The year of ‘Community’

How the UND LEADS strategic plan captures the spirit of that wonderful word

Editor’s note: The following letter, written by UND President Andy Armacost and Ryan Zerr, the University’s associate vice president for Strategy & Implementation, introduces a special edition of UND Today devoted to the UND LEADS Strategic Plan.

As readers know, UND Today focuses on UND LEADS in our issue published on the last Tuesday of each month. Today’s special edition, for its part, marks the start of the new academic year by taking a closer look at the UND LEADS plan as a whole.

That means each of the stories in today’s issue centers on a UND program or activity that reflects one of the plan’s core values of Learning, Equity, Affinity, Discovery and Service.

To continue the monthly UND Today series, our issue on Sept. 30 will be devoted to the “Learning” core value.

Comments or questions? Contact Tom Dennis, UND Today editor, at tom.dennis@UND.edu. Thank you for reading!

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By Andy Armacost and Ryan Zerr

For the third fall in a row, we write at the dawn of a new academic year, taking the opportunity to celebrate accomplishments and to anticipate opportunities.  And there are many of both!

The success of UND is the story of the successes of all of you – the many individuals who together make up our campus community.  By coming together to learn, collaborating to discover and pitching in to serve, we make UND a place with an educational environment focused on everyone’s enrichment, empowerment and success.

Coming together, collaborating and pitching in – all are markers of what happens when people are members of a community.  As we begin the third year since the launch of the UND LEADS strategic plan, it seems apt to consider the many ways can we see “community” in the core values of Learning, Equity, Affinity, Discovery and Service.

Community in what we do

The three core values of Learning, Discovery and Service define what we do as a university community.

We are a community of learners – all of us are striving to learn and help others learn.  In connecting learning with a “sense of wonder,” the UND LEADS strategic plan acknowledges that the process of learning is not only important for how it helps us meet our career aspirations.  It is also important for how it satisfies our curiosity and enriches our understanding of the world – and the people – around us.

By helping us grow and develop as individuals, learning is also a critical component to building community – it happens in many ways when people come together.  We form communities of learners within classes, student organizations and residence hall floors.  We also exist as members of various communities during our lives, and these communities depend on members who participate for the benefit of the group – whether clubs, associations, boards or boosters.

The education we cultivate at UND helps us serve as engaged citizens in all of the communities we may find ourselves in.

UND LEADS also describes a “love of discovery” as a key component to the fabric of UND.  Here too, community is critical.  Collaborations are the lifeblood of discovery, whether in the form of one-on-one faculty mentorship of individual students or as multi-person research teams conducting studies in the lab.

These communities of scholars make it possible to generate and test ideas, pass along knowledge and techniques and help guide the way for those who will become the next generation of scholars, entrepreneurs, teachers and others.

The Service core value of UND LEADS calls for a “commitment to people and communities.”  In this way our strategic plan prioritizes elements of our work which build, sustain and empower communities.  It calls on us to use our talents and resources to build on shared values and to value differences as opportunities to grow.

By serving one another, we build a sense of community.

Community in how we do it

If learning, discovery, and service are what we do as members of the campus community, the “how” of doing it involves equitable, inclusive, kind and supportive actions.  These approaches to our work are described by the Equity and Affinity core values of UND LEADS.

UND LEADS describes equity as “opportunities for success” – opportunities that allow everyone to realize their full potential.  As a public institution, UND serves the citizens of our state and nation, and we do so with respect and dignity.  We seek to reduce barriers to achieving a UND education, thereby expanding access to communities across the state, the nation and the world.

And through deliberate efforts to ensure current members of our campus community feel safe, respected and valued, we create opportunities for one another to grow and be successful.

Through community-building efforts, we create the “sense of belonging” described as central to the Affinity core value of the strategic plan.  Fostering a campus culture that celebrates the ways we connect and contribute to the UND community helps us uplift voices, foster collaboration and enhance educational opportunities.  When people feel heard, supported and connected to UND, our communities and state benefit.

UND’s people are the true drivers of our institutional excellence, and we seek to celebrate their accomplishments as they proceed on their educational journey.

The year ahead

At this time two years ago, a campus focus on connections formed an organizing theme for the year.  Last year the focal point was to sustain and build upon our recent momentum.

This year, please reflect upon the ways we all contribute to a campus where people can learn, thrive and belong.  Our sincere efforts to care for one another will embody what it means for this to be the Year of Community.

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>> Questions or comments about the UND LEADS Strategic Plan? Your thoughts are welcome! Please contact Ryan Zerr, associate vice president for Strategy & Implementation, or Anna Marie Kinney, coordinator of the University Writing Program, the co-chairs of the UND LEADS Implementation Committee. You also may offer your thoughts by visiting the UND LEADS Strategic Plan home page and clicking on the “Provide your feedback” link.

Thank you for your support of the UND LEADS Strategic Plan!