By Toma Lynn Smith

For University of Louisville President Dr. James R. Ramsey, this is no longer the institution it was ten years ago. The new strategic plan, Victory 2020, is set on making sure the same can be said 12 years in the future.

The university recently finished a draft of the plan and will present it to the Board of Trustees at their April meeting, the date of which is yet to be determined.

The plan lays out goals to improve the quality of education in the university, increase retention rates and offer greater contributions to the community.

For Ramsey, the goal is to make U of L one of the top 20 metropolitan research universities in the country.

“We will continue to be one of the smartest investments the state can make,” Ramsey said in an interview with U of L magazine, “providing world class education for students and new economic opportunities for all Kentuckians.”

Students have demonstrated great enthusiasm toward the plan, despite the budget crisis the university has faced over the past months.

“I think [a new plan] is a great idea,” freshman marketing major Meagan Thurmond said. “It will help my career a lot, just being associated with a school like this.”

There are some on campus who have great appreciation for the university’s desire to maintain a forward pace.

Professor Jon Lee, who teaches early childhood special education, said. “I commend the university leadership for at least moving forward on those issues we already have established momentum on.”

Ramsey echoed Lee’s sentiments in an interview with The Courier Journal, stressing the importance of progress despite economic problems.

“We’ll hit some bumps in the road – like this year’s legislative session – but we have to keep on moving forward, looking forward,” Ramsey stated.

Victory 2020 follows the initiative the Challenge for Excellence, an eleven point plan that charted the university’s progress from 1998 through 2006.

For Provost Dr. Shirley Willihnganz, the goal was to find a way to continue the momentum of the Challenge for Excellence, a goal that took over a year to figure out.

“We looked at those items we needed to add or evolve to meet the challenges we are sure to face over the next decade,” Willihnganz said.

The university arrived at five specific areas to build the new plan around: Educational Excellence, Research & Scholarship, Community Engagement, Diversity, Opportunity & Social Justice, and Creative & Responsible Stewardship. The following are key aspects of each area:

Educational Excellence

The plan sets the goal for increasing the number of faculty by hiring an additional 373 faculty.

As a result, the university hopes to decrease the average class size from 22 students to 15 students. Another goal is to increase graduation rates from 44 percent to 60 percent, as well as increase the number of doctoral degrees awarded from 145 to 350 and develop 23 new doctoral programs.

Research & Scholarship

The university also hopes to improve its research mission by increasing total extramural research by $400 million annually.

While hoping to improve its research infrastructure by continuing to develop the research park planned for the Haymarket area on the Health Sciences Campus, as well as the HSC master plan and the Shelby Campus research park.

Community Engagement

Through its Signature Partnership plan, the university hopes to continue its efforts in the community by creating urban centers in order to renovate areas such as West Louisville and therefore creating access to education, healthcare and economic development in the process.

The university anticipates remaining a leader and supporter of the arts, through partnerships with Louisville’s Museum Plaza and the Cressman Center for Visual Arts.

Diversity, Opportunity & Social Justice

The university wants to expand the Cardinal Covenant program, which provides financial aid to those living at or near 150 percent of the poverty level, to include those living at 200 percent of the poverty level.

The university has aspirations to increase the number of international students and the study abroad programs, as well as further develop the International Center.

Creative & Responsible Stewardship

Through this goal, the university hopes to better utilize its already existing resources. This task includes such goals as utilizing Shelby Campus more, upgrading the Kornhauser medical library and expanding medical facilities such as the NCI Cancer Center.