will Phase 1 accomplish?
Having undergone a thorough evaluation phase, our academic programs, services, budgets, resources, partnership opportunities, and delivery methods are now fully vetted. The process of updating our curriculums, services, facilities, and business model is well underway, with commitments to our values infused throughout our academic and student life experiences. New offerings that build on our inclusive culture and increase return on investment have already been fully planned if not launched. Marketing, outreach, and enrollment efforts have taken shape.
Across our community, the stage is set for the University of Hartford to flourish.
WHO: Academic Affairs / Division of Student Success
WHAT:
- Identify and infuse essential learning outcomes distinctive to a University of Hartford undergraduate education, including written and oral communication, critical thinking, teamwork, quantitative literacy, and intercultural competence.
- Continue to assess and refine the undergraduate University Interdisciplinary Studies curriculum, with an emphasis on integrative learning and the incorporation of our Essential Learning Outcomes.
- Offer post-graduate experiences, including degree and non-degree programs, that respond to the needs of professional and geographic communities.
- Leverage the assets of our schools and colleges to provide all students with the opportunity for breadth of study and exploration of personal interests.
- Develop and offer a series of experiences and reflections throughout the four undergraduate years to help bring meaning and purpose to their lives and inform their decision making in career direction, life interests, and personal values.
- Support and reward the use of a variety of teaching modalities, including online and hybrid courses and programs.
- Develop a system of faculty appointment types, roles, and rewards consistent with our evolving student commitments and changing demands in the external environment.
WHO: Dean of Students
WHAT:
- Implement partnerships between Career Services and the Colleges to ensure a robust and intentional arc of career development.
- Revitalize the undergraduate first-year academic, social, and residential experience, beginning with Orientation and continuing throughout the year.
WHO: Division of Student Success
WHAT:
- Centralize graduate recruitment and admission efforts for improved service, elevated academic profiles, increased international student enrollment, and greater student diversity.
- Ensure successful transitions before, during, and out of college for all students.
- Provide timely and ongoing academic and social support to students.
- Use technology to help identify students in need of help and communicate among the various groups to provide assistance across a wide variety of interactions and activities.
- Design and implement individual and group support services for specific marginalized populations.
- Deliver high-quality advising for all students across all years of study, seeking to support all students through to graduation.
- Continue to close the gap in retention and graduation among all students and students of color.
- Develop and implement data-informed retention strategies at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
- Continue to build a community-based Public Safety operation and staff focused on solidifying a safe campus and building positive interactions and engagements with our students.
WHO: Office of the President
WHAT:
- Enroll, support, and retain a diverse student population.
- Increase the racial diversity of our faculty and staff.
- Develop a robust and significant roster of events and learning opportunities related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice across our campus and community.
- Provide ongoing training and development for faculty and staff at all stages of their careers.
WHO: Provost
WHAT:
- Develop curricular innovations that address diversity and a global education and engagement across all programs.
WHO: Office of Financial Affairs
WHAT:
- Develop a University model for school/college enrollments and staffing sizes that, as a collective enterprise, creates a balanced budget.
- Continue to seek efficiencies in staffing models that preserve resources and reduce expenses.
- Make intelligent use of all spaces for maximum value.
- Make intelligent use of technology for operational success and efficiency.
- Assess the budgetary options for full and adjunct faculty deployment and ratios.
- Create a sustainable resource allocation plan for schools/colleges/divisions.
- Enhance international student recruitment and enrollment.
- Continue to refine the staffing, size, and structure of the Office of Development and Alumni Affairs.
- Grow a robust and vibrant alumni network of engagement.
- Grow the parent network into a substantial enterprise.
- Explore the feasibility of, and set the stage for, a comprehensive campaign, beginning with first steps around staffing, strategy, marketing, and donor engagement.
WHO: Division of Academic Affairs / Enrollment
WHAT:
- Assess enrollment patterns and projections to adjust the portfolio of programs at all levels to attract and retain new student populations.
