Office of the Provost

Dear UConn Community,

For the past several months, many of us have had to focus our energy and attention on adapting to the challenges posed by COVID-19. Today, as we anticipate the results of the presidential election, many of us again find our attention focused to just the day ahead.

While 2020 has in many ways necessitated that we prioritize the short term, as a university community we also must consider where we are headed for the long term. A big step toward charting that direction is launching our strategic planning process. In a normal year, we would likely not choose to announce the start of this process on Election Day. But 2020 is unlike any year we’ve ever seen.

A strategic planning process launched amid an unprecedented year like 2020 would ring hollow without the context of this year’s events. Our strategic planning process must consider our place as a public research university in the full context of our times, which includes a pandemic, racial and social injustices, and environmental impacts. So in some ways, it is fitting to launch our planning process in the context of a consequential election.

We are launching the start of our planning process with you. We invite you to join us in visioning activities over the next few weeks, where we will share our initial directions for strategic planning and gather your feedback on what direction you envision for UConn over the next several years.

We are offering a few different options to participate in these visioning activities: through university-wide events, through your own teams or organizations, or individually.

The university-wide visioning events will include a State of the University presentation from President Katsouleas and an overview of the strategic planning process from Provost Lejuez. They will also include breakout sessions made up of randomly assigned groups of each event’s faculty, staff, and student attendees to engage in discussion about shared vision and values for the UConn of the Future.

We have made the following dates and times available for university-wide visioning events:

• Friday, Nov. 13 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
• Thursday, Nov. 19 from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.
• Friday, Dec. 4 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

You may also choose to participate in strategic plan visioning activities within your own teams or organizations, or individually. We will record the presentations from the university-wide events and can provide the same visioning activity materials for those who elect the team or individual option.

If you are interested in participating in visioning activities, we ask that you let us know through our RSVP form by clicking here. Please note that we are also seeking faculty and staff facilitators for the university-wide events, for which you’ll be able to sign up in the RSVP form.

These events will set the stage for our creation of a steering committee and working groups from our community, who will join our planning team for the start of the spring semester. If you are interested in engaging in specific ways on this plan, you may let us know via provost@uconn.edu.

We look forward to beginning these important conversations with you.

Sincerely,
Tom and Carl

Tom Katsouleas
President

Carl Lejuez
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs