2016 - 2020 Strategic Plan

Mission: The University of South Alabama, with a global reach and special focus on the Gulf Coast, strives to make a difference in the lives of those it serves through promoting discovery, health, and learning.

Core Values: The University of South Alabama affirms the following core values as essential to the accomplishment of its mission:

• Diversity and a Global Perspective
• Excellence
• Freedom in the Pursuit of Knowledge
• Integrity
• Transparency and Participation in Decision-Making

Vision: The University of South Alabama will be a leading comprehensive public university internationally recognized for educational, research, and healthcare excellence as well as for its positive intellectual, cultural, and economic impact on those it serves.

Essential activities: While the Strategic Plan highlights those areas of work upon which the University will place special emphasis, success in any area is dependent also upon effectively engaging in the following activities:

• Engaging and developing faculty and staff and supporting their efforts in advancing the mission and priorities
• Being fiscally responsible
• Meeting our development and fund-raising targets
• Implementing our marketing and communications strategies
• Engaging our alumni

The University of South Alabama Strategic Plan is organized around five institutional priorities:

• 1. Student Success and Access
• 2. Enhancement of Research and Graduate Education
• 3. Global Engagement
• 4. Excellence in Healthcare
• 5. University-Community Engagement

Student Success and Access: To develop, implement, and assess initiatives and practices to ensure all students are offered the resources, structure, and relationships necessary for high-quality learning, academic persistence, and degree completion.

• Objective 1.1: Increase the persistence, progression, and degree completion of undergraduate and graduate students.
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• Objective 1.2: Ensure students are meeting learning outcomes established by the faculty.
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• Objective 1.3: Ensure recruitment and admission of a high-quality, diverse student body that is well prepared for college study and representative of the racial/ethnic, gender, and social class diversity of the region.
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• Objective 1.4: Increase students’ access to a diverse faculty and staff among whom students may find exemplars and mentors.
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• Objective 1.5: Increase faculty and student engagement through excellence in instruction, advising, and academic/professional mentorship.
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• Objective 1.6: Offer student programming that increases student engagement with the University and meets co-curricular learning outcomes established by Student and Academic Affairs.
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• Objective 1.7: Provide a safe and civil environment.
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• Objective 1.8: Increase enrollment in a fiscally responsible manner while strengthening academic standards for admission.

Enhancement of Research and Graduate Education: To increase USA productivity in discovery, research, scholarship, and creative activities and ensure excellence in graduate education.

• Objective 2.1: Increase resources and infrastructure to support faculty research and scholarly activity.
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• Objective 2.2: Increase the recognition for excellence of graduate programs.
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• Objective 2.3: Increase opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to participate with faculty in research, discovery, and creative activities.
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• Objective 2.4: Provide support for Health System and University partnerships in inter-disciplinary collaborative research projects, grants, contracts, and translational research projects.
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• Objective 2.5: Increase the number of regional, national, and international collaborations in research, scholarly, and creative activities.
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• Objective 2.6: Advance entrepreneurial activities that support the development of new technologies.
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• Objective 2.7: Increase the dissemination and impact of research and scholarship produced by USA faculty and postdoctoral fellows on Mobile, nationally, and internationally.
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• Objective 2.8: Increase faculty participation in making application for and securing external funding.

Global Engagement: To strengthen the connections and collaborations between the University and the larger world by enhancing faculty, staff, and students’ international experiences and their understanding of other societies and cultures among faculty, staff, and students.

• Objective 3.1: Increase the diversity of the international student body.
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• Objective 3.2: Increase the incorporation of global perspectives into the educational environment.
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• Objective 3.3: Increase engagement with international businesses and organizations especially those with a local presence.

Excellence in Health Care: To actively participate in research, to educate healthcare professionals, and to be the region’s leader in patients’ access to care, outcomes, and satisfaction by providing healthcare that uses an interprofessional approach, is efficient, and is informed by research and education

• Objective 4.1: Achieve exceptional patient quality and satisfaction for the USA Hospitals, Clinics and the Mitchell Cancer Institute in comparison to peer groups.
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• Objective 4.2: Adapt to reimbursement changes based on patient outcomes and value to provide financial stability and a quality teaching environment.
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• Objective 4.3: Ensure excellence in the educational outcomes for health professionals.

University-Community Engagement: To define, support, and strategically advance the University of South Alabama's commitment to ongoing, permanent, sustainable, and mutually beneficial partnerships with the communities it serves.

• Objective 5.1: Increase experiential learning opportunities for USA students in the private and public sectors.
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• Objective 5.2: Increase strategic engagement of faculty, staff, and students with business, government, non-profit and other organizations directly involved in regional economic, civic, and cultural development.
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• Objective 5.3: Increase University outreach to encourage community participation in University-life.