Our strategic planning work groups have been diligently working on the outcomes for our next strategic plan. Below you will find the draft outcomes from each of our four working groups. As a reminder, the working groups are:
- Belonging through Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
- Investing in our People and Places
- Regional Anchor / Regional Impact
- Student Success and Student Experience
Goal – Belonging through Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Goal Statement (Draft)
We are committed to building an inclusive, supportive, and equitable university community that celebrates diversity. We strive to integrate the principles of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion into all university operations, fostering an environment that nurtures a sense of belonging amongst all members of the community.
Desired Outcomes (Draft)
- Establish the Inclusive Teaching Academy to meet the following timeline and participation rates(faculty):
- Year 1: Development and training for the initial participants
- Year 2-5: Deploy a train-the-trainer model where each trainer leads 2 teams of 8-10 faculty
- Year 5: 25% of faculty have participated on an Inclusive Teaching Academic team
- Establish the Inclusive ____ ____ to meet the following timeline and participation rates(staff):
- Year 1: Development and training for the initial participants
- Year 2-5: Deploy a train-the-trainer model where each trainer leads 2 teams of 8-10 staff; including ELT members participation
- Year 5: At least one staff member from each unit has participated in the inclusive ___ ___
- By the end of the academic year 2026, EWU will complete an analysis of mentorship opportunities available through the institution and coordinate these opportunities to serve students better, leading to an increase in the number of students who participate in a university mentorship program by xx% and will have xx% greater outcomes (measured by retention and graduation) than those who do not.
- By the end of the 2029 academic year, 100% of university units will complete an equity-minded audit to identify policies and practices contributing to inequitable outcomes for historically underrepresented students/faculty/and/staff and propose interventions to remedy those inequities.
- By 2029, EWU will complete an audit of all university and academic policies to identify systematic barriers that disproportionately affect historically underrepresented students/faculty/staff.
- EWU will improve the recruitment, and retention, of historically underrepresented employees on campus. By 2029 the hiring of staff and faculty from historically underrepresented populations will improve from xx% to xx%, and the proportion of historically underrepresented applicants will improve from xx% to xx%. Retention of permanent faculty and staff from historically underrepresented populations will improve from xx% to xx%.
- EWU will improve the sense of belonging and diverse perspectives of students, indicated by questions 14d, 14i, 2b, and 2c of the NSSE to meet or exceed our peer institutions. Additionally, climate survey questions surrounding sense of belonging and community will improve by 15% by 2029.
- NSSE Questions
- How much does your institution emphasize the following?
- 14d. Encouraging contact among students from different backgrounds (social, racial/ethnic, religious, etc.)
- 14i. Attending events that address important social, economic, or political issues
- During the current school year, about how often have you done the following?
- 2b. Connected your learning to societal problems or issues
- 2c. Included diverse perspectives (political, religious, racial/ethnic, gender, etc.) in course discussions or assignments
- Climate Survey Questions
- Please indicate your level of satisfaction with the following at EWU
- Overall campus climate
- The campus experience/environment regarding diversity at EWU
- The extent to which you experience a sense of belonging or community at EWU
- The extent to which you feel all community members experience a sense of belonging or community at EWU
Goal – Investing in our People and Places
Goal Statement (Draft)
We foster an equitable, sustainable, and supportive physical and social environment that encourages the recruitment, retention, and growth of all EWU employees.
Desired Outcomes (Draft)
- Employee retention, including faculty and permanent staff, will improve at a rate of 1% per year. Recruitment of applicants for all permanent EWU positions will improve by 5% per year.
- EWU employees will have access to offered benefits, such as the Employee Dependent Tuition Waiver, URC employee discount, and any newly announced benefits as a part of the 2024-2029 strategic plan.
- EWU will develop and begin implementing a 10-year campus master plan by April 2025 to create an attractive, welcoming, and sustainable environment that supports excellence in education, provides an intentional and predictable roadmap, and is a model for other institutions. (include both Cheney and Spokane).
