Core Strategy 1
Core Strategy #1
The charge of the first core strategy in the UCCS 2030 Strategic Plan is to promote and invest in research and creative excellence. In doing so, UCCS aims to generate new knowledge, benefit society, attract and retain outstanding faculty and expand transformational experiences for students.
Jessi Smith
"Research is a dynamic process"
Jessi Smith is a team lead on the research and creative excellence strategy
"Original discoveries underlie the very core of our academic mission. Research active faculty translates to students learning from experts in their field, contributing to new knowledge, and bettering the world through problem solving."
Being part of this working group helped remind Jessi of the intrinsic value of research. It is not all about grant dollars, reputation, or journal publications. "Those things are nice, but research is so much more than a swirl in a petri dish," she said.
Important Information
Our groups
After Chancellor Venkat Reddy’s Town Hall sessions in March, faculty, staff and students formed and joined working groups for each of the plan’s seven core strategies. Core Strategy teams were tasked with identifying the priorities, initiatives, anticipated outcomes and measures of success for each of the strategic themes.
Provost Tom Christensen took charge of the first Core Strategy team, with associate vice chancellor for research Jessi Smith taking on a role as team lead. Faculty and staff rounded out the group.
Outcomes
By promoting and investing in research and creative excellence, the Core Strategy team envisions the following outcomes:
- A substantial increase in research-active faculty, support for student research, research staff support, and resources for infrastructure
- All research-active faculty will have more time for research
- An increased national reputation for research and creative works
Measures of Success
As the strategy moves into implementation, the Core Strategy team will measure success by the following criteria:
- A significant increase in research and creative outputs, funding, productivity and impact
- A significant increase in research-active faculty
- A significant increase in the real value of funding and resources for undergraduate and graduate student researchers
- A maximum four-course workload for research-active faculty per academic year
Initiatives
To translate vision into practice, the Core Strategy team recommends the following initiatives:
- Develop and implement an equitable framework for research policy, practice, shared-governance and evaluation
- Increase university investment in research faculty, research and sponsored program support significantly above growth and inflation margins
- Foster a diverse research culture and strengthen infrastructure
- Significantly expand support for student research, especially among underrepresented students
Feedback
With a draft strategy in place, there are limited opportunities for further refinement. Campus community members with thoughts on how to fine-tune the existing strategy are welcome to submit feedback, which will be passed to the designated Core Strategy team for review.