A
Note from the Provost
Embracing Change
Release of the Academic Affairs Strategic Plan, 2006-09
Vision | Open Forum | Remainder
2005-06
Over
the past 18 months I have had the pleasure of working with the people
whose names are listed at the left (as well as former members Andy Speth
and Diana Borrero-Lowe). We started from scratch, designed a method for
planning together, across our six respective budget divisions, and have
adopted an Academic Affairs Strategic Plan, 2006-09.
In helping me finalize this document, this group accomplished something
of importance. They moved us forward by charting a course for turning
issues into action and challenges into opportunity. This group worked
to articulate and refine our major goals, strategies, and the concrete
actions we need to take.
Whether or not we get the additional funding needed
to grow to 7500, we will use this plan as our guide. The goals
and strategies we have identified are all things we need to do with
or without increased funding and enrollment growth. If funding is garnered
to support a growth agenda, then this plan will guide us in our growth.
If funding is not garnered to support a growth agenda, then this plan
will guide is doing the very best we can, for our students and region,
with the resources we have. In short, a successful bid for more state
funding will not cause us to abandon these plans for improvement. In fact,
good planning will help us adapt and thrive in either scenario.
Throughout the course of our working together, openness, integrity, and
accountability defined the Committee’s work. Members modeled the
necessary shift toward federalism and away from fiefdoms. Turf battles
were few. The group also supported and challenged me by asking hard questions:
“What is stability in times of sharp change?”
“How do you prepare for the unexpected?”
“Where are we going?” and “Why?”
Most of all, the advice and inspiration of the Academic Affairs Planning
Committee helped me clarify my own vision of UWGB in the first half of
the 21st century—a vision not of “the way we were” but
of what we can become.
Today our Academic Affairs Strategic Plan, 2006-09, is being released
campus-wide and on line. It includes our goals, strategies, actions, and
how we’ll assess our progress. It also includes a discussion of
how the committee arrived at this plan and what is in it for you, as a
member of the University community.
In this “Update,” I’ll share why I think this matters.
Your feedback and input are always welcome, either in person or through
the Academic Affairs planning web site at
http://www.uwgb.edu/provost/aapcomm/.
As always, thank you for your interest.
Sue K. Hammersmith,
Provost
We’re
going to change, whether we want to or not. We can embrace change, or
we can fear it and hunker down. If so, we can’t adapt, evolve, improve,
or control our future.
A strategic plan is simply an invitation to embrace change and
to participate, together, in making the future. It’s an
invitation to move with a sense of common direction, but also with a great
deal of individual freedom and flexibility. Freedom to take the initiative,
be creative, and use your own special style to take the steps you do best.
Because we’re not all alike. We have different roles, different
talents, different options. As long as we go in the same direction, pursuing
the same strategic goals, we can all participate and contribute.
Release of the Academic Affairs Strategic Plan, 2006-09
The
“Academic Affairs Strategic Plan, 2006-09” is ready for release.
It has taken the Academic Affairs Planning Committee more than a year to
develop this plan, and its release will mark a major milestone in the Committee’s
work. This plan includes four major goals, strategies for achieving our
goals, and specific actions which need to be taken. The plan also identifies
a number of indicators we will monitor to measure our progress over the
next few years.
Following our release of the plan (across campus and on-line), we will hold
an open forum as well as briefings with particular governance and leadership
groups. The purpose of these meetings will be to explain the plan, to discuss
the implications of the plan, and to answer any questions.
This Strategic Plan will provide the framework against which we will identify
priorities, make decisions, and allocate resources within Academic Affairs.
It also will provide a common framework to orient planning and to coordinate
actions across the various Academic Affairs divisions and units. It is a
candid assessment of our situation and a concise statement of shared vision.
We expect it to be used in the next year’s planning and budgeting
cycle. We also expect this plan to guide our respective budget divisions
as we develop concrete operational plans for the coming year.
In future years there will be opportunities to update and modify our strategic
plan based on our experiences, emerging issues, and new opportunities. In
fact, we expect that the plan will be updated annually starting in 2007.
Nonetheless, this plan sets a basic direction and strategic approach that
we expect to serve us well for several years ahead.
The
Planning Committee also has developed a “vision statement” to
sum up not who we are and where we’ve come from but what we will
become in the decades ahead. I share that with you now.
“UWGB’s community of faculty, staff, and students will be resourceful
and responsive in anticipating and meeting the educational needs of our
diverse region in an ever-changing world. We will connect learning to life
by offering innovative, high-quality programs and services to promote the
lifelong learning, critical thinking, and practical problem-solving needed
for a healthy and sustainable community, environment, and economy.”
For me, it’s the forward inclination that makes all the difference.
It’s a pleasure to work with colleagues who share that commitment.
Open
Forum for Faculty and Staff:
Friday, April 21, 2:00-3:00 PM, in MAC 208
Interested members of the University community are invited to attend an
open forum on Friday, April 21, 2:00-3:00 PM, in MAC 208.
The purpose of the forum will be:
1. to explain the plan.
2. to discuss the implications of the plan.
3. to answer any questions.
If you have questions but are unable to attend the forum, feel free to email
at hammers@uwgb.edu, phone at ext.
2334, or stop by the office (CL 835).
The
Committee will next turn to developing specific action plans to identify
which areas will work on which actions, the time frames, and any resource
implications that will need to be address in our future budgets. We hope
to have this available and posted on line by the conclusion of this academic
year so that our respective divisions and units can use that in their planning
activities in the coming year.
As always, thank you for your interest and engagement.
