Academic Plan

Ohio State Academic Plan

The Academic Plan serves as a framework for transforming academic life at Ohio State.

2022-23 Year in Review

Following the launch of The Ohio State University's new Academic Plan in autumn 2022, members of our academic enterprise worked together to make incredible progress toward each of our shared goals. While not encompassing, this update provides an overview of key milestones achieved during the first year that have advanced our academic environment.

Year in Review

A Shared Academic Vision for Ohio State

At The Ohio State University, people from all backgrounds come together and thrive through scholarship, teaching, learning, clinical care, and creative expression. Our commitment to academic excellence means we explore enduring questions and tackle major challenges. 

Our community is moving forward in service to Ohio, the nation, and the world. We are committed to investing in our faculty, empowering our students, supporting our staff, and creating an environment where all can reach their full potential. 

OAA oversees Ohio State’s academic enterprise—including 15 colleges, four regional campuses, University Libraries, and units that support academic experience, university operations, the arts, and more. The Academic Plan defines six areas: faculty eminence, student academic excellence, external engagement, inclusive excellence, technology and digital innovation, and operational effectiveness. Each area is supported by one of the goals outlined below.

Thank you for your partnership and your commitment to transforming academics at Ohio State.

View Academic Plan

 

Framework

We will be a vibrant academic community whose contributions make the world flourish.

To achieve this goal, we will consider all aspects of academic life, ensuring the academic community thrives both professionally and personally. We will:

  • Restructure OAA to better attract, recruit, develop, and retain Ohio State faculty.
  • Forge collaborations across the academic enterprise in support of faculty and staff.
  • Modernize university policies, programs, and practices to promote academic well-being.

These actions will enable Ohio State to:

  • Maintain a premier faculty. 
  • Implement creative, contemporary, and quality faculty recruitment, hiring, and relocation processes.
  • Create and maintain a diverse and inclusive academic community on all campuses, while placing value on the multiple ways faculty contribute to the mission of the university.
  • Create conditions that enable faculty to innovate, create field-defining scholarship, and tackle society’s most intractable problems. 
  • Ensure educators succeed in the classroom and in other learning environments.
  • Focus on the well-being of the academic community and the quality of academic life for all faculty on all campuses. 

We will create an unparalleled academic experience, graduating future leaders prepared to serve society. 

To achieve this goal, we will deepen our commitment to student academic success. We will:

  • Redesign our undergraduate and graduate/professional student administrative structures to meet the needs of prospective and current students and postdoctoral scholars.
  • Create a strategic enrollment infrastructure that aligns marketing, admissions, financial aid, the registrar, and data analysis to support enrollment and student success on all campuses.
  • Create innovative practices for education and student support services.

These actions will enable Ohio State to:

  • Recruit, retain, and graduate a student body across all majors and programs that reflects the rich diversity of our region, state, nation, and world.
  • Create pathways for all students to have transformational academic experiences, from pre-college to post-graduation, preparing a diverse student body for the modern workforce, graduate and professional programs, and lifelong curiosity.
  • Provide learners with an exceptional education that prepares them to be leaders and contributors to a dynamic workforce and a sustainable future.
  • Promote and enable interdisciplinary teaching and learning.
  • Reimagine our Graduate School so graduate and professional students thrive professionally and personally.
  • Attract, recruit, and develop an outstanding complement of postdoctoral scholars.

We will forge strong connections with communities near and far, better serving Columbus, the region, the state, and the world.

To achieve this goal, we will reimagine external engagement. We will:

  • Restructure the Office of Outreach and Engagement to include our local, regional, state, and global efforts. 
  • Increase internal and external collaborations in scholarship, the arts, and teaching and learning.
  • Focus on the success and well-being of all Ohio State campuses, identifying opportunities for collaboration, alignment, and resource-sharing across the campuses.

These actions will enable Ohio State to:

  • Create an infrastructure so each of our campuses can strengthen collaborations with external communities.
  • Increase the impact of Ohio State’s academics, research, service, and care in the state of Ohio.
  • Increase the impact of the Office of International Affairs to further our local and global missions.
  • Empower our campuses to generate community-engaged scholarship and creative expression of the highest caliber and be fully recognized for these critical contributions.
  • Urgently address sustainability through operations, research, teaching and learning, and community engagement.
  • Make Ohio State and Columbus a destination for arts and culture.
  • Ensure the success of each Ohio State campus.

We will create a university environment where all individuals can fully participate in the life of our campuses.

To achieve this goal, we will lead comprehensive work in inclusive excellence, and support health and well-being. We will:

  • Champion Ohio State’s Shared Values.
  • Create alignment and coordination across the university’s diversity and inclusion infrastructure. 
  • Collaborate with campus partners around health and well-being.

These actions will enable Ohio State to:

  • Lead institutional goals around diversity, innovation, inclusion, and equity to recognize each person’s potential to contribute new ideas.
  • Create a university community skilled in civil discourse, while elevating the importance of citizenship and service.
  • Routinely assess our university culture and take positive action in response to findings.
  • Create a culture of inclusion and belonging so all can fully participate in the life of the university.
  • Promote the well-being of our university community—including physical and mental health.

We will become a digitally transformed institution that enhances experiences for teaching, learning, researching, and working at Ohio State.

To achieve this goal, we will integrate technological innovation into our teaching, research, scholarship, and operations. We will:

  • Ensure that Ohio State has the full technological infrastructure to support our students, staff, and faculty.
  • Identify core technology processes that are shared across the institution and centralize operations when needed.
  • Create a technology-ready mindset among students, staff, and faculty.

These actions will enable Ohio State to:

  • Build a robust data integration, reporting, and analytics ecosystem that is easily accessible and fosters data-informed decisions across the university. 
  • Focus on equitable access to technology through the availability of device-agnostic software and services.
  • Improve the quality, consistency, and experience of technology use for learners, researchers, educators, and staff.
  • Increase the security of our technology by implementing systems that are secure by design, decreasing vulnerabilities and increasing preventive behavior among our community.
  • Create and implement a transformative, learner-centric vision for online education that includes skill building, flexible degree paths, and a greater variety of courses and curriculum alternatives.

We will develop and continuously improve academic, administrative, and business processes to advance the university’s academic priorities.

To achieve this goal, we will enhance the operational effectiveness, transparency, and efficiency of OAA’s academic, administrative, and business processes. We will:

  • Redesign OAA’s organizational structure to align with academic priorities and provide optimal support for advancing the Academic Plan.
  • Create an administrative modernization program to update processes, enhance coordination, and deliver efficient and effective results.
  • Reestablish the Office of Institutional Research and Planning and promote the use of data, analytics, and information to facilitate insights and improve strategic and evidence-based decision making.

These actions will enable Ohio State to:

  • Align the academic, administrative, and business processes of OAA, academic support units, and the colleges and campuses.
  • Aid each academic support unit in designing human-centered policies and processes that are aligned with the Academic Plan and promote the success of Ohio State faculty, staff, and students.
  • Aid each college in aligning with the Academic Plan, leveraging academic support units, determining resource allocations, and promoting the success of Ohio State faculty, staff, and students.
  • Reimagine buildings, classrooms, and shared spaces to facilitate Ohio State’s emergence as a learner-centered university.
  • Improve systems, remove unnecessary bureaucracy, and reduce administrative burdens.
  • Cultivate a culture of high performance and academic excellence within OAA and across the academic enterprise.