System Office Mission Statement

System Office in Fairbanks with flying geese

A Mission Statement for the System Office

Through its support of the Board of Regents, the three universities with distinct missions, and their community campuses, the University of Alaska System Office advances higher education and honors the Indigenous and diverse peoples of Alaska. The University of Alaska System Office manages corporate responsibilities, strategically stewards shared resources, and works with the universities to implement Regents' policies and directions to align with current and future needs of the state.

Approved by the Board of Regents February 2023​

The System Office Administrative Review completed in May 2021 recommended that the System Office formalize a mission statement “that explicitly affirms the role of the office." The resulting statement will be formalized into BOR policy and will serve as a tool to guide the System Office.

On May 11, 2022 the working team transmitted its draft mission statement to the president and the  executive leadership team (ELT) at the System Office.  Over the summer, the ELT reviewed and suggested some revisions to the statement. In July, the working team reviewed the updated version, and provided additional feedback.President Pitney accepted the committee's recommendations.

Proposed Mission Statement - September 1, 2022

The University of Alaska System Office, through its support of the three universities’ distinct missions, advances higher education and honors the Indigenous and diverse peoples of Alaska. The University of Alaska System Office manages corporate responsibilities, strategically stewards shared resources, and works with the universities to implement Regents’ policies and directions to align with current and future needs of the state.

The next steps will be to share the proposed mission statement with System Governance groups prior to introducing the statement as policy for a first reading at the November meeting of the Board of Regents. Regents can vote on the final language during the February board meeting.

The goal of this project was to build clarity behind the role of the System Office, ensure alignment with leadership vision and system priorities, create accountability, and develop a measure against which employees across the university system can evaluate the work they are doing and how it contributes to the mission of the University of Alaska system.

University of Alaska system-wide survey - April 14 - April 22, 2022
Employees of the University of Alaska were invited to provide feedback on three versions of a potential System Office mission statement to rate how well each of the proposed statements captures the mission and role of the System Office (formerly known as Statewide Administration) and resonates with university stakeholders. Comments and feedback on each of the statements were used by the working team to help finalize a mission statement for the University of Alaska System Office.

System Office Mission Statement Survey - System Office Staff - March 10 - March 18

survey response wordle
The 32 open text responses to 7 questions in the System Office employee survey are combined to make a word cloud highlighting key terms including service, support, system, students and universities.

Work Team

With the support of Interim President Pat Pitney, a team comprising representatives from the three universities and the System Office convened on Jan. 21, 2022 to organize and initiate this process.

The work team members:

  • Monique Musick, System Office, Manager Communications & Marketing - lead
  • Ian Hartman, UAA, Assoc. Professor of History
  • Michelle Pope, System Office, Director of Human Resources Operations
  • David Bishko, System Office, Acting Chief Human Resources Officer
  • Wayne Mowery Jr., System Office, Assoc. General Counsel
  • Michael Ciri, UAS, Vice Chancellor Administrative Services
  • Bruce Schultz, UAA, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
  • Andrew Aquino, System Office, Project Coordinator
  • Nettie La Belle-Hamer, UAF, Vice Chancellor for Research
  • Ronnie Houchin, UAF, Associate Director for Student Engagement, Staff Alliance representative