Strategic Planning

The integral planning of institution-wide strategies is an accumulative effort of the entire campus community. Generally a plan is for a duration of 10-years, but it is now common for intermittent reviews of the strategic plan to occur throughout the duration of the cycle. The plan is reviewed for completion of strategies, relevancy of strategies, and directional movements to better position the instituion in the current operating environment. Coordinating implementation of strategic planning strategies normally happens at the unit levels. These strategies are derived through the collaborative contributions of the individuals who are assigned to the specific operational units. Facilitating strategic planning strategies occurs at all operational levels of the institution.

The executive leadership, deans, chairs, and unit directors are responsible for the accountability of staying on task with defined strategies and reporting the accomplishments and achievements on an annual basis. The Office of Institutional Effectiveness ensures that the mechanisms are in place for archiving the reported achievements and presenting information annually in a strategic planning accomplishment report. The office sends out reporting prompts three times a year with the final deadline being June 30th. This report is shared transparently with the campus community and is available as a .pdf attachment on the website.

As mentioned previously, it is a pertinent strategy to continuously monitor the accomplishments and achievements of plan strategies. The current higher education environment is constantly being challenged by external forces that require immediate attention. Thus, the built-in review cycles of the 10-year plan are important. The recalibration techniques can occur at the institution or individual unit levels. The ability to make timely adaptations to existing strategies or developing new strategies creates a more agile institution that is positioned to take advantages of opportunities as they present. The more agile an institution is, the better chance it has to gain a competitive advantage in the higher education operating environment.