Northeastern State University University Planning Group (UPG) Minutes: October 30, 2009 Meeting
ATTACHMENTS at the end of the minutes, starting on page 3.
Location: NET614, Muskogee209, BA-A215 October 30, 2009 Tentative Agenda
Call to order: 3:02 pm
Notes: Prior to break-out sessions Dave Kern reviewed progress on updating, enhancing and reframing the strategic plan as “Charting the Second Century: 2010/2014. All UPG members received information on the following as preparation for the session:
Key comments include:
Questions and Comments about the process and structure of the Strategic Goals
Hand out of information from emails, plan comparison, and seven steps. (attached)
Dave then discussed a longer term Time table:
Break out session guidelines were provided verbally:
Meeting was adjourned approximately 3:19 pm to allow time for breakout sessions
Attachments: plan comparison, seven-step process.
Members in attendance: Janet Bahr, Laura Boren, Jym Brittain, Sue Catron, Craig Clifford, Denise Deason-Toyne, Nancy Garber, Michael Gibbons , Kay Grant, Christee Jenlink, Dave Kern (chairperson), Mark Kinders, Christy Landsaw, Pamela Louderback , Doug Penisten, Mia Revels, Randy Shelton , Mike Turner Members absent: April Adams, Martha Albin, Richard Carhart, Kim Cherry, Sheila Collins, Della Combs , Liz Cook (NSGA), Tim Foutch, Mark Giese, John Gyllin, Kaylyn Handshy (NASA), Ed Huckeby, Tom Jackson, Jeff Konya, Tim McElroy, Shu Nakai, John Schleede, Joe Spence, Andrew Vassar, Martin Venneman, Chuck Ziehr,
On October 21, your received an email outlining the tasks for our October 30 UPG meeting (3-5 pm; NET614, Muskogee209, BA-A215). Again, there is a bit to read with this email and the 5 pages of the attachment, but this is necessary for effective communication.
As promised, the latest version of five Strategic Goals (attached) are included for your review and input. Please review each of the five plans and provide input or questions by email to each of the team leaders prior to the meeting. This is important so that we can use our time efficiently – lots to do! We will take about 30 minutes to discuss these articulated goals, the process to engage the broader community, questions and issues. We will then break-out into teams to complete a SWAC (SWOT with emphasis on aspirations and challenges instead of traditional terminology, opportunities and threats).
Prior to our break-out sessions, we will discuss the next steps in our 7-step process (reference minutes of the Sept 25 meeting):
The following assumptions are important in working through the process:
Your comments and input are welcomed and encouraged. I am trying to communicate as effectively as possible, but know that there are always some gaps. Please send me a note on issues and questions.
October 30 Tentative Agenda
General Session:
Break-out Sessions:
Northeastern State University Charting the Second Century: 2010/2014 Working Draft of Strategic Goals (University Level Strategic Plan) Updated Oct 23
Working Draft of Strategic Goals:
Definition of working draft of strategic goals: A working draft has received serious and meaningful consideration by a group of individuals who are interested in the topic and represent a range of university units, organizations and stakeholder groups. It is a work in process that is to be exposed to a broader spectrum of those stakeholders, including the full University Planning Group, university organizations and individuals, all facilitated by the UPG teams. These strategic goals will be considered working drafts until they have been fully reviewed by the university community and our colleagues in each of the units to ensure full communication and consideration of all feedback.
NSU Strategic Goals articulated in this document (Charting the Second Century: 2010/2014) are fully articulated statements designed to provide meaningful and adequate direction in the development of academic and administrative unit 5-year Growth and Development Plan updates, with the intention that our colleagues throughout the university will provide critical and important input in charting the future of the university. The final “Charting the Second Century: 2010/2014” will be completed after full 2-way communication with university stakeholders and with all units in a collaborative effort.
The 5-year Growth ad Development Plans and the StratPlanGrids (reports on actions addressing the 2006 Strategic Plan) developed by each unit, provide input to the UPG activities and establish a base plan to be updated in the spring and summer of 2010.
The two components of the Culture of Learning and Discovery are inextricably bound (interwoven). Together, these two components form the basis for developing intellectual inquiry on a university campus. Learning implies that everyone in the university is interested in promoting learning among all individuals on campus (not just students). It also implies that learning is an important investment for the organization and that others take a personal interest in the success of learners (student success, faculty success, staff success).
