About 2y2d

Re-envisioning Our Shared Future

Our shared future depends on choices we make today. Even small changes can lead to large and lasting impact. The Two Years to Two Decades Initiative (2y2d) involves an ongoing process that articulates a shared vision of our future, identifies trends and drivers of change, and takes steps to ensure the UW is responding in ways that keep us on track to thrive in the coming years.

Campus faculty, students, staff, and administration are engaged in continuous, thoughtful consideration, re-thinking or re-affirming priorities to best serve our UW community. 2y2d brings together these groups working towards those shared priorities, aids in their success and shares their best practices, and launches initiatives where new action is required.

Our Two-Year Challenge:

How do we ensure that we stay true to our vision, mission and values while coping with the rapidly changing landscape of higher education—funding, competition, emerging technologies, shifting demographics, and changing student expectations?

Our Two-Decade Challenge:

How do we ensure that the decisions we make now reflect our combined sense of where we are going and set us up well to thrive in the 21st century?

Positioning the UW to Thrive in the 21st Century

The 2y2d Initiative articulates long-term strategic priorities that guide near-term decisions. It asked stakeholders to envision where they want the University of Washington to be in 20 years and works to make that vision a sustainable reality.

Starting in the summer of 2009, more than 3,500 faculty, students, staff and community stakeholders provided input. Based on this input, and in consultation with faculty and campus leaders, strategic priorities and near-term goals were identified to make that vision a sustainable reality.

Learn more about what focus groups identified for the UW’s future and which of society’s most pressing issues they specified on the Finding Our Focus page.

Guiding 2y Decision-making: The Sustainable Academic Business Plan

The sustainable academic business plan is regularly updated strategic framework designed to respond to immediate budgetary challenges and strengthen our shared academic mission. It guides decision-making in the near term and focuses on practical ways to make our existing resources go further, look for creative ways to increase our resources, and invest strategically in our future. Learn more about the Sustainable Academic Business Plan.

Many UW activities support the goals of the Sustainable Academic Plan. A database-driven website, UW Activities & Improvements, allows UW community members to search these activities and share best practices. Learn more about UW Activities & Improvements.

Starting in 2010, the Provost launched new initiatives to meet Sustainable Academic Business Plan goals best accomplished at the institutional level:

• Teaching & Learning in the 21st Century (ongoing): Meeting the needs of diverse, dispersed student populations
• Enhance Student Services (launched): Improving the student experience from recruitment to success at the UW and beyond
• Campus of the 21^st Century (launched): Coordinating plans to improve physical and virtual campus environments
• Fostering Collaboration (ongoing): Fostering collaborative research, teaching, and learning
• Organizational Effectiveness Initiative (ongoing): Improving work processes, increasing effectiveness, and measuring success
• Program Evaluation Initiative (launched): Assessing program quality and impact based on collectively determined criteria and metrics. Originally a provost initiative, Program Evaluation is now operationalized and run by the Office of Planning & Budgeting as part of the regular UW budget cycle.