More than two dozen University of Wisconsin faculty and staff gathered Thursday to provide input for UW System’s Strategic Planning session.

The focus group emphasized six specific areas related to the future of the UW System: general, economy, health & wellness, education, global and UW institutions.

The discussion was a part of UW System’s strategic planning effort to better understand the desires and expectations for the system as a whole. It has completed 15 meetings across the state and intends to finish three more in the coming months.

Darin Harrison, Office of Quality Improvement consultant, had participants complete a survey that will be evaluated by a group of experts in order to pinpoint the UW System’s top priorities.

UW System President Ray Cross said they have a good number of responses from a variety of groups across the state, from businesses to other universities and colleges in the system. Cross said they deliberately reached out to specific underrepresented communities to ensure they have a voice, too.

Cross noted that the priorities vary widely across the state and among different groups.

“The research element is more emphasized at UW-Madison and Milwaukee than at other institutions,” Cross said.

UW faculty and staff ranked increasing community partnerships and outreach as highest priority in the first category, attracting and retaining the best and brightest students in the second.

Other important issues include making healthcare training for students more interdisciplinary, making higher education more accessible to minority students and increasing diversity at colleges and universities, as well as to require all college and university students to learn global competency skills.

Dorothy Farrar-Edwards, professor and chair of the Department of Kinesiology, is also a member of the faculty governance committee. She said it’s important for faculty and staff to engage with the system’s planning process.

“I think there are a lot of issues that were raised, and what we saw from this was that there’s a diversity of opinion around all of these strategies, so it’s really important to hear the student voice in all of this. That’s what I really believe,” Farrar-Edwards said.

This is the second listening session on campus, a special privilege to UW, Harrison said.