Academic Master Planning

Academic Affairs Mission

Our mission in Academic Affairs is to establish the educational foundation of the university by creating a scholarly community; providing transformative educational experiences; and supporting students, faculty, and staff in their academic and professional aspirations. We engage with our community and our diverse student body in high-quality, equitable, and inclusive curricula, programs, and services.

Academic Affairs Vision

We aspire to create a deliberately dynamic and adaptive scholarly community that enriches and empowers our students, faculty, and staff while being recognized as a collaborative model of diversity, equity, and inclusivity.

Academic Affairs Values

Student-Centered Focus
We are committed to innovative support and instructional strategies that recognize the needs of diverse student populations in pursuit of their educational and career goals, fostering empowerment and civic engagement.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
We strive to achieve equitable outcomes for everyone, particularly those from backgrounds that have been historically under-represented and underserved in higher education. Our widely diverse faculty, staff, and students enrich and strengthen our community. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone feels valued and varied individual experiences, perspectives, and objectives are respected.

Community Collaboration
We are a community of learners working together to foster engagement, insight, and wisdom in service to university stakeholders, the Clarksville metropolitan area, and beyond.

Integrity and Responsibility
We hold ourselves accountable to the highest standard of conduct and professionalism, interacting in an open, transparent, and honest manner to respect our community and advance our university. We honor our commitments to each other, our students, and our community.

Access and Opportunity
We provide the transformative educational opportunities, resources, and support necessary to help learners develop into more educated global citizens, enhancing their economic and social mobility.

Academic Freedom
We are committed to the freedom of inquiry and affording faculty the opportunity to engage in the development of curriculum and course content and the production of scholarly research and creative activity through the practices of tenure and shared governance, without external pressure.

Academic Master Plan

Goal 1: APSU will be a premier public regional university known for student-centered teaching excellence and high quality, innovative, and creative scholarship that is responsive to the needs of our diverse community and beyond.

Objective 1: Increase high-quality instruction.
Objective 2: Enhance the quality and breadth of faculty scholarship, to include pedagogical scholarship.
Objective 3: Improve support for diversity and inclusion across the APSU academic community.
Objective 4: Demonstrate the quality of academic programs by satisfying state standards and professional accreditation expectations.
Objective 5: Attract, hire, and retain high-quality faculty and staff to include underrepresented populations.

Goal 2: APSU will optimize our institutional infrastructure to meet the academic needs of our students.

Objective 1: Increase the efficient use of educational spaces.

Objective 2: Align organizational structures across the university.
Objective 3: Increase the variety and flexibility of academic offerings across terms, instructional sites, times of day, and modalities to improve educational accessibility.

Goal 1: APSU will cultivate a comprehensive student support culture.

Objective 1: Foster University-wide engagement in strategic enrollment activities throughout the student’s journey at APSU.
Objective 2: Strengthen collection, analysis and communication of recruitment, yield, retention, and completion data.

Goal 2: APSU will optimize University undergraduate enrollment with gains in targeted focal populations.

Objective 1: Increase incoming enrollment of the First-Time Full-Time (FTFT) traditional freshmen student cohort to 1,650 (FT total freshman cohort to 1,800) students by 2027.
Objective 2: Achieve overall enrollment of all of the other undergraduate populations to 80% of overall undergraduate enrollment by 2027.

Goal 3: Improve undergraduate retention rates and persistence to graduation by strengthening student success strategies.

Objective 1: Increase overall first-year retention rates by 7 percentage points by 2027.
Objective 2: Increase the four-year graduation rate by 3.5 percentage points by 2027.

Goal 4: The College of Graduate Studies will meet the needs of APSU’s service region.

Objective 1: Increase overall graduate enrollment by 5.5% per year by 2027.
Objective 2: Increase the graduate 3-year graduation rate by 3 percentage points by 2027.

Goal 1: APSU will increase the number of students academically engaged beyond the classroom.

Objective 1: Increase number of students participating in HIPs and/or co-curricular activities to support student success.

Objective 2: Increase number of faculty participating in HIPs and co-curricular activities.

Objective 3: Strengthen communication among faculty, staff, advisors, and students regarding opportunities for High-Impact Practices and co-curricular activities.

Goal 2: APSU will evolve wraparound student support services to ensure that all students are equipped to pursue their educational and career goals in an empowering environment.

Objective 1: Expand the professional advising model beyond the first-year student cohort.

Objective 2: Strengthen financial literacy and wellness for all APSU students.

Objective 3: Strengthen University collaboration to foster awareness of and access to student support resources.

Objective 4: Improve the quality, consistency, and accessibility of our student support resources to include a centralized student support services location.

Objective 5: Transform career readiness at APSU and increase positive career outcomes upon graduation, employment, military, or advanced education.
Objective 6: Improve tracking of students post-graduation.

Goal 1: APSU will evolve academic offerings to strengthen our emphasis on delivering quality programs that address community and regional needs.

Objective 1: Align programs to better serve the needs of the community and region.
Objective 2: Evolve and update programs and curricula to address current best practices in preparing students to contribute professionally, civically, and creatively in their field of choice.
Objective 3: Develop a sustainable model that links service-learning, service opportunities, internships, and volunteer efforts to community organizations.

Goal 2: APSU will offer a comprehensive menu of continuing education opportunities to serve the needs of community.

Objective 1: Develop new programs and modify existing programs to serve the needs of the community and region
Objective 2: Ensure continuing education is financially sustainable and mission-aligned.