GOAL: To broaden the University’s service mission to include stronger partnerships with public constituencies.

“Engagement” involves much more than conventional, unidirectional outreach; it requires public partnership and a commitment to interchange and reciprocity. The University, particularly in its role as a state university, thrives on this commitment and seeks to expand access, interaction, dialogue, communication, societal benefit, and mutual care and concern. The mutual exchange of ideas and synergistic use of complementary expertise will promote success across the state of Iowa.

Strategy: Promote, value, and celebrate individual and collective contributions to the public good by:

• Creating opportunities for community involvement on and off campus;
• Recognizing faculty, staff, and student contributions to the external community through, for example, performance evaluations, transcripts, and public recognition;
• Creating relationship-building programs that serve key constituents, including alumni and friends of the University, state officials, potential and enrolled students, and parents.

Strategy: Enhance health care services and programs offered by the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, the health sciences and other colleges, and the University Hygienic Laboratory by:

• Educating highly competent and committed health professionals and research scientists for Iowa and beyond;
• Advancing health care and the public’s health through excellence in biomedical and population-based research;
• Delivering high-quality and cost-effective primary and specialty health care to Iowa and the region;
• Promoting meaningful community service through collaboration with the practice and larger communities;
• Sustaining the University’s commitment to provide health care to the underserved.

Strategy: Bring the University’s human and material resources more fully into public service by:

• Promoting the availability of recreational, informational, and cultural facilities to the public;
• Stimulating public involvement in conferences, lectures, and seminars;
• Enhancing the scope and reach of efforts that create linkages among University centers of expertise, community organizations, and businesses;
• Strengthening the other components of the state’s education system through outreach to K-12 students and teachers.

Strategy: Facilitate faculty, staff, and student entrepreneurship, the commercialization of inventions, and engagement with external partners in supporting economic development by:

• Establishing an environment conducive to the development and promotion of faculty, staff, and student ideas;
• Increasing partnerships with state, community, and regional economic development organizations that participate in business recruitment, retention, and growth activities;
• Collaborating with external partners to create a more sustainable region and to leverage Iowa’s natural resources;
• Facilitating the transfer of University technology and intellectual property to the business sector, particularly to business entities within Iowa.

Strategy: Maximize the value of the University’s academic programs and career services for Iowa’s workforce by:

• Working with Iowa businesses, community colleges, and others to reinvigorate cooperative education, internship programs, and workforce evaluation;
• Creating a stronger integration of student recruitment, advising, and career development services and programs;
• Strategically delivering degree programs, lifelong learning, continuing education, and professional development courses to Iowans and Iowa businesses through on-campus and distance education offerings.

Indicators of Progress

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