President’s Blog
Strategic Planning Workgroup
October 30, 2007
Autumn (and Halloween) are upon us. Our site visitors from the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities have come and gone (their recommendations will be the subjects of future blogs). We have had a good opening to the academic year. We are on track financially and are continuing a powerful planning process in almost every area of the University.
The Strategic Planning Workgroup has been consulting with entities on campus as we revise the SOU mission statement. We’re working toward a brief statement that sums up our strongest commitments and who we are. It’s a realistic mission statement, not a visionary statement about what SOU aspires to be in the future.
Because the statement is brief, it can’t include everything we do and everything we value. It’s a statement, not a treatise. However, our plan is to create an “unpacked” or expanded mission statement on the University web page. Highlighted keywords in the mission statement will take readers to a variety of documents, quotations, photos, streaming video, and other links that explain and expand upon the language of the mission statement.
Our goal is to have a mission statement that students, faculty, staff—and visitors from off campus—can read with interest, learn from, and even become excited about. When you click on research, for example, you might hear a student talking about a capstone experience or read about a faculty member’s recent publication. When you click on inclusive, you might read our policies or hear a staff member speaking about what that term means to him or her personally.
“Unpacking” the mission statement will take a little time and will be an ongoing process. However, we will work collaboratively to build the website. We can develop a process that encourages our campus community to participate in the mission rather than just read it. If we do this project well, we will have a living, dynamic mission rather than a dry paragraph that is more or less ignored until it’s time again to write a self–study for the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.
Below I attach the most recent revision of the mission statement and a rough draft for the beginning of an unpacked version. The mission statement is near completion; the dynamic version is just beginning.
Mary Cullinan
DRAFT Mission 10.22.07
Southern Oregon University is an inclusive campus community dedicated to student success. We challenge individuals to grow intellectually and personally as lifelong learners by engaging them in teaching, serving, creating, and leading. We collaborate with regional, national, and international partners in meaningful research and civic, professional, and artistic contributions.
Commitments
Southern Oregon University is committed to:
- a challenging and practical liberal arts education centered on student learning, access, and community engagement;
- academic programs, partnerships, public service, community outreach, sustainable practices, and economic development activities that address regional needs; and
- outstanding programs that draw on and enrich our unique arts community and bioregion.
*******
10.22.07 DRAFT: Beginning Ideas for an “Unpacked” Mission Statement
Mission
Southern Oregon University1 is an inclusive2 campus community3 dedicated to student success4. We challenge5 individuals to grow intellectually6 and personally7 as lifelong learners8 by engaging them in teaching9, serving10, creating11, and leading12. We collaborate13 with regional, national, and international partners14 in meaningful research15 and civic16, professional17, and artistic18 contributions.
Commitments
Southern Oregon University is committed to:
- a challenging1 and practical2 liberal arts education3 centered on student learning4, access5, and community engagement6;
- academic programs7, partnerships8, public service9, community outreach10, sustainable practices11, and economic development12 activities that address regional needs13; and
- outstanding programs14 that draw on and enrich our unique arts community15 and bioregion16.
Mission
- Front page of web, institutional profile, etc.
- Diversity plan, resource centers, disability services, policies on harassment, etc.
- Enumeration of constituents, community expectations (student code, etc.)
- NSSE data, other measures, etc.
- Admissions requirements, etc.
- Statement on academic rigor, perhaps the University Studies strands, etc.
- Cocurricular expectations, cultural competencies, etc.
- Illustration of how degree encourages students to continue learning, etc.
- CTLA
- CBL, civic engagement, etc.
- Artistic opportunities, examples of student artistic expressions, etc.
- Examples of student leadership opportunities and accomplishments, examples of leadership development infused in the curriculum, etc.
- Discuss relationships with community partners, organizations SOU is a member of, etc.
- List of partners, examples of outcomes of partnerships, etc.
- Examples of faculty research, student research, and ways it benefits the region, etc.
- Additional CBL examples, ways faculty, staff, and students are civic contributors, both via their institutional roles and individually
NOTE: Provide faculty, student, and alumni examples of leaders in (and examples of) superscripted keywords
Commitments
- Discussion of academic rigor, measurement of learning outcomes, etc.
- Illustrations of student application of their degrees to career paths, etc.
- Definition of critical thinking, effective writing, speaking, research, information literacy, synthesis of ideas, etc.
- Definition and outcomes/assessment
- Demographic information, commitment to diversity, etc.
- List with links
- List with links
- Sustainability Council, President’s Climate Commitment, LEED buildings, partnerships, Business school track on sustainability, etc.
- Foundation’s work on economic impact, etc.
- Highlight programs, faculty, students, alumni, and impacts
- Theatre project, relationship with OSF, Symphony, Chamber Series, Schneider, etc.
- Deer Creek, Crater Lake, etc.
