Southern Oregon University : President : Blog : More Information on our Mission Statement Planning

As I mentioned in a recent newsletter, we are making good progress on our planning process. The Strategic Planning Group has been discussing ways to help us weave the new, approved mission statement more deeply into the fabric of the campus. Dennis Dunleavy and his students are continuing to work on an “unpacked version” to help expand everyone’s understanding of the mission and its connections with SOU. As soon as we have some samples of unpacking, we will share them with the campus.

We are ready now to begin reviewing individual plans. The provost has received three plans: for the Medford Higher Education Center, for online instruction, and for international student recruiting. Here is the process we will use for reviewing and for receiving campus comment.

As the plans come in, the respective vice presidents will discuss them as appropriate in their area and with me if necessary. I am particularly interested in ensuring that plans have goals and benchmarks as well as ways to ascertain whether or not goals and benchmarks have been met.
Plans will then be sent electronically to the Planning Group (with enough time for them to read beforehand) and put on their meeting agenda. The Planning Group will discuss each plan and may possibly meet with one or more authors of the plan.
The plans will then be posted on the planning web site as drafts (with the campus being asked for feedback) and also sent electronically to UPC for their review. We will ask for feedback to be in on each plan within a fairly brief timeline (two weeks).
After input has come in, the team for that plan may make some revisions. Then the plan will be posted on the planning web site as a finished document.
We need to make sure that our process moves quickly and efficiently. It’s important to note that the Planning Group, UPC, and the campus in general will not be approving the plans; we will all be reviewing and providing feedback.
It is also important to note that any budget items included in these plans are not automatically being included in a budget process. Once we have posted all the plans from our initial list, we can prioritize and work the elements into an actual strategic plan for the campus that will be considered in the budget process.
As we move through this process, starting next year, we will get status reports from the various planning areas that will be posted on the planning website.

I want to thank everyone who has been participating in creating plans. As we read them, I know people will appreciate understanding more deeply the excellent vision and planning that has been ongoing throughout the campus.

Mary Cullinan