Strategic Planning Strategic Planning Update
April 8, 2005 - We are writing to give you an update on the University of Nebraska–Lincoln Academic Strategic Planning process. Two university-wide forums have now been held on the proposed UNL core values, one on city campus and one on east campus, and both of them were broadcast to faculty and staff in Greater Nebraska. You received earlier our notes from the city campus forum, and you will find below notes taken at the east campus discussion. Comments at these gatherings have been very helpful, capturing commitments and interests of our diverse faculty. Harvey joins us in thanking all of you for the thoughtful responses you have offered.
We now have strategic plans from all academic units that report directly to us and the Chancellor. The plans offer unit responses to the core values, a presentation of unit strategic priorities as they relate to the draft core values, and responses to questions developed by planning teams on the following topics: enrollment management, space and equipment needs, hiring needs, diversity plans, and climate impact plans.
On April 25 and 26, heads of academic units that report to us will attend a planning retreat where each will give a brief presentation on their unit strategic priorities. They will talk about how their priorities relate to the draft core values and other important values that may not be represented there. And they will inform colleagues in other units how they can help them achieve these goals. UNL's Senior Administrative team and representatives from the Academic Senate, the Academic Planning Committee, and the Associated Students of the University of Nebraska also will attend. The retreat will "jump start" conversations about ways our units can collaborate to reach common goals.
Also, each of us will meet with our respective direct reports to discuss their plans and give them direct responses. Following a review of the campus responses to the core values by the Senior Administrative Team in June, a revised version of the core values will appear on our strategic planning website in early fall. (The planning website we promised in our last letter to you is not quite ready for "prime time"; stay tuned.) In August, each unit reporting directly to Academic Affairs and the combined units in the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources will post their strategic priorities on this website. You will hear more about the strategic planning process as it will involve other campus units from Harvey when he addresses the university in September. Following this, our deans will meet with Harvey and us in early October to de-brief on the academic strategic planning process to date and discuss next steps.
We have said many times that the planning process we are engaged in is iterative and linked to other processes that define our university work. In AY2005-06, we will ask academic units to once again examine their priorities-now having had feedback from the three of us, as well as the opportunity to talk across units about their goals-and offer updates next spring. Work also will continue with the Academic Planning Committee and the Academic Senate to align other academic planning processes-such as Academic Program Review and the Programs of Excellence initiative-with strategic planning.
As you can see, there is much yet to be done. But we have made a very good start this year. Again, we want to thank you for your thoughtful participation in the strategic planning process.
Best wishes,
Barbara Couture and John Owens
NOTES from the
Second UNL Strategic Planning Open Forum
Arbor Suite, Nebraska East Union
Thursday, February 10, 2005, 11:00 AM
John Owens got the session started by thanking everyone for attending, both
in person and via the satellite conference system. Barbara Couture made
the UNL Strategic Planning Process information available as an overhead for
the discussion. She indicated she was delighted to be present and also
thanked everyone for coming, knowing that life gets busy for faculty in the
middle of the term, but this is an important initiative. Couture then
opened the forum by summarizing the planning effort to date.
The UNL Strategic Planning Process was started during the Chancellor's
State of the University address when he indicated that with the appointment
of a new President for the University of Nebraska System this would be a
good year to develop the UNL Strategic Plan. The university has in place
multiple documents that help all of the campus plan - the 2020 Vision,
Transitions to University; Everyone a Teacher, Everyone a Learner - but not
a single one for everyone to use. The planning process was initiated this
year with the academic units that report directly to the Chancellor, the
Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, and the Vice Chancellor for
Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Units have been asked to respond to a proposed draft of university core
values that were derived from the Chancellor's address and key documents
outlining university goals. The draft was developed at the deans council
retreat in Fall 2004 and reviewed by the Senior Administrative Team.
Units are being asked to relate their strategic plans to the core values,
to develop strategic priorities, and identify how they plan to get there
using their own resources and other sources. There are on going issues
also being discussed as a part of the strategic planning - improving the
campus climate (the Gallup effort); diversity planning; the annual hiring
plans; space and equipment planning and needs; and enrollment management.
We all are aware of the need to recruit undergraduate students and units
are being asked to address our enrollment goals as part of the planning
process.
Department plans were to be submitted by the end of January in those
colleges that are preparing separate department plans. College plans are
due in March 15. April 25 and 26 there will be planning hearings where all
direct reports to the Chancellor, SVCAA, and VCIANR will be able to share
the aspects of the plans at a retreat. Also included in this review will
be representatives from the Academic Senate, the Academic Planning
Committee, and the ASUN organization.
