Creating a legacy
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Strategic Priority

Learning

At Augusta University, a commitment to effective teaching and engaged learning is our long-held mission, supported with an openness to ever-changing methods, fresh courses, modern facilities, evolving degree programs and innovative collaborations — plus hands-on, real-world, whole-hearted instruction that expands impact and access and creates an educational experience like no other.

Forward-Looking Education

Whether it’s the array of programs we offer or the diverse modalities in which we offer them, Augusta University is committed to an educational experience that fulfills the dynamic needs of our students and the communities they represent. We will leverage our strengths as the state of Georgia’s health, sciences and medical university to create transformative education where every student who earns an Augusta University credential is ready to demonstrate both the competencies universal to all professions and the skills unique to their chosen disciplines.

Impactful Learning Experiences

Preparing students means fostering practices of learning and teaching that complement and extend current instructional practices. We are committed to providing high-impact learning experiences that support students’ aspirations. We will cultivate connections across our many communities to create both curricular and co-curricular opportunities to engage students at all levels – and in all years of their educational journey – to develop the essential skills vital to success during their time at AU and in their post-graduation endeavors.

Inclusive Instructional Culture

Our institutional values of collegiality, compassion, excellence, inclusivity, integrity and leadership anchor and embolden our teaching mission. Our responsibility is to prepare students for life as responsive contributors to society. We are committed to fostering students’ sense of belonging and engagement, and we support their aptitude for collaboration with individuals across diverse backgrounds.

Imbue High-Impact Practices Throughout the Learning Experience

Those students most vulnerable to attrition will experience learning opportunities that are engaging, instructive and diverse through a centralized, more formalized High-Impact Practices Program in which students participate in HIPs during their first and second years. Throughout their educational journey, consolidated coordination of beyond-the-classroom experiences will secure student engagement throughout the learning experience, especially when away from campus. By cultivating connections in the community – rural, suburban and urban, domestic and international – we will produce culturally responsive students poised to work in a variety of settings. In particular, we will extend the range and type of internships so that learning in the summer, in context, becomes a predictable part of the journey.

Eradicate the Notion of "Traditional"

As a health sciences university, we’ve long understood that a “classroom” is only rarely a room with tables, chairs and a lectern. More inclusively, we believe a classroom is a physical and intellectual space where teaching and learning occur. Whether in a lab, at a health clinic, in an athletic competition, in an art studio, at an accounting firm, at a national park or even in a student’s living room, our instruction supports faculty and students through innovative, engaging and responsive instructional modalities. This commitment includes launching Augusta University Online to grow online instructional delivery and expand learning modalities to make learning and instruction accessible to faculty and students from diverse backgrounds and with varied needs. It will also mean building an expanded and responsive on-campus course scheduling culture that supports student learning and faculty teaching and research by reducing limitations and administrative burdens that might discourage innovation.

Offer Programs to Educate Georgia’s Next Leaders

Through intentional and established academic planning, we will grow our number of programs and transform existing educational programming to meet the needs of students, employers and the communities we serve. We will leverage our strength as a health sciences university to connect the undergraduate experiences from all content areas to health sciences professional and graduate programs. We’ll support students’ professional aspirations through the inclusion of stackable credentials.

Cultivate and Incentivize Teaching Innovation

Fostering a culture of innovative, engaged and inclusive teaching is dependent upon new expectations of faculty and staff. Expanding on the successful development opportunities we’ve offered during the pandemic, we will establish and grow programming to meet the needs of faculty and staff with an emphasis on innovative teaching strategies that support student, faculty and staff retention. We will provide instructional support for faculty so that teaching and a sense of belonging are simultaneously supported and celebrated. We will develop an instructional feedback culture where student input informs faculty understanding and where students recognize their responsibility for a successful classroom experience.

Strategic Priority

Student Success

At Augusta University, we are committed to ambitious enrollment growth and dedicated to channeling unprecedented resources, resolve, programming and processes into the extraordinary growth of each of our students: intellectually and culturally, critically and creatively, professionally and personally, individually and relationally.

Educational Access and Value

Augusta University is passionate about providing a personalized, high-quality academic and co-curricular student experience to propel our students toward their academic and professional aspirations. We are committed to enhancing all students’ access to the enveloping value of a life-changing, life-saving Augusta University education by ensuring affordability and financial support.

Student-Centered Environment

Providing students with a supportive and productive environment is critical to their success and engagement and integral to the promotion of Augusta University’s values. We will design student-centered environments that reflect a first-choice research university that provides a small-scale college experience.

Personalized Student Connections

At Augusta University, each student matters. To honor our students’ distinct experiences and the unique ambitions that led them to our campuses, we will create a distinctive student experience that fosters belonging and engagement with Augusta University and the greater Augusta area and that integrates personalized student connections and unique experiential learning opportunities.