Discovery is multifaceted and relies not only on traditional research, but also takes the forms of basic, applied, action research, synergistic experiences, observational opportunities and community oriented service.
A blending (or interaction between?) of learning and discovery provides the foundation for an educational environment that fosters and supports inquiry, creativity, practice, and social responsibility.
NOTE: Incorporating creativity and innovation into the life of the university is a pervasive concept, and all teams are encouraged to incorporate a culture of creativity; however, it clearly integral to Learning and Discovery.
Sustainable communities can be communities of interest (e.g., the arts, business, education) and/or communities of geography (e.g., Northeastern State University, Cherokee County, Green Country).
Constructing sustainable communities requires visionary thinking that ensures that we do not overuse resources to the detriment of future generations.
On campus this entails adopting practices to reduce, re-use and recycle as they apply to all resources. We will model the way in innovative and best sustainability practices on campus and to our benefit, and share them with others off-campus.
In NSU’s external service area, it implies building holistic “re-localized” societies that incorporate sustainability principles adopted from the program “Making Place Matters” (American Association of State Colleges & Universities) that are applied to economic development initiatives, the environment, sociological issues and building community residents’ leadership capacity.
Through a holistic, systems-thinking approach, faculty experts, student interns, and research teams will be coordinated to address the breadth and depth of leadership capacity building as well as sustainability-based community planning, development, commercial, social and cultural opportunities that ultimately define the quality of life on our campuses and across the region.
NSU will provide “soft skills” to help constituent groups to identify, frame and prioritize problems, opportunities and solutions. NSU will provide “hard skills” to solve these prioritized problems through faculty consulting, service-learning projects, civic engagement, or referrals to appropriate partners. “Re-localization” is a recognition that communities are sustainable only to the degree to which they are self-sufficient in leadership capacity, energy, food, water, shelter, clothing, and commerce based on the integrity, carrying capacity, and resiliency of the native habitats and bio-region in which they exist. It is only from that local basis that long-term commercialization and exporting of basic natural resources can be assured to meet the needs of future generations fairly and equitably.
By encouraging economic improvement through community capacity building and sustainability best practices, communities will generate resources that may be applied to resolving sociologic problems and enhancing cultural development.
Our intention is to pursue, but is not limited to, these possibilities:
Our commitment to inclusion, collaboration and shared-leadership is designed to harness the power of diverse skills, backgrounds, experiences and capabilities of our many stakeholders. Our commitment to these values drives the way we act, how we treat each other and how we make decisions in every aspect of university life.
Inclusion starts with equity in treatment of everyone at NSU and all who come in contact with us. It embraces people and organizations both inside and outside the university, capitalizing on the power of diversity and participation. A culture built on inclusion encourages all to feel that he or she is a valued member of our larger community, and that each individual’s contributions to the university is welcomed, respected and recognized.
Collaboration builds lasting partnerships that create learning opportunities, and that promote educational and economic success. It encourages and rewards cooperation across functions/ departments/ colleges/ departments, among faculty, staff and students, among leaders and associates at all levels of the organization, across our three campuses, and between internal and external constituents. Collaboration describes how diverse stakeholders increase the value of individual contribution.
Shared leadership provides meaningful opportunities for input from all stakeholders. A prerequisite for success is an environment of trust and protection for expressing ideas and opinions. Shared leadership embraces 6 principles:
A culture that embraces inclusiveness, collaboration and shared leadership:
Types of Civic Engagement1:
Global literacy is the awareness of the interconnectedness and interdependence in economic, social, political, cultural, and environmental processes and interactions among peoples and nations around the world. It involves cross-cultural and trans-national knowledge, respect, and communication. Embracing and acquiring global literacy leads to global competency. Global competency is the practical application of global literacy to analyze and critically evaluate knowledge and current events in order to engage and perform successfully in an increasingly globalized world.
Global engagement springs from global literacy and competency as individuals strive to be partners in producing equitable, sustainable solutions to shared local and global problems.
