Planning for the Future: CUR 2030
CUR is excited to announce that the Strategic Planning Task Force has officially begun the important work of developing the next strategic plan. This plan will guide our efforts to ensure CUR remains strong, future-focused, and deeply aligned with the needs of our community.
This summer, during the ConnectUR conference, the task force launched its data collection process by gathering valuable insights from attendees. Starting this fall, they will expand these efforts through a broader approach, including interviews, surveys, and focus groups. These opportunities for input will be scaffolded and rolled out through the winter. The goal is to ensure they hear from everyone in the CUR community. Your voices and perspectives are essential to creating a strategic plan that reflects the shared mission and vision of enriching and advancing society through undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative inquiry.
At the end of February, the Strategic Planning Task Force will hold a retreat to consolidate the data and feedback they’ve collected into a draft vision of CUR 2030. Following that, a preliminary presentation of the structure for the strategic plan to the community will occur, with the goal of finalizing the plan by Summer 2025.
The community’s participation in this process is vital. CUR and the Strategic Planning Task Force looks forward to hearing your insights and working together to shape the future. Continue to check back for more updates.
Main Contacts
Bethany Usher
CUR Immediate-Past President 2024-25
Chair, Strategic Planning Task Force
James LaPlant
CUR President-Elect 2024-2025
Vice-Chair, Strategic Planning Task ForceÂ
2020-2025 Strategic Plan
To align with the Council on Undergraduate Research’s current mission statement to support and promote high-quality mentored undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative inquiry; as well as achieve the vision of enriching and advancing society through undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative inquiry, CUR has released its 2020-2025 strategic plan based on five main goals.
Leadership for Undergraduate Research: Provide intellectual leadership for the field of undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative inquiry.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: develop a culture and community that actively prioritizes diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Advocacy and Partnerships: Strengthen shared commitments to the value of undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative inquiry.
Collaboration and Community: Build models of collaboration, cohesion, community, and impact that reach across CUR.
Accountability and Sustainability: Create an organizational culture of continuous evaluation and assessment that balances advancement of the mission with fiscal responsibility and sustainability.
CUR will pursue these five main goals and the associated success statements and strategies to advance its mission and vision statement during the next five years (2020-2025). Explicit tactics for advancing the specified objectives will be led by the Executive Board, Council leadership, and the National Office.
Leadership for Undergraduate Research: Provide intellectual leadership for the field of undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative inquiry.
- An organization that is the primary professional community for UR, scholarship, and creative activity thought leaders.
- An inclusive home for all types of UR, scholarly and creative activities, and their stakeholders.Â
- An organization that advances the scholarly work of undergraduate students and their research mentors.Â
- Create and provide access to a wide variety of models, resources, and tools.Â
- Support SPUR as the premier journal for publishing scholarship on UR, scholarship, and creative inquiry.Â
- Empower and support divisions as the leading voice of UR, scholarship, and creative inquiry in their disciplines.Â
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Develop a culture and community that actively prioritizes diversity, equity, and inclusion.
- A recognition that strength, sustainability, and true excellence depend on the diversity of those involved in UR, scholarship, and creative inquiry.
- A welcoming community that exhibits strong member engagement across academic disciplines and institutional types, and engages individual participants across the U.S. and the world. Â
- An understanding of the internal and external challenges to ensuring equitable access to programs and resources and prioritization of solutions to address them effectively.
- Through regular assessment of organizational climate and resources with respect to diversity, equity, and inclusion, identify and remove barriers to participation in CUR’s activities and programs.Â
- Proactively work to expand individual diversity within the CUR Executive Board, Council, staff, and membership.Â
- Provide resources and opportunities that target the needs of the broad array of disciplines, institutional types, current and future faculty, and other mentors who participate in UR, scholarship, and creative inquiry.
- Expand the reach of CUR in communities, regions, and populations historically underrepresented in UR, scholarship, and creative inquiry.
Advocacy and Partnerships: Strengthen shared commitments to the value of undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative inquiry.
- Fruitful collaborations on key issues, efforts, and messages with partners who have similar interests and goals.
- Increased awareness of the value and practice of UR, scholarship, and creative inquiry among potential organizational allies and partners. Â
- Stronger support of the CUR mission on the campuses of institutional members.
- Develop mutually beneficial relationships in support of the mission of CUR.
- Design resources and initiatives to expand knowledge of the value of UR, scholarship, and creative inquiry.
- Follow and participate in external discussions on UR, scholarship, and creative inquiry to leverage cross-group collaboration supporting UR.
Collaboration and Community: Build models of collaboration, cohesion, community, and impact that reach across CUR.
- A commitment to collaborative leadership in the organization.
- An inclusive culture of volunteerism that provides opportunities for meaningful contributions. Â
- Excellence in communication so that overlapping efforts and interests are shared across the organization.
- Increase and broaden member engagement and create a culture of recognition and gratitude.
- Improve communication opportunities and mechanisms among CUR members and stakeholders.
- Share resources and best practices among divisions, committees, and task forces.
- Increase shared inter-divisional programming to promote visibility, operational effectiveness, and efficiency.
Accountability and Sustainability: Create an organizational culture of continuous evaluation and assessment that balances the advancement of the mission with fiscal responsibility and sustainability.
- Operational capacity (financial, technological, human) is aligned with CUR’s innovation, sustainability, and growth efforts.
- Regular programmatic evaluation and review identifies current and emerging needs and optimizes programming and resource investment in alignment with mission and values, and strategic priorities.Â
- Build regular and robust assessment mechanisms to ensure mission alignment, enhance quality, identify emerging needs and opportunity gaps, and optimize resource investment.
- Develop flexible and diversified revenue sources to maintain sustainability.
- Create and implement a dynamic system for professional and leadership development and cross-training.