Our Approach to Strategy
We shape and execute strategy to fulfill our mission, pursue our vision, and serve our students and the state of Montana in the most effective way possible.
Effective strategy is an iterative process. Each year we review our mission and strategic vision, assess the progress we’ve made over the course of the year, and develop a playbook for the year ahead to move us toward our collective vision.
As part of this process, we:
- Celebrate successes and extract lessons to inform future decisions.
- Examine the external environment to identify emerging challenges and opportunities.
- Consider where to invest precious human and financial resources for highest impact.
Building momentum
In recent years, deliberate strategic thinking and execution have built real momentum. After a decade of declining enrollment, UM has seen enrollment growth, adding over 1,300 students to overall headcount since 2021. We have evolved academic programming to meet societal needs, achieved R1 research status, and rebuilt a vibrant campus atmosphere in the wake of the pandemic. Our FY26 Playbook carries that momentum forward.
Built on our vision of inclusive prosperity, this year’s playbook contains seven long-term objectives that focus on enrollment and student success; career readiness; student wellbeing, leadership, service, and civic engagement; a widening range of learners; research and economic development; external engagement; and the employee experience.
Adaptations and Alignment
Core Infrastructure
In previous years, the Playbook included a specific objective focused on core infrastructure. This year, that focus is embedded across all objectives, recognizing its essential role in every area of progress. For example, this year's Playbook has projects related to improving systems and processes embedded in four different objectives.
The work of units like Information Technology, Institutional Research, Legal Counsel and Compliance, Strategic Planning and Implementation, Operations and Finance, and People and Culture underpin the success of all Playbook objectives and projects. These areas provide essential infrastructure to drive institutional effectiveness, support continuous improvement, and uphold a culture of ethics, compliance, and continuity.
Sector Playbooks
The projects named in our annual Playbook reflect just a portion of initiatives underway across UM to advance our shared objectives. Academic Affairs, Research and Creative Scholarship, and Marketing Communications, Experience and Engagement are developing sector-level playbooks that are responsive to our shared UM objectives, and other areas are working intentionally to align their work with those same objectives. As sectors across campus pursue strategy aligned with our shared mission, vision, and objectives, we are collectively contributing to a future of inclusive, sustainable prosperity.
External Influences: Federal landscape and AI
Two urgent external forces influence all FY26 Playbook objectives: the evolving federal landscape and the impacts of artificial intelligence.
UM leadership, in collaboration with the MUS Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education, will continue to track and respond to federal developments, always prioritizing support for UM’s vision.
At the same time, an awareness of AI's opportunities and risks is woven into efforts to advance our objectives and deliver on our projects. In FY25, Flagship Fund grant recipients implemented AI-focused activities across campus, resulting in new insights that will be carried forward. Meanwhile, the Future Project—led by faculty, staff, and administrators—created and launched a plan to integrate AI strategically and responsibly into what we teach, how we teach, and how we work. In FY26, these efforts will continue.