STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE

MAY 18, 2005

MINUTES

 

Present:            J. Chase, C. Denard, M. Godbout, M. Groth, E. Hall, F. Lacomb, L. Purdy,

A. Rollo, S. Sloan, A. Staples, M. VanDuyne, L. Labar

 

The meeting began at 8:35a.

 

I.                    ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

1.      Carolyn began the meeting by explaining why she took out the introduction paragraph under the Foundations of the Future and had Academic Programs begin the foundations.

 

2.      The committee would first review the draft with the revisions from Friday, May 13th meeting and then go over any questions the committee members might have for the entire draft.

 

II.                 MAJOR POINTS OF DISCUSSION AND COMMENT

 

Review of revisions from May 13th meeting:

 

1.      It was decided that the language should be the same for staff and faculty in regards to the Honor Code and everyone agreed the wording in the faculty section was best.

 

2.      A question was raised regarding the word “support” in Diversity’s Goal A, Number 3.  Some felt that support was not the right word to describe the role that the individual hired would be taking.  After much consideration and discussion, it was decided to leave this objective just the way it was.

 

3.      Going over the History section, Laura P. agreed with Goal B, but felt this goal should go in Academic Programs as well and asked who would be responsible for implementation.  Ellen H. thought it should also go under Faculty and asked why couldn’t some items go in two or more places, saying it the same way and be cross-referenced.  It doesn’t always need to be clear-cut; it’s more complex at times for certain goals and objectives to be in more than one place.  It was decided that Goal B would be repeated in Academic Programs as Goal D and in Faculty as Goal E.

 

4.      In reviewing History, it was decided to make Objective 1 under Goal A into two sentences.  It read as two different objectives and should be separated.

 

5.      Under Community, it was decided to replace “our Aurora” with “local” in the first paragraph and to change Goal E to Goal A.  Goal A referred to on-campus community while Goals B to D referred to off-campus communities and it was best to begin the goals with on-campus.

 

III.               REVIEW OF ENTIRE DRAFT

 

1.      Minor miscellaneous changes were made throughout the draft.

 

2.      A question was raised by a committee member if whether or not there should be dates in Physical Environment’s Goal C for the timetable for construction and ground breaking.  Some felt that dates were needed to show that we take this seriously.  Ann R. explained that there couldn’t be a projected date without knowing if we had the required funds.  There already is people identified to solicit but that doesn’t always mean they will be giving and right now there are no other options to expand the pool of people to solicit.  We need to reduce the draw on the endowment and deficient spending to be able to solicit other people.  After much consideration it was decided to have the objectives 1, 2 and 3 read as follows:

 

1.      Complete solicitation of identified prospects by December 2005.

 

2.      By Fall 2005, establish a timetable for construction.

 

3.      Based on fund raising results, a projected ground breaking date of Spring 2006.

 

IV.              REVIEW OF THE INTRODUCTION

 

1.      After much consideration and discussion, it was decided that the introduction would be revised and shortened.  The tone needed to be more uplifting and less negative and that the introduction should be geared more to the quality of the academic program that Wells has.  There was consensus to completely deleting the first three paragraphs and have the last paragraph become the first. 

 

V.                 MISCELLANEOUS

 

1.      A new draft with the revisions from today’s meeting will be completed by the end of the day and along with a revised copy of the introduction will be sent out to everyone to review before Friday’s meeting.

 

2.      Ellen H. thanked Carolyn D. for all the hard work she has done as the leader of the Strategic Planning Committee and also thanked everyone on the committee for their hard work and dedication.  It’s been a long, hard journey from when the SPC began and it definitely has made a great impact with the hard work and dedication that everyone has given to the plan.  Carolyn also thanked everyone and said that is has been a great way for her to be introduced to the Wells Community and learn its history.

 

3.      Next meeting is scheduled for Friday, May 20th at 8:30a in the Henry Wells Room.

 

 

                        Minutes respectively submitted by:  Phyllis Siemiatkowski