Alaska Pacific University

ALASKA PACIFIC UNIVERSITY

Climbing to a New Plateau of Excellence

Anchorage,Alaska
December, 2003

APU Strategic Plan 2004-2008

Preface

The 2004-2008 Strategic Plan for Alaska Pacific University is divided into five sections: 1) the Mission Statement including Educational Strategies and General Strategies; 2) Strategic Plan History; 3) SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) Analysis; 4) Implementation of Key Goals tied to the Educational Strategies and the General Strategies; and 5) 5-year Financial Projections.

Part I of the 2004-2008 Strategic Plan consists of the Alaska Pacific University Mission Statement approved by the Board in 1995. Along with the Mission Statement are Educational Strategies and General Strategies approved by the APU Board of Trustees.

Part II provides a detailed report assessing the outcomes of the previous 5-year Strategic Plan for the years 1999-2003, entitled Entering the New Millennium.

Part III outlines a broad-scope SWOT Analysis for Alaska Pacific University, developed collaboratively by the staff, faculty, and students.

Part IV outlines specific goals for the years 2004-08 tied to the educational and the general strategies that the university intends to take in order to support the Mission of Alaska Pacific University.

First in this section are measurable goals outlined to achieve the broad educational strategies.
A second section provides definable goals that can help achieve the General Strategies outlined in the Mission Statement.

Part V shows the financial projections for the 5-year period, reflecting a base-line scenario and a best-case scenario comparison.

Importantly, this Plan incorporates the elements of institutional planning required by the Commission on Colleges of the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges. The Plan also addresses issues mentioned in an interim report by the Association in May 2003.

In summary, this plan focuses on firm execution of a set of clear strategies by setting challenging, measurable goals with an outcome that can see APU "Climbing To A New Plateau Of Excellence". This new plateau can be one where APU can be recognized for providing an exceptional education and having sound financial health. Key to educational excellence will be execution of four key educational strategies. Key to Faculty, Student, and Student success will be the execution of six general strategies important to the operation of APU. For financial health, key will be student enrollment growth, competitive tuition with modest increases, more direct Board accountability for fundraising, additional income-generating properties developed on endowment land, ongoing cost control, and continued debt reduction.

The Board of Trustees adopted the Mission Statement of Alaska Pacific University in 1995, along with a set of broad Educational Strategies and General Strategies to provide long-term direction for the university.

Alaska Pacific University is a private, independent university that promotes the fullest development of its students through liberal arts and professional programs while emphasizing individual attention to students, the development of leadership abilities, and the nurturing of spiritual and moral values consistent with its Christian heritage while respecting the religious convictions of all.

Experiential Education: Emphasize personal growth through student-centered, experiential education, using Alaska, the Arctic, and the Pacific Rim as laboratories for learning.

Leadership Development: Develop leadership for active service to society by encouraging openness to positive change, innovation, and individual initiative.

Multicultural Education: Promote international and multicultural education while welcoming learners of all ages: from Alaska, with a special commitment to Alaska Natives, from other states of the United States, and from the international community.

Academic Excellence: Maintain academic excellence by combining the breadth, integrative understanding, and critical thinking of the liberal arts with practical and focused knowledge for professional careers.

Faculty and Staff: Attract and retain quality faculty and staff by creating a positive environment in which to work, teach, and grow through continuing professional development.

Student Support Services: Provide students with the mentoring, counseling, tutoring, cultural, and spiritual support services they need to succeed.

Recruitment and Enrollment: Develop effective recruitment programs that address the needs of potential students and their families with the objectives to increase enrollment and to attract diverse, multicultural students.

Financial Management: Ensure financial stability through budget discipline, efficient use of facilities and resources, and fundraising efforts based on broad community support.

Campus Facilities: Maintain first-rate facilities and an attractive, safe campus.

Communication: Maintain open and continuous communication among all constituents.

In 1998, the Board of Trustees adopted Entering the New Millennium, the 5-year Strategic Plan for Alaska Pacific University for the years 1999-2003. Before reporting on the outcomes of our previous Strategic Plan, it is important to note that in the very first year covered in that plan, FY 1999, three very important events occurred that fundamentally changed the ground the plan was built on:

The renovation of the Atwood Center
The initiation and completion of the Capital Campaign
The sale of University Plaza

Keeping these three changes in mind, we can now review the elements of Entering the New Millennium. The first section of the prior plan was Part 1 - Vision. The Vision set out for APU was to: 1) be nationally recognized, 2) have diversity, 3) provide a quality co-curricular life, 4) produces students who contribute to the community and are sought for employment, 5) viewed with pride, and 6) faces the future with sound financial resources.

