Entrepreneurial University

The University can maintain its leading edge only if it utilizes new social, financial, and technological approaches to its own operations. We will create and support a culture of innovation within all academic, student, clinical and support operations. We will establish mechanisms for new ideas to be heard, evaluated and tested in a timely fashion to ensure that the University is primed and able to respond to emerging opportunities. We will increase incentives for faculty and staff to pursue new and expanded grant and contract funding for all aspects of research and entrepreneurship. We will expand alumni and corporate connections to take innovative ideas to scale and secure resources to sustain them.

UIC can no longer depend on state support or increases in tuition revenue to secure the necessary resources for the fulfillment of its mission. We will clearly align resource allocation with institutional priorities, reduce costs, and build new public-private partnerships to address capital infrastructure needs and improve support services. We will develop new and effective strategies to increase philanthropic support.

Innovation and excellence cannot thrive in the face of bureaucracy and without state-of-the-art support services, systems and staff. We will foster a culture of customer service and timely results in all of our internal operations. We will become even more efficient and transparent in the utilization of our resources by reducing administrative costs. We will streamline administrative, personnel, financial and support services, and reduce redundancies in our staffing structure. We will modernize the technology currently used by introducing new IT tools where needed. We will optimize the use of existing space.