Planning our future: Carolina Next

Dear Carolina Community,

We are pleased to launch Carolina Next: Innovations for Public GoodOpens in new window, a comprehensive strategic plan for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, following endorsement by the Board of Trustees on January 30, 2020.

Developed over two years with broad input from our University community, Carolina Next will serve as the roadmap for the future. It will guide the University’s strategic investment and decision making for the next three to four years on our journey to becoming the leading global public research university.

The strategic plan operationalizes the direction set by the Blueprint for Next, an important one-page framework adopted in 2017. Specifically, it builds on the two central pillars of the Blueprint for Next, ‘Of the Public for the Public’ and ‘Innovation made Fundamental’ and considers the Campus Master Plan and the UNC System’s strategic plan.

The eight strategic initiatives represent core focus areas across the University:

• Build Our Community Together
• Strengthen Student Success
• Enable Career Development
• Discover
• Promote Democracy
• Serve to Benefit Society
• Globalize
• Optimize Operations

Carolina Next represents the areas and opportunities that will make the biggest differences for our campus community and the people of North Carolina. These bold ideas came from many sources and align with the strategic plans of the 14 schools and the College of Arts & Sciences. The plan is a living, breathing document and given the dynamic nature of this great University, we plan for it to evolve as goals are realized and conditions change.

Of all eight strategic initiatives, we intentionally placed Build Our Community Together as the first initiative. How well we meet the extraordinary challenges and promise of our time will hinge, above all else, on our ability to understand and work together toward a common goal of creating a more diverse, equitable and inclusive community.

This announcement is just the start of a multi-year, unified effort to create change at Carolina for the greater good. The plan’s execution, like its development, will be a collaborative process. We wish to thank everyone in our community who has provided input into the plan. We invite you to learn more and stay up-to-date at carolinanext.unc.eduOpens in new window.

— Kevin Guskiewicz, Chancellor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill