Letter of Invitation
July 6, 2004
TO: Strategic Planning Participants
FROM: Richard H. Wells, Chancellor
RE: Strategic Planning Retreat: The Continued Pursuit of Distinctiveness Update/Review – August 17, 2004
This memo contains your invitation to participate in the summer 2004 Strategic Planning Retreat on August 17th and the 2003-04 call for action. The tentative agenda for the Retreat is attached.
INVITATION
Please consider this memo your personal invitation to participate in the summer 2004 Strategic Planning Retreat to be facilitated by Dr. John Moore, President Emeritus of Indiana State University . The purpose of the Retreat is threefold:
• to develop a draft Strategic Planning status report with appropriate recommendations for full consideration by the campus community during the 2004-05 academic year,
• to listen and to provide feedback to our College colleagues as they share the results of their planning for new and renewed “centers of excellence,” and
• to continue improving the quality of our academic community by identifying, reviewing and discussing University-wide strategic planning accomplishments and disappointments to date.
We realize the summer months are busy times, but we hope that you will be able to adjust your schedule to attend this Retreat as your input into this planning process is vital to its success.
Please RSVP to Mary Simon (424-0201 or simonm@uwosh.edu) by July 23, 2004 .
2003-04 CALL FOR ACTION
A key feature of our strategic plan is our pursuit of “distinctiveness.” Institutional “distinctiveness,” as explained by Dr. John Moore, refers to those activities, qualities and accomplishments that enable an institution to enjoy a unique identity or an academic reputation for which the institution can be known, admired, and valued. Institutional distinctiveness occurs in at least two dimensions. First, distinctiveness may result when an individual or group of individuals accomplishes something within a particular area that is highly valued by both external and internal audiences. This type of distinctiveness is referred to as “vertical” distinctiveness. A second dimension of distinctiveness occurs when something noteworthy characterizes multiple programs, units, or even the whole university. This type of distinctiveness helps define the entire institution. This dimension can be thought of as “horizontal” distinctiveness. In implementing our plan, we have identified “horizontal” distinctiveness – distinctive features which pervade all or most aspects of our institution. These “horizontal” qualities are our commitment to engagement, partnership, collaboration, and “Green” principles.
Last October, I called for the development of “vertical” distinctiveness through the identification of existing and potential “centers of excellence,” such as a specific major, research program or college-based center for interdisciplinary studies. The details of that call were included in our 2003 October Annual Report and are reprinted below.
A successful strategic plan is never static. It must constantly be updated to reflect new challenges and opportunities. During this coming year [2003-04], I will encourage the campus community to give priority to and to embrace “vertical distinctiveness,” which is marked by the identification and enhancement of “centers of excellence.”
As we do this, I will suggest that we focus on our four outstanding colleges: Business Administration, Education and Human Services, Letters and Science, and Nursing. I believe that a college is by definition a “center of excellence.” From an historical perspective, “distinctiveness” and “excellence” are prerequisites for the formation of a college, in that a group of programs and departments is constituted as a college only after they have collectively achieved a significant level of distinction.
Taken together these four “centers of excellence” permeate all aspects of our University community. Therefore, I call upon our four colleges to assume leadership in enhancing our “vertical distinctiveness” by developing plans for improving existing college-based “centers of excellence” and for targeting new ones.
In our pursuit of “vertical distinctiveness,” it will be important that we work within the context of the Board of Regents' initiative, “Charting a New Course for the UW System.” This project, which will be discussed on our campus when the Board meets for their October meeting, will have profound implications for our collective future. As we continue with our own strategic planning process, we must do so in concert with this System-wide initiative. ( Annual Report: Strategic Plan Update , page 3, October 2004)
The Strategic Planning Retreat will prepare us to use the 2004-05 academic year to sharpen our focus, to enhance our understanding of our Governing Ideas, and to better align University-wide and college-wide based strategic plans, priorities and actions. Specifically, during the Fall 2004 semester, we will meet with all our governance groups and host open community forums to discuss ways to improve our strategic and operational planning. We will also sponsor a Winter Interim Strategic Planning Retreat to develop a new group of strategic action priorities, which will likely include some of our current initiatives (see 2003 October Annual Report , pp. 4-7), and to create an optimal balance of University-wide and College-based strategic and action priorities so that they are mutually reinforcing.