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Dear Fellow Monarchs:

Welcome to Old Dominion 91����Ƶ’s Spring 2023 semester! As we officially begin another semester of excitement and growth, we do so at a special time in the storied history of our great institution. At the conclusion of 2022, we celebrated our first anniversary of earning the prestigious Research 1 status from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education and the continuation of our important work toward an integration with Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) to establish an academic health sciences center right here in Hampton Roads. These important initiatives will continue to gain momentum in the weeks and months to come.

And, later this month, we will officially launch our new strategic plan, “Forward-Focused: Where Innovation Meets Possibilities.” With broad distribution of the full plan to the campus and the community next week, I must take this opportunity to acknowledge the many individuals who participated in focus groups; served on the steering committee, subcommittees, or teams; reviewed the draft plan; and shared their feedback on our future work. With clear goals, as outlined below, as well as detailed strategies and robust key performance indicators, the engagement, partnership, and support of the Monarch Nation, especially our students, faculty, and staff, will be critical. Together, much progress and success will occur in the coming years!

Academic Excellence
Goal 1: Serve as a leading institution in the Commonwealth of Virginia in developing and offering relevant, signature academic programs to meet regional and global workforce needs

Goal 2: Provide high-impact experiences for all undergraduate students through experiential learning programs

Goal 3: Utilize cutting-edge pedagogy and advising best practices to enrich undergraduate and graduate academic programs

Goal 4: Develop infrastructure to support excellence in research and scholarship for undergraduate and graduate students

Goal 5: Accelerate the recruitment and retention of diverse faculty and academic administrators who are committed to excellence in teaching, scholarship, engagement, and mentorship

Branding, Marketing, and Communication
Goal 1: Build a unified and inspirational brand promoting local, regional, and national recognition for all entities of the 91����Ƶ

Goal 2: Build infrastructure to optimize print, social media, and web engagement

Goal 3: Provide training to students, faculty, and staff on branding, marketing, and communication objectives, goals, standards, practices, metrics, and policies, as well as current best practices and emerging trends

Goal 4: Better integrate the physical campus in branding, marketing, and communication efforts through campus beautification endeavors by emphasizing projects that maximize the 91����Ƶ’s brand identity, create a sense of place, promote wellbeing, foster a diverse community, and promote a unified look that engages students, faculty, staff, and guests

Corporate/Community Partnerships and Economic Development
Goal 1: Build internal infrastructure and culture for corporate and community engagement

Goal 2: Deploy a new infrastructure and culture to increase corporate and community partnerships

Goal 3: Expand innovation and entrepreneurship

Goal 4: Support economic wellbeing through economic development

Philanthropic Giving and Alumni Engagement
Goal 1: Create a more robust infrastructure for advancement-related activities and operations

Goal 2: Build a sustainable culture of philanthropy across the 91����Ƶ

Goal 3: Expand the 91����Ƶ’s alumni reach to foster pride and engagement

Goal 4: Increase overall annual support

Goal 5: Launch and complete a comprehensive capital campaign

Research Growth
Goal 1: Achieve national prominence in targeted emerging research areas in a manner that creates movement to the next higher quadrant of Carnegie R1 institutions, while maintaining, enhancing, and leveraging existing areas of strength

Goal 2: Foster a culture of faculty and administrative collaboration that enhances communication and focuses on solving problems and challenges in operating a robust research enterprise

Goal 3: Develop agile processes, tools, and systems to enhance faculty research opportunities, collaboration, and productivity, including greater coordination and support for research infrastructure

Goal 4: Reconceptualize the arts and humanities as crosscutting and integral to all disciplines by connecting scholarship in the arts and humanities with scholarship in science, engineering, health sciences, and other fields

Strategic Enrollment Growth
Goal 1: Grow targeted, high-demand programs to attract traditional undergraduate, online, transfer, military, international, and graduate students

Goal 2: Grow fully online enrollment

Goal 3: Enhance access and affordability to attract and retain students, while promoting affordability and completion by all student levels and modalities

Goal 4: Grow and support untapped Latinx enrollment

Goal 5: Engage community resources and family members to support recruitment and student success

Student Engagement and Success
Goal 1: Improve academic preparation, engagement, and advising of students to prepare them for academic and post-graduate success

Goal 2: Continue to provide an affordable college experience by offering additional financial support for students, reducing financial barriers that impede progression and success, and supporting student social mobility

Goal 3: Increase undergraduate student retention and graduation rates

Moving forward, our vision is clear. Together, we will be forward-focused, innovative, and entrepreneurial in propelling Old Dominion 91����Ƶ to national and international prominence. With a strong commitment to our core values of accessibility, collaboration, excellence, global engagement, inclusion, innovation, and respect, we will proudly pursue our mission. We will continue to foster dynamic on-campus and global online learning for undergraduate and graduate students across a broad range of teaching, research, and service efforts, while enriching lives, promoting insightful and perceptive leadership, and motivating the pursuit of excellence in a diverse, inclusive, and supportive environment!

With Monarch Pride,

Brian O. Hemphill, Ph.D.
President