Nationally Recognized. APU's most nationally recognized program is the Environmental Science department, including its major in Outdoor Studies. While the Active Learning format of APU is very prominent, important, and attractive to students in the Campus Undergraduate Program and throughout the university, our national visibility coincides with our geography: Alaska is one of the very best places to study Environmental Science and Outdoor Studies.
Diversity.
- Student Diversity has increased dramatically: non-white percentage has increased from 11% to 27%. This partly due to RANA, but not entirely.
- Faculty Diversity has remained about the same-low. There are slightly more women faculty than before. Women chair or direct several programs: MAT, MBA, MSCS, MAP, LS, DCP, and others.
- Staff Diversity has increased, in part due to RANA. Women make up 50% of the Executive Committee.
Co-curricular Life. This has strengthened considerably in the past two years in part because of the strengthening of the Dean of Students Office including positions in Student Activities and the Outdoor Program. The Ski team is another significant addition.
Community, Employment. There has been a significant increase in APU's reputation in the Anchorage community and among employers for providing the high-quality teachers, counselors, business leaders, and environmental scientists. Leadership capability has emerged as an important hallmark of APU graduates, especially in the Degree Completion Program (DCP).
Pride. This is a subjective appraisal, but anecdotal evidence would indicate that APU's constituencies are pleased with APU's continuing development. APU's rising to the second tier in US News and World Report's 2004 rankings has had a big impact locally. Our high ratings in National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) have less impact because it has been more difficult to get good local press coverage.
Sufficient Financial and Technical Resources. This is a big issue, to be covered in more detail later. The Entering the New Millennium strategic plan did not take into account the cost of renovating the campus, implementing Information Technology, and other crucial factors. In brief, APU has dramatically improved its financial position after several difficult years of large renovation costs and poor investment returns in both the Foundation and cash reserves. The second section of the prior plan was Part II-Strategies in which the mission statement was defined. Some key issues impacting the achievement of the mission were outlined as: APU's niche, tuition gap, appeal of Alaska, and the extent of being tuition driven. Below are comments relating to these issues from the prior strategic plan.

Mission Statement. Alaska Pacific University's Mission Statement remains the same.
APU's Niche. Active Learning is still an important marketing identifier in all programs. However, the issue of niche has changed towards a diversified portfolio of closely identified programs, each having a special niche. APU has its six graduate programs, the DCP, Early Honors, RANA, and the Campus Undergraduate Program. Each has a specific niche; all feature Active Learning to a greater or lesser extent. For the Campus Undergraduate Program, #4, the "Appeal of Alaska" has superseded Active Learning as the most important niche.
Tuition Gap. As planned, APU has narrowed the tuition gap. For FY 2002 the average yearly tuition for private, liberal arts colleges was $18,300; APU's annual tuition for Out of State students for FY2001 was $14,400. In FY 2003 it was $15,700, in FY 2004, $16,000. The gap was closed from $8,400 in 1996 to an estimated $3500 in 2003.
Appeal of Alaska. As mentioned in (2), this is now a somewhat more important factor in the Campus Undergraduate Program than the Active Learning appeal.
Percent Tuition Driven (gross tuition as percent of Revenues). It is difficult to make an exact comparison here, because much has changed in APU's structure, with new grants that are evenly matched with expenses. However, it is clear that, these aside, APU is now much more tuition driven, in part because of the success of the academic programs and in part the reduction of outside income from rents and investments. Comparison:
- In 1996, 39% tuition driven.
- In 2003, 60%.
  This exceeds our goal of 57%, but not for all the right reasons.

As a result of the above, which follow generally the direction set by the strategic plan, APU has satisfied the goals for the five-year period listed at the bottom of page 4 of the prior strategic plan, Entering the New Millennium. It has particularly succeeded in the implementation of information technology on both the academic and administrative areas. This has, however, been expensive, not only in the equipment cost and maintenance, but also in staffing. Information Technology now has a well-paid staff of nine. The first stage of the renovation of Grant Hall has provided some technology-equipped classrooms, which is one area we are still lacking.

The 1999-2003 strategic plan also listed a number of key goals to achieve as APU began Entering the New Millennium. Below is a summary of results in striving to achieve the major goals of the prior plan.

Prior Plan Goal 1: Increase Annual Revenues from Tuition and fees.

