Frequently Asked Questions
When is the final Strategic Plan “due”?
The final draft of the plan is due in May 2015.
In addition to the recommended readings on Strategic Planning, have the consultants shared examples of what are considered good strategic plans?
Strategic Plans vary greatly from one institution to the next. A few examples are offered below to give you an idea of approach. They include a public liberal arts college; a private liberal arts college; and UMASS Amherst which is not like Keene State, but a client of our consultant, Keeling Associates.
Henderson University Arkansas (Public Liberal Arts)
Elon University North Carolina (Private Liberal Arts)
UMASS Amherst – (Public Research institution supported by Keeling)
As a faculty member, what can I bring to the late January meeting? What kinds of discussions could I have with my academic department in preparation for the meetings? My department is doing an overhaul of our curriculum so this is a great time to be talking with my colleagues about how that coordinates with the larger campus planning.
One of the series of meetings in late January will be in small groups with Department Chairs. The consultants will be leading a discussion focused on what you see as topics critical to the growth of the College. What do you, as a member of your academic department AND as a member of the larger College community, see as issues and topics that we (collectively) need to address - in terms of our attention and our financial support in order to move forward as a comprehensive and conscientious public liberal arts college in the future? What should we be focusing on at this point in time and with this cast of characters and circumstances? What do we need to change and/or add? This process concerns your specific department, but it is also larger than that and encompasses the College and the outlying community.
The fact that you’re doing curricular restructuring right now is excellent. When you look down the road, what could the College do to help your department get to where it would like to be next? And what could your department focus on that would help the College make its mark in higher education and contribute to the Keene community? A theme that has already emerged is our academic reputation and the fact that we have been dubbed KSC - Kinda Sorta College, by some of our students. How do we (all of us - faculty and staff) join forces to change this? Beyond faculty holding higher expectations, what, for example, could enrollment management and recruitment do to help? Are we accepting students who are not prepared for college-level work? If so, what can we do about this?
Right now, we’re in the process of identifying themes that merit our collective attention. The first round of themes is available on the SPC under Key Documents. Next, we’ll be forming committees to dig into potential action steps to address these themes and prioritize them.