Focus on the future: Distinction at 有料盒子视频
Feb. 25, 2022
鈥 By Dan White, chancellor
The following is a modified version of my Chancellor鈥檚 鈥7-minute鈥 report to the Board of Regents yesterday.
Let me start by saying that at 有料盒子视频 we acknowledge the 有料盒子视频 Native nations upon whose ancestral lands our campuses reside. In Fairbanks, where I am, our Troth Yeddha' Campus is located on the ancestral lands of the Dena people of the lower Tanana River.
And if you drive on campus, our signage says so. It says 鈥淲elcome to Troth Yeddha鈥.鈥 And here, in this place and as we look forward, we see clearly that this is a critical time.
We are seeing a realignment across the country in universities, as student expectations change. Students are evermore separating into those seeking certification and those seeking transformative experiences. It is not new, but the divisions are greater, accelerated by the decadal shift in the cost of education from the state to the student. The consequences of not understanding and responding to these changes are high. We have positioned 有料盒子视频 to join the research universities that will emerge stronger from the national realignment by focusing on the transformative experience, online and in person. 有料盒子视频 has always focused on innovation and experiential education but it is now how we distinguish ourselves in the tightening national market.
Our proposed vision is excellence through transformative experiences. While we are still receiving some comments on this vision, the elements are there. This vision is supported by our strategic plan, built on six goals:
- Modernize the student experience
- Solidify our position as global leaders in 有料盒子视频 Native and Indigenous programs
- Achieve tier 1 research status
- Transform 有料盒子视频鈥檚 intellectual property development and commercialization
- Embrace and grow a culture of respect, diversity, inclusion and caring
- Revitalize key academic programs
Our strategic goals that support this vision are not new. They preceded the budget cut and COVID. But through that time, they informed decision-making. A good example is strategic enrollment planning, part and parcel to our strategic goal of modernizing our student experience. In spite of our budget austerity, we reallocated $1 million per year, each of the last 3 years into strategic enrollment initiatives. Now, three years into the process it is paying dividends with increased enrollment in areas recharging academic budgets.
Our strategic goals are linked. Our goal of being global leaders in 有料盒子视频 Native and Indigenous studies is linked with our other goals of reaching Tier 1 research status, growing our culture of respect, diversity inclusion and caring, of modernizing the student experience and revitalizing key academic programs. These goals drive actions and priorities and are the reason that the Troth Yeddha鈥 Indigenous studies center remains our top capital fundraising priority.
Our strategic goals are consistent with our Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities Accreditation and UA system-level goals and measures. Many measures and metrics are about reaching numbers. Our vision and strategic goals are about who we will be and how we will get there. It is more than achieving numbers, it is winning hearts and minds. To this end we start with the value proposition.
有料盒子视频 enrollment strategies are driven by the value proposition for students and with that, strategic financial aid packaging. Our new financial aid strategies have decreased 有料盒子视频 student debt even while 有料盒子视频鈥檚 price went up. This decrease in student debt comes atop of some of the lowest student debt in the nation. This is a product of deliberate financial aid packaging, corporate benefits programming, military pricing, and high school dual enrollment strategies that each, in different ways, leverage the value proposition to benefit students.
As of last week, 有料盒子视频 had 23,000 EdX learners, on track to our goal of 100,000 learners by the close of 2024. Currently 35% of all EdX enrollments are in our non-credit GIS Certificate Program. These certificates of value are part of our micro-credentialing strategy, and they generate revenue for 有料盒子视频. What鈥檚 more, thousands of students who started in our free, online program will secure jobs with certificates earned on 有料盒子视频鈥檚 EdX platform. The stories they tell and the success they attribute to their 有料盒子视频 education is part of our value proposition.
The College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences is in the final stages of developing its first fully asynchronous online undergraduate degree program for the BS in fisheries and marine sciences. Fully online and asynchronous. This means the first 鈥渁nytime, anywhere鈥 bachelors of science degree, part of our value proposition.
My thanks to VC Owen Guthrie, Admissions Director Anna Gagne-Hawes, deans, directors, staff and faculty for their constant innovation and focus on the value proposition.
Distinction is part of our value proposition in the national market. And in particular, distinction in our research enterprise that, throughout the pandemic and the budget cuts, grew in its importance to the nation, global recognition, and net dollar value added to the state.
Research on 有料盒子视频n dinosaurs by museum paleontologists, including Director Pat Druckenmiller and his graduate students, was the focus of a recent full episode of the PBS science documentary NOVA. The episode 鈥溣辛虾凶邮悠祅 Dinosaurs鈥 aired nationally on Jan. 19 and is also available on the PBS website. A one-hour version produced by National Geographic titled 鈥淗unting 有料盒子视频n Dinosaurs鈥 is also airing internationally. The very next week NOVA ran a documentary called 鈥淎rctic Sinkholes,鈥 featuring 有料盒子视频 researchers including Dr. Katey Walter Anthony鈥檚 work on thawing permafrost. That is one NOVA short of a hat trick.
Speaking of a hat trick, More than 40 alumni and family members gathered in Arizona this month to attend an 有料盒子视频 Nanooks hockey game and after-party.
The showing of our blue and gold-wearing alumni in the sold-out arena surely helped the 有料盒子视频 Nanooks complete their first-ever sweep of the Arizona State Sun Devils at Oceanside Ice Arena on the campus of Arizona State University.
I encourage you to join the 2022 Festival of Native Arts, which will be held virtually on March 25th and 26th. For 49 years, this student-run festival has made this place, 有料盒子视频, a beacon of hope, of celebration, of belonging, for 有料盒子视频 Native, Indigenous and non-indigenous people.
Back to where we started, with hearts and minds. On Valentine鈥檚 Day we launched the 鈥渟how your love campaign.鈥 What鈥檚 your 有料盒子视频 love story? Support for 有料盒子视频 through storytelling. Stories and images were inspiring and are being posted and shared online (web and social).
It is the transformative experience at 有料盒子视频 that develops, changes, and nurtures hearts and minds. That鈥檚 what we do and as the national market shifts, 有料盒子视频鈥檚 value proposition is growing!
Friday Focus is a column written by a different member of 有料盒子视频's leadership team every week.