Three-fold division of Academic Programs. This was accomplished. There is one additional program, the Early Honors Program that was developed; it is included with the Campus Undergraduate Program. The separation of working adult learners from traditional age students has been very successful.
Alaska Resident tuition and Out of State tuition. In FY 1999, APU separated the tuitions in the Campus Undergraduate Program only. However, this strategy is being abandoned in the Strategic Plan for the next five years. We believe that it is more effective to offer additional scholarship aid for Alaskans than to have a special tuition rate for them in the Campus Undergraduate Program.
For the five-year period FY 1999 to FY 2003 covered in Entering the New Millennium:

Out of State annual tuition has increased from $8,400 to $15,300: an average of 16.4% per year, slightly higher than the 15% planned.
Alaska Resident tuition has increased from $8400 to $11,600: an average of 7.6% per year, moderately lower than the 9% planned.
Tuition discounts for all programs increased from $605,000 to 850,000: an average of 8%, dramatically smaller increases than the 16% planned.
Graduate tuition increased from $350/cr.hr. to $450: an average of 5.7%, slightly less than the 6% planned.
Degree Completion Program tuition increased from $210/cr.hr. to $260: an average of 4.7%, moderately lower than the 6% planned.

Increase Enrollments in all Programs: Average academic year enrollment has increased from 443 to 509 a total increase of 14.9% or 3% per year, dramatically less than the percentages planned. The renovation of the Atwood Center is largely responsible for delaying the growth curve of enrollment in the Campus Undergraduate Program.

Campus Undergraduate program: 1% per year
Degree Completion Program: 8% per year.
Graduate Programs: 1%

Develop New Programs. Both new programs, MAP and RANA, were started in the years planned; however, their enrollment lags behind projections. A third new program was developed, the Early Honors program. A fourth new program was started and soon discontinued, the Global Finance MBA program:

RANA enrollment is 25 FTE, not 40
MAP enrollment is 16 FTE, not 20
Early Honors enrollment is 24 students.

It is interesting to note that without new programs enrollment in the Graduate programs would have declined over this period and the Campus Undergraduate Program would be level. Enrollment Growth at APU is attributable to the new programs and the growth of the Degree Completion Program.

Prior Plan Goal 1 Conclusion: Entering the New Millennium was based in the strategy of rapidly increasing enrollment and rapidly increasing tuition. The plan was to yield net revenues to fund operations with less reliance on annual giving and to build a profit margin that would generate cash for capital improvements.

In fact, tuition rose at generally the levels planned, but enrollment did not. However, APU has not needed to give institutional aid (tuition discounting) at the levels anticipated so that Net tuition and fees remained more true to projections.

Net tuition and fees were planned to increase from $3,400,000 in FY 1999 to $7,000,000, an increase of 106% or 21% per year. Actually they increased to $5,559,000, an increase of 63% or 12% per year. Our projections were unrealistically high, in part because enrollment growth bumped into a ceiling caused by tuition increases; in part because the closure and renovation of the Atwood Center put the Campus Undergraduate Program into a tailspin from which it is just now recovering. The Campus Undergraduate Program was planned to grow to from 200 to 330 FTE and has only reached 239, even with the inclusion of the Early Honors students.

Prior Plan Goal 2: Reduce dependence of operation budget on revenues required from unrestricted giving.

This area of the Entering the New Millennium plan has altered considerably from the premises on which the plan was originally based. University Plaza was sold and the Capital Campaign was carried out. This makes comparisons difficult. However the overall goal of reducing dependence on annual unrestricted giving has been reached. In 1999 the goal of raising $2,000,000 was a "plugged number" indicating how much APU would have to fund-raise to break even. In the actual 2003 budget, annual unrestricted giving stands at a realistic $1,100,000. However, during this time the APU Foundation has grown substantially and now contributes $425,000 a year to operations, instead of the planned $100,000.

The sale of University Plaza has not had a dramatic impact on the budget of Alaska Pacific University. Entering the New Millennium did not foresee the sale of University Plaza, the paying off of the Seward Bond, and the investment of the proceeds. To calculate its direct effects we can use the formula "real estate income + investment income-debt requirements":

Plan for 2003	$2,294,000 + 150,000 - 2,100,000 = 344,000
Equivalent Actual 2003 budget:	$751,000 + 558,000 - 1,035,000 = 274,000

Real estate income has decreased from the sale of University Plaza. Investment Income has increased from the investment of the proceeds after the Seward Bond was paid off. Debt requirements have decreased because of the reduction in long-term debt and a favorable interest rate climate. We are $70,000 per year behind the plan in this area of outside revenue, and this is attributable to the market's decline and its impact on the level of invested reserves. The danger is that interest rates could increase, but investment income has been fixed through investment in fixed rate securities.

Prior Plan Goal 3: Fund Capital Program from annual surplus and targeted fundraising.

The Entering the New Millennium plan did not foresee the capital campaign or the extensive capital improvements that would be necessary. The "surplus" from operations did not materialize, as explained above, but a successful capital campaign did. In retrospect it is much sounder to fund major capital improvements from fund-raising while funding incidental capital expenses from operations. Capital Improvements is a $150,000 per year line in the actual 2003 budget.

Prior Plan Goal 4: Limit Increases in annual expenditures for operations.

