This week Metro State’s Strategic Planning Committee reached a significant milestone in wrapping up Phase III, or the “Making Sense of the Issues” part of the strategic planning process.
After a four-hour meeting on May 9, the committee had synthesized results from 17 SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analyses and arrived at five major issues affecting the College:
- Resources—Human, financial, technological and talent
- Stakeholder Relationships—Community/stakeholder partnerships; relationship/program-building with community
- Institutional Identity—Telling our story, communication, reputation, diversity, affordability, pride and innovation
- Institutional Climate—Value of all employees, democratic workplace, management excellence, academic freedom, diversity, management innovation and communication
- Academic Excellence—Student success, graduate students, serving our diverse urban students, diversity, affordability/high-quality/value-added
“Although we talked to a wide range of folks, from affiliate faculty to the business community to students to faculty and administrators,” says Committee Co-Chair and Faculty Senate President Kamran Sahami, “we saw some of the same themes for strengths and weaknesses appear everywhere. It was surprising that there was so much agreement.”
Strategic Plan Next Steps
In the next month, subcommittees of the Strategic Planning Committee will craft “concept papers” around these five issues. These concept papers will provide a state-of-the-College snapshot of these issues and will be presented at an all-day Strategic Planning Vision Conference, Aug. 16 on campus.
The Vision Conference, which represents Phase IV of the strategic planning process, will bring together about 75 people, including faculty, administrators and staff as well as the Board of Trustees, alumni, local community leaders and business people, to digest the concept papers and establish a vision for Metro State’s future.
At the Vision Conference, Sahami explains, “We will look at the issues facing us and draft a vision for a preferred future for the institution.”
The strategic planning process will culminate in a Phase V “goals conference” to outline a plan for implementing the strategic plan.
For more on Metro State’s Strategic Plan, visit the strategic planning website.
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