Academic Affairs Priorities Challenges Aspirations Survey
Based on what you see as the most significant challenges and opportunities facing WMU in 2016-2017
☐ mark (click over box) what you believe are the top (5) Challenges.
Enrollment challenges
☐ Enrollment decline due to loss of market share of traditional undergrad students
☐ Changing demographics for future student population
☐ Develop a realistic enrollment goal that is data driven and financially sustainable
☐ Determining admission standards for the best fit for our university
☐ Strategies for helping students who are less prepared to achieve success
☐ Strategic recruitment of international students in light of Homeland Security barriers and that the international
students demand more university resources
☐ Creating a culture for faculty to support recruitment and retention efforts
☐ Other_________________
Identity challenges
☐ Trying to articulate a “multiple universities” model: “professional” colleges; graduate education; micro
credentials (certificates), research Carnegie classification
☐ Differentiation of programs from our national and international competitors
☐ Generating positive and meaningful messages that reflect academic mission
☐ Other_________________
Budget challenges
☐ Align budget planning and allocation to AA strategic plan and identify metrics
☐ Reexamine resource allocation based on changes in program needs
☐ Use enrollment metrics to allocate resources from one unit to another
☐ Offer sufficient financial aid—improve financial literacy for our students
☐ Resources should follow prioritization, need
☐ Use ARP&P results to tie into budget planning
☐ Establish planning principles and prioritization to make decisions on how to spend limited dollars (or institute
cuts). Can’t be all things to everybody.
☐ Understanding the need for optimal class size for instruction and sustainable program capacity
☐ Other_________________
Faculty challenges
☐ The aging faculty—creates a cascade of issues
☐ Recruiting, hiring and retaining quality faculty to support desired enrollment
☐ Increase number of tenure track faculty
☐ Incentives for and maintenance of innovative teaching, quality instruction
☐ Incentives for and maintenance of research, creative and scholarly activity
☐ Developing meaningful assessment of student learning
☐ Other_______________
Based on what you see as the most significant challenges and opportunities facing WMU in 2016-2017
☐ mark (click over box) what you believe should be the top (2) changes to be made?
☐ Focus on fundraising for student scholarships and specific initiatives at the departmental/college level
Please return to Jody Brylinsky 3074 Seibert Administration Bldg. mail stop 5204 or brylinsky@wmich.edu
☐ Expect and incentivize faculty participation in recruitment and retention efforts
☐ Prioritize potential growth areas- graduate education, outreach to contemporary student population and
online/hybrid delivery of classes, programs
☐ Institute early intervention strategies for more than first year students
☐ Unit discussion and development of capacity measures that are aligned with university budget and planning
☐ More collaborative efforts within colleges and across colleges, we have a competitive model that pits colleges
against one another and in some cases departments and programs against one another
☐ Revision of summer budget model
☐ Focus on program growth in EUP budget model rather than as a source of faculty replacement
☐ Create & promote a culture of quality over quantity
☐ Address institutional inertia
☐ AA Plan needs to clearly align with University Strategic Plan, college plans need to prioritize AA Plans
☐ Other_______________
Based on what you see as the most significant challenges and opportunities facing WMU in 2016-2017 ☐ mark
(click over box) what you believe should be the top 5-6 priorities going forward 2020.
☐ Conduct a strengths study
☐ Create more national exposure and delivery for our programs
☐ Increase innovative programs (interdisciplinary); improve mechanisms for interdisciplinary collaborations for
program development and execution
☐ Develop a Futures Committee to become less reactive in planning; Engage university community in defining a
vision for a 21st century WMU
☐ Strengthen partnerships with community colleges, high schools, twinning programs
☐ Conduct a thorough review of current tuition structure--simplify; Initiate reciprocal tuition agreements; nonresident tuition reduction; review block tuition model
☐ Identify centers of excellence and leverage rankings of outstanding programs
☐ Support Global Engagement scholarship and passport initiative
☐ Identify needed resource and differentiated faculty needs for Carnegie classification as a higher research,
comprehensive doctoral university.
☐ Reinvest in recruitment and retention of graduate students including graduate assistantships
☐ Build more pathways to graduate education (ex. Accelerated graduate degree programs; micro credentials)
☐ Use multiyear budget plan
☐ Lessen achievement gap between different student groups
☐ Strengthen and publicize the applied/experiential nature of many programs
☐ Engage in opportunity hires to establish new unique programs and/or research initiatives
☐ Institute a campus wide focus and commitment to increasing student retention and degree completion
☐ Foster an inclusive environment in which faculty feel able to learn from, join and add to collaborative
conversations
☐ Revise WMU-branded General Education program, being innovative on how we deliver education
☐ Develop a strategic revision of 1st year programs and consideration of a 4 year student success plan
☐ Develop a named unit or program to recruit “adult” learners
☐ Have a PAR that better reflects faculty products in scholarship and creative activities
☐ Gain sufficient resources for learner support programs that may be under staffed
☐ Clarify vision/identity of AA and University
☐ Have integrated plan for early/middle college, online competency based education
☐ Increase programs that develop student financial literacy
☐ Other_______________
Please return to Jody Brylinsky 3074 Seibert Administration Bldg. mail stop 5204 or brylinsky@wmich.edu