Increase Students’ Access to an AU Education

As a public research university, we have a societal responsibility to promote access to higher education for Georgia’s traditional and non-traditional students. To cultivate a more diverse community of students and to leverage our distinctive mission and location, we will implement strategies to increase educational access, such as creating pipeline programs for health professions, enhancing student scholarship programming, expanding enrollment of military-affiliated students, integrating the undergraduate and graduate student populations and launching Augusta University Online. Additionally, we recognize that the barriers to educational access are often financial. We are committed to expanding opportunities for student scholarships, employment and other financial support throughout students’ enrollment.

Support the Whole Student

Nurturing our students’ ambitions and wellbeing is key to their educational success. We are committed to high-quality, interdisciplinary student and academic support, including individualized advisement and mentorship for all students to address diverse student needs. We will promote all students’ engagement in experiential learning as part of their AU experience and incorporate community engagement and social innovation/entrepreneurship resources into curricular and co-curricular programming. We will support students’ mental health, wellness competency and financial literacy skills that position them for lifelong personal and professional success.

Provide Students a Life-Changing University Experience

At Augusta University, we believe education occurs as much in the residence halls, the student center and even in a downtown Augusta restaurant as it does in our classrooms, labs and studios. We are committed to creating an environment in which students can interact, socialize and build a genuine relationship with an understanding of and appreciation for people of many backgrounds and belief systems. We will cultivate this environment by creating structures, core services and spaces that enhance enrichment, enjoyment and accessibility to provide an engaging campus life. Planned efforts include expanding the Campus Recreation facility, intramural and club sports fields; constructing a student engagement building to accommodate growing student enrollment and evolving student needs; and designing facilities to promote cultures of inclusion, engagement and wellness for all students.

Implement Strategic Enrollment Management

As the environment in which we educate and support our students evolves, we must be equipped to foresee opportunities and threats to achieving our enrollment ambitions and to quickly implement adaptive, data-informed strategies for continuing our 16x30 pursuit. We are committed to strengthening and expanding our business intelligence related to student enrollment and success to inform student-centered decision-making. We will also foster collaboration across our business units to implement student-centered processes and policies to ensure the integration of all systems and procedures across the student life cycle.

This directly aligns with the recruitment and retention actions outlined in the strategic enrollment management plan.

Strategic Priority

Stewardship

Augusta University is determined to build a culture of greater philanthropy and financial sustainability. More importantly, we are dedicated to building authentic relationships with alumni from all eras; benefactors from across the city, the state and the region; and career contributors who are working, building and giving right here on our campus.

Philanthropic Investment of Choice

As a worthy philanthropic priority that changes and saves lives, Augusta University will secure new and transformative giving by an enhanced focus on national and Atlanta-based benefactors and by growing our valued relationships throughout Georgia. We are committed to powerful pipeline programs designed to increase future philanthropy and advance our learning, discovery, student success and community priorities.

Culture of Fiscal Wellness

Augusta University is committed to building a culture of fiscal wellness, stability and accountability. We recognize that measured and strategic stewardship of our financial resources necessitates investment in our programs, people and infrastructure. We will engage members of the university community to foster a culture of shared governance and a sense of accountability for fiscal stewardship at all levels of the university.

People Conscious

Realizing our aspirations depends on a strong corps of faculty and staff. It begins with recruitment and retention efforts to expand our pool of top, diverse talent and is sustained through intentional efforts to develop and promote employees. We will implement strategies and align investments to offer competitive compensation and leadership and professional development to support career advancement.

Reduce Students’ Financial Barriers to Educational Success

Achievement of our 16x30 aspiration is contingent on our ability to attract and retain high-performing, deserving students who have wide-ranging access to financial resources. To support enrollment growth, we will expand the number and amount of endowed scholarships across all of our disciplines and athletic programs and foster access to higher education for students representing diverse backgrounds and experiences.

Increase Research Support

Reaching a top 60 NIH ranking by 2030 requires boosting philanthropic efforts to increase the number of endowed chairs and overall support of research projects.

Promote Giving Across the Full Breadth of AU Stakeholders

With rapid growth occurring within the city of Augusta and emerging national and international initiatives here at Augusta University, the university community is expansive and limitless. To facilitate increased collaboration and communication with our giving partners, we will invest in resources to strengthen bonds with and illuminate philanthropic opportunities to current and prospective donors – from students to retirees to members of our foundation boards. We will create a culture of giving at the university and increase opportunities for alumni to be more actively engaged in advancing university priorities and interacting with one another through affinity groups and programs based on shared identities and interests.

Invest in Our People

Talented faculty and staff continue to be our greatest asset in providing an impactful university experience. We will invest resources to offer competitive compensation and leadership and professional development opportunities and further streamline career pathways for advancement at the university.

Leverage Operational Efficiencies

We will create efficiencies that promote financial stewardship and minimize administrative burden while maintaining the quality, integrity and effectiveness of the support services, physical infrastructure and information technology that are vital to achieving our strategic priorities. We will maximize the capabilities of our information technology and cybersecurity systems to enhance flexible work opportunities for faculty and staff.