A Message from the Dean about Strategic Planning

In 2009-2010, the College will be engaged in a comprehensive strategic planning exercise that will result in the 2010-2015 Strategic Plan.  This plan will guide the path of the College, including the distribution of resources, for this five-year period.  The process will involve all departments, programs, and centers.  We will begin with a retreat for all chairs and directors on September 21, where college goals will be articulated in concert with academic affairs goals.  The process will be iterative, that is, units will work internally but will also share information with the rest of the college, so that the end result will be a college plan and unit plans that are complementary.

Why strategic planning is important now

It may seem counter-intuitive to be engaged in strategic planning in a time of budgetary constraints and programmatic contraction.  In fact, this is exactly the time to take stock of our priorities and to take measured steps to realize our goals.  But the path to this end must not be restrained and cautious, just because we happen to be in the middle of a recession. The College cannot realize its potential unless we give ourselves permission to think creatively, to imagine what does not yet exist.  I ask all the faculty and chairs to step out of your disciplinary comfort zone, to remove yourself from the everyday world you inhabit.

We must launch ourselves into 2015 and ask ourselves large, important questions:

• What is the role of a college of liberal arts and sciences in the world that we think 2015 will become?
• What experiences should our undergraduate majors have that will prepare them to address these challenges, to live full and satisfying lives, and to be fully franchised citizens of the world?
• How do we train our graduate students so that they not only master their area of study but have the flexibility of mind to create new knowledge?
• How do we as faculty bring our expertise to bear on the major issues in our local and global communities?

Imagining the CLAS of 2015

In imagining the world of 2015 and its needs, we should reinvent the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.  By “reinvent” I do not mean throw everything away and start over.  I do mean that we should imagine the structure and function of that College and chart our path to that identity, using where we are in 2009 as a starting place.

I see this process as exhilarating.  The best part of being a faculty member in a college of liberal arts and sciences is that the life of the mind is central to our mission.  Strategic planning, while it certainly has its pedestrian aspects, has this value in our college, as its beginning and end.

Here is a link to resources for strategic planning that are meant to be suggestive and thought-provoking. I invite the College community to use these as a starting point for our year-long discussion.

Timeline