WHO: Provost / Enrollment
WHAT:
- Assess and expand enrollment in select existing programs, strategically using more sophisticated data, financial aid planning, and yield strategies.
- Seek new revenue through the expansion of learning options for professional and adult education, online learning, certificate programs, and professional partnerships.
WHO: CFO
WHAT:
- Create budget guidelines and practices that have adequate checks and balances, ensure robust review and accountability, and provide regular and reliable data.
WHO: Facilities
WHAT:
- Create welcoming spaces for all students to promote educational and personal goals and develop a strong sense of community.
- Create learning spaces and pedagogical configurations for the 21st century.
- Engage in an ongoing renewal and elevation of our teaching spaces.
- Develop the efficient use of existing facilities, including learning spaces to accommodate new or expanding programs.
- Develop a multi-year plan for the renewal of residence halls.
- Explore and engage in Phase One of Recreation and Wellness renewal plan; Field House/Track and Field.
- Explore options for more sustainable practices.
WHO: Office of Marketing and Communication
WHAT:
- Maintain an exceptional new hartford.edu website with continuous improvement in digital tools and resources.
- Develop and execute annual comprehensive and data-informed strategic marketing plans for the University and individual schools and colleges.
Phase 2: SOON 2023 - 2025
Slated for completion between 2023 and 2025, the second phase of UHart Start prioritizes near-future objectives that must be completed to ensure a successful transformation.
What will Phase 2 accomplish?
We are now fully vested in the continued growth of our highest-leverage priorities and have made great strides toward the ultimate fulfillment of our agreed-upon goals. We have identified and agreed to necessary sacrifices. Our student and faculty experience, program offerings, business model, physical campus, and outward-facing identity now resemble—and may match or even surpass—our collective vision for 2025.
Across our community, we have fully embraced an exciting future.
WHO: Provost / Dean of Students
WHAT:
- Begin campus conversations around elevated academic rigor and achievement.
- Promote a culture of continuous improvement through data-informed assessment.
- Define and implement a robust program of financial support for graduate students, mainly in the form of graduate assistants who bring new work responsibilities to campus that reduce expenses for the University while providing an outstanding experience for the graduate student.
WHO: Office of Development and Alumni Affairs
WHAT:
- Leverage corporate and community partnerships for the intellectual, entrepreneurial, and career development of our students.
WHO: Student Life
WHAT:
- Re-examine the undergraduate residential experience across four years, creating opportunities for personal and academic development, as well as reinforcement of Essential Learning Outcomes.
- Develop a roster of student life and residential programs to support a set of student experience learning outcomes.
WHO: Division of Student Success
WHAT:
- Complete the refinement of an outstanding first-year program.
- Complete the growth of an outstanding second-year program.
- Develop an intentional and robust educational path towards career discovery exploration, experience, and achievement.
WHO: Office of the President
WHAT:
- Enroll, support, and retain a diverse student population.
- Recruit and retain faculty and staff who are committed to the mission and goals of the University.
- Recruit and retain faculty and staff who are representative of the multiplicity of diversity in the wider community.
- Analyze and address equity gaps in the achievement of essential and student learning outcomes.
WHO: Provost
WHAT:
- Continue to develop curricular innovations that address diversity and a global education and engagement across all programs.
WHO: CFO
WHAT:
- Determine if there are programs or initiatives that have outlived their best years and positive results or that consume more than a reasonable number of resources for the return in engagement.
- Achieve maximum operational and budgetary efficiency, including more centralized operations, more transparent budgeting practices, and a deeply engaged Office of Human Resources and Development.
- Grow expectations and revenue from the Office of Sponsored Programs, benefiting faculty and student research, and University-wide programs and initiatives.
WHO: Provost
WHAT:
Continue to develop new revenue through the expansion of learning options for professional and adult education, online learning, certificate programs, and professional partnerships.
