December 6, 2011 Presidential Memo - Strategic Planning

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Updated Message From President Carl J. Strikwerda - Dec. 6, 2011

Dear Elizabethtown Faculty, Staff and Students:

After a busy fall of meetings and collaboration, I am pleased to share an update on the strategic planning process.  As you know, more than 70 people -- including alumni and community leaders -- participated as members of five working groups, gathering ideas and information in five major areas:

• modes of learning
• size and mix of programs
• advancement and outreach
• financial, physical, and IT infrastructure
• campus community

Hundreds of you participated by offering suggestions and attending forums. The members of these working groups have reviewed your comments, gathered data and debated ideas during their weekly meetings.  

All five working groups produced lengthy reports by Thursday, Dec. 1, and on Friday, Dec. 2, the Strategic Planning Committee -- made up of the 10 co-chairs of the five working groups, plus the plan facilitators, Dr. Tom Murray, Biology; Provost Susan Traverso; Board Chair Jim Shreiner and me -- began the process of drawing on key elements in the reports in order to write a first draft of the strategic plan. Our discussions were wide-ranging and vigorous. 

Next week, on Friday, Dec. 16, the Strategic Planning Committee will review the first draft of the strategic plan. Work will continue on the first draft, which will be shared with all of you and with our off-campus friends in early January. 

Faculty and staff members should plan to attend the Campus Forum from 8:30 to 11 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 12, in Leffler Chapel and Performance Center, where much of the forum will be devoted to a discussion of the first draft. In separate meetings, Student Senate, Faculty Assembly, Board of Trustees, Alumni Council and Leadership Council will discuss the draft plan, as well, providing comments to help the Strategic Planning Committee produce a second draft by mid-March. 

Thanks to all of you who have engaged in the planning, to date.  It has been an extremely collaborative process and will continue to be so. Best wishes to everyone for a good end to the semester, and happy holidays.

Introduction From President Carl J. Strikwerda

Elizabethtown College is at an important place in its history where strategic planning is critical for our continued success. My joining the College as president gives us an opportunity to assess our recent history, examine the changing external environment, and set new directions for progress.  By far-sighted strategic planning, we can ensure that Elizabethtown College becomes one of the country’s most innovative and dynamic independent colleges over the next three to five years in both its traditional residential and continuing education programs.  In doing so, I believe the College can commit itself even more faithfully to its mission as “a community of learners dedicated to educating students intellectually, aesthetically, and ethically for lives of service and leadership as citizens of the world,” a college which is “a comprehensive institution” offering “academic programs in the liberal arts, sciences, and professional studies.”  In strategic planning, I believe we should:

• Seek opinion and information as widely as possible from the Elizabethtown College community;
• Make as comprehensive a plan as possible, for example, embracing enrollment projections, financial plan, a facilities study, communications, etc.;
• Set clear timelines and measureable goals wherever possible, with a built-in mechanism for re-evaluation at regular intervals;
• Assign implementing or monitoring progress under the plan to specific committees, offices, or individuals. No new organizations or offices should be created to carry out the plan;
• Charge departments, offices, and administrators with referencing and using the strategic plan in arriving at their own annual plans or unit level strategic plans.

At their April meeting, the Board of Trustees approved my leading a strategic planning process during the 2011-12 academic year. Working with the Board, the alumni and donors in the College’s Leadership Council, faculty leaders, and senior staff, I have identified five major questions which we need to address.  I have also asked a talented group of faculty and staff members to serve on a Strategic Planning Committee and constructed a timeline for our work. The five major questions are:

• Modes and Outcomes of Learning:  What modes and outcomes of learning should the College pursue for institutional excellence?
• Size and Mix of Programs:  What mix and size of programs best suits the College’s goals for learning?
• Outreach and Advancement:  How can the College best advance its goals through its outreach, service, and communication with alumni, the region, and the wider world?
• Infrastructure:  How can the College best support its academic and service mission through an improved physical, technological, and financial infrastructure?
• Campus Community:  How can the College best promote community on campus for students, staff, and faculty through activities, work/life balance, and related compensation and benefits plans?

Each question will have a report written on it by a working group, headed by two co-chairs, one faculty member and one staff member.   Faculty, staff, students, alumni, and Board members will serve on the working groups. The Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) will be made up the ten co-chairs of the working groups, plus two co-facilitators and two ex officio members:

• Learning: Marianne Calenda, Dean of Students, and Fletcher McClellan, Dean of the Faculty
• Size and Mix: David Kenley, Associate Professor of History, and Betty Rider, Associate Academic Dean/Registrar
• Outreach and Advancement: Lesley Finney, Executive Director of Foundations & Government Relations, and Terrie Riportella, Edgar T. Bitting Chair of Accounting
• Infrastructure: Ben Goodhart, Director of Business Operations, and James Hughes, Professor of Mathematics and Dept. Chair
• Campus Community: Nancy Florey, Assoc. VP for Human Resources, and John Rohrkemper, Associate Professor of English
• Co-facilitators: Tom Murray, Professor of Biology, and Susan Traverso, Provost & Sr. VP
• Ex Officio: Jim Shreiner, Chair, Board of Trustees, and Carl Strikwerda, President

Each of the working groups will provide a report on its designated question which will address a broad area of the College’s life.  The answers to the questions will include a wide variety of concerns, some of which will and should intersect with the concerns addressed in response to other questions  The plan itself may not be organized according to these five points; sections of each working group’s response may be re-arranged to address the final set of questions posed by the SPC.  Membership of the working groups will be identified by the beginning of September.

Working groups will:

1. address issues which cut across questions-- access and affordability, co-curricular programs, community relations, diversity, etc.
2. use existing plans and reports such as Strategic Vision, Heroic Ambitions, Plan for Inclusive Excellence, Middle States accreditation report, Enterprise Thinking, etc.
3. incorporate existing plans, including those of Athletics, Center for Continuing Education and Distance Learning, Marketing, etc.

The Advancement Office will use the strategic plan to develop its case statement for the next campaign.

Provisional Timeline

• August 23 - Campus Forum on Strategic Planning
• September - Survey on SP
• Sept.- Oct. - Campus and Community forums for faculty, staff, and students
• December 1 - Working Groups provide reports to full SPC
• January 12 - All-campus Faculty and Staff Workshop on first draft of SP
• Jan.-Feb. - Board, Alumni Council, etc. discuss first draft of SP
• March 20 - First faculty meeting on second draft of SP
• March-April - Board, Alumni Council, etc. discuss second draft of SP
• April 27-28 - Board meeting to approve final version of SP
• May - Campus Celebration and Kick-off for Strategic Plan
• June-August - Feasibility study for next campaign

I invite all of you to consider volunteering to serve on one of the working groups, participate in campus forums, respond to surveys on strategic planning, and send the Strategic Planning Committee any ideas you have about improving the  of the College. 

Together, we can shape the future.
President Carl Strikwerda