Charting a course to become a Grand Destination University Grounded in Excellence
Back in April 2025, 60 volunteers were brought together to join UVI’s new Agile Strategic Planning effort of beginning to identify and define one of the 2-quarter projects listed under UVI’s GRAND Momentum Strategic Plan 2025 – 2030. Five (5) blended teams of UVI faculty, staff, students and members of the Board of Trustees came together and were trained in a new collaboration technique in order to implement various projects under each letter of GRAND.
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G=Giving, Fundraising & Investing in our students,
R=Resource; Recruitment; Research & Recognition,
A=Academic Achievement & Excellence,
N=Number One; Innovation & Infrastructure Improvements,
D=Data Science; Distinction in Technology; Destination Education.
In this month’s newsletter, we’ll take a closer look at one of the teams within Team D who is led by Laurence Blake, Director of IT. This sub-team has come together to explore a bold and timely objective: “Promoting Data Literacy Among all UVI Students”.
Credit St. Croix Foundation
This collaborative effort reflects the university’s commitment to ensuring graduates are not only academically strong but also equipped with essential 21st -century skills. The team is currently evaluating how data literacy is embedded across UVI’s curriculum, identifying opportunities to strengthen instruction, and considering strategies to increase student engagement with data-driven thinking. Data literacy—the ability to read, interpret, analyze, and communicate with data—is increasingly vital across all fields of study and industries. In academia, it empowers students to make evidence-based decisions, understand research, and engage critically with information. For UVI, advancing data literacy is not just an academic goal—it is a strategic imperative. As the workforce becomes more data and AI driven, our students must be prepared to compete and lead in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. From healthcare and business to education and environmental science, artificial intelligence is reshaping how problems are solved, making data literacy a critical foundation for innovation and informed decision-making across all disciplines.
This initiative will help ensure UVI remains current, competitive, and forward-thinking in how we prepare our students for the future.
