UVA marks progress as strategic plan passes 3-year mark

As UVA began its third century, its leaders shared a new strategic vision for the next decade and beyond. Three years and one global pandemic later, here’s a progress report.

By University of Virginia

In 2019, shortly after the University of Virginia (UVA) marked its bicentennial, UVA President Jim Ryan shared a strategic vision for the university as a place both “great and good.”  Ryan said he was guided by the belief that universities must meet new expectations about how they are judged—acknowledging that a university can only be truly great if it is also good.  In other words, excellent, but excellent for a purpose.

Three years in, UVA leaders are assessing progress toward the vision articulated in “Great and Good: The 2030 Plan.”

“Our community has worked incredibly hard over the past three years to imagine, design and execute so many elements of the strategic plan. This is all the more remarkable because of the challenges brought on by the pandemic,” Ryan said. “But our accomplishments have unquestionably moved us forward and toward the goal of being the leading public university in 2030 and one of the very best in the world—all in service to the unending search for truth.”

UVA has lowered costs for families most in need of financial assistance, established a new School of Data Science, strengthened bonds with the community, redoubled its commitment to supporting democracy, developed medical treatments that improve lives and conducted research with true promise to help even more in the future.

“We have seen outstanding efforts from our Health System, the College at Wise, our academic division and now even from our new campus, UVA Northern Virginia, to make meaningful and important progress on strategic initiatives,” Ryan added. “I’ve been continually inspired by, and grateful for, the collaborative and creative work of colleagues across UVA and the community.”

The strategic plan is built on four overarching goals: strengthening UVA’s foundation, cultivating the most vibrant community in higher education, enabling discoveries that enrich and improve lives and making UVA synonymous with service.

In August, UVA celebrated a milestone with the School of Data Science construction. (Photo by Dan Addison, University Communications)

10 key initiatives provide more specific actions, programs and aspirations—the tactical work of bringing a plan to life and moving the university toward its goal of becoming the best public university in the country and one of the best anywhere by 2030. Within the overall initiatives, UVA faculty, staff, students, researchers, alumni and friends of the university have collaborated on numerous achievements over last three years. And the pace and scope of the work continues today.

“UVA has made tremendous strides over the past few years,” UVA provost Ian Baucom said. “Our faculty and staff are continuously focused on elevating our rigorous academic standards, emphasizing our unique residential experience and strengthening the spirit of inquiry that is the hallmark of any leading research institution.”

Work that is great and good

In its efforts to be “great and good,” UVA has committed to offering a world-class educational experience while fulfilling its responsibility as an excellent and ethical partner to students, faculty, staff and surrounding communities.

Much of the strategic work accomplished so far, and those aspirations and goals for the coming years, focuses on these key areas.

In one example, the SuccessUVA initiative expanded UVA’s financial aid offerings to enable more low- and middle-income, first-generation and underrepresented students to attend the university.

Strategic efforts make UVA more affordable and limit the debt undergraduates face. (Photo by Sanjay Suchak, University Communications)

Virginia families earning less than $80,000 per year can send their children to UVA tuition-free; and UVA will also cover room and board for students from Virginia families earning less than $30,000 per year. UVA also continues to cap student loan debt, while meeting 100% of the financial need of all undergraduates without any consideration of family finances when making offers of admission.

The Great and Good Plan tasked UVA with becoming one of the best and most supportive destinations for first-generation college students, and with expanding options for working adults to complete their bachelor’s degrees, a significant need in Virginia where an estimated 1.1 million adults have some college education but have not yet received a degree.

In the three years since the plan’s launch, the university launched the new Walentas Scholars Program, providing scholarships and fellowships to first-generation college students, supported by a $100 million gift from David and Jane Walentas. UVA’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies has also expanded its programming, rolling out UVA Edge to offer working adults additional opportunities to take college courses, and in February 2021, enrolling its largest bachelor’s completion class ever.

Progress spurred by the Great and Good Plan is visible everywhere at UVA. There are new schools and initiatives, including the new School of Data Science and the Karsh Institute of Democracy, focused on the study and promotion of democracy in the United States and worldwide. Both advance UVA’s mission to educate citizen-leaders who are prepared to serve and meet the challenges facing our nation and world.

Projects at Emmet-Ivy—including the School of Data Science and the Karsh Institute of Democracy—show strategic plan momentum.

A key parcel of land is being developed into the home of the School of Data Science, the Karsh Institute, a new performing arts center and a UVA hotel and conference center. Nearby, students can access a comprehensive Student Health and Wellness facility offering medical and disability services, counseling and psychiatry, health promotion and research.

UVA Athletics, meanwhile, broke ground on a football operations center and is working toward projects including an Olympic sports complex, practice fields and facility additions and renovations.

Classrooms and labs

The Third-Century Faculty Initiative is expanding existing Bicentennial Professorships and creating programs to recruit educators, researchers and mentors—and to retain those already responsible for the foundation of UVA’s academic reputation. The Board of Visitors has approved $125 million in funding for the Bicentennial Professorships since 2019, and UVA made a $16 million investment in support of the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African American and African Studies, along with $5 million in grant funds for postdoctoral positions focused on diversity, equity and inclusion. In March, the board also approved 10 endowed professorships in the College of Arts & Sciences in fields related to the study of democracy.

In the UVA research enterprise, students and faculty have made great strides and discoveries in five strategic areas, each representing major societal challenges: democracy, environmental resilience and sustainability, precision medicine, the brain and neuroscience and digital technology and society.

UVA research leads to treatment that improve lives. Here, a patient with essential tremor finds relief from focused ultrasound.

Examples include:

All of this is supported by robust seed funding, generous philanthropy and strengthened research infrastructure, from the massive renovation of Alderman Library to programs supporting students and faculty at every stage of their career.

Service to the community

On both the academic side and in health care, the Great and Good Plan also establishes plans for UVA to be a collaborative partner with the local community, working to address challenges including housing, wages, educational and job opportunities, sustainability and access to health care.

As part of the plan’s implementation, Ryan created a UVA-community working group and, later, the President’s Council on UVA-Community Partnerships to identify key issues and build partnerships to work toward solutions. UVA also created the Equity Center to build better relationships with the Charlottesville community and address racial and socioeconomic inequality.

In March 2019, UVA announced a $15 minimum living wage for all full-time, benefits-eligible employees, and in March 2020, Ryan announced that UVA will support the development of up to 1,500 affordable housing units in Charlottesville. Among other affordable health initiatives, UVA Health launched a partnership designed to improve health care access for those in Central Virginia neighborhoods with high rates of chronic disease and shorter life expectancies.

Construction workers cheer medical professionals at the UVA Medical Center during the pandemic. (Photo by Sanjay Suchak, University Communications)

The University has also maintained and strengthened its financial stability. UVA maintains a coveted AAA bond rating, a signal of creditors’ confidence in operations and a rating that allows the University to obtain the most favorable rates and conditions for financing items such as major capital improvements.

None of the progress would be possible without the generous support of numerous alumni and donors, as well as the hard work of students, faculty and staff. Yet, there is still much to be done. UVA’s third century is just beginning and it dawns in a world full of challenges and opportunities. To meet them, UVA—its students, faculty, staff, leaders and alumni—must continually push to be both great and good and to use higher education as a call to serve others.

“We have more to do, but we started from a strong foundation,” Ryan said. “If the past three years are any indication, I have little doubt we will reach, and even surpass, our goals. There’s no place quite like UVA, and I am grateful to be a part of it.”

Learn more about Great and Good: The 2030 Plan here.

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