A culture of global literacy and engagement is a way of thinking and acting as we carry out our mission as a university that places our campus community in an informed position with diverse perspectives to understand issues, communicate appropriately, and perform effectively in a trans-cultural and transnational context and inspires us to collaborate as global citizens.
Development of global literacy, competency, and engagement within the NSU community includes:
1 Extracted from Washington State University Center for Civic Engagement, http: //cce.wsu.edu/default.asp?PageID=796.
Email to UPG Oct 21
Hi folks,
Just a reminder that the full UPG will meet October 30 and November 20 from 3-5 pm -- NET614, Muskogee209, BA-A215. The December meeting is scheduled for December 11 from 9-11 am. Please make sure they are on your calendar.
Details for the October 30 meeting are outlined in this email. We will have a fairly brief status review on the "culture" articulations, approach to communications and the 7-step process, followed by break-out sessions for the five remaining break-out teams. The initial look at the consolidated teams is at the end of the email.
We will have a full session to review progress and get feedback on the articulated culture statements, and the process. The steering committee has been working through the articulations developed by the teams, with an objective of developing the articulations into university level Strategic Goals. The current status of the fully articulated Strategic Goals will be emailed to each of you by Friday evening. They should be considered a beginning point, anticipating that the SWOT/SWAC exercise (noted below) will provide critical input.
Your comments and questions on each or any of the goals are very valuable. Please take time to review them and provide feedback to the team leaders (see bottom of this email for names).
You are asked to review each of the strategic goals and provide questions and feedback to the team leaders responsible for each strategic goal prior to meeting on the 30th – by Wednesday so that they can address issues effectively. If possible, set aside some time on the weekend or on Monday to work through the five initial statements of strategic goals.
We will also review the links to the 2006 Strategic Plan, and how the current process can capitalize on the links.
Status of the 7-step process will also be covered at the full session, with some specifics on how we communicate with the university community.
At our last meeting (Sept 25) many of you contributed substantially to the articulation of the "culture statements". The next step in the process is to complete a SWOT/SWAC at our next meeting. (SWAC uses the terminology "Aspirations/Challenges" as an alternative descriptor of the Opportunity/Threat concept -- and can be helpful in framing the objective of the process. An example might be considering the actions of the legislature as a challenge rather than a threat – one that needs to be addressed in developing relationships and partnerships. ) Our near term objective is to use the SWAC as critical input in developing fully articulated Strategic Goals. The SWAC also provides information for identifying strategic gaps, strategic outcomes, university level priorities (strategies/initiatives), and measurements as we work through the process of reframing and enhancing the strategic plan.
We have consolidated into 5 teams, combining several of the culture statements as we develop the culture statements into fully articulated strategic goals. By combining some of the culture statements that require a level of integration, the number of teams has been set at 5, with some re-assignments made to maximize the input of our membership. The Inclusion, Collaboration and Shared Leadership teams agreed that these are most effectively addressed in an integrated format, and that a single strategic goal should encompass the three together. The Creativity and Innovation Team recommended that the concepts could not be isolated from the other culture statements and should be addressed in each of the remaining teams. A first pass at refining the break-out teams is below. I appreciate any suggested changes.
More to follow on Friday! I welcome any questions or comments, particularly those that will contribute to more effective communication. I am trying to work hard on communication and direction and appreciate your help.
Have a great day!
Dave
UPG Approved 7-Step Strategic Planning Process (Sept 25, 2009)
Completed. The imperatives and culture statements provide a framework for integrating the mission, vision and values into the strategic plan. Each of the imperatives and culture statements tie directly to mission, vision and/or values.
The statements of imperatives and cultures establish a framework for identifying where we want to go as a university – the preliminary work in establishing strategic goals and outcomes. The statements must be fleshed out and clearly defined in order to provide clear direction for achieving the Northeastern State University Mission and Vision. The UPG Steering Committed will initiate this process. The UPG will contribute through break-out teams. Individual members have been assigned to different “cultures” with leadership and integration provided by members of the Steering Committee. At the September 25 UPG meeting, each team will
This process is designed to identify where we stand in terms of strengths and weaknesses, integrated with an environmental scan of threats and opportunities. The two imperatives represent the heart of our mission and vision, requiring a comprehensive review of strategic position (e.g., SWOT) integrating efforts by the small groups and the steering committee. The process for identifying strategic position/gaps for the culture statements will be determined by the steering committee after reviewing the results of step 2. In most cases the break-out teams should be prepared to complete a “review of strategic position” for the imperatives and the culture statements.
