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The 2006 legislative session was an historic one for the University of Kentucky in that the General Assembly accepted the university's Top 20 Business Plan, a financial plan to carry out its mandate to become one of the top public universities in the country by the year 2020.

Even before officially taking the helm as Provost of this university, I was called upon by President Todd to begin the process of updating its 2003-06 Strategic Plan in accordance with the Top 20 Business Plan. I am being assisted in this process by the University Committee on Academic Planning and Priorities (UCAPP), appointed by President Todd in consultation with the Senate Council, and the Council of Deans.

The first phase of this process was completed when a draft of the provisional 2006-09 plan was presented to the UK Board of Trustees at its June 2006 meeting. In the second phase, I sought input from the university community and revised the plan in response to some rich conversations about our aspirations as a university community. Furthermore, I worked with the UCAPP membership, the council of deans and my staff to develop a set of key indicators by which to measure our progress over the next few years in fulfilling the goals and objectives of the strategic plan.

At its October 10th meeting, the UK Board of Trustees approved the 2006-09 Strategic Plan and its Measures of Progress. It is now time to set in motion a process to catalyze discussions at the department and college levels, and also across administrative units, about the development of action plans - goals, strategies and measures of progress - to realize the aspirations of the Top 20 Plan. The process will mark the first step in what I hope will become a transformed campus culture, characterized by aspirational thinking at every level.