AUSTIN, Texas — The University of Texas at Austin on Tuesday celebrated the release of its 10-year strategic plan. Dubbed "Change Starts Here," the plan aims to help UT become the world's highest-impact public research university.
"Now is the time for our university to turn ‘What starts here changes the world’ from a statement into a call to action, as we set a bold but wholly achievable aspiration," said President Jay Hartzell, who initiated the strategic planning process soon after becoming UT’s 30th president in 2020.
The plan was developed over the past year with input from thousands of students, staffers, faculty members and alumni gathered from more than 275 group sessions, focus groups and interviews, and surveys.
Change Starts Here also calls on UT community members to work collectively and leverage the university's size and scale to put 40 initiatives into motion. All of them are built on the same core pillars – people, place, experiences, education and research – intended to increase UT's impact across not just its campus community but also the city, state, nation and world.
The plan will also develop a three-year diversity, equity and inclusion action plan to "foster belonging and create an even stronger community." This part of the plan, called "You Belong Here: UT’s Plan for an Equitable and Inclusive Campus," will be released in the fall.
"This Plan for an Equitable and Inclusive Campus builds upon the university’s strengths in diversity, equity and inclusion yet encourages us to reach even higher," said LaToya Smith, vice president for diversity and community engagement. "It reflects an honest assessment of where we are and a commitment to attracting world-class talent from all backgrounds to a campus where everyone feels they belong."
The plan and its resulting impact will also be enabled through the university's ongoing capital campaign, called "What Starts Here."
“UT is the education, research and health care engine of the most dynamic city in the most thriving state. Now, we have the chance to do even more to change lives, power social mobility, and solve great challenges by creating impact at a scale that few other universities can match," Hartzell said. "We must audaciously elevate our ambitions while reinforcing our core commitment to UT’s mission and values."
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