Academic Affairs Priorities

Division of Academic Affairs Priorities

Dear Colleagues,

President Mason has asked us as a university to build on a foundation of strength, and to create hope. At Convocation, I shared what Academic Affairs is building this year — and why that hope is real and earned. I am putting the priorities in writing here so you can return to it, share it with your teams, and connect it to your own unit-level planning.  We will continue our focus on the same four Academic Affairs priorities this year as last year. Below are the what, and the why, for each — along with the specific emphasis areas for 2026–2027.

Priority One — Embody our regional purpose through engagement and dialogue

The why. We are a regional public university — a purpose to be proud of and to continue to leverage. Our purpose is to serve this region, to connect this region to the world, and to bring the world back here to us. Being a regional public university shapes our enrollment. It shapes our programs. It shapes what our graduates get to do with their lives.

Emphasis areas:

• Embed regional public language and mission in everything we do.
• Continue leadership development opportunities for faculty and staff.
• Partner with faculty shared governance to focus on real dialogue as a university — because a university that serves its region has to be a place where people can think out loud.

Priority Two — Student success as a shared responsibility

The why. Every one of us has a part within our student success ecosystem, and I need all of you to embrace this mindset. Four emphasis areas have been set as part of the strategic plan and this priority area.

Emphasis areas:

• 85% faculty participation in progress reports for undergraduate courses through EAB Navigate360, our early alert system. Last fall our response rate was twenty-four percent. This last spring, only thirteen. Our KBOR statewide peers are at 60, 70, 80 percent and above. That gap is not a reflection of how much we care — I know how much we care. It is a reflection of a process we have not made clear enough. So we are improving the process. The Academic Success Team will deliver clear procedures, and will close the loop, so you know what happened to the student you flagged. Deans will carry expectations to chairs. Chairs to faculty. And faculty, please understand what this actually gives you - time back. When you flag a student early, a team goes to work. That is weight lifted off your desk, so you can do the thing you came here to do - teach. The FHSU Academic Success Team is ready, willing, and able to assist you and our students.
• 100% faculty participation in interim grade reporting. An interim grade is a student's first chance to see the semester clearly while there is still semester left to change. Although we have made progress in this area, we are still not to 100% reporting. We will get there this year.
• Move to a fully centralized, holistic advising model for undergraduate students. We have already placed advising in the hands of exceptional professionals. That was the right call in 2021. This year we take the next step and bring that work together university-wide. Here is why: students do not experience us as colleges. Students take courses and change majors across the entire university. We are moving to one model — one standard of training and ethic of care across all students. This is a commitment to our advisors, too with aligned development, shared practice, and a real professional path forward. And to our faculty — this does not move you further from students. Our advisors are experts in the path through this university. You are experts in the field, mentoring students along the way and providing guidance on career options. Students need both.
• Deepen faculty mentoring and career development synergy. What I am asking of you is continued focus on mentoring and working closely with our career development colleagues to do this work.

Priority Three — Academic program innovation and digital transformation

The why. Our finite resources must be disseminated across learning opportunities that prepare today's learners to be productive members of the workforce and their communities. Our programs must maintain up-to-date curriculum and appropriate learner-first designed experiences. In order to recruit new learners, we must focus on quality experiences to remain competitive in all delivery modes.

Emphasis areas:

• Improve online course quality to recruit learners — which drives higher completion rates, learner satisfaction, and retention.
• Roll out a revised Digital Master Plan, with AI included.
• Strengthen collaboration between Professional and Continuing Education (PCE) and our academic programs.
• Practice mindful stopping.   This may include certificates, minors, courses, concentrations, and perhaps even some programs. Stopping something well is not failure for FHSU. It is how we free you – our talented people with time and dollars to start something that matters more now.
• Reinvest time, talent, and dollars to create and expand responsive programming — interdisciplinary degree programs, reduced-credit baccalaureate degrees, microcredentials, graduate programs, affiliate pathways — built for the workforce and community impact.

Priority Four — Leverage our existing data to drive academic decisions

The why. This priority makes the other three possible. We already have the data. What we are building this year is shared fluency in it – data literacy. Our finite financial resources must be deployed across Academic Affairs and the university responsibly, which includes stewarding these resources to support our region and beyond. These are better decisions when the people closest to the work are fluent in the evidence behind them. Shared understanding is what lets everyone contribute to those conversations from the same foundation.

Emphasis areas:

• Help academic affairs faculty and staff understand which data points and trends are most important — because it cannot be everything.
• Program areas sitting down with their deans and unit leaders each year to work through those data, supported by a bi-annual five-year-trend report from Institutional Effectiveness and Quality Improvement (IEQI).
• Build data literacy into existing spaces: the Academy of Academic Leadership, the Engagement Series, Faculty Senate, and Conversations with Jill.
• Infuse Gray DI fluency across Academic Affairs leadership.
• Create a robust university policy for the many facets of course scheduling — based on data.

What does data literacy looks like by May 2027?

By May 2027 for shared fluency, I want every one of us to be able to answer these questions about our own work. The source of truth for all of it will be IEQI, various additional university units, and you. During the fall semester, we will be working to put this information together for you. 

The Seven Facts Every Faculty Member Knows for their Program(s) by May 2027

1. Majors – How many students are in your program and the 5-year trend or major headcount (undergrad and/or graduate).
2. Student Credit Hour (SCH) – By instructor, by major, and by course department.
3. Retention to the major and University – Do students stay year to year?
4. Completions – How many students complete their credential and when? The 4 and 6 year completion rates.
5. DUWI grades – Where students struggle in courses.
6. Placement & outcomes – Where do your graduates go? Jobs, employers, graduate school, licensure outcomes.
7. And how do you contribute to our students’ success?
8. For College Deans and Chairs – Course scheduling efficiency metrics, market demand data, and eventually program ROI (post May 2027).

The Seven Data Points Every Academic Staff Member Knows for the University by May 2027

1. Enrollment – Total headcount for the University, the 5-year trend, and the rough mix of our students who enroll (undergrad/grad, on-campus/online/cross border partners).
2. First-year retention – First-time/full-time retention rate for the University
3. Graduation rates – The 4 and 6 year completion rates for the University
4. Where students come from? – The basic profile: service region, transfer locations, Pell, First-generation
5. Where students go – Overall placement and outcomes (i.e. graduate school, professional career)
6. What it costs students – tuition and fees - what a typical student pays to attend FHSU
7. And how do you contribute to our students’ success?

 
Four priorities.  Taken together, these are not a response to a difficult year. They are a statement about the kind of institution we intend to be on the other side of it — one that chooses its future rather than simply enduring toward it. We are building on a foundation of strength, and finding hope.

I ask each of you to continue connecting these priorities to your unit-level planning, attend opportunities to connect to the priorities, and engage with your colleagues. I am grateful for the work ahead, and most importantly for you — the faculty and staff who will carry it with me.

Thank you.

 
  Jill Arensdorf, Ph.D.
  Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
  Professor, Leadership Programs
  Fort Hays State University

 Priorities for previous academic years can be found on our Past Academic Affairs Priorities page.