We have held fairly closely to the expense side of the project summary budgets of Entering the New Millennium. Over the five-year period, the categorization of expenses has shifted around, but a rough comparison can be made:

Expenses	2003 Entering New Millennium	2003 Actual Budget
Instruction	3,382,577	3,541,800	159,223	pay increases greater than %8 projected
Academic Support	179,469	271,800	92,331	ASC Computers, Personnel
Student Services	1,439,779	2,479,900	1,040,121	Admis, Ski, reallocations
Institutional Support	3,865,881	3,487,200	-378,681	Datatel implemented, reallocations
Auxiliary Enterprises	1,143,362	986,300	-157,062	Reallocations, fewer students
Total University Expenditures	10,011,068	10,767,000	755,932	Admissions, ski, salary

Student Services expenses have increased in part because additional projects, such as the Nordic Ski Center, and large increases in the expenses of the Admissions Office. Bringing the faculty to median salaries has proved more expensive than anticipated. Salaries of all mid-level administration have increased more than anticipated. The major shortcoming of our strategic thinking was that APU did not anticipate the rapidly increasing costs of benefits, especially health benefits.

The Major Strategies for Keeping annual expenditures moderate were:

Emphasize more full use of current physical plant. All these strategies were followed. Our physical plant can still be more fully used. The expansion of DCP has put pressure on our classroom facilities, which can be eased by scheduling classes on Friday night and Saturdays. In general we still have room for enrollment expansion in our current physical plant.
Increase number of student FTE per regular faculty. Our current ratio is 13:1, close to the 14:1 planned, but we are using more adjuncts than five years ago, especially in DCP.
Increase average number of students in classes. We did not experience the enrollment growth we had hoped for in the Campus Undergraduate Program, and there the class sizes remain small. It still takes only six students for a course to "make." We have the number of faculty to take on more students in the Campus Undergraduate Program.
Increase Faculty salaries. APU has reached the median status sought in all faculty categories except full professor, where we have improved, but not to median status.
Continue with current Departments and Majors. APU has followed the plan exactly, not adding any new departments and only one new major: Marine Biology.
Increase quality of academic and administrative facilities and equipment, especially information technology. During the five year period APU has become fully networked, has a robust website, and has implemented the Datatel management information system. This was not really a strategy to limit expenses, however, as many organizations have found.
Significantly increase resources made available to undergraduate students and faculty engaged in field-based education. APU never implemented this idea. It was too expensive.

Prior Plan Goal 5: Reduce the risk associated with long-term indebtedness.

APU's long-term debt now stands at $21.95 million, but now $6.75 million is defused by a parallel fund. This is complicated to explain, but essentially our long-term debt is now $15.2 million.

The Seward Bond ($4 million) was not extended; it was paid off.
APU has continued to meet annual debt repayment obligations on its remaining Municipality of Anchorage Bond.
APU did not switch to a fixed rate, and that has been favorable, as interest rates have continued to fall.

As APU stands now at the end of a very tumultuous but productive five years, we have a college that is much stronger in its operations and its reputation, has renovated one of its aging buildings, is in the process of renovating the other, and will add more dormitory space. During the last plan, the enormous amount of deferred maintenance that was lurking below the surface was accurately estimated. We thought that the students might just keep coming even if we raised tuition heftily, but many were not able to attend college with the decline in the economy and insufficient personal funds. Then challenges with the Atwood building happened. Then a recession and a stock market decline. Still we are considerably stronger now than five years ago with:

Improved financial condition with better investment policies
A substantially renovated campus and sound plans to complete the job
Consistently increasing net revenues from tuition and fees,
A much more competitively paid staff and faculty,

Taking all this into account, Alaska Pacific University has looked at the next five years and seen that we will be climbing up to a new plateau of excellence.

Alaska Pacific University adheres to the accreditation standards outlined by the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges by engaging in ongoing planning and evaluation processes in order to achieve and maintain its missions and goals. Annual reviews of the Strategic Plan are recognized, involving the faculty, staff, and students through SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis processes. Goals, policies, and procedures are evaluated and revised as needed by committee process. The Board's Institutional Planning and Evaluation Committee reports to the Board tri-annually on such revisions.

In the summer of 2003, academic and administrative departments were asked to carry out their SWOT analyses with the perspective of the next five years. They collectively defined strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and submitted their reports to the President's Executive Committee. This 5-year SWOT analysis contributed to strategies and key goals of the 2004-2008 Strategic Plan. The President's Executive Committee and the Institutional Planning and Evaluation Committee of the Board of Trustees used the SWOT analyses to develop a draft Strategic Plan. This was brought to the full Board of Trustees for feedback at a Board Retreat in September 2003. After integrating the feedback from the retreat into the draft plan, the President's Executive Committee circulated the revised draft to the APU community for additional feedback. This was then reviewed one more time by the Institutional Planning and Evaluation Committee of the Board of Trustees in early December 2003. This final plan was brought to the full Board of Trustees for approval at the December 2003 meeting.

