The Central Strategy Team (CST) at UCA reconvened in April to continue its work envisioning the university’s future and beginning early discussions about the types of strategic imperatives that could guide UCA over the next decade. The session focused on defining a few bold, distinctive priorities—ones that could shape long-term institutional direction while informing short-term actions. Melanie Overton, UCA’s EAB strategic partner, reminded the group, “They have to be big.”
Centering on Vision and Possibility
Participants were asked to think beyond incremental change and consider what could happen if UCA were wildly successful in meeting its strategic imperatives. Teams conducted a gap analysis, revisited earlier visioning exercises, and began early conversations about which ideas might advance to the next stage of planning. Melanie reinforced the importance of focus, noting that not all good ideas can or should become university-wide imperatives. The challenge ahead is determining which ideas are both actionable and unique to UCA.
Four breakout groups worked to explore different themes, generating broad insights into UCA’s future. Rather than prescribing specific imperatives, each group contributed to a shared understanding of the possibilities ahead for how UCA prepares students for a changing world, evolves as a higher education institution focused on student success, a workplace, and research institution, and differentiates itself in a competitive landscape. The session was intentionally broad and exploratory to ensure UCA remains open to big ideas before refining its focus.
Looking Ahead
The next phase of the planning process will bring greater clarity. Over the coming months, UCA will work to consolidate feedback from strategic planning sessions, surveys, and campus conversations into a refined set of 3–5 institutional strategic imperatives. These imperatives will inform the development of working groups tasked with shaping actionable initiatives, performance metrics, and resource plans. These groups will include faculty, staff, and leaders from across the university, expanding the circle of engagement and building capacity for shared implementation.
Our strategic plan will be more than a document–it will be a framework for aligning vision with investment, values with action. The final imperatives will be shared with the entire campus community in fall 2025 as part of a larger communications and implementation campaign. Until then, UCA remains in the listening, refining, and building phase—laying the foundation for a decade of bold, intentional progress.
Stay connected for updates and opportunities to help shape the future of UCA.