UND celebrates launch of new strategic plan

After an 11-month process involving dozens of focus groups, hundreds of completed surveys and thousands of comments and suggestions, UND launched its new UND LEADS strategic plan on Friday, setting the stage for a future devoted to the goals described by the LEADS acronym: Learning, Equity, Affinity, Discovery and Service.

In front of more than 250 people in the University’s Memorial Union, plus hundreds more viewers online, UND President Andrew Armacost led a lineup of faculty, staff and students in describing the new plan. “At our kick-off meeting 11 months ago, I shared my hope that this plan would reflect the rich history of UND and the local community, and reflect the aspiration of what we may become,” Armacost said.

“That is exactly what the planning team has delivered,” he continued. “Each of us can build upon the central pillars of UND LEADS to find new ways – large and small – to incorporate them into our everyday work and habits. There are no limits to what we can achieve individually and as a group when we work toward common goals.”

At a lunch earlier on Friday to thank and honor the plan’s developers, Eric Link, UND’s provost and vice president for academic affairs, echoed the president’s sentiments. “The vision that has emerged from our strategic-planning process is something that can inspire all of us,” Link said. “It’s something that will give shape and significance to the work of this university for years and years to come.”

“UND LEADS was transparent. It was inclusive. And the plan that has been created is inspirational. We have a document that we can really look to, in order to help shape the work that we do; encourage conversations both within individual units and across units; and get faculty, staff and students aligned along a common set of goals, all with the aspiration to build the greatest UND that we can,” Link added.

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