The Office of the Provost has announced the list of successful applications to the 2015-16 Strategic Priority Fund.

Established in 2010, the Strategic Priority Fund is an annual opportunity for faculty and staff to seek funds for new initiatives and programs that directly support the vision and values of the University's Strategic Plan.

This year’s Call focused on the student experience, seeking projects that will improve students' academic opportunities, enrich the co-curricular or social environment, improve support for student development, or integrate efforts in these areas to improve the many ways that students live, learn, and work on campus.  

The 29 applications for projects were ranked by deans and reviewed by a committee of faculty, administrators, and a student.   UWSA President and Committee member Ronnie Haidar was impressed by the quality, creativity, and commitment to students reflected in the proposals: “Sitting on the SPF committee this semester has proven to me how committed our University is to enhancing the student experience. We have so many departments and faculties thinking outside the box to engage students, while also ensuring that we have the resources to succeed academically.”  Noting that it was very difficult to choose from the pool of great initiatives, he added, “I can't wait to see all the selected proposals take effect! Seeing all the great things happening all over campus has given me another reason to be proud to be a University of Windsor student.”

The ten successful projects provide a wide range of new opportunities and supports for students, from improved and more accessible advising in FAHSS, to comprehensive communications and professional skills development across the UWindsor Engineering curriculum, to the expansion of online courses and programs, to improved services for survivors of sexual violence, to opportunities for enhanced life skills and leadership training.

Representing an investment of over $1.2 million in enhancing student engagement and success, these projects will involve many hours of collective effort for the project teams over the next three years.  As Provost Douglas Kneale put it, “From a field of 29 strong applications, the ten projects funded this year represent a rich and varied set of initiatives aimed at enhancing the student experience.  I want to thank all the proponents for their imaginative and caring submissions, and the committee members for their diligent work in assessing such a princely heap of innovations.”  

Read more about SPF, including a description of the funded projects, on the SPF website.