Strategic Planning

Committee Charge

revised 4/06/10

For five years, Lock Haven University was guided by its strategic plan, A Framework for the Future (2003-08). Many of those goals have now been achieved, the university has changed, and we now face new challenges and opportunities. The university must establish a new plan for its future.

As the plan was about to expire, the university began three important initiatives: the Middle States 2010 Self-Study, the Foundations of Excellence project, and a revision of the Facilities Master Plan. (The first two were broadly participative and involved over 80 members of the university community each.) In addition, the university prepared enrollment management plan, conducted a marketing survey of 800 alumni, faculty, and staff, and conducted a survey of over 450 donors. To utilize the information from these important initiatives to inform its strategic planning process, President Miller deferred a formal strategic planning process until September 2009, to better align strategic planning with the Middle States review process (as had been the case with the 1991 and 1996 strategic plans).

Planning is an essential function of leadership. Effective strategic planning requires a broad perspective on the university and its environment along with willingness to decide between competing interests and priorities. A strategic planning committee draws on the wisdom of the wider university community (faculty, staff, students, alumni, and community participants) to identify priorities and propose means to achieve them. Final determination of strategic priorities and goals is the responsibility of the President in consultation with Senior Staff and the Council of Trustees.

A mission statement

• “clearly defines [the school’s] purpose within the context of higher education and indicates who the institution serves and what it intends to accomplish.” (Quotations are from Characteristics of Excellence, Middle States Commission on Higher Education (2006), 1-2.)
• “defines the institution, delineates the scope of the institution, explains the institution’s character and individuality, and articulates values as appropriate,” including its “basic purposes and characteristics, such as research or community service.”

A strategic plan sets goals that

• “clearly specify how the institution will fulfill its mission.”
• describe “how the institution, its constituents and members, and the community it [serves], will be different as a result of its initiatives and undertakings.”
• clearly address particular challenges that face the university.
• leave room for creativity and initiative in determining how they may best be achieved.

President Miller has established a Strategic Planning Committee whose term is expected to run from the fall of 2009 through the summer of 2010. The Committee is responsible for the following:

• Review existing reports and analyses, including (but not limited to) the Middle States 2010 Self-Study, the report of the Middle States visiting team, the Facilities Master Plan, the report of the Foundations of Excellence task force, and the marketing and donor surveys.
• Propose a revised statement of the university’s mission that will differentiate the university from other schools, clarifying its distinctive identity and identifying specifically whom the university seeks to serve and how.
• Identify goals that move the university strategically toward accomplishing its mission.
• Propose specific initiatives to support each of the goals that will be specific, measurable, and time-defined.

The Committee is expected to form subcommittees (following the model used by the Middle States, NCATE, and FOE processes) to examine goals and recommend initiatives. Subcommittees should be composed of 8-10 members from various areas of the university. Each subcommittee should be chaired by a member of (or include a liaison from) the committee.

It is essential that the committee and subcommittee keep the campus well-informed about deliberations, so that all who wish to offer comments and suggestions have the opportunity to do so.

A list of the committee members is available here.

The charge is also available as a PDF file.