By holding the two forums, the administration hopes to discuss with UNL
faculty and staff the draft of core values, and provide a second revision
for faculty review. The December forum was followed by a progress report
that was shared with faculty and staff on January 20, 2005.
John Owens reminded attendees that, thanks to the efforts of the staff in
IANR's Communication and Information Technology unit, others were
participating in the forum at a distance and provided contact information.
Owens explained that Alan Baquet, the Associate IANR Vice Chancellor, would
be coordinating the IANR strategic planning effort. IANR has been involved
in strategic planning for several years, and will be employing the new
templates to submit their plan. The information coming from the Academic
Affairs units and the IANR units will be integrated into a single, cohesive
UNL Strategic Plan.
Questions and discussion about the proposed core values were encouraged.
One faculty member brought to the attention of the panel a series of
reports titled "2005 Profile of Nebraska Demographics, Economics, and
Housing" prepared by the Nebraska Investment Finance Authority (NIFA), the
Nebraska Department of Economic Development, and the Fannie Mae Nebraska
Partnership Office. The faculty member suggested that we elaborate more on
the phrase "civic communities" in the one proposed core value: "Engage with
academic, business and civic communities throughout the state and the
world." We need to focus on the human element in our planning and include
non-traditional students, learners, and encompass all Nebraskans. This
faculty member provided the following hand written suggestions after the
forum: Involve students/learners in situational experiences related to
problems or challenges of state and/or area - i.e., applied knowledge to
internship, etc., or experiential learning (students going out into the
communities/businesses to do things).
Another participant offered a couple of ideas for editing the core values.
First, the student/learning core value should be #1 - it has to be lifted
to the highest priority to reflect the priority of this issue and so we all
"walk the talk." He suggested the following wording for this core value:
"Engage and support students through a learning process that prepares them
for life in a knowledge-based society." This more clearly shows education
as an interactive process that focuses on learners and learning and it
recognizes the knowledge-based society that we live in.
This person went on to say that the proposed core value "Establish research
and creative work as the foundation for teaching and engagement" could use
some editing. "Research-based education" has been the theme for Cooperative
Extension for many years. The concept of "establishing" research as a
foundation does not recognize the long-standing, continuous tradition of
Cooperative Extension.
One participant gave comments from a parent's perspective. She has a
student at UNL and we need to provide the opportunity for students to learn
about a global society and how to compete in a global world. The outreach
mission of UNL as a land-grant university is part of what makes us stand
out from other institutions.
A suggestion was made that as we prepare students or "anybody" who is
learning, our efforts need to reflect the land-grant university mission.
We need to bring to the front the research, extension, and outreach efforts
that we make available to all those we engage with: the community, the
civic groups, other education systems including the tribal colleges, and
any others. How do we manage the recruitment and retention of students?
This might be identified through focusing on the engagement of all
learners.
A participant indicated that when you think of strategic planning you think
of how you might want to change, what kind of action plans should be
developed, and the possible reallocation of resources. He wanted to know
what kind of mechanism will follow to allow change as a result of this
strategic planning effort to make us a better institution and whether there
would be any resources available.
Harvey Perlman responded that reallocation can and ought to begin at the
unit or department level. The strategic planning process asks units to
consider these questions: where do you want to go, how are you going to get
there (including your action plans), how will you reallocate unit resources
to implement your plans. The process does ask units to specify actions
required by others, and there you can express your need for additional
resources. UNL has, in the past, supported departments who made hard
decisions and reallocated their unit efforts and resources. An example is
the programs of excellence funds where units said we're going to do "this,"
they then said "how," and most was done with reallocation from within.
Within IANR, funding for open position lines reverts to the Vice Chancellor
to be reallocated according to need and priority within IANR. Academic
Affairs is working toward something similar. The capital campaign effort
through the U of N Foundation could provide us with some additional support
to implement plans.
All of the campus will be a part of the strategic planning; the effort will
be on-going. There is no great fund available to provide new support and
there are no plans to establish such a fund.
Couture reminded the participants that the hiring plans and the diversity
plans being prepared by the units are to reflect the strategic priorities
as well. Currently, Academic Affairs will use the plans to determine
allocation of funds from the Academic Affairs salary reversion pool. She
reminded the participants that next year's call for proposals to be funded
with Programs of Excellence dollars will ask proposals to refer to
strategic plans and relate proposals to resources being reallocated or
secured by the academic units.
Owens reminded the participants that the Biochemistry Department and the
Redox Biology Center are good examples of identifying a need and making it
happen by developing plans and reallocating existing funds and staff while
securing additional external funding support.
