Ward stresses strategic direction for UW-Madison

Chancellor David Ward told a joint session of faculty and academic staff leaders Oct. 2 that the university’s future is well-grounded in a strategic vision that “gives this very special institution a very special place among the best public research universities of the 21st Century.”

Addressing a joint meeting of the Faculty Senate and the Academic Staff Assembly, the chancellor stressed the importance of the Madison Initiative as a bridge into the future, including the strategic hiring of faculty in many clusters of new and emerging areas of academic expertise. He also called investments in biotechnology “one of the keys to the economic growth and well being of the state of Wisconsin.”

Ward, who will step down as chancellor Dec. 31 after nearly a decade at the helm of the university, was invited to address the joint session of faculty and academic staff leadership and share his assessment of the status and the future of the university.

He noted several changes in the landscape of higher education in the last part of the 20th Century, calling it a “transformative time as we protect UW–Madison’s reputation,” citing changes in resources, technology, demographics and globalization. He also pointed to major events in the university’s strategic planning process through the 1990s.

The major challenges met by the university in the 1990s, Ward said, have been enhanced focus on the undergraduate experience, updating the physical campus, responding to resource needs, and defining the university’s “special niche” as the flagship institution in the UW System.

He cited several successes in the strategic direction of the university, including undergraduate research fellowships; residential learning communities; a growing Biotechnology Center; the new Arts Institute; the recent strategic “cluster hires” made possible by the success of the Madison Initiative; the new International Institute; and increased emphasis on capstone degrees and certificate programs for extended learning opportunities.

Ward explained that the foundation for ongoing strategic planning remains a combined vision of the university as “a learning experience, a learning community, and a learning environment.” He connected that vision with both the long-term priorities identified in the university’s new strategic document, “Targeting Tomorrow,” as well as the near-term priorities identified in the second half of the Madison Initiative. Those priorities are continued strategic hiring of new faculty, broadening student learning programs, maintaining affordability, and improving the state’s economy.

“The Madison Initiative, which leverages public investment in education with private support for the university, is the real key to where UW–Madison is headed,” Ward told the group. “As we move into the new century, I believe we can do so with great confidence that all that has been accomplished here is only the foreshadowing of all the greatness yet to come.”