Friday, February 19, 2010

Chancellor Rosemary DePaolo reported today to the Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina Wilmington that the university has met numerous key progress measurements initially set in 2003 as part of its Seven Strategic Goals. DePaolo presented the board with a “dashboard of progress” illustrating UNCW’s accomplishments in these key areas, and discussed plans for determining the direction of the university for the next decade.

“In 2003, UNCW was a very good university,” said DePaolo. “Today, it is a great university, thanks to the incredible efforts of our faculty and staff. When we developed our strategic plan, we set bold targets that some thought were impossible to achieve. But we learned that by focusing our efforts and our resources in a few critical areas, we were able to make huge strides toward our goals.

“Now, it’s time to think about the next decade and what new bold initiatives and targets we will set for ourselves,” she added. “We’ve demonstrated our capabilities, and we will continue to aim high.”

UNCW has achieved “remarkable growth” in several areas from 2003 to 2010, DePaolo noted. She shared the following measurements with the trustees:
• Student-faculty ratio improved from 18.7-1 to 16.6-1
• Four-year graduation rate improved from 40.7 percent to 43.5 percent
• Six-year graduation rate improved from 59.1 percent to 68.5 percent
(UNC System average is 59 percent; national average is 56 percent)
• Percentage of students housed on campus increased from 23 percent to 37 Percent
• Research expenditures increased from $12.8 million to $18.3 million
• Total merit scholarship awards from endowment increased from $430,223 to $1,165,675
• Undergraduates receiving merit scholarship awards increased from 278 to 425
• Percentage of minority students rose from 8.9 percent to 12.1 percent
• Minority six-year graduation rate increased from 56.9 percent to 61.5 percent

When UNCW did a “benchmark study” of its national peer institutions identified by the UNC Board of Governors in 2003, DePaolo said, UNCW’s performance against these key indicators was erratic—some going up and others going down.

“Creation of a strategic plan gave us the focus we needed, so that all of us were moving in the same direction,” she said. That required UNCW to develop innovative ideas and solutions, finding ways to meet student needs even in lean budget years.

One example is in the area of student housing. To meet its goal of housing close to 40 percent of its undergraduates on campus, UNCW created a private entity, the UNCW Corporation, to finance almost 2,000 new beds with fee-supported bonds. New residence halls were built completely with private financing and did not require a nickel of taxpayer funds. While the financial arrangements for the university to begin a public-private partnership for student housing did not even exist in 2003, by the fall of 2009 three new privately funded student apartment complexes—Seahawk Village, Seahawk Landing and Seahawk Crossing—were built and occupied.

Another example is in the area of research funding. In 2003, UNCW already had separated itself from its peer benchmark schools, with only the University of Texas at Dallas bringing in more research dollars at that time. By focusing resources in this area and providing the assistance and infrastructure needed to help faculty identify, apply for and manage grant funding, UNCW increased its external research dollar by 50 percent in 7 years. That places it in a unique position among master’s universities in the amount of research it conducts. UNCW’s focus on undergraduate research and applied learning also ensures that those research projects result in hands-on, experiential training for young scholars.

As UNCW moves forward, DePaolo noted that the university’s Seven Strategic Goals and the 48 objectives that fall under them will continue to be the foundation of its future plans. The university will use that framework to develop new initiatives to keep it on the forefront of higher education innovation over the next decade. Committees of administrators, faculty and staff currently are developing proposals for this new plan, which DePaolo called “Vision 2020.”

“The goal of Vision 2020 is to set the course for the university during the next decade to rejuvenate the original Soaring to Greatness strategic plan,” she explained. “Vision 2020 will define UNCW’s priorities as we pursue national prominence and the most powerful learning experience possible for our students.”

Media contact:
Dana Fischetti, media relations manager, 910.962.7259 or fischettid@uncw.edu