Strategic Plan, Elevate '28,
Objectives and Goals

Office of Academic Affairs
Provost and Executive Vice President
Nathan Gonyea

Strategic Priority: Student Success  

Objective 1: Increase student success by reducing or eliminating barriers to enrollment, retention, and completion.

  • Goal 1: Increase the three-year average of first-to-second-term re-enrollment rates by three percentage points in five years.
  • Goal 2: Increase overall undergraduate and graduate graduation rates by three percentage points for matriculated students within five years.
  • Goal 3: Increase reenrollment rates of students who have been inactive for less than three years by three percentage points in five years.

Objective 2: Improve the student experience.

  • Goal 1: Increase and diversify opportunities for student engagement and university activities by an identified percentage annually, relative to the baseline metric.
  • Goal 2: Increase student satisfaction with student services and co-curricular engagement opportunities by designated percentage(s) on identified measure(s) of student satisfaction.
  • Goal 3: Achieve at least 90% of academic affairs units reaching at least 90% adherence to service standards in five years.

Objective 3: Reduce or eliminate equity gaps on student success metrics for underrepresented and/or historically underserved students.

  • Goal 1: Reduce the equity gaps in overall course completion rates for historically underserved student populations by three percentage points relative to the baseline metric in five years.
  • Goal 2: Reduce the equity gaps in first-to-second-term retention rates for historically underserved student populations by three percentage points relative to the baseline metric in five years.
  • Goal 3: Reduce the equity gaps in graduation rates for historically underserved student populations relative to the baseline metric by three percentage points in five years.

Strategic Priority: Academic and Inclusive Excellence

Objective 1: Strengthen the quality, breadth, and currency of degrees, certificates, and other learning opportunities to meet the needs of students, employers, and communities.

  • Goal 1: Increase the number of academic programs that align with high-need areas by 15 in five years.
  • Goal 2: Increase the number of programs that explicitly align program learning outcomes with external standards, requirements, expectations, and/or needs by the identified percentage relative to the baseline in five years.
  • Goal 3: Increase student satisfaction with academic offerings by the identified percentage relative to the baseline in five years.

Objective 2: Expand and scale our approaches to effective, innovative, and inclusive teaching and online learning.

  • Goal 1: Ensure 100% of courses/course sections offered in the Learning Management System meet all course design standards in the established rubric in five years.
  • Goal 2: Achieve 75% of courses that include the use of inclusive pedagogical practices in five years.
  • Goal 3: Ensure at least 75% of line-based faculty and teaching professionals meet their annual professional development and pedagogical goals related to teaching and learning in five years.

Objective 3: Promote the full range of possibilities for how and where students gain knowledge and provide avenues to evaluate and credential that learning.

  • Goal 1: Increase students' utilization of prior learning into their degree programs by the identified percentage relative to the baseline metric in five years.
  • Goal 2: Reduce the equity gaps in prior learning use by historically underserved students by the identified percentage relative to the baseline metric within five years.
  • Goal 3: Increase the number of students who engage in applied learning opportunities by the identified percentage relative to the baseline metric within five years.

Strategic Priority: Organizational Effectiveness  

Objective 1: Create a teaching and learning environment that fosters mutual respect, advances clear communication, and engenders a culture of belonging, trust, and inclusivity.

  • Goal 1: Increase OAA community satisfaction in each topic area of the SUNY Empire Workplace Climate Surveys by 4 percentage points or more (as applicable) within the next two survey cycles.
  • Goal 2: Reduce gaps in satisfaction between demographic groups among OAA community members in each topic area of the SUNY Empire Workplace Climate Surveys within the next two survey cycles.
  • Goal 3: Increase students’ sense of belonging, trust, and inclusivity by the identified percentage on the selected measure in five years.

Objective 2: Fully implement robust continuous improvement processes and effectiveness tracking across the division.

  • Goal 1: Achieve 100% of academic affairs’ units completing annual continuous improvement processes/reporting that includes closing the loop data in three years.
  • Goal 2: Reach 100% of academic affairs’ units utilizing at least one data dashboard to track unit level key performance indicators in three years.
  • Goal 3: Ensure 100% of performance programs and annual plans include measurable goals or objectives aligned with the strategic plan within the next two years.

Strategic Priority: Raising our Public Profile  

Objective 1: Position Empire State University as a SUNY leader in effective and innovative applied teaching and learning and student success.

  • Goal 1: Increase partnerships with external organizations that include opportunities for students to engage in applied learning with the partner organization by 20% relative to the baseline metric within five years.
  • Goal 2: Increase the number of grant- and contract-funded projects that support applied teaching and learning and student success activities the identified percentage relative to the baseline metric within five years.
  • Goal 3: Increase externally facing awards and presentations of Empire State University applied teaching and learning and student success activities by the identified percentage relative to the baseline metric within five years.

Objective 2: Become a SUNY leader in applied scholarship and creative activities.

  • Goal 1: Increase external/externally facing applied scholarship, publications, presentations, and creative activities by the identified percentage relative to the baseline metric within five years.
  • Goal 2: Increase grant and contract funding for applied research and creative activities by the identified percentage relative to the baseline metric within five years.
  • Goal 3: Increase external awards for scholarship and creative activities by Empire State University faculty, staff, and students by the identified percentage relative to the baseline metric within five years.

Objective 3: Establish and grow centers for distinction of SUNY, state, and national renown.

  • Goal 1: Double grants and contracts to centers of distinction relative to the baseline metric in five years.
  • Goal 2: Triple training and consulting engagements through centers of distinction relative to the baseline metric within five years.