UWA’s Strategic Plan for 2020-2025 

UWA has developed a five-year strategic plan with the mission of enriching lives through education, service and outreach, with an accompanying vision of offering quality education and effective services while establishing a model for leadership in our region and beyond. 

The key pillars of the plan are promoting high-quality, relevant academic programs and faculty that ensure student transitions to career or graduate school; growing enrollment; increasing retention and persistence to graduation; pursuing an institutional identity that exemplifies effective communication, inclusiveness, collaboration and outreach; and increasing operational efficiency and fiscal responsibility. 

The University’s strategic plan is steered by input from throughout campus to serve not simply as a road map but as a compass, so that we may not only be guided in our efforts but that we may continually be responsive to the needs of those we serve. 

View the full plan.

University Stakeholders and Goals

Board: Maintain a collaborative relationship with the Board 

Faculty: Recruit and maintain highly qualified faculty, especially from diverse ethnic and geographic backgrounds 

Staff: Attract and retain highly qualified and diverse staff 

Graduates: Provide quality online and on campus programs that are accessible to qualified students, particularly those who seek to enhance their professional credentials 

Undergraduates: Raise student retention and graduation rates through enhanced quality of residential life and extracurricular experience 

Potential Students: Work toward a comprehensive recruitment plan to communicate the value of a UWA education to targeted audiences 

Alumni: Engage alumni to encourage more involvement in and support for the University 

Government: Aggressively pursue relationships that help UWA communicate the value of the institution to the region and the state and the nation 

Community: Continue to address the major enducational, social, and economic issues of the region through research and service and engage community as partner in reaching University goals 

International Partners: Develop and expand cooperative education programs with select institutions in other countries. 

Business and Industry: Continue to partner with business and industry to bolster economic development in the Black Belt as well as to improve the general quality of life through the region. 

Athletics: Continue to improve academic performance of student athletes and improve the institution’s ranking within the Gulf South Conference.