Dear Colleagues,

The Strategic Planning Steering Committee thanks you for feedback on the draft strategic plan. Since the draft plan was posted at http://strategicplanning.newpaltz.edu/ on March 4 , we have received written feedback through e-mail sent to strategicplan@zmail.newpaltz.edu