Get Involved: Long Range Planning
Over the past two years, the School of Social Sciences worked collaboratively to create a long range plan and establish universal goals. We started with an all day, all school retreat in the fall of 2002. Then a committee took the ideas from the retreat and synthesized them into draft vision and mission statements. The school then conducted small focus groups consisting of students, faculty, and staff to review the statements and provide feedbakck. The committee took the feedback from the focus groups and revised the statements accordingly.
Once the vision and mission statements were complete, the school held a second all day, all school retreat in the winter of 2003 where both the vision and mission statements were finalized and immediate goals were determined. We plan to hold a third all school retreat this coming winter 2004 where we can assess whether or not we have met our established goals. Following are the notes and outcomes of our planning process.
Outcomes of the second Long Range Planning Retreat:
Vision Statement
The School of Social Sciences offers knowledge and skills that prepare
our graduates to live richly rewarding personal, professional and social
lives while understanding and appreciating human complexity in a global
society. The school contributes to the political, economic and cultural
literacy of its citizens through the expansion and preservation of knowledge.
It is a regional center for active social change and human betterment,
advocacy and planning. The school maintains an environment conducive
to personal and professional growth attained through equality, participatory
governance and open communication.
Mission Statement (with example goals identified for each item)
The mission of the School of Social Sciences is to provide learning
opportunities that enhance the understanding and use of the principles
and methods of social sciences.
1. To achieve its mission, the School of Social Sciences actively recruits and supports educators who are leaders in their fields. The school allocates resources to support teaching, research, scholarship, and professional development.
Example goals: providing structural support, such as innovative classrooms and equipment.
2. The school fosters intellectual development, critical thinking, sense of community and compassionate citizenship by promoting student-faculty contact, innovative teaching, and inter-disciplinary collaboration.
3. By creating and upholding a sensitive and inclusive environment, the school will attract and retain a diverse faculty, staff and student population.
Example goal: infusing the curriculum with cultural literacy
4. The school encourages its members to gain cultural competence and self-awareness in order to meet effectively the challenges of living in an increasingly complex and interconnected world.
Example goals: knowledge, awareness and skills related to human diversity
Infusing the curriculum
5. The school pursues the development of service learning courses, internships, university and community partnerships, and other community based learning opportunities, which cultivate the school’s influence locally, nationally and internationally.
Immediate Goals for the School:
1. Encourage, design, promote and implement interdisciplinary connections
within the School of Social Sciences.
2. Maintain high academic standards central to our liberal arts and
sciences mission.
3. Create a system of support and reward for those involved in diversity
efforts.
4. Create a Web-centered social services policy institute.
5. Review and clarification of the RTP priorities to emphasize community
service.
6. Develop a clear priority on the part of the development office to
support School of Social Sciences partnership and provide outreach to
the community.
7. Increase funding as a priority for professional development (travel,
workshops, classes).
Outcomes of the 1st committee meeting:
Hopes:
Find ourselves working together, draw on our strengths, and focus group
efficacy.
Fight learned helplessness.
Outreach to community, highlight our ability to have an impact.
We become economically self-sufficient and self-determining.
Get clear on goals; realistic and what we will achieve.
Make it an ongoing, participative process including those not present.
Take on action initiatives for the group.
Use web for participation, information sharing, and involvement.
Make this personally satisfying and psychologically useful.
Become a regional center for applied social sciences.
Define what we are as a Liberal Arts university.
Concerns:
Will action initiative lead to larger goals?
Not fall into large blocks of complaining time.
Concern about adequate resources to accomplish the work.
Don't have break downs in the process.
Lack of clarity about what we want to accomplish.
Time constraints, overloaded, can't do more. This process may generate
more work rather than figure out how to do things differently.
Will we go beyond talking to doing?
Working Agreements:
See group members speak up if process isn't working.
Strive for concrete action plan and outcomes.
Define next steps. Be as specific as possible.
Stop and reflect on the process as needed.
Build on strengths; improve what's working.
Make information available to everyone who is affiliated: dean, chairs,
faculty, staff, students.
Develop a summary of outcomes of meetings for chairs. Enroll department
heads in 2-ways communnication.
Agree to disagree.
Be compassionate about vagueness and confusion.
Build on the work of the January 2002 retreat.
Modify agreements as needed.
Action Steps:
1. Art will put a copy of the university's mission statement on the
APC website.
2. Erica will collect other mission statements from departments on campus
and distribute to group.
3. After the next meeting, send an invitation to the School for suggested
sentences under the 3 categories of mission definition. The 3 categories
are: 1.the concept or nature of the organization (the reason the organization
exists) 2. the people served 3. the principles and values under which
it intends to operate.
4. Draft feedback commentary for faculty and staff explaining mission
statement.
5. Erica will create a web page for the notes from this meeting and
e-mail everyone in the group.
Mission Statement Format:
Present tense, positive, specific and clear, simple sentences, sensitive
and inclusive language.
Goals for the Group:
Stage 1: Develop mission statements.
Stage 2: Develop a vision statement.
Stage 3: Use those to set goals.
Other mission statements for review:
The University's
mission
Academic Planning Committee
charge
Diversity Vision Statement
GE
Subcommittee
Schultz Library
and Information Center
Themes from the first Long Range Planning Retreat:
*Total number of responses in parenthesis*
Diversity & Tolerance (8)
Service Learning (7)
Facilities, Equipment, and Resources (7)
Governance (7)
Development & Funding (6)
Inter-department and Inter-discipline Collaboration (5)
International Exchanges and Programs (5)
Learning Goals (3)
Quality of Work, Life, and Health (3)
Student/Faculty Ratio (3)
Staffing (3)
Faculty Support (2)
Graduate Programs (2)
GE (1)
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