Strides - Navigating the Path to the Future

Healthy Campus: Throughout the academic year there is a strong focus on well-being programming. In October, the “Embracing Health, Igniting Change,” included the adoption of the Okanagan Charter.

I Commit: During Winter Semester, students, faculty and staff will be encouraged to commit to becoming active participants in the Healthy Campus momentum. Programming will provide education on how to achieve and maintain physical and mental health.

Learning & Growth Culture: In the fall, findings were shared from the employee survey, “OU & You.” A team of faculty and staff is conducting an in-depth review and will present recommendations to enhance OU culture. The recommendations are expected to be announced in the Spring.

Partners in Education: Faculty Advisory Team (FTA) is facilitating excellence in scholarship, interdisciplinary collaboration, seed funding for research, and hosting visiting scholars and lectures.

Evaluation of the Center for Education, Teaching & Learning (CETL): A team of faculty and administrators is reviewing current CETL programs to determine a “needs assessment.” After the assessment, a list of recommendations will be considered.

Faculty Mentorship Program: New policies are being developed to promote faculty success, job satisfaction and enhance a sense of belonging.

Building on the OU Pledge: With the successful launch of the “OU Pledge,” the focus will be to further integrate experiential learning throughout academic programs and elevate the university’s reputation as offering “real-world job experience.”

New Master of Physician Assistant Science Program: The highly anticipated addition to our degree offerings begins with the inaugural class in Winter 2026.

SEM 2.0: Establish plan to support SEM 2.0 development and execution.

Operationalizing the Retention Plan: Initiatives in five areas will strengthen student retention and student success.

1) Reforming key developmental and gateway courses to improve student success rates and reduce time to gateway course completion.

2) Expanding proactive outreach and reducing barriers to re-enrollment through coordinated communication, personalized support and improved progress tracking.

3) Improving support for students facing challenges by reimagining our alert system and implementing midterm grade reporting.

4) Developing data-informed models to identify students who may benefit from additional support earlier in their academic careers.

5) Enhancing academic development and resilience efforts through policy change and targeted support initiatives.

Overall, these strategies present a holistic and student-centered approach to retention, a flexible plan that connects policy, pedagogy, and personalized support aimed to do all we can to ensure students succeed.

Community Engaged Research Center: The leadership group identified 12 existing areas of community-engaged research activity and is building core teams of faculty to work in those areas.

Research With Impact: With the goal of fostering a “culture of research,” the Office of Research is launching a mid-career faculty academy. Through workshops, mentorship and professional development, the research office anticipates a strong academic pipeline leading directly to increased research activity.

Path to R1: A seed grant competition has been launched to fund preliminary data collection and other research efforts intended to position faculty for success with federal and other large-scale funding agencies.

Community Changemaker Challenge: In the fall, the university launched the OU Community Changemaker Challenge. These new grants support bold projects that engage students and help solve problems in our communities. Through the Office of the President, OU will award two, two-year grants of up to $200,000 each.

Community Engagement Model: A process-based collaboration with units across campus has been established to increase community engagement that facilitates activities from faculty, students and staff, while elevating the work of the university.

Cultural Ambassadors: Through a national art competition, OU will commission a signature work to be displayed on campus. The work of the winning entrant will give form and expression to the defining elements of an OU education, including the pursuit of knowledge, civil discourse, community engagement and commitment to social justice.

Coming Fall 2026

• Experiential & Service-Learning Faculty Development
• Embedding Civil Discourse Across Campus

Three-Part Sustainability Plan: A comprehensive approach is taking shape that includes pursuing sustainability practices in three areas – physical campus, the academy and the university business model.

Provost Fellow in Sustainability: A fellowship has been established whereby scholars focus on curriculum and academic studies in sustainability.

Global Health Advocacy: In October, Oakland University was appointed as the new United Nations Academic Impact Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Hub Vice-Chair for Partnership and Outreach for SDG6 (Clean Water and Sanitation).

Professor Scott Tiegs and Assistant Professor Nicole Wagner from the Department of Biological Sciences serve as the university’s liaisons on the initiative.

University Business Model: In November, OU entered the first digital workflow agreement with Adobe with the support of UTS services team and University Advancement. This marks the first transaction in the digital transformation of administrative tasks at OU.

OU’s AI Institute: In the incipient stages of a comprehensive strategy, the university is setting out to coordinate the many facets and applications of AI to transform learning, research and administrative/operational efficiency. A multidisciplinary team is crafting a dynamic approach to make OU a leader in integrating academics and technology in a vibrant and inspiring campus culture.

Data Center Project (exploratory stage): A data center would be built by a private developer in partnership with OU. Construction of the center will support OU’s sustainability and decarbonization goals, and utilize closed-loop cooling, waste heat recovery and alternative energy sources.

Collaborating with the AI Institute, the center will be a catalyst for next-generation research and innovation. Primary focus will be on creating learning and research opportunities across the digital landscape. (Proposed site: P-35 parking lot, near DTE substation.)