In the aftermath of many months of planning, I’m both exhausted and exhilarated.
I’ve been honored to help lead an intensive nine-month strategic development planning process that began in February and recently “concluded” with an endorsement by UF’s Board of Trustees during the course of its meeting Thursday. This is really not the conclusion so much as the beginning of even more exciting work to be done — the process of implementing the plan over the next several decades.
Some of you may have read about the plan, but I’m guessing many of you haven’t. My feelings won’t be hurt. In administration speak, the plan will prepare UF and the surrounding community for the future, identifying optimal initiatives related to growth, intensity/density, economic vitality and livability — a framework for the university and its host community to come together to achieve preeminence.
In simpler terms, it’s a plan to identify what UF’s campus should look like in 40 to 50 years and how the university’s important relationship with Gainesville and Alachua County can be transformed.
So what’s in the plan? We asked our Boston-based consultants — the firms of Elkus Manfredi Architects and DumontJanks — to come up with big ideas to lead our planning efforts. Those ideas can be found in four broad initiatives:
The New American City: UF has some of the country’s brightest students and top researchers on its campus. With the help of the city, we can turn Gainesville into a “Smart City Lab” that connects UF’s resources with community challenges to seek real solutions. As a city that solves its own problems and offers solutions for the rest of the country, we can forge a model that other towns and universities will emulate.
Proximity: UF is fortunate to have a beautiful, 2,000-acre campus to call home. But bigger is not always better. To enhance collaboration and innovation, the plan calls for refocusing UF’s academic core to the eastern third of campus. Concentrating scholars and students back to the campus’ historic core will not only encourage interaction and the exchange of ideas but will also place UF’s core closer to its strong medical center to the south and Gainesville’s bustling downtown to the east.
Strong Neighborhoods: UF and Gainesville can’t thrive without the strong neighborhoods that make us who we are. Porters Community, College Park, University Heights, Golfview and the Duckpond neighborhood are just a few of UF’s neighbors we want to support by preserving their character and helping to make them stronger.
Stewardship: UF’s mission as a land-grant university includes being a good steward of the environment on and around campus. The plan recommends studying open space, landscaping, street and utility networks and stormwater infrastructure. It also recommends partnering with the city on large-scale open spaces, bike and pedestrian trails and stream-corridor restoration to advance the region’s ecological health and outdoor amenities.
In practical terms, what could the plan mean to you and future generations of Gators? You may see a campus comprising buildings that are more densely situated, allowing for an easier walk between classes and more opportunities to run into one of your professors as a result. You might see yourself working on a research project with a faculty member, attempting to solve a stubborn problem within one of Gainesville’s historic neighborhoods. Meanwhile, you could be using automated transportation to carry you to dinner downtown where a UF program helped your food move from farm to table. These are very real possibilities, as the plan takes all of these scenarios into account.
In closing, I’m reminded of something UF President Kent Fuchs said in his Sept. 14 Alligator column: “With persistence and patience, UF will be the university . . . that the world looks to for leadership.” This plan calls for persistence, patience and leadership — in no small measure.
I hope you’ll be sufficiently interested to learn more about the plan and to comment on it at uf.dumontjanks.com. Go Gators — now and for years to come.
Charlie Lane is the senior vice president and chief operating officer of UF.