The steering committee will coordinate the process, promote consistency, deal with overlaps among teams, address gaps/omission, and provide overall direction for structure and terminology. Team leaders for the culture statements will continue to engage their small teams in the process. Information available from the recent branding exercise should be employed by each team. This will involve individual team meetings and break-out sessions in UPG sessions. Teams will engage key stakeholders whenever possible.
Members of the Steering Committee will prepare the initial set of strategic goals and outcomes, incorporating input and feedback from the teams. University leadership will be engaged to identify an initial set of priorities. Organizations and units that will lead and contribute to achievement of outcomes will be engaged to review strategic goals/outcomes. Ultimately, these organizations and units will develop operational objectives, strategies, action plans, measurements and timing for strategic goals.
The steering committee will coordinate the process and integrate the efforts of the teams. Teams will be engaged throughout the process, and monitor processes as we proceed.
Present to the full UPG for review and approval. Revise and review. Present to the Cabinet for preliminary approval. Resolve any issues.
Publish the process/preliminary findings and provide various communication forums to communicate Charting the Second Century – 2010/2014 (e.g. University Assembly, open internet forum, President’s Council, faculty, administrative colleagues, and students). (Note that this does not preclude small team interaction with the NSU community throughout the previous “Steps”.)
Steering Committee reviews feedback, and prepares recommended changes for review and approval by the UPG. Present final UPG proposal to the Cabinet. Implementation is to be directed by the cabinet, and monitored by the UPG.
1. Develop a culture of Learning and Discovery to its fullest extent throughout the university. 1A. Meet student needs and expectations by focusing on student learning, appropriate learning outcomes, and assessment methods. 1C. Determine and prioritize the key educational opportunities at the University. 1D. Enhance the scholarly activities and professional development of faculty, staff, and students. 1E. Maximize student achievement, success, and satisfaction. 1F. Enhance student learning through "Best practices" as established by learned societies and accrediting bodies. 2. Develop Sustainable Communities, encompassing environmental responsibility and community capacity-building. 3E. Promote and support regional economic development. 3F. Provide cultural enrichment and entertainment opportunities for the communities served. 3. Capitalize on the benefits of full inclusion, collaboration and shared-leadership in the life of the university and in all external relationships. 1B. Enhance student engagement and personal development through a comprehensive co-curricular university experience (also applies to civic engagement). 2A. Recruit and retain a diverse faculty holding terminal degrees from a variety of colleges and universities. 2B. Employ and retain a diverse, motivated, and caring staff. 2D. Recruit, retain, and graduate a diverse student population that contributes to the well-being of society. 3A. Promote communication and cooperation among faculty, administration, staff, and students. 3C. Provide a seamless transition for prospective students through strategic partnerships and effective communication. 3D. Collaborate in educational ventures with public and private sector entities. (see also civic engagement) 4. Encourage and nourish a commitment to civic engagement by our students, our faculty and our staff. 1B. Enhance student engagement and personal development through a comprehensive co-curricular university experience (see also inclusion) 3D. Collaborate in educational ventures with public and private sector entities. (see also inclusion) 5. Embrace global literacy and engagement within the university, with our students, and with our community partners There are no 2006 subgoals that address global literacy.
2C. Employ and retain administrators who embrace the mission, core values, vision, and goals of the University. 3B. Develop a community of alumni, donors, and friends that is active and supportive of NSU. 4A. Create and maintain a campus environment that is distinctive and excellent in form, function and design. 4B. Deliver exceptional customer service that is also efficient, convenient, and accessible. 4C. Acquire, integrate, and maintain the most appropriate resources, technologies, equipment, support, and training. 4D. Establish a process to achieve internal efficiencies that result in targeted reallocation of existing resources and optimal use of new resources. 5A. Present a compelling case for overall support. 5B. Pursue external grants, contracts, and develop partnering opportunities. 5C. Increase local, state, and federal government funding. 5D. Secure financial support from corporations, foundations, tribes, and individuals.