Development of a SO Mission statement is underway

March 25, 2022

President Pitney convened the System Office Mission Statement work team to lead an inclusive process for crafting a mission statement for the UA System Office. The resulting statement will be formalized into BOR policy and will serve as a guidepost for the long run. Engagement with the university community is critical to guide this work.

Since the initial announcement of this project, that engagement process has resulted in:

• A System Office Mission website was published with an embedded feedback form open to the university community.
• Group members met with governance groups including the System Office Staff Council, Staff Alliance and Faculty Alliance, and the project was introduced in Board of Regents public testimony.
• System Office employees held a Conversation with the President on March 8 where the process was discussed and staff had the opportunity to ask questions.
• An initial survey was distributed to System Office employees to gather input on the development of a mission statement. 
• There were 32 thoughtful responses to that initial survey, and they have been shared with the project team. Some of the common themes expressed in the survey responses include: support, service, collaboration, consistency, integrity, and quality. The team is using this input as they refine draft statements.

Currently the team is engaged in developing draft mission statements, reviewing other system missions, analyzing stakeholder feedback, researching the history, roles and functions of the System Office, and consulting past reviews of the System Office to guide the process.

Once the team has two or more versions ready there will be an opportunity for all members of the university community to review and rate the proposed statements and provide further feedback to team members before a final version is presented to leadership for approval.