Dear Colleagues:
Today, we are pleased to share an important milestone for our division: the launch of the first Academic Affairs Strategic Framework alongside the 2026 Action Plan.
This work represents a significant step forward for the Division of Academic Affairs. For the first time, we have a shared, division-wide framework that clearly articulates who we are, what we value, and where we are headed, paired with a focused set of actions that translate that vision into meaningful progress over the coming calendar year.
This framework was shaped by extensive engagement across 2025, through forums, consultations, conversations, and feedback from faculty, staff, students, shared governance partners, and colleagues across the university. Thank you for the care, honesty, and thoughtfulness you brought to this work. Your engagement helped ensure that this framework is grounded in our strengths, responsive to real challenges, and aligned with our shared commitment to students and the academic mission.
The Academic Affairs Strategic Framework is our long-term guide. It provides high-level direction, clarifies our highest priorities, and serves as a steady map to help us navigate an uncertain and evolving future. It aligns directly with the university’s Reach Higher Together commitments and will continue to inform our decisions about resources, structures, and strategy in the years ahead. Importantly, the framework is designed to remain consistent over time.
Each year, that framework is paired with an Action Plan. The 2026 Action Plan identifies the specific actions we are committing to for the coming calendar year. It is more detailed than the framework but intentionally is not a full set of unit-level workplans. Each action has a point of contact, and teams will be created to shape timelines, engagement strategies, and opportunities for involvement as the work moves forward across colleges and units.
We want to be clear about what this plan is, and what it is not. We heard clearly that our community is not resistant to change, but that many are experiencing change fatigue and are asking for focus, clarity, and thoughtful pacing. In response, we have adopted a deliberate approach. Not everything in the framework appears in the 2026 Action Plan. Some efforts are already underway through existing initiatives. Others require foundational conditions, such as staffing models, funding structures, or infrastructure, that must be built first. And some work is intentionally sequenced for future years so we can do it well, not all at once.
Having a strategic framework and yearly action plans is part of being good stewards of our resources. In uncertain times, we must be intentional about where we invest our energy, attention, and budgets. By concentrating on fewer priorities, we strengthen our foundations, build deeper roots, and create the conditions for Academic Affairs to adapt and thrive over the long term.
We are confident in this moment. Academic Affairs is in a strong position. We know who we are. We know what we stand for. And this framework gives us a shared vision and a clear path forward, one that builds on the excellent work already happening across the division, honors our values, and keeps student learning and success at the center of our decisions.
We invite you to review the Academic Affairs Strategic Framework and the 2026 Action Plan on the Academic Affairs Strategic Framework website, where you’ll find an overview of our strategic priorities and the actions we are committing to in the year ahead.
Thank you for your continued engagement, your care for one another, and your commitment to our shared mission. We look forward to moving this work forward together.
Best,
Jen