Strengths:

Distinctive academic programs, growing in number, size, visibility, and reputation.
Comparatively low levels of institutional financial aid despite rising tuition.
Alaska's best Board of Trustees-influential, generous, committed.
Outstanding Faculty of student-centered educators-creative, entrepreneurial. APU has a reputation for very rigorous and demanding courses of study.
Improving Retention levels and Campus life.
Dramatically increased value of Endowment Lands.
Significant size of Foundation and Cash Reserves.
Consistently improving academic facilities and equipment.
Seasoned Administration and Staff-stable and capable, devoted to continuous improvement.
Reputation in Alaska as the high-quality university that will get a collaborative project done quickly and well.
Strategic Plan indicates that APU's finances can improve quickly, fund further growth and improvement, and reach the university's major strategic goals over the next five years.

Weaknesses:

Improvement and expansion of operations is currently hampered by rising costs, renovation expenses, decreased investment income, the need to eliminate operating deficits, and consequently tightened budgets.
Current Fund-raising efforts hampered by lack of a Development Committee.
Visibility of Campus Undergraduate Program in the lower 48, though rapidly growing, still needs continued improvement.
The enormous tuition differential with the University of Alaska and Alaska traditional age students' desire to "go Outside for college" make it very difficult for APU to attract qualified Alaska high-school students until they "transfer back" to APU.
APU's administrative processes are often unwieldy and difficult to improve when collaborative interaction of offices is required. Administrative software is complex, costly, and excessive for an institution of our size.
Student accommodations on campus are now full and must be expanded to accommodate projected growth of the campus program.

Opportunities:

Collaborations with other Universities could lead to significantly elevated visibility for the Campus Undergraduate Program.
Take advantage of developing reputation among Environmental Science and Outdoor Studies prospective students: APU has the most rigorous academics.
Many new opportunities cropping up for customized programs and courses for specific organizations: for instance, businesses, school districts, and non-profit groups. APU can add significantly to its "non-degree seeking" FTE counts.
Development of a Master of Science in Outdoor Studies and (other new degree program) looks very promising. Important, however, not to spread the faculty's resources too thin.
Next five years should show increased interest in developing sites on Endowment Lands-Municipal Health and Human Services, USGS expansion, others.
An expansion of USGS might also lead to an additional academic facility, Gould Hall, and lowered renovation costs in Grant Hall.
Completed campus renovations will lead to lowered maintenance costs and increased annual fund donations.
Segelhorst Dormitory, if developed in FY 2004-2005, will provide 24 additional student accommodations on campus.

Threats:

Increased health care benefit costs, information and telecommunication technology requirements, more sophisticated academic equipment, and efforts to keep APU salaries reasonably competitive will continue to drive up expenses. Our regional accreditation association will be increasingly concerned if we cannot make ends meet on an annual basis. Accreditation visits are scheduled for the Fall 2004 (interim visit) and Spring 2006 (full-scale, 10 year visit).
The University of Alaska's policy of free tuition to those in the top 10% of their high-school class will continue to put pressure on APU's market share of Alaska traditional-age students.
The reduced costs at UAA for Alaska Native students, as well as other factors and requirements of collaborating partners, threatens to make the Native Dorm unfeasible for APU. If these issues cannot be resolved, then Segelhorst Dormitory will have to be developed separately.
It will take, at minimum, another $3,000,000 to complete the renovation of Grant Hall, build Segelhorst, and possibly re-occupy Gould Hall. Having just completed a $22,000,000 capital campaign, APU's fund-raising capabilities face this next formidable undertaking.

After reviewing the prior plan, the results achieved from 1999-2003, and assessing APU's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, a list of measurable goals were developed to achieve the four key Educational Strategies outlined as necessary to achieve if APU is to realize its Mission Statement. Through a series of discussions and input from Staff, Faculty, Students and the Board of Trustees, these goals were prepared to address weaknesses when possible to address, capitalize on strengths, seize opportunities, and lessen the risk of threats. Underneath each broad educational strategy below are key, measurable goals that now become action items for the next few years. Annually, "performance contracts" may be prepared for key members of the Administration and Faculty and for the Board of Trustees to ensure the key goals are achieved.

Summary of APU Educational Strategies:

Experiential Education: Emphasize personal growth through student-centered, experiential education, using Alaska, the Arctic, and the Pacific Rim as laboratories for learning.

Leadership Development: Develop leadership for active service to society by encouraging openness to positive change, innovation, and individual initiative.