Couture said it says something when a unit identifies what resources will
be delegated to implement a plan; it shows what the unit will commit to
making it work. You tend to question how strongly the unit is interested in
something, if they only want new funds. The unit has to make some
sacrifices in order to achieve new goals.
Perlman said we haven't been creative enough in thinking about ways to
achieve our goals with limited resources. Would units with heavy teaching
loads benefit by having larger classrooms? If that would help, the
Chancellor needs to know. Are there courses that Ag Economics and
Economics could teach together? Are there initiatives that Chemistry and
Biochemistry could accomplish together?
A participant indicated that states with small population and resource
bases need to have an impact on the state's economic development. As we
look at the proposed core value "engage with academic, business and civic
communities throughout the state and the world," we see that we don't have
objectives or milestones. The programs we develop in these areas must be
in sync with federal support. When strategic planning efforts come up
through the units, there is a dimension lacking. We need to know what is
the comparative advantage of achieving a certain goal for the state of
Nebraska. What would positively affect the economic development of the
state/area? We need to match where the departments could fit in. We need
to know what investments we should make. Where would these things show up
in our plans?
Perlman responded that the department is the beginning level to address
such issues. These are the right questions. It is the administration's
job to match the comparative strengths of the University with those of
Lincoln and the region. This planning can be the start of the conversation
with our community and state that includes economic development, educating
young people, the quality of life and other areas. We can have a broader,
but focused set of conversations.
Couture indicated that ideally we will develop large scale action
strategies to implement the core values. Our planning this year is a bit
like an environmental scan, gathering the information and identifying unit
priorities that suggest larger action plans with goals and directions for
the University as a whole.
A participant wanted to know where Cooperative Extension fitted into the
core values? Could a statement be included about "serving the
public/citizens of the State of Nebraska"?
Perlman replied that Cooperative Extension fits into all the core values;
it is an important element. UNL is missing an overall mission statement.
We need goals and objectives to articulate all in the same way. Developing
and communicating a common mission statement should be one goal of our
planning process. Part 2 is to articulate core values and Part 3 is the
strategic plan. What we should have in the end is a sound bite that states
what the University stands for in 25 words or less and this should include
serving Nebraska.
Couture said this planning process is a means of sharing goals and
objectives across the units, connecting the units, allowing units to work
together to express the land-grant mission of the University.
A question was asked about details of the process and the administrative
response to the plans. What is the proposed timing and how will it roll
out?
Couture responded that we are creating the process as we go. On April
25-26, there will be the opportunity for the direct reports to the
Chancellor, Academic Affairs and IANR to present their plans. In addition,
individual meetings will be held with these University leaders about their
unit plans. There will be a couple of retreats for the Council of Deans
and the Senior Administrative Team from UNL. A response will be
formulated. There will be a broader discussion in the fall that will
address a possible expansion of the core values.
Perlman reminded the group that the focused templates dealt with different
ways to define strategic plans for the units. Everyone is committed to
getting units a response to this exercise. It is a daunting issue to
engage plans with limited administrative resources.
Couture reminded the forum participants that the planning process is in
control of the academic leaders. Some of the colleges prepared plans by
involving the departments; deans of other colleges prepared the plans with
college leaders. A specific plan for response has not yet been discussed.
A participant agreed that an overall mission statement would be good. He
indicated that we need to define the roles of the faculty, the college, the
University. "What is the role we have in what we are doing?" "What is the
role of the University?" "What part do the colleges have in that role?"
Couture agreed, saying that all colleges and universities, all our
colleagues and peers are facing that same question right now; what should
we be doing to provide the best higher educational experience for our
students and others we serve?
The panel thanked all the forum participants for taking part in the
discussion and the group adjourned at 12:10 PM.
NOTE - a fax was received in our office about 2:00 PM that reads:
"Based on the conversation this morning and on Chancellor Perlman's
September 10, 2004, address to the University of Nebraska, our first
challenge and initiative is "enrollment." As the Northeast District
faculty reflected on that speech and the discussion following the satellite
presentation, we felt 4-H youth development and non-formal education should
be recognized in the core values of the University."
"4-H is promoting the slogan "4-H your first class at the University of
Nebraska." Is there a way to unite the University enrollment and
scholarship system with the 4-H enrollment and recognition system? Can we
figure out a way for 4-H and the "TALISMA" system to work together to
attract and recruit students to the University?"
Respectfully submitted,
Linda M. Arnold, recorder
Minutes were reviewed by Chancellor Perlman
And Vice Chancellors Couture and Owen