- Advance faculty and staff 2023 EWU Climate Survey scores to be on par with national four-year institutions
- In order to promote EWU as an innovative and sustainable learning organization and engaging work environment for all employees, 100% of staff and faculty have access to at least one professional
- EWU will develop and implement by AY 2025-2026, an onboarding experience tracker that includes a checklist and survey of onboarding effectiveness. Once baseline data are collected in AY 2026, measurable outcomes will be created for benchmarking and targets for improvement.
* Professional development is defined by the committee as: conferences, research opportunities, additional training, cross training, or other opportunities that lead to an employee enhancing their skills in their current position, assist in career in advancement, or provide other career related enrichment
Goal – Regional Anchor / Regional Impact
Goal Statement (Draft)
We promote economic vitality through educational programs, scholarly research, and dedicated service. Our commitment is firmly rooted in enhancing wealth creation and the well-being of our community while remaining nimble to its ever-changing demands.
Desired Outcomes (Draft)
- 100% of graduating EWU students will participate in internships, work experiences, extended community service activity, or academic research project by winter 2029. The university will collect 12-month job placement data for 100% of all graduates by 2027.
- EWU will share results via a public-facing website using appropriate tracking, reporting, and sharing mechanisms, including at least 25 alumni success stories per year.
- EWU will develop a compensation/investment strategy that creates a culture of community engagement and incentivizes participation for applied learning, fine and performing arts, and community engagement, targeting a 25% annual participation rate among faculty by fall 2029.
- EWU will increase alumni involvement in non-giving activities. EWU will create an investment model for 16 departments to develop alumni-driven alumni/student mentoring and job-finding activities or programs. These programs will be based on best practice models and will focus on talent and skills development, not just job placement.
- EWU will foster a sense of regional belonging, connection, and understanding among students, employees, and faculty. Each department will create a pro-belonging and onboarding policy, and a centralized administrative unit will organize or fund annual activities.
- EWU will develop a multi-year investment and change-management plan that aligns major state and institutional investments in infrastructure with the development of faculty, student, and community engagement programs. Systematically applied across the institution, this plan will be incorporated into the annual plans of all campus units.
- EWU will define and map the region and regional trade area via data-driven analytics. Using the results of this analysis, EWU will perform shared urban and long-term planning with Cheney and the West Plains. EWU will strategically develop and track relationships with Cheney, West-Plains, and Catalyst-related organizations in order to create professional partnerships and develop opportunities for students.
- EWU will inventory and track the work that faculty and staff do as board members and community collaborators. EWU will compare institutional investments in this area with institutional academic and economic priorities. In areas where EWU lacks presence, EWU will develop strategies and investments to position EWU faculty and staff in those places and annually publish an overview of regional collaborations and outcomes.
- EWU will identify, prioritize, and fund at least one major sustainability focused initiative as it establishes itself as the regional authority on the topic. Potential examples include the following:
- A Clean Energy Technology Center formed by an interdisciplinary team of faculty potentially including those from engineering, political science, economics, and planning.
- A Water Resource and Policy Institute formed by an interdisciplinary team of faculty potentially including those from biology, environmental science, political science, American Indian ed, and philosophy faculty.
- A Pacific Northwest Institute for Prairie Restoration formed by an interdisciplinary team of faculty potentially including those from biology, American Indian education, history, recreation, and English faculty that focuses on the natural and cultural histories and significance of regional prairies and how to restore them.
- An Inland Northwest Environmental Restoration Center focused on restoring local ecologies, raising awareness of landscapes, and supporting regional communities: e.g. forever chemicals at Fairchild Air Force Base, waterway remediation in Coeur d’Alene and the Spokane River, nuclear waste management at Hanford, prairie restoration on the Palouse, and community revitalization in areas severed by highways.