Key Goals Tied to Educational Strategies:

Experiential Education:Emphasize personal growth through student-centered, experiential education, using Alaska, the Arctic, and the Pacific Rim as laboratories for learning.

Wherever possible and/or appropriate, incorporate experiential learning as a course component.
Prioritize the Active Learning model for students; nurture an ethic of continuing self evaluation by the faculty, staff and administration; orient new members of the community to this model; reflect this value in course construction, instructor evaluation, faculty retention and promotion processes.
Strengthen Block Course offerings in all disciplines through strategic partnerships with other colleges, such as the proposed Eco League and other alliances with institutions outside Alaska.
Develop the Kellogg Campus as an ideal site for experiential and active learning projects, especially in the study of social ecology and sustainable energy.
Continue to expose students to diverse styles of teaching and to provide diverse opportunities for project learning through field study, literary and dramatic performance, service learning, and original research.
Revise APU's Educational Strategies in the Mission Statement by stating "Active Learning" instead of "personal growth."

Leadership Development: Develop leadership for active service to society by encouraging openness to positive change, innovation, and individual initiative.

Throughout the university, continue to support studies that are action- oriented. An action project is a project of significant scope containing an experiential or practicum component that is designed by the student in collaboration with an advisor or committee, carried out and evaluated by the student, and presented to peer and faculty for academic credit.
Encourage students especially to design and carry out, individually and collectively, action projects that serve society while giving students valuable leadership experience.
Engage students in exploring challenging concepts and texts critically, and in discussions to understand diverse theories, viewpoints, cultures, values, and philosophies.
Encourage voluntary service to society and service learning in connection with appropriate courses.

Multicultural Education: Promote international and multicultural education while welcoming learners of all ages: from Alaska, with a special commitment to Alaska Natives, from other states of the United States, and from the international community.

Continue to build the RANA program model as a model of low residency distance education both within the state and internationally, as with programs in telecommunications.
Expand RANA within the state, building the enrollment of degree seeking students in its present degree programs, adding additional majors, and expanding into non-degree seeking courses and certificate programs.
Continue to explore the feasibility of an Alaska Native dormitory on the APU campus or other ways to enhance the education of Alaska Natives.
Continue to diversify the student body at APU, moving beyond its current level of 30% non-white.
Continue to diversify the APU faculty.

Academic Excellence: Maintain academic excellence by combining the breadth, integrative understanding, and critical thinking of the liberal arts with practical and focused knowledge for professional careers.

Strengthen the Arts and Theater in the APU curriculum through additional course offerings, faculty hiring, and improved facilities for the arts.
Emphasize creativity in verbal and written expression to develop novel forms of understanding and interacting.
Create professional programs for specific professional groups - such as school principals, librarians, and health service professionals. When possible develop these in coordination with tenant organizations on endowment lands.
Work with representatives from Alaska's key industries to get their input in enhancing programs, academic standards, and curriculum offerings to meet business' projected needs for professional careers.

After reviewing the prior plan, the results achieved from 1999-2003, and assessing APU's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, a list of measurable goals were developed to achieve the six key General Strategies outlined as necessary to achieve if APU is to realize its Mission Statement. Through a series of discussions and input from Staff, Faculty, Students and the Board of Trustees, these goals were prepared to address weaknesses when possible to address, capitalize on strengths, seize opportunities, and lessen the risk of threats. Underneath each broad general strategy below are key, measurable goals that now become action items for the next few years. Annually, "performance contracts" may be prepared for key members of the Administration and Faculty and for the Board of Trustees to ensure the key goals are achieved. Summary of APU General Strategies:

Faculty and Staff: Attract and retain quality faculty and staff by creating a positive environment in which to work, teach, and grow through continuing professional development.

Student Support Services: Provide students with the mentoring, counseling, tutoring, cultural, and spiritual support services they need to succeed.

Financial Management: Ensure financial stability through budget discipline, efficient use of facilities and resources, and fundraising efforts based on broad community support.

Campus Facilities: Maintain first-rate facilities and an attractive, safe campus.

Communication: Maintain open and continuous communication among all constituents.

Key Goals Tied to General Strategies:

Faculty and Staff: Attract and retain quality faculty and staff by creating a positive environment in which to work, teach, and grow through continuing professional development.

