How employees helped shape the university's Strategic Imperatives

This spring, University of Arizona President Suresh Garimella launched a process to define the elements of the institution's mission and identify those most essential to building a community focused on learning and discovery. The central priority was clear: serving students – whose success Garimella sees as the university's North Star. The result is "Delivering on Our Promise," the university's Strategic Imperatives, which will guide planning and priorities for the university moving forward.

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"The primary goal for this process is simple – to help our campus community align around a shared vision of who we are and what we can accomplish as an institution," Garimella wrote in a communication sent to campus in March as the effort began. "Focusing on the future is particularly important in times of change, and by articulating a common understanding of what makes our university exceptional, we can continue to thrive as a force for good regardless of any challenges we face."

The process was collaborative and driven by university stakeholders. Amanda Kraus, vice president for student affairs, and John Pollard, dean of the W.A. Franke Honors College, were tasked with facilitating a series of listening sessions to gather input from people throughout the campus community.

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"There was a real sense that we have great people and resources," Kraus said. "The question became, 'How do we align and maximize all the assets we have and use them to move our mission forward?'"

The final document – "Delivering on Our Promise" – describes three Strategic Imperatives:

• Success for Every Student – Advancing a student-centered experience that supports retention, belonging, and graduation and post-graduate achievement for all learners, including graduate and online students.
• Research that Shapes the Future – Building on the university's strengths across disciplines to drive discovery, innovation and solutions to global challenges.
• Engagement with Our Communities to Create Opportunity – Fulfilling the land-grant mission through partnerships, support and impact across Arizona and beyond, with special attention to place-based excellence and sustainability.

Taking time to listen

The sessions that Kraus and Pollard facilitated included students, faculty and staff members, shared governance representatives and community members. Garimella convened all the sessions and actively participated in the discussions.

"We structured the sessions as active learning environments, where participants worked in small groups to answer three key questions: What makes the University of Arizona distinctive, where do we aspire to go, and how do our values guide us?" Pollard said. "The energy in the room was really positive."

Sessions took place in roundtable formats, with between 10 and 75 members in each one. The participants were grouped at tables and used whiteboards to develop and capture ideas. Encouraging themes emerged throughout the process, Kraus said.

"Research came up again and again – not just large-scale projects, but also a strong desire to support undergraduate and graduate research experiences," she said. "I was really heartened by how much staff and faculty members cared about the student experience. Students weren't just a box to check – they were central to everyone's thinking."

Additional takeaways from employee input included the importance of student access to online education, the value of arts and humanities, and the university's land-grant identity and ties to local communities.

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"The land-grant mission came up in ways I've never seen before," Pollard said. "In my 25 years here, this is the first time I've heard it talked about this intentionally. It's about serving not just Arizona, but our tribal, national and global communities."

After releasing an initial draft of the Strategic Imperatives in April, the university invited feedback from the campus community through a questionnaire. Nearly 700 students and faculty and staff members responded, and their insights helped shape the final version.

"Of the three imperatives, over half of respondents said 'Success for Every Student' should be the highest priority, and we will put a great deal of effort into this area – including improving retention and graduation rates, better integrating student services throughout the university, and supporting and empowering faculty and staff to facilitate the greatest possible impact with students," Garimella wrote in an email to campus on May 13.

What happens next

The Strategic Imperatives are meant to be a compass for university units, not a rigid plan. That means, while units are asked to align their initiatives with the goals, how they do so will be determined by individual leaders.

"The goal wasn't to produce a 50-page plan with KPIs," Kraus said, referring to key performance indicators. "It was to create a clear, accessible set of priorities that divisions and colleges can take and make their own."

With the Strategic Imperatives finalized, Pollard reflected on Garimella's installation in April and a story the president told about receiving a slip of paper from his middle school principal that read "Do it now." Pollard said that's the attitude he hopes the university community takes moving forward with these goals in mind.

"Now is the time to act," he said. "The document is great, but it means nothing if we don't use it to guide what we actually do. That's where the next phase begins."

In a May 15 message to campus, President Garimella reflected on student success and its role in "Delivering on Our Promise." Watch the video below.