UC2019 Report Card Shows UC Hitting Goals

The 2011 Report Card on UC2019 shows that the university has already met four of its strategic plan targets. President Gregory H. Williams presented the latest Report Card to the Board of Trustees at its meeting on Sept. 20.

“What is so exciting to me to see is the upward trajectory that we are achieving in nearly every aspect of our plan,” President Williams said during his presentation.

The university’s progress in the past year also included a record level of research funding and a jump of 13 spots in the U.S. News & World Report college ranking. For the second year, U.S. News ranks UC among the “Nation’s Best Universities,” and UC is once again listed by The Princeton Review among “The Best 327 Colleges,” which represents about 15 percent of the nation’s 2,500 four-year colleges.

This year, UC tied its record of last fall on new National Merit scholars entering in the freshmen class. This fall's incoming class includes 45 new merit scholars, bringing the campus total to 157. 

Among the UC2019 targets that have been reached, the university has exceeded its five-year target on the number of library volumes (which now stands at 4.379 million) and on the number of students participating in volunteer activities, surpassing that target by more than 2,000. The university’s Institutional Liquidity goal, set by UC board policy in 2006, stands at the highest level and above the target for the first time since the goal was established five years ago.

Other indicators edging closer to the UC2019 objectives include:

• the percent of out-of-state enrollment, which stands at 17.8%, just under the 18% goal;
• the recycling rate, now up to 65 percent, five points shy of its 70% goal;
• participation in the faculty/staff campaign, now reaching 42% on a goal of 50%; and
• wireless coverage, now up to 71% -- a big jump toward its 100% target.

This year also brought significant improvements in the university’s graduation rate, which rose by 2 percent, and a jump in the alumni giving rate to 12.5%, up by nearly 1.5% since last year.

New to the UC2019 Report this year are indicators for diversity and mission-based health care. The university is launching a new five-year Diversity Plan as the new academic year launches. The five Report Card indicators for diversity focus on African American students as a percentage of the baccalaureate applicant pool, the percentage of confirmed admissions for baccalaureate undergraduate African American and under-represented students, the retention and graduation rate of African American students, and the percentage of African American tenured faculty.  The health indicators focus on the Academic Health Center’s educational, research and clinical missions and include measures on the number of graduates in health-related programs, the number of students enrolled in health-related programs, funding from biomedical research grants and contracts, the number of biomedical patent applications, the number of active clinical trials, and the number of patient encounters. The 2011 Report Card provides baseline data on each of the new diversity and health care measures.

President Williams also told the trustees that a metrics committee that he charged earlier this year has been working on a shorter list of metrics called a dashboard. Work on the dashboard will continue in the coming weeks and months.

To see the full report card, see:

UC2019 Report Card Website

UC2019 Report Card (Print Version - PDF)