WHO: Office of Development and Alumni Affairs
WHAT:
- Develop key partnerships for resource support.
- Increase philanthropy through modern practices and a continued growth in planned and leadership giving.
- Engage in the next scheduled steps of a potential comprehensive campaign.
WHO: Facilities
WHAT:
- Begin initiatives to invest in new residence halls.
- Achieve a physical campus that is attractive, welcoming, and easy to navigate, while encouraging and intentionally improving upon environmentally sound and sustainable practices.
- Make all campus buildings and grounds more attractive, accessible, comfortable, and conducive to community.
- Establish new recreation and wellness opportunities that promote a healthy experience both physically and mentally for our students, knowing that both have a powerful impact on a student’s overall success.
WHO: Office of Marketing and Communication
WHAT:
- Enhance the University visit experience through tours, signage, wayfaring, and the appropriate promotion of the many ongoing campus improvement initiatives and building projects.
- Evaluate, document, and share improved resources, processes, and training for emergency and crisis communication and response.
- Focus on the development of a marketing/recruiting campaign for graduate students.
Phase 3: LATER 2024 - Onward
Slated to begin in 2024, the last phase of UHart Start outlines future-facing activities that should be well underway in order to claim a full realization of our vision.
What will Phase 3 accomplish?
We have advanced our maturity as a modern, future-facing enterprise, and actively broken new ground in moving forward as a sustainable and equitable institution. Initial objectives may have shifted following new opportunities and unseen challenges, but we have emerged from a deliberate and strategic transformation with renewed strength and purpose.
Our efforts have earned enhanced recognition from our internal community, incoming students and their parents, broader communities we serve, employers of our graduates, alumni, donors, partners, competitors in the higher education marketplace, and the world at large.
Across our community, we have realized our promise of ensured excellence and sustained success, and eagerly await the next chapter in our legacy.
WHO: Provost / Dean of Students
WHAT:
- Examine the role of a global perspective and content within all academic programs and expand travel abroad opportunities and engagement for all students.
- Engage in practices that encourage and elevate academic achievement and lofty intellectual goals.
- Study and possibly create a graduate school at the University that encompasses and coordinates all graduate programs.
- Support and reward the use of research-based, cutting-edge pedagogies in all disciplines, at all levels, including the use of academic technologies.
WHO: Division of Student Success
WHAT:
- Continue the refinement of, and engagement with, a modern set of student life learning outcomes and analysis for undergraduates.
WHO: Office of the President
WHAT:
- Develop programming for the University community that contributes to personal health and wellness, and community inclusiveness.
- Develop, implement, and communicate policies and procedures that are clear, accessible, and in support of our mission and values, including our commitment to equity and justice.
WHO: Chief Financial Officer / Office of Development and Student Affairs
WHAT:
- Engage in a sustained and targeted system of continuous improvement and efficiency, ensuring that resource investment is maximized and revenue margins are healthy and sustainable.
- Increase revenue from summer and other auxiliary activities.
- Advance the efforts of alumni and parent groups.
- Continue to refine data and wealth screening.
- Set and achieve aggressive targets for major gifts and planned giving.
- Move through the silent phase of a comprehensive campaign (if undertaken).
WHO: Dean of Students
WHAT:
- Increase occupancy in residence halls.
WHO: Facilities
WHAT:
- Complete Recreation and Wellness upgrades; Phases One and Two (Field House/Track and Field).
- Begin planning for Recreation and Wellness, Phase Three (Sports Center upgrades).
- Begin construction on the new resident hall(s).
WHO: Office of Marketing and Communication
WHAT:
- Improve University visibility and awareness by leveraging spending power for comprehensive advertising campaigns, implementing strategic media relations efforts, and creatively sharing stories and messaging in academics, arts and performances, partnerships, athletics, and faculty activities.
- Achieve a fully integrated, personalized, and analytical communication experience for all audiences, internal and external.
