2009 Fall Convocation Speech - Planning and Vision
Speech Segments
‘Planning and Vision’ Video Transcript
Planning. We have some really good plans on campus. We have, it’s a little outdated, but our campus diversity plan went through 2008 and I don’t know of a newer one. There’s not a newer one after 2008. But we do have that as a guide.
We have a strategic enrollment plan that is just now being finalized because I asked for a different scenario to be developed. We have an academic plan, we have a campus master plan, we have the University of Wisconsin System’s strategic platform, and we probably have others.
We need to really integrate the ideas in those plans; make sure they’re not contradicting and making sure they’re current and up to date. We need to establish a strategic planning process for us that works. And that is a difficult thing to do. It’s something that I don’t really enjoy because I don’t like to deal with those kinds of things day in and day out, every week and every month and so on. But that’s sort of the way you have to do planning. It’s not static. You don’t do it and then you forget it for six or seven years.
So we need a process that allows us to be dynamic and to shift our goals, to shift where we are moving if necessary.
We need to identify a vision. And again, I have looked at a lot of our literature and if I’ve missed the vision statement, point it out to me, would you please. I think the vision statement, understanding and sharing the vision is probably the most important thing we need to do. Because without it, I can’t tell where we’re trying to get. And so this coming fall, and it may carry over into January and February, what I’m trying to get at is what do you believe our shared vision ought to be as a university?
Where are we trying to be in the next few years? What do we expect people to believe we are? And it’s not really what we think people should believe we are, as much as it is what are we going to be? And therefore we can tell people to believe it.
So, establishing, identifying a vision, and then expressing it, sharing it, and keeping it in the forefront, I think is critical for an institution to advance. That’s been my experience and I am looking forward so much to meeting with all of the academic departments, units, whatever, this fall. I hope you will welcome me to your meetings because these are the kinds of things I want to hear from you. What you want your university to become?
There are three words that keep coming out though as I talk to people about vision. They are innovation, engagement, and sustainability. I believe those are important components. That doesn’t necessarily make them a vision statement. I don’t think it is. But I am hearing consistency. There are some other things that come out, but innovation, engagement, sustainability seem to be still, after 40 years, very important here.