Provide Proposals for UNO's Strategic Investment in Race, Class, Inequality, Social Justice

On Tuesday, Jan. 12, a message was sent to the UNO campus community as a follow up to December's Strategic Planning Forum, "Inclusive Excellence: Diversity, Equity, Access, and Inclusion."

This message included, among other things, a timeline for next steps and ways to get involved. One key way to be involved is to submit a proposal for funding consideration.

Please make note of the new timeline for this important process:

March 1: Proposals are due by email to strategic.planning@unomaha.edu. All proposals will be posted to the UNO Strategic Planning website for review.

March 9: UNO will host a Strategic Planning Forum which we will ask proposal proponents to give a brief, 5-10 minute, description of their project and its potential impacts. All members of the UNO community are welcome to attend and learn about these proposals. Afterwards, a questionnaire and rubric will be available on the UNO Strategic Planning website for participating faculty, staff, and students to offer feedback on each proposal that was presented.

April 1: Following review by an ad-hoc committee of faculty, staff, students, and community members, incorporating the feedback provided at the March 9 Forum, the funded projects will be announced widely to the campus community with information and opportunities to become involved.

Campus constituencies will assess each proposal based on the questions below. Please note: once the proposals become available, the questions below will be reflected in a Qualtrics survey to allow you to submit your feedback:

• Does the proposal identify specific, measurable outcomes that would result from this initiative, eg: greater faculty and staff diversity/retention, greater student diversity/retention, student learning outcomes, economic development in Omaha, etc.? Does the proposed plan and resources appear adequate to effect real change?
  
  
• Does the proposal leverage connections across the UNO campus adequately? Are there other campus stakeholders that could be included that would strengthen the initiative? How? Are there other proposals in consideration that could be combined/allied with the present idea?
  
  
• Does the proposal leverage connections between UNO and the Omaha community adequately? Are there other community stakeholders that could be included that would strengthen the initiative? How?
  
  
• Does the proposal identify potential funding partners that could help sustain this effort? If not, are there possible partners that could be suggested?
  
  
• How would you rate this proposal overall? 1. Absolute must. Do this proposal at all costs; 2. Very strong and compelling; 3. Plausible and interesting; or 4. Not recommended

Those with questions about the process can email strategic.planning@unomaha.edu.

To review notes from the December Strategic Planning Forum or watch the Forum in its entirety, please visit the UNO Strategic Planning website.