Progress

OVERVIEW: THE PLANNING PROCESS

The Beginning

In October 2016, President Nowaczyk launched the process to update the university’s strategic plan and make it more responsive to the dynamic and changing landscape of higher education. He appointed a task force of 52 faculty, staff, and students who were broadly representative of the university community. The plan emerging from this process delineates a set of focused priorities that positions the university to respond to both opportunities and challenges as we look forward to our 125^th anniversary in 2023.

A two-day workshop in October, facilitated by our consultant, Dr. Pat Sanaghan, oriented task force members to what was to be a thorough and engaging planning process. From October to January, teams of task force members gathered input from more than 1000 internal and external stakeholders, including students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community groups.

Identifying Strategic Themes, Vision, and Goals

The task force, over three day-long sessions in the spring of 2017, reviewed the input and

Identified the six strategic themes;
Crafted a shared set of values and a vision of the university’s future in 2023; and,
Developed a focused set of strategic goals essential for creating a robust, relevant, and responsive future for the university.

The Next Step

A set of action items (starting with Strategic Goal 1 - Action Items) with accompanying milestones and key performance indicators are under development during the 2017-18 academic year. The task force proposed and prioritized an initial set of action items during the fall 2017 semester. That list has been further refined to ensure that all strategic goals and priorities are addressed and, where possible, action items support each other.