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Executive Summary

Academic Positioning (AP) was initiated by the Provost and Executive Vice-President for Academic Affairs’ office to position the University of Northern Iowa as a leader in educating the Midwest as the landscape of higher education shifts. The process for AP was conceived as a grassroots initiative, where members of the campus community could propose ideas that would position UNI for success moving forward. As part of this process, a Project Management Team (PMT) composed of faculty, staff, and administrators was formed to collect proposals, identify ways proposals may work in tandem, create larger themes around emerging ideas, and make recommendations on how campus should move forward utilizing the created themes.

The PMT received over 70 proposals from campus. Many of the proposals presented overlapping ideas and they were grouped into 10 larger themes. Upon creation of these themes, a survey was sent to campus requesting participants to gauge the importance of each theme to UNI’s mission.

From the survey feedback, the PMT created a site on Blackboard to share the synthesized information with campus along with potential paths forward for each theme. The themes were grouped into two clusters; Structural Design concepts or Process Design concepts. Members of UNI’s campus community were encouraged to engage with the site in preparation for in-depth listening and engagements sessions, where participants communicated their excitements, worries, and additional questions about the presented pathways. In addition, a post-session survey was sent to each participant. Finally, another survey was sent to campus inviting those unable to attend a listening session to tell the PMT what excited and worried them about each theme and what questions and comments they had.

Qualitative analysis of input from the listening sessions and open-ended surveys, along with quantitative analysis of the close-ended surveys, provided insight into campus’s views. The final results for data analyses, PMT research, and other constituency input were combined to inform recommendations for moving forward on each of the 10 themes.

Summary of Structures Design Concepts

Arts/Design/Creative Activities

• Create new interdisciplinary programs in the arts and design. This less structured and less resource-intensive pathway would provide increased coordination and collaboration through the creation of an Interdisciplinary Crosscutting Consortium (ICC). While initially these new programs might function through affiliated faculty, eventual Co-Location of programs could result if collaborations grow and deepen.

• Create a College or School of the Arts/Design/Creative Activities. This more transformative pathway would require a high level of coordination. The increased visibility would help promotion, and the transformative elements would come from building new cross-disciplinary connections that reflect current trends.

Data Sciences

• Create a transdisciplinary Hub that can support all of campus, rather than duplicating efforts and hires across departments. This pathway would create a center or department predicated on providing non-disciplinary (interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary) data science teaching and research support to campus. This body would provide coursework and support for any other major on campus so that individual departments don’t have to invest with lines in order to add curriculum. Coursework could be developed as modules that could be added to multiple other majors, and the Hub would serve as a nexus for quantitative research among faculties across various departments.

Educator Preparation

• Create a taskforce of stakeholders in the educator preparation process. Although campus clearly supports teacher preparation as a foundation of our university, the review of the comments from participants makes it is evident that there is not one clear pathway for improving Educator Preparation. Overall, phase two should include a taskforce that includes a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, current teachers, and participants with knowledge of educational policy

Environment and Sustainability

• Expand interdisciplinary and niche programs. This modest pathway would seek to coordinate across existing environment and sustainability programs and offerings in order to build cohesion and reduce redundancy through an ICC governing structure. Such a consortium would be composed of participating programs and individual affiliated faculty from across campus, creating a flexible framework.

• Create a School of Environment and Sustainability. This transformative pathway would involve realignment of some departments and programs into a school structure to be housed in a current or future college. It would build synergy through tighter coordination and increased collaboration, reduce redundancies, and increase opportunities through a boundary-less approach that could blend science, social science, and other fields.

Health Sciences

• Expand interdisciplinary and niche programs. This is a modest pathway which would promote coordination, increase collaboration, and solicit new program ideas from existing departments and programs that provide health-related curriculum through a new ICC governing structure.

• Create a School or College with existing and new programs. This is a transformative pathway that would involve realignment of some departments and programs into an organized and structured body focused on health-related fields. A more traditional structural model would create the highest degree of visibility to potential students and allow for new synergies.

STEM

• Expand interdisciplinary and niche programs. This is a modest pathway that would solicit new interdisciplinary ideas from existing departments and offerings in order to build cohesion and reduce redundancy through an ICC governing structure

Create a college focused on STEM. This transformative pathway would bring STEM majors under a unifying umbrella, and provide a stronger focus on innovations in the fields. It could also be the location to house other ideas generated in this report, such as schools related to health science and environmental science.

Summary of Processes Design Concepts

Community Engagement

• Expand the existing community engagement structure. Building on our current structures, promote increased support for community engagement through policy changes that encourage further embedding of high-impact practices in courses and curriculum.

• Formalize a community-engaged learning for all The university could promote this initiative as part of recruitment and marketing as this would promote a “hands on” approach to education and career readiness. This would attract first-generation college students by using familiar terms, display the practicality of college education.

Diversity Equity and Inclusion

• Cluster Hiring initiatives. Recruitment and retention of diverse faculty could be enhanced through cluster hiring, where the institution invests in a number of faculty and/or staff hires around various interdisciplinary niche areas.

• Embedding and diffusing DEI in the curriculum. Encourage campus-wide review of the curriculum through offering summer workshops in creating DEI responsive curriculum regardless of the field.

Modifying the Curriculum

• Create a task force. A task force with representation from provost’s office, Senate, and the office of the registrar could be charged with (a) identifying and removing redundant steps from the curricular process and (b) adopting curricular management software that is easy to use.

• Identify non-traditional degree options. The provost’s office should convene a steering committee to identify non-traditional degrees that may serve UNI’s target populations. Non-traditional degrees may include modular degrees, micro-credentials, interdisciplinary degrees, and badging.

Student Success

• Create a University College. A University College could coordinate co-curricular activities for students. The college could coordinate or centralize advising with academic services to enhance retention and success of students.

• Create cohort-building initiatives: By building peer and faculty support, we will enhance the retention and persistence of our students. A discovery year and/or integrated learning opportunities can create cohorts of students interested in a cross-discipline topic.

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A compilation of official communications that have been shared with campus.