DRAFT Z

East Carolina University Strategic Plan

Vision:

East Carolina is the opportunity university. We open doors and transform lives. We make a difference for our community, our state, and our world. Tomorrow starts here.

Mission:

ECU makes a difference through access, partnerships, and economic development.

Strategic Directions and goals:

21st Century Education

Through the education of top-tier teachers and school administrators, we will improve the performance of public schools and hence the college-going rate, especially in eastern North Carolina. We will provide financial aid to enable students to afford post-secondary education. Our enrollment will grow to 30,000 students.

Our distance education programs will continue to lead the state and to be highly competitive nationally, thus removing geographic barriers to higher education. Our focus in distance programs will be on areas that are critical to the state of North Carolina: teaching, nursing, technology, and business development. Our on-campus programs will continue to be viable and affordable.

Through our partnerships with public schools, in enterprises such as the Latham Clinical Schools network, we improve the quality of future teachers and administrators. Through our partnerships with community colleges and the private sector in the Wachovia Partnership East, we increase the number of teachers for the state.

A Region’s Health

We will improve the health of the region. Through ventures such as the East Carolina Heart Institute and the Metabolic Institute, we will attack the diseases that are particularly devastating in eastern North Carolina. Through the education of nurses, physicians and allied health professionals, we will provide for the prevention and treatment of disease and access to better health care for the entire region and beyond.

Through new programs such as the school of dentistry, we will continue to develop resources that will lead to better health for all the citizens of our region and state.

Arts in Lives

Through our artistic faculty, students, performances, exhibitions, and intercollegiate athletics contests, we will make Eastern North Carolina more attractive to employers and retirees. Our faculty and graduates are recognized nationally and internationally for their work. The “creative economy” is a vital factor in economic advancement of the region.

We will plan and build facilities such a performing arts center to provide appropriate teaching, rehearsal, exhibition and performance venues for the university and the community.

Through our programs and facilities and through partnerships with the city and the private sector, we will forge a renaissance in downtown Greenville that will provide access to richer artistic, cultural and social experiences.

Prosperity in Eastern North Carolina

Our biggest contribution to economic development is workforce development: We provide graduates who can help pave the way for a more diverse, productive regional economy.

Through the expertise and outreach of our faculty, the discoveries they make and the innovations they foster, ECU helps city, county and state officials improve the economic prospects of their areas. Our strength is in applied or translational research. We will grow our external funding for research to $100 million a year.

The Leadership University

From recruitment through graduation, we will provide programs, personnel and opportunities to assure that our students have the opportunity to and are likely to succeed. Through our emphasis on leadership opportunities for students, we will provide graduates more attuned to the possibilities of an enhanced lifestyle and more likely to make a difference.

We will provide the resources and encouragement to: increase the percentage of our students who participate in international education programs; raise our retention and graduation rates; and develop a national model for student-athlete programs.

CONTEXT

East Carolina University, founded in 1907, has a proud heritage as a teachers college. Today, we are a national research university committed to improving the quality of life in North Carolina. We have over 24,500 students from around the world. We have outstanding faculty teaching in first-class academic programs in disciplines ranging from the health sciences to the visual and performing arts.

The foundation of our undergraduate degrees is a core strength in the liberal arts, and our professional schools offer robust, contemporary programs. Our research capability, which has already scored path-breaking achievements, is expanding, fueled notably by interdisciplinary and interinstitutional efforts. Technology permeates our university, improving day-to-day operations, enabling connectivity and access, supporting research and preparing students. We use technology in all that we do to improve efficiencies, processes, and connectivity. We have a successful athletic tradition and compete in Conference USA in 19 Division-I sports.

Success in higher education is the single most important factor in determining the future of the region and beyond. ECU will lead the effort to ensure access and, most importantly, the success of our students in their ability to graduate, to be ready for the next step in their careers, to be leaders.

ECU is dedicated to ensuring that its students develop the capacities and competencies to work successfully in an international, rapidly changing, technology-dominated, interconnected environment. The university reflects that world’s diversity.

DISTINCTIONS:

ECU is a constituent institution of the 16-campus University of North Carolina system. As such, it shares the public-university commitment to teaching, research and service. Within the system, East Carolina is distinctive in:

The value it adds. From tenure-track faculty in the classrooms to careful advising to rich leadership opportunities, ECU prepares students to succeed.

Effectiveness of mission execution. The university was established as a teacher-training school, and today prepares more education professionals than any other university in North Carolina.

Responsiveness to legislative mandates. The Brody School of Medicine has improved the health of rural North Carolina residents, improved access to medical education for underrepresented students, and focused on primary care—all in response to its charge from the General Assembly. Its graduates practice in North Carolina at a higher rate than any other medical school in the state. ECU is the state leader in education of nurses and allied health professionals.

The impact it has. ECU is the economic and cultural hub of the largest geographic region of the state. The variety and talent of its visual and performing arts, its athletic teams, and its economic development efforts enrich the lives of citizens far beyond Greenville.

Delivering education beyond the campus. From the days when professors drove hours to offer courses off campus to today’s on-line degrees, ECU has taken higher education to the people. The university is the unquestioned leader in distance education in North Carolina.

Academic entrepreneurship. ECU faculty, through unique programs and interdisciplinary centers and institutes, respond to the challenges and opportunities of the region.