Initiative Owner: Dan Derksen

The University of Arizona Health Sciences leads the way in interprofessional, community based healthcare workforce training to meet the needs of Arizonans. There are robust education programs in our two colleges of medicine and our colleges of pharmacy, nursing, and public health. However, primary care shortages continue to exist throughout Arizona. The launch of the new physician assistant (PA) program will help address unmet need while also providing new and unique opportunities for students wishing to advance their healthcare career and remain in the state to practice after graduation.

Launch Date: 5/10/2021
End SIF Funding: 6/30/2024

Strategic Initiatives Fund FY24 Budget: $500,000

Initiative Owner: Kasey Urquidez
Co-owner: Emily Ross, Arezu Corella

To maintain our level of excellence in the 21st century, we must effectively respond to changing demographics and educational trends, while recruiting, enrolling and supporting a diverse and high-potential student body. To do this, we will increase investments in Enrollment Management staff, operations, and marketing dollars to assist in addressing pipeline issues and to attract the best and brightest students in Arizona and from around the world. We will employ targeted recruitment strategies that increase overall academic quality, number of applicants, and yield rates, while retaining our commitment to access. Visit enrollmentmanagement.arizona.edu to learn more about the impacts of this initiative.

Launch Date: 04/09/2019
End SIF Funding: 6/30/2023

Initiative Owner: Kasey Urquidez
Co-owner: Helen Horetski, Art Young

The Aid without Anchor initiative strategically utilizes new staff members in financial aid (merit and need) to meet need levels, as approved in portions of the plan. This sub-initiative provides funding for financial aid staff to work with students to address their financial aid questions and needs as well as educate them about financial aid and the potential implications. This strategy ensures student success from initial enrollment to graduation and supports the enrollment strategy for the institution with a particular emphasis on the first-time, full-time cohort, academic quality, and diversity metrics. In addition, the strategy will ensure students are prepared for long-term financial success.

Launch Date: 04/09/2019
End SIF Funding: 6/30/2023

Initiative Owner: Kasey Urquidez
Co-owner: Christine Salvesen

The Financial Aid for Retention initiative strategically utilizes financial aid (merit and need) to meet need levels sufficient to recruit and retain UA students. It provides funding for financial aid staff and/or financial wellness counselors to educate and work with students to address their financial questions and needs. This holistic strategy ensures student success from initial enrollment to graduation and supports the enrollment strategy for the institution with a particular emphasis on the first-time, full-time cohort, as well as the expansion of the Arizona Assurance cohort. In addition, the strategy will ensure all students obtain adequate financial resources and are prepared for long-term financial success.

Launch Date: 04/09/2019
End SIF Funding: 6/30/2023

Initiative Owner: Susan Miller-Cochran

This initiative is transforming General Education to prepare students for a changing and complex world. The focus of the revised Gen Ed program is on confronting global issues and understanding multiple perspectives through active learning and interdisciplinary exploration. The new Gen Ed includes four components: a one‐unit introductory course, Exploring Perspectives courses that introduce students to disciplinary perspectives across the curriculum, Building Connections courses that engage students in interdisciplinary thinking and exploration, and a capstone portfolio course where students reflect on their Gen Ed experiences to connect them to their majors and professional aspirations. Visit ge.arizona.edu to learn more about the impacts of this initiative.

Launch Date: 08/08/2019
End SIF Funding: 6/30/2023

Initiative Owner:  Lisa Elfring
Co-owner: Tina Deemer

To build on the UA's commitment to provide deep and meaningful learning experiences, this initiative involves renovation and transformation of centrally located classrooms and other facilities across campus. Active and collaborative learning strategies result in increased student learning, engagement, and development of workplace-relevant skills. Although many evidence-based teaching strategies can be implemented in any physical setting, there is no doubt that the physical layout of the classroom can impact student engagement and the use of instructional strategies.

Initiative Owner: Christine Salvesen

This initiative supports the success of all undergraduates at the University of Arizona by providing strengths-based programming, implementing evidence-based practices, and developing data-informed, actionable institutional strategies. Three major components address experiential, academic, and institutional drivers of student success. Programming within the Thrive Center creates community, sense of belonging, and wellness for all students and especially those historically underrepresented in college. Learning supports through THINK TANK empower students with the skills to succeed in the classroom and as lifelong learners. The strategy team behind Student Success & Rentention Innovation generates data-informed, actionable strategies, partnerships, and outreach to support student retention at UArizona.

Launch Date: 04/09/2019
End SIF Funding: 6/30/2023

Initiative Owner: Sharon Aiken-Wisniewski

The One Team initiative shores up advising services in the colleges by assigning the most talented and experienced advisors to work with students in transition or in academic jeopardy and reducing advisor caseload in key areas. Wayfinders (first-year advising experts) will provide additional programming delivered centrally for students with similar academic and career interests. Advising Data Analysts in selected colleges will help guide proactive advising practices, outreach campaigns and monitor academic programs. Training and professional development for new and continuing advisors will help to ensure a consistent and high-quality student experience campus-wide.