Salaries and benefit packages for Faculty will keep up with the median for APU's comparison group of universities in all categories except Full Professor, and will continue to draw closer to the median of Full Professor salaries.
Salaries and benefit packages for Staff and Administration will keep up with the median at comparably sized national institutions while also comparing with local institutions and businesses.
APU will increase faculty development funds from $800 per faculty member (2003) to $1,200 (2008).
Staff development will be increasingly reflected in department budgets.
Sabbatical leaves will continue to be available to all full-time regular Faculty upon the completion of each six years of service to APU, subject to approval of the Faculty Review Committee and the President.
APU will make available the Council of Independent College Tuition Exchange Program for dependents of Faculty and Staff as well as continuing APU tuition waivers.
Faculty will be trained to access electronic student records in order to improve academic advising, and will equalize advising loads of ranked faculty.
Develop a performance evaluation system for all staff and supervisors.
Improve orientations for new staff and supervisors for better implementation of university policies and procedures.
The Consortium Library will offer improved resources, both in the building and through Internet connections, for student and faculty research and study.
APU will continue to improve its academic facilities by completing the renovation of Grant Hall.

Student Support Services: Provide students with the mentoring, counseling, tutoring, cultural, and spiritual support services they need to succeed.

APU will streamline and coordinate the delivery of Student Support Services by implementing new, user-friendly technology-based services in registration, internal communications, billing, and related activities while providing adequate training in the use of the services.
At the same time, APU will maintain its hallmark of personal consideration for each student in all its administrative offices, being particular sensitive to awareness of the diverse ethnicity of the student body.

Recruitment and Enrollment: Develop effective recruitment programs that address the needs of potential students and their families with the objectives to increase enrollment and to attract diverse, multicultural students.

Key Enrollment Objective: APU will increase its enrollment to 650 FTE students by 2008, while continuing to increase its tuition moderately, and becoming more selective in admissions.

Strengthen efforts on student retention of first year students (fall to fall), placing shared emphasis on customer satisfaction, personal contact, and operational efficiency to continue to maintain 75% of students.
Increase the number of special undergraduate campus and special graduate students through strategic alliances with organizations needing college level learning for specific purposes from 24 in 2003 to 35 by 2008.
Increase summer enrollment in Campus Undergraduate students from 14 students in 2003 to 20 by 2008 by evaluating and instituting additional summer course opportunities and curriculum.
Meet annually with representatives from Alaska's key industries and get their input to enhance programs and curriculum offerings to meet their projected needs.
Maintain reasonable tuition rates, increase annual tuition by no more than 7% on average with:

Institution of a single tuition rate, i.e. discontinue separate in-state and out-of-state tuition rates.
Continuation of 5-year guaranteed tuition for each student once enrolled.
Tuition discounting for Campus Undergraduate Program, but not to exceed 30%.

Key Marketing Objective: APU will proactively market a balanced array of degree and non-degree programs closely defined for specific constituencies and will continue its identification as the "University of Active Learning".

Marketing for the Campus Undergraduate Program will focus on products that attract students and fit strategic niches such as Environmental Science, Environmental Studies, Marine Biology, and Outdoor Studies, while also displaying the full range of curricular offerings.
Develop and institute a marketing program to attract transfer students who are Alaskans interested in returning to Anchorage by targeting a specific list of students who have moved outside the APU market.
APU will seek strategic alliances with other organizations such as the SeaLife Center, other colleges and universities, and other organizations that will serve to raise the visibility of Alaska Pacific University and bring additional students to APU through collaborative programs.
APU will assess the development of certified leadership training in the graduate and/or undergraduate programs as an appealing niche of student development that could attract students and also gain recognition by Alaska businesses.

Financial Management: Ensure financial stability through budget discipline, efficient use of facilities and resources, and fundraising efforts based on broad community support.

Key Financial Objective: By the end of 2008 Alaska Pacific University will be a financially stable university, adding each year to its cash reserves by steadily increasing revenues while only modestly increasing its expenses.

Revenue: APU will steadily increase revenue from its major sources: net revenues from Tuition and Fees, the Annual Fund, Rental Income, Foundation Support, and new Fundraising Initiatives.

Net Revenues from Tuition and Fees: As a result of the strategies outlined in Recruitment and Enrollment for gradual tuition increases coupled with increased enrollment, net revenue from tuition and fees will increase by 8-11% per year during the years 2004-2008.
The Annual Fund: Donations to the Annual Fund will increase by 5% per year.
Rental Income: By developing at least two additional Endowment Land Properties, rental income will double between 2003 and 2008 due to:

One key development property in 2004.
A second key development property by 2007.

Foundation Support: Foundation support will increase by 4-6% per year.
Fundraising: Emphasize contributions to the Annual Fund and Capital Improvement projects over contributions to the APU Foundation, and increase fundraising efforts through:

Re-establishing an active Development Committee of the Board of Trustees to assist with annual and special development efforts.
Initiating a Fundraising Campaign to include a $5 million goal for campus renovations over five years, including completion of Grant Hall renovations.
Develop fundraising approaches to improve alumni giving.

