As UVSC prepares to become UVU on July 1, President Sederburg is anxious to let the community in on his vision and excitement for Utah’s newest university.
President Sederburg’s vision for UVU
The transition of UVSC to UVU builds upon the institution’s community college and baccalaureate degrees and programs with the addition of master’s degrees to help UVU better meet the educational needs of the region and state.
President Sederburg’s vision for UVU is to be a community-engaged university, which revolves around five core concepts. They are, first: being student-centered; second: being a teaching institution; third: maintaining an opportunity mission; fourth: providing service to the region; and fifth: being collaborative.
As a student-centered institution, UVU will
*Provide learning opportunities for its students to become people of integrity and develop their personal identity.
*Sustain programs that retain students and help them be successful in their pursuit of obtaining a degree.
*Build its Division I athletic program and increase intramural and club opportunities to create a multidimensional university student experience.
*Prepare students to be professionally competent through internships, course projects and service learning opportunities.
As a teaching institution, UVU
*Conducts student-oriented, rather than research-oriented, scholarship.
*Implemented a Communities of Engaged Learners initiative, appropriating $400,000 annually in grant funds that faculty and staff can use toward student projects that support engagement. (Each faculty and staff member can use $2,500 per year to support a project if they choose to.) So far 75 faculty and staff have successfully taken advantage of the program.
*Split the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences into the School of the Arts and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, to emphasize the school’s distinct roles and define the arts at UVU.
*Constructed a new state of the art 190,000-square-foot library with group study rooms and access to a world of knowledge through hundreds of computers and increased library holdings.
The opportunity mission of UVU provides:
*Keeping admissions open to anyone.
*Assessing student preparedness to college-level work through the use of the ACT and other compass tests to ensure students enroll in classes they are prepared to take.
*Expanded degree offerings from two-year degrees to master’s degrees to better meet the demand for access to high education within the region. (Three master’s degrees have been identified: education, nursing and business. The education master’s degree will begin being offered this fall.)
UVU is committed to regional service and is:
*Engaged in economic and community development in the region.
*Being a cultural center for the region. (UVU has partnered with Sundance to bring the Sundance Summer Theatre back to the community. Plans for a new Center for the Arts are being developed.)
*Responding to regional market needs by aligning degree and program offerings with market demands for a skilled talent-force. (Upcoming graduate degree in education exemplifies this.)
*Preparing a Community Engagement Report that highlights how UVU students, faculty and staff are engaged in their communities and influencing the quality of life for the region and state. (This report will be produced annually. The first report will be available July 1, 2008.)
UVU encourages collaboration by:
*Promoting and sustaining systems of accountability and transparency. (UVU’s Planning, Budgeting, and Accountability Cycle is an example of this.)
*Partnering with businesses, cities and neighborhoods to expand student learning and faculty scholarship opportunities.
*Developing degree programs that leverage the strengths of different colleges and universities in the state. (UVU’s partnership with Salt Lake Community College and the University of Utah to offer degrees in biotechnology is an example of this.)
*Partnering with state business leaders, agencies and other institutions of higher learning to sustain the economic prosperity of the state.