Goal – Student Success and Student Experience
Goal Statement (Draft)
We will reshape our institutional practices to promote student success and close structural equity gaps through (1) a decolonial, people-centered an approach that prioritizes student well-being in multiple dimensions, (2) a supportive environment for students’ self-exploration towards self-understanding of their values, identities, cultural heritages, and career paths, and (3) equitable and culturally relevant/sustainable learning experiences and student engagement.
Desired Outcomes (Draft)
- With adequate funding, personnel, and resources, we aspire to increase our overall FTIC first to second-year retention rate from 66.7% to the pre-pandemic level of 70% and increase our 6-year graduation rate from 47.1% to 50% in five years, which approximates 0.5-1% increase each year.
- With targeted investment in resources and personnel to close racial equity gaps, we aspire to increase our first to second-year retention rate, and graduation rate, as laid out in the tables below.
| Sub-Populations | Baseline | Annual Percentage Point Goal |
| Overall | 67.1% | +1.00 |
| American Indian Alaskan Native | 44.2% | +3.00 |
| Asian | 73.7% | +1.50 |
| Black or African American | 55.3% | +1.50 |
| Hispanic / Latino | 61.0% | +1.50 |
| Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander | 31.0% | +3.00 |
| First Generation | 61.6% | +1.50 |
| Pell | 62.8% | +1.50 |
Note: Retention rates are for First-Time in College Students. (FTIC), who began their enrollment at EWU in Fall of 2022. Percentages represent the proportion of students identifying as each race/ethnicity that returned for their second academic year. Data are not mutually exclusive as students may identify as multiple races/ethnicities.
- Increasing graduation rates and close structural equity gaps
| Sub-Populations | Baseline | Annual Percentage Point Goal |
| Overall | 47.1% | +0.50 |
| American Indian Alaskan Native | 41.1% | +1.00 |
| Asian | 49.6% | +1.00 |
| Black or African American | 32.0% | +1.00 |
| Hispanic / Latino | 41.8% | +1.00 |
| Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander | 42.9% | +1.00 |
| First Generation | 41.4% | +1.00 |
| Pell | 40.8% | +1.00 |
Note: Graduation rates are for First-Time in College Students (FTIC) who began enrolling at EWU in Fall of 2017. Percentages represent the proportion of students identifying as each race/ethnicity that graduated in six years. Data are not mutually exclusive as students may identify as multiple races/ethnicities.
- Transfer student graduation rates will improve from 70.8% to 75% by the end of the academic year 2029.
- With adequate funding, personnel and resources overall as well as targeted investment in historically marginalized student populations, we will develop a multi-dimensional, collaborative, and decolonial model of well-being in the practices of Student Affairs, Academic Affairs and other areas of the university (e.g. courses/curriculum, advising, housing, student leadership development, clubs and organizations etc.) and provide sufficient resources and personnel to implement it.
- With adequate funding, personnel and resources overall as well as targeted investment in historically marginalized student populations, we will create and implement a EWU student experience programming plan/academic and cocurricular curriculum from pre-college to graduation to support students’ self-exploration and self-understanding of their values, identities, cultural heritages and career paths.
- With adequate funding, personnel and resources overall as well as targeted investment in historically marginalized student populations, we will Increase student participation in applied learning opportunities (including practicum, internships, research projects, community engagement) in ways that include culturally relevant and financially sustainable options.
- With adequate funding, personnel, and resources overall and targeted investment in the Hispanic student population, we aspire to a growth rate of 2% to 2.5% across all student demographics over the next five years (roughly 0.5% per year), with a particular focus on increasing the Hispanic student population by 12% (roughly 2.0% per year).
- Grow new student enrollment
| Sub-Populations | Baseline | Annual Percentage Point Goal |
| Overall | 1,985 | +0.50 |
| American Indian Alaskan Native | 112 | +1.00 |
| Asian | 113 | +1.00 |
| Black or African American | 181 | +1.00 |
| Hispanic / Latino | 393 | +2.00 |
| Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander | 32 | +1.00 |
| First Generation | 895 | +1.00 |
| Pell | 875 | +1.00 |
