Research and Creative Excellence
UCCS Goals
UCCS will promote research and creative excellence that generates new knowledge, benefits society and expands 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
Outcomes
How will we accomplish this strategy? We will:
- Increase the number of research-active faculty at the university.
- Improve support for student research and creative work.
- Invest in research support and infrastructure.
Measures of Success
How will we know we're successful? We will have:
- Increased our national reputation for research and creative works.
- Provided research-active faculty with reduced teaching loads.
- Generated gains in research and creative outputs, funding, productivity and impact.
- Invested in expanded resources for undergraduate and graduate student and faculty researchers.
- Built a supportive, sustainable and effective research organization.
Initiatives
How will we get there? We will:
- 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.