Click here to read the 2012-13 Strategic Priorities memo.

Click here to read the 2011-12 Strategic Priorities memo.

We have made good progress on many of our priorities for 2010-11, thanks to the work of students, faculty, and staff across the campus. Some of our priorities have proved a bit more challenging than we anticipated; for others, our work has provided additional insight into how we can most effectively achieve our objectives, resulting in slight changes in our work plans.  The insights we take from this update will serve to inform our priorities in each area of the College for 2011-12 and our institutional strategic priorities for 2011-12.

Read the update.

In brief, it is clearly evident that we have been at work on all of the priorities that we have set for 2010-11.  We are making good progress on many priorities; others have either proved a bit more challenging than we anticipated, or we have determined aspects of them have warranted more detailed study, planning, or consultation before implementation.

Read the update brief and/or detailed report.

For Students:  Wednesday, October 6, 2010, 7:30 p.m.  Kauke 237

For Staff: Tuesday, October 12, 2010, 2:00-3:00 p.m., Lean Lecture Hall

Our summer planning assignment was to take our entire planning work product of the last year and compile our strategic plan framework.  We are now introducing the Framework to you.  While it may not reflect the traditional structure of a strategic planning document as Wooster has known in the past, its content should be very familiar to all of us.

On Purpose: Our Strategic Framework is the first edition of our agile, living-plan document.  Its purpose is to guide College decision making and resource allocation in the near term.  We anticipate it will be periodically revisited and revised to reflect the progress we make towards our objectives and the changes in our strategic context, but we are now past the discovery and idea stages.  The Framework outlines our common work to achieve our vision for Wooster and the current task is to answer the question, “What specifically are we going to do this year?”

At its October meeting, the Board will discuss the Framework and consider its approval.  Between now and then, we will discuss the Framework in our governance committees, in our respective departments, and in meetings of faculty, staff, and students respectively with a view toward implementation. Our immediate priorities are outlined in the Annual Strategic Priorities memo that Grant has already sent to you, but the question of what this means for the work of specific committees and individual faculty and staff remains to be answered.

These conversations will be organized as follows:  Several faculty committees will hold committee discussions in preparation for the Big 5 retreat (September 27) and the October faculty meeting.  The Faculty as a whole will discuss it at the October 4 faculty meeting (more information about the October faculty meeting will follow).  Members of Cabinet will facilitate conversations in their respective areas.  Ellen and John will facilitate discussions in upcoming meetings of the Staff Committee, Campus Council, and Student Government.  There will be at least one open discussion session for staff and one for students and we will also seek comments from the members of the Alumni Board.

We ask that you review our Strategic Framework which can be found on this blog and encourage you to engage in one or more discussion sessions.

Our thanks for your involvement in our on-going strategic planning effort.

John & Ellen

You then told us, in many meetings, e-mails, and blog posts what you thought about the drafts of the proposed Wooster mission, core values, and vision statements, and revisions were made based on your feedback.  The Board approved these statements last fall and they are now guiding much of what we, collectively, do and our thinking about programs and priorities.

We also asked you to help describe what “achieving our vision” would mean for the College.  From those conversations and considering our current institutional context, four overarching strategic objectives emerged, which the Board endorsed at its last meeting:

1. To make continuous improvements in fulfilling our mission, offering a liberal arts education that is distinctive and demonstrably superior;
2. To secure and enhance the availability of the human, financial, and physical resources needed to achieve our vision;
3. To enroll a residential student body of at least 1800 students with a steadily improving mix of academic profile, diversity, and discount rate; and
4. To cultivate a campus-wide and sustainable culture of planning as an effective, collective endeavor.

To achieve these objectives, we need to identify, select, and prioritize strategic initiatives, things we will do differently to move the College from where it is towards our collective vision of where we want us to be.  We are engaging the College community through our current governance structure.   Four planning task groups have been charged to identify, through brainstorming, strategic initiatives and related tactics.  They have also been asked to engage their colleagues and other constituencies in their work.

Two of our four planning task groups relate to our core mission, the other two relate to competitive positioning and enrollment and resources:

• Core Mission: Academic Programs [leads: Shila Garg, Hank Kreuzman and the Educational Policy Committee]
• Core Mission: Community of Learners [lead: Kurt Holmes]
• Competitive Positioning & Enrollment [leads: Mary Karen Vellines and John Hopkins]
• Resources (human, financial and physical) [leads: Sally Patton, Laurie Stickelmaier, and the Financial Advisory Committee]

Their work and the initiatives they are identifying tie directly to what we have heard from students, faculty, staff, trustees, and alumni throughout our planning process. For example:

We now ask your help in shaping and prioritizing the strategic initiatives we should focus our energies upon, because, as indicated,  the strategic initiatives we choose to undertake will impact all of us.

We have scheduled a number of “feedback” sessions over the next two weeks.   Members of each of the planning task groups will be in attendance, to hear feedback on their recommendations and work to date.  As a beginning, we have five questions to assist in framing the conversations:

In the context of each task group’s report:

1. Are the strategic initiatives presented consistent with our mission, core values, and vision?
2. Do the strategic initiatives contribute to accomplishing one or more of our strategic objectives? If so, which ones?
3. Do the strategic initiatives give us a competitive advantage?
4. What’s missing?  What other ideas might we consider?
5. Taken collectively, are these the initiatives that will address our most pressing challenges to move us to where we want to be?  Are these the most important places to be putting our energies at the present time?

Feedback & Information Sessions Schedule:

April 12: “Big Five” faculty committees retreat
April 13: Staff Committee
April 21: Open session (students, faculty, staff) 10-11 a.m.  Scovel 105
April 21: Students (SGA sponsored) 7:30 p.m.  [location TBD]
April 22:  Faculty, 4:00 – 5:00 p.m., Lean Lecture Hall
April 24:  Alumni Board Meeting
April 27: Open session (students, faculty, staff) 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon, Lean Lecture Hall
April 27:  Administrative Strategy Group Spring Meeting

The planning task groups will use the feedback from these sessions to refine their proposed strategic initiatives to serve as the basis for the Board of Trustees’ spring meeting retreat on strategic planning.  Our summer assignment is to take the campus work and results of the Board retreat and compile our strategic plan framework, priority strategic initiatives, and strategic financial plan.  We will post this in August, for campus review during early September, anticipating presentation to the Board for approval at its Fall 2010 meeting.

The first drafts of the strategic initiatives from each planning group are posted on the “On Purpose: Strategic Planning @ Wooster” blog (network login may be required to access some of the documents).  Updates and revisions will be posted as planning groups provide them.

Please plan to join us at a session, or send comments or suggestions to any of the individuals or members of committees listed above or to us.

Ellen Falduto & John Sell

It remains evident that we have been at work on implementing all of the priorities to support our strategic objectives.

Read the update.