Expenses: APU will only modestly increase expenses, ensuring total budgeted and actual expense increases are less than 4-5% per year by:

Limiting increases in operational expenses to 3% in 2004 and 5% thereafter.
Examine restructuring the current Municipal Bond in 2004 so as to reduce large balloon payments during the next five years.
Limiting the costs of Health Care Benefits by assessing alternatives such as beginning employee co-pay on health care premiums, reducing certain benefits, or developing more creative approaches working with employees and insurance firms.
Responsibly evaluating operational efficiency and ways to improve functionality with processes and procedures within the University operations, allowing for cost savings through unified and better-developed processes.

Campus Facilities: Maintain first-rate facilities and an attractive, safe campus.

Complete the renovation of Grant Hall by 2008.
Develop a plan for Gould Hall, should it become available as a campus facility.
Establish criteria for the repair or elimination of buildings in University Village as well as its future development.
Construct a new dormitory, i.e. Segelhorst Hall.
Move toward a maintenance department that depends more on the outsourcing of tasks to select companies that offer quality services at lower costs.
By 2008, all of APU's campus facilities will have been renovated and will be maintained to high standards.
In 2007, assess and complete a long-range planning study of facilities in support of the student body.

Communication: Maintain open and continuous communication among all constituents.

Improve the Information Services area by more use of Internet and website technology, continually enhancing information flow and communication throughout the APU Community.
Develop the HR position to work creatively with faculty, staff, and student functions to build team players with a sense of community and understanding of the interplay among all positions.
Strengthen the APU identity throughout staff, faculty, students, and Alumni through regularly scheduled face-to-face communication supplemented by regular written communication.

The Budget Projections in this section for the years 2004-2008 are based on two different sets of assumptions.

In the Base Line Case, we assume that FTE enrollment at APU grows only to 580 students by 2008. As a result of this limited growth, operational expenses need to be limited to an average of only 5 to 6% per year, i.e. we must continue to manage to tight budgets.
In the Best Case Scenario, we assume that FTE enrollment at APU grows to 650 FTE students by 2008. As a result, expenses can expand to 7% per year, which means that budgets would allow for higher raises to employees and better quality resources in all parts of the university.
Note that in both scenarios APU achieves a balanced operational budget in 2004 and thereafter moves into positive cash flow from operations. As a result, cash reserves begin to grow in size.
Here is the breakdown of the student body in the two scenarios.

A number of assumptions underlie both these scenarios.

	2003 FTE	2008 Base Line Case	2008 Best Case
Campus Undergraduate	216	265	285
Special Undergraduate Students	14	19	23
DCP	92	100	117
RANA	20	25	35
Graduate Programs	159	161	178
Special Graduate Students	10	10	12
Total	511	580	650

Tuition will go up on average 6-7% per year in all programs.
Two endowment land developments will occur during the five year period: one will be producing an income stream in FY 2005; one will be developed so as to produce an income stream in FY 2007.
Each of these developments will require using approximately $1 million in cash reserves as a down payment.
APU will examine refinancing of the Municipality of Anchorage Bond in FY 2004 so as to reduce the scheduled increases in principal payments.
APU will raise approximately $3,000,000 for capital improvements during this five-year period. This will enable us to complete the renovation of Grant Hall. This fund-raising is not included in the projected operational budgets and will have to be achieved in a separate campaign in addition to the Annual Fund contributions shown in the projections.

Either scenario, if accompanied by a successful $3,000,000 campaign to renovate Grant Hall, will result in the reaching two of our three principal goals for the five-year period:

A fully renovated Campus
A sound and reliable financial footing for the academic program of the university built on the major sources of income that support it: Net revenue from Tuition and Fees (60%); the Annual Fund (10%); income from Endowment Properties (10%); income from the APU Foundation (5%); income from investments (8%); Other Income (7%).

Only the Best Case Scenario, however, will result in reaching the third goal of the Strategic Plan: to have an academic program that is thriving and in a position to become increasingly selective.

Obviously there are Worst Case Scenarios that could be envisaged, worse than the Base Line Scenario. Most of the variables that would lead to more dire scenarios lie outside academic operations. There are also scenarios that lead to even better results: for instance, surpassing the Best Case results in tuition and fees, or perhaps adding a third endowment property development.

In summary, this new APU Strategic Plan 2004-2008 focuses on firm execution of a set of clear strategies by setting challenging, measurable goals with an outcome that can see APU "Climbing To A New Plateau Of Excellence". This new plateau can be one where APU can be recognized for providing an exceptional education and having sound financial health. Key to educational excellence will be execution of four key educational strategies. Key to Faculty, Student, and Student success will be the execution of six general strategies important to the operation of APU. For financial health, key will be competitive tuition, more direct Board of Trustees' accountability for fundraising, additional income-generating properties developed on endowment land, ongoing cost control, and continued debt reduction.

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