Sept. 10, 2019

Dear UD Community,

Our new academic year is off to a strong start, and our days are now filled with exciting projects and new opportunities. While this is a busy time, we invite you to join us in considering the long-range vision for the University of Delaware, reflecting on how our institution can best fulfill our fundamental missions of education, research and service. An important step in this process is developing a thoughtful strategic plan that captures and articulates our collective aspirations. To this end, an updated University of Delaware Strategic Plan is being developed, and a draft is now available for review and comment by the UD community.

This draft plan builds on the hard work and insightful contributions of everyone who participated in past strategic planning discussions. The spirit of Delaware Will Shine is reflected in this draft plan, as are many of its recommendations regarding student success, diversity, research, global citizenship, graduate education and more. We are committed to developing a strategic plan that is both practical and ambitious, one that continually challenges us to reach new levels of excellence. In its final form, this strategic plan will help guide our daily decisions so that we can ensure institutional alignment with our long-term goals. A robust strategic plan is also a critical element as we delve into the self-study process of reaccreditation by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Your feedback on the current draft is much appreciated to ensure that the final plan meets all of these expectations.

We invite you to review the draft at udel.edu/strategicplanning and offer your comments through Sept. 23. We will take all feedback into consideration and post a final version in a few weeks. We envision this as a living document that will be updated as needed in the future.

Among the University of Delaware’s greatest assets are its driven students, talented faculty and dedicated staff, and we are so proud to be part of this exceptional community. We look forward to continued collaboration as we shape the future of our institution, together.

Sincerely,

Dennis Assanis President
Robin Morgan Provost
John Long Executive Vice President