President Eighmy provides update on refreshing UTSA’s strategic plan

MAY 6, 2022 — Editor’s note: The following message was sent via email today from President Taylor Eighmy to all faculty and staff:

I write to share current plans and an updated timeline for refreshing UTSA’s strategic plan, initially mentioned in my February 17 email to you.

I continue to believe, and to hear from many of you, that our 10-year plan has served us well since its implementation five years ago. That said, the higher education landscape has undergone fundamental changes over the last three years. Now is an opportune time to conduct a thoughtful refresh to affirm our plan’s utility and modify as needed to serve us for the next five years. This will also allow us to fulfill UT System’s requirement for periodic institutional strategic planning updates.

Our strategic plan refresh will begin this fall and carry into the spring 2023 semester, and will involve participation across the institution and throughout our colleges.

Next spring, we will also develop a five-year proforma within our incentivized resource management budget model framework and principles. The proforma aims to align the university’s projected long-range budget with our strategic plan and initiatives to advance progress towards our goals. As required, our strategic plan refresh and the five-year proforma will be presented to the UT System and the Board of Regents in 2023.

Given the importance of participatory shared governance to our university community, I am asking our University Leadership Council to lead the refresh of our strategic plan, directly involving Faculty Senate, Staff Senate, SGA and our Department Chair’s Council.

My office will be staffing this effort under the direction of Lisa Jasinski, our new senior director of strategic initiatives within the president’s office. Lisa joins us from Trinity University with deep experience in managing university-wide participatory planning processes. I will be providing a specific charge to the University Leadership Council this fall to kick off the effort. Implicit in this process will be engagement with all colleges and divisions for ideas and feedback as the refreshed plan evolves.

Over the summer, my office will be developing a website for the strategic plan refresh process and assembling information regarding our three destinations, our progress toward achieving them, our university key performance indicators and dashboard, our peer institutions and relevant comparative data, and other materials to support the effort.

This refresh is important to our journey, and I look forward to working with all of you as the process unfolds.