Launch Date: 04/09/2019
End SIF Funding: 06/30/2023

Initiative Owner:  Amanda Kraus

The goal of the Residential Renaissance is to leverage the residential experience to support Pillar 1 goals of increased success and retention of UA students. We will engage all residents in a first-year success curriculum that offer supports at critical UA milestones. The residential curriculum will introduce students to UA culture and traditions, and proactively address issues that contribute to retention, such as financial health, study skills and involvement. As we prepare students to navigate an increasingly global and complex society, these foundational topics will provide a solid foundation upon which to build their UA careers and beyond.

Initiative Owner: Maggie Pitts

The purpose of the 21st Century Masters’ Project is to develop and support a streamlined pathway of excellence for graduate students pursuing a professional, workforce-ready master’s degree. Professional workforce master’s programs are designed to instruct students in critical and applied skills necessary for meaningful contributions to their community and workplace upon graduation. The project aims to enhance and elevate these programs through curriculum development that optimizes the match between student skills and workplace/community demands, streamlined curriculum for timely completion, recruitment of diverse traditional and post-traditional students, streamlined and adaptive application process, and streamlined computer-assisted systems for progress through degree and degree audit.

Launch Date: 10/7/2021
End SIF Funding: 6/30/2023

Creating the 4IR story focuses on the need for the University of Arizona to create a common purpose and define our core values. This initiative requires broad outreach to students, faculty, staff, donors, alumni and community members. The purpose statement and core values will become the “north star” of the University of Arizona brand and corresponding brand positioning (i.e. brand/advertising theme and campaign). This initiative works in conjunction with 5.1B Living Our Core Values to create a shared sense of values that aligns our sense of purpose as members of the UA community.

Initiative Owner: Melinda Burke

This initiative will strengthen our alumni's lifelong connections to the UA by strengthening the alumni network through increased communication, targeted, meaningful programming and valuable experiences which will build life long affinity, support and giving to the UA. To support our alumni worldwide, we will launch the Bear Down Network, an exclusive online hub where alumni will have networking and career development opportunities at their fingertips. This initiative will also support a collaborative approach to engagement, involving our network of alumni chapters and our campus partners in providing relevant content through a robust communications plan and a varied menu of campus and national programming for our alumni.

Initiative Owner: Cassandra Hirdes

This initiative provides systemic health and wellness support as part of a comprehensive approach to improve student retention and graduation outcomes. Specifically, this initiative provides leadership to offer a strategic health and wellness vision, evolve interventions using a continuum of care model, provide professional and paraprofessional training opportunities, and build sustainable models of care.

Launch: 10/12/2021
End SIF Funding: 6/30/2023

Initiative Owner: Dave Biffar
Co-owner: Allan Hamilton

The Arizona Simulation Technology & Education Center (ASTEC) is a 35,000 square foot facility housed within the University of Arizona Health Sciences Innovation Building and is a continued leader in providing healthcare simulation through state-of-the art interactive technologies. The Interprofessional Education (IPE) initiative will continue to focus on developing interprofessional healthcare education opportunities for the five colleges of the University of Arizona Health Sciences. By developing, implementing, and expanding IPE, multiple learner groups will be able to learn from and engage in high-fidelity, interprofessional simulations, which will better prepare them for the real world. This increased engagement will be reflected in an increased number of learner contact hours (LCH) and total number of available educational modules.

Launch Date: 12/20/2019
End SIF Funding: 6/30/2023

Initiative Owner: Kasey Urquidez
Co-owner: Helen Horetski

To maintain our level of excellence in the 21st century, we must effectively respond to changing demographics and educational trends, while recruiting, enrolling and supporting a diverse and high-potential student body. This initiative is a pilot program focused on increasing the number of high achieving, domestic non-resident students and high achieving, Pell eligible resident students (Arizona), who enroll, by offering "top up" financial aid merit awards following initial merit aid awards offered in the fall. The pilot will check validity of data analytics for enrollment, financial aid and net tuition revenue.

Initiative Owner: Mike Herman
Co-owner: Tina Deemer, Vicente Talanquer

To build on the UA's commitment to provide deep and meaningful learning experiences, this initiative involves a high-visibility renovation of the centrally located, historic Old Chemistry building into an innovative-teaching hub. Active and collaborative learning strategies result in increased student learning, engagement, and development of workplace-relevant skills. Although many evidence-based teaching strategies can be implemented in any physical setting, there is no doubt that the physical layout of the classroom can impact student engagement and the use of instructional strategies. Learn more about the project and view photos from the grand opening.

Launch Date: 08/02/2019
End SIF Funding: 6/30/2020

Initiative Owner: Terry Urbine

We will design, adopt, and promote new loan financing and scholarship options to help make health education more affordable and easier to navigate, including reducing curricular barriers to degree completion that increase student debt. Endeavors within this initiative help to provide new online resources for financial literacy.

Launch Date: 12/04/2019
End SIF Funding: 6/30/2022