STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE

OCTOBER 15, 2004

MINUTES

 

Present:  Chris Bailey, James Chase, Carolyn Denard, Muriel Godbout, Michael Groth, Ellen Hall, Diane Hutchinson, Frank, Lacomb, Meghan McCune, Laura Purdy, Bill Roberts, Ann Rollo,

Lisa Marsh Ryerson, Susan Sloan, Jonee Smith, Amy Staples, Susan Talbot, Meredith VanDuyne,

Steve Zabriskie

 

10:30 a.m. – President Ryerson called the meeting to order and welcomed everyone.  She then turned the meeting over to Caroline Denard.

 

1.  Strategies for community feedback.

a.  Need to solicit input from community

-  Introduce strategic plan

-  Invite feedback from college constituencies

a.        Letter asking for their ideas for Wells with boxes set up in every building for the response to be returned. The plan is to have boxes set out on Monday, October 18th in every building.

b.       Deadline - Responses should be received by October 26th

c.        Meeting of Strategic Planning Committee then needs to meet October 29th to make master list of responses, prioritize goals from the responses and then send the responses to the various committees they would come under.

 

2.  Open discussion sessions.

-         to build community

-         to prioritize goals and initiatives

-         to open communication w/community

 

This meeting’s task:  How do we organize these sessions? These sessions would be a week of various meetings for strategic planning which could include recruitment, environment, technology, etc as target goals.

-         student  sessions

-         faculty sessions

-         staff sessions

-         Also need to have dining hall staff included

 

It was suggested that participation with alumnae because of their size could come via the web.

 

Target Goal:  Get everyone talking about everything.  Make sure there is publicity on campus for these meetings so that everyone is included. 

 

It was suggested that at least one member of the strategic planning committee attend any meeting scheduled to help facilitate.

 

3.  Training sessions are needed to teach how to facilitate these meetings.  The remainder of the month of October and first three weeks of November could be used for training to begin as soon as next Friday.  The meetings need to be more deliberate in nature not so much as a “What do you think” type of meeting.

 

Once information is gathered, goals need to be prioritized. 

 

The question was asked of how did the strategic planning goal “Honoring Wells as Women’s College” fit in when the college was for both men and women.  Dean Denard’s response was that it was still a very important goal as it is very important not to forget who we were as a college with the change to coeducation.

 

Next step is to divide into subcommittees around each of the draft goals.  Target goals need to be decided for each committee. 

 

There is a short time-line for the strategic planning process. 

-         January – write the first draft of the strategic plan

-         February – At faculty meeting present first draft

-         April – Second or final draft presented to Board for endorsement/adoption

 

It was asked who would approve the strategic plan?

            Everyone should be involved in creating the plan and then approved/endorsed by the Board of Trustees. 

            Dean Denard also wanted everyone to keep in mind that this is a living document and this committee is a permanent one and will be responsible for the ongoing monitoring of the implementation of the strategic plan.

 

Ann Rollo suggested that since the alumnae body is so large and asking for endorsement would be a challenge, perhaps the Alumnae Association Board could be used to represent alumnae.  Dean Denard will research what endorsement/approval processes have been used at other institutions.

 

Dean Hall asked that the issue of ongoing review and revision, since this is a living document, be included and to be make it an on-going goal.  Although the goals may stay the same over a five year period, benchmarks will likely change as higher education changes.

 

Subcommittees formed:

-         facilitate open discussion

-         report back to strategic planning committee

-         target goals to have meetings with students

 

GOAL 1 – Institutional Academic Goals, Policies (Faculty/Students)

 

Lisa Marsh Ryerson

Bill Roberts

Chris Bailey

Michael Groth

Muriel Godbout

 

GOAL 2 – Honoring Wells as Women’s College (Faculty/Students/Staff/Alum)

Ann Rollo

Laura Purdy

Nicole Pellegrino (Not in attendance but suggested for this committee)

 

GOAL 3 – Campus Diversity (Faculty/Staff/Students)

Jonee Smith

Bill Roberts

Susan Talbot

Ellen Hall

Meghan McCune

 

 

 

GOAL 4 -  Faculty Development and Support (Faculty)

Ellen Hall

Frank Lacomb

Muriel Godbout

Michael Groth

Amy Staples

Chris Bailey

 

GOAL 5 – Learning Beyond the Academy (Students/Faculty)

Caroline Denard

Meghan McCune

Amy Staples

 

GOAL 6 – Student Support (Students)

Amy Staples

Karen Green (Not in attendance but suggested for this committee)

Nicole Pellegrino (Not in attendance but suggested for this committee)

 

GOAL 7 – Staff Support (Staff)

Diane Hutchinson

Frank Lacomb

Susan Talbot

Jim Chase

Muriel Godbout

 

GOAL 8 – Transitioning to a Co-ed Institution (Students/Staff/Faculty)

Susan Sloan

Meredith Cook VanDuyne

Every senior staff member

 

GOAL 9 – Physical Environment (Staff/Students/Faculty)

Jim Chase

Caroline Denard

Ellen Hall

Jonee Smith

 

GOAL 10 – Financial Strength (Staff/Faculty)

Diane Hutchinson

Ann Rollo

Chris Bailey

Pat Wahlen (Not in attendance but suggested for this committee)

Susan Sloan

 

It was suggested that there be a meeting with staff on how to support faculty and one with faculty on how to support staff.

 

Dean Denard will email committee members with targets and timeline and topics to be discussed at next meeting and ideas on how to facilitate meetings.

 

Meeting ended at 11:30 a.m.

 

Minutes respectively taken and submitted by Phyllis Siemiatkowski