Strategic Plan
The Office of Finance and Administration’s strategic plan defines our values and priorities as partners in advancing UW–Madison’s teaching, research, and public service mission. Our strategic priorities build upon work that is currently underway and introduce new initiatives that support the university’s broader goals. They also identify where we must focus our time and resources to achieve those goals. This living document will continue to evolve as we respond to feedback and the changing needs of UW–Madison and our community.
We will partner in creating an inclusive and forward-thinking university that exceeds the expectations of UW–Madison’s students, faculty, and staff.
We envision a modern and resilient UW–Madison that exceeds the changing needs and expectations of our students, faculty, and staff. This strategic plan is a roadmap for how we get there.
Vice Chancellor Cramer’s 2025-26 Priorities
Retaining Employees
People are the essence of what makes UW–Madison great. We will continue our efforts to retain employees and offer opportunities for all individuals to develop their skills and grow their careers at UW–Madison.
Strengthening Administrative Service Delivery
We will continue to explore opportunities to improve customer satisfaction with administrative services, including the creation of service-level agreements with some of the Finance and Administration units.
Making Progress Toward Sustainability Goals
We are on track to reach our key sustainability goal of achieving STARS Gold by 2025 and will continue our work toward other key sustainability initiatives. All finance and administration employees have roles to play in helping the university meet these goals, including identifying ways to decrease the amount of waste generated by our daily activities.
Modernizing Administrative Services
Workday brings together data about people, finances, and operations into one system to streamline administrative work and better protect our data. This is a critical project in modernizing HR and finance processes to better support our mission.
Guided by broad input and campus priorities, we focus our plan on three themes:
People
Our investments in people will empower our employees and develop a university culture that allows our community to flourish.
Places
Our investments in places will deliver a safe and resilient environment that enhances learning, discovering, living, working, and belonging.
Practices
Our investments in modern practices will inspire a culture of continuous improvement and allow us to dedicate more time and resources to the university mission and our people.
Advancing the Mission Together
The University of Wisconsin-Madison has set some ambitious goals for the next 10 years or more, including:
- Meeting students’ changing educational needs and meeting industry demand for specific skills;
- Developing new strategies to enrich the University’s diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging initiatives;
- Keeping more Wisconsin high school graduates in the state, attracting outstanding out-of-state students, and creating access and opportunity for our students with the highest financial need;
- Growing the research enterprise from eighth to sixth in the national HERD rankings and expanding industry partnerships; and
- Catalyzing economic development for the region and the state
This work also requires financial investment and flexibility.
UW-Madison has used revenue-generating strategies and financial stewardship to strengthen our financial position. We must continue to examine cash management, operational efficiency and cost, and real estate to unlock the financial resources needed to advance our mission and stay competitive with peer institutions.