Being Bold
Collaboration, inclusion and empowerment are embedded into the very DNA of this university. The following Boldly Illinois-inspired initiatives reflect the unique values and vision of the university that inspire us to accomplish uncommonly extraordinary things.
What does it mean to be “bold?” Formally, it means to be fearless, intrepid and to act with a daring spirit; it also means to stand out and to be distinctive from others. Boldly Illinois initiatives, like those listed below and those we encourage your unit, college, department and teams to envision, embody the best of both meanings of the word.
The following example initiatives are in various stages of development. Please check back for updates on each of these and for new initiatives.
Boldly Illinois Transformational Health Innovation Task Force
The Boldly Illinois Transformational Health Innovation (BILT-HI) Task Force is working to establish campus and Champaign-Urbana as a national and global leader in health innovation over the next 10 years. Through collaboration, education and discovery, BILT-HI aims to boldly transform health innovations into meaningful solutions and partnerships that improve the health and well-being of patients and communities around the world.
As it works to identify infrastructural and operational capabilities and resource needs, BILT-HI will catalyze new cooperative efforts in areas where Illinois provides leadership nationally and globally, while also identifying growth opportunities for existing areas of excellence on campus. The taskforce’s work will broaden our current educational, research, innovation and engagement activities, expand and leverage our culture of collaboration, and foster initiatives that will not only benefit our campus and community, but will also be scaled for state, national and global impact.
The Bold Plan Teams bring together experts from across campus to discuss how to address bold aspirations for increasing the graduation rate and closing equity gaps — throughout the student pipeline — for underrepresented students. The teams operate within a collaborative framework, recognizing that no single individual, office or unit can solve all the issues alone. The Academic and Wellness Support Team focuses on creating a comprehensive ecosystem of academic and community support. This team has developed its own strategy maps and generated dozens of initiatives to be considered for implementation. The Policy Barriers Team examines college-level and campus-level policies that may represent unnecessary barriers to academic success and works to identify data beneficial to making data-informed policy decisions. A Data Analysis Team also meets monthly to support the other two teams, share insights and discuss specific issues that facilitate collaboration across colleges. Guidance and strategies from the Bold Teams move beyond advocacy for individual campus units to advance the overall success of students across the university.
Coordinated by the Boldly Illinois Horizon Groups Steering Committee, Horizon Groups will each bring together a variety of thinkers to help scan the environment outside the university to identify and analyze trends, new technologies, big ideas and shifting paradigms that point to the next waves of opportunities and challenges affecting campus over the next 10+ years. Through these efforts, the Horizon Groups will enhance our strategic planning capabilities, allowing us to better prepare to align our goals, values and strengths with these coming changes as we strive to boldly serve our community, nation and the world in the future. More information about specific Horizon Groups will be available soon.
Charged by the Provost and several college deans, the Campus AI Curriculum Committee is exploring the development of comprehensive AI education strategy and implementation across our colleges and units. Engaging with faculty across campus, this committee will be considering a variety of undergraduate options, such as a campus-wide minor and blended degrees, and also giving consideration to how blended degrees might also be transferred to graduate education. The committee will be considering resource needs, learning objectives, and how social, ethical, environmental and economic concerns should be integrated into programs.
The Boldly Illinois Curriculum Innovation Collaborative aims to accelerate and enhance our portfolio of educational offerings and credentials that both anticipate and respond to market demands. The Collaborative consists of two groups, the Boldly Illinois Curriculum Innovation Process Task Force and the Boldly Illinois Curriculum Innovation New Content Working Group. The BICI Process Task Force is currently exploring processes that could facilitate more rapid innovation, such as pilot testing and experimentation with new course/program offerings on a provisional basis, with full approval to be sought if early indications look promising. This group, together with the BICI New Content Working Group is also exploring ways to accelerate and streamline ongoing innovation among existing programs on campus, fostering a climate that promotes interdisciplinary programs, and identifying opportunities to experiment with new course/program/credential designs. In addition, the BICI Collaborative will be reviewing our current processes for evaluating opportunities for educating learners in new markets, both in the U.S. and globally. (More information will be available soon about the BICI New Content Working Group.)
Boldly Illinois 2030 challenges us to think differently, take risks, be courageous enough to fail and transcend business as usual. Boldly IT, sponsored by the Office of the Provost and the Office of the CIO, answers that challenge with a campuswide vision for IT based on equitable access to IT resources for all our users; putting people first; and an IT community that is distinguished by its commitment to change and growth.
The Boldly Illinois Better Work Initiative aims to review and evaluate ways to better support our faculty and staff, including equitably addressing day-to-day workplace pain points and identifying and addressing sources of excessive administrative friction (i.e., “sludge”) that lead to frustration and fatigue. The aim of the Better Work Initiative is to free up our talented faculty and staff to focus more on high priority activities that advance the mission and values of the university and on more satisfying core work activities where they can have the greatest impact here at the University of Illinois. (More information will be available soon about this initiative.)
