Planning committee to help shape University’s future

Mapping out the University’s future is the charge of a new campus committee. The Strategic Planning Council, which held its first meeting in December, is a retooling of the previous planning group, the Council for University Planning or CUP, says chair Ric Brown, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs.

“We’ve transferred some of the goals from CUP to a new group that is smaller and more focused,” he says.

Brown says CUP found itself continually revising the existing strategic plan. The new group is an attempt to bring the strategic plan in line with Destination 2010 and the strategic plans of the five vice presidential units: Student Affairs, Academic Affairs, Human Resources, Business Affairs and Advancement. And as the campus undergoes re-accreditation by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, the plan will also be compatible with the goals of the WASC review.

“The idea is to pull them all together. Each plan has the same basic tenets but are they in the same language? Are they in the same language as WASC? We want a consistent picture,” he says.

In addition to the provost, the committee members include representatives from each vice president’s area, the faculty, the staff, student government, the community and the Faculty Senate. As it evolves it may involve auxiliaries such as University Enterprises.

While the first charge is to review and make recommendations to the President regarding planning and action priorities on the University level, the committee will also establish broad directives. “When we say that the goal of Destination 2010 is to become a premier metropolitan university, we need to determine what that means. We can then use that to set priorities,” Brown says.

Once the strategic plan is approved, the committee will assess its progress and review and update the plan as needed. The group will also share new planning objectives and initiatives with the campus community, and advise the president as requested.

More information is available at www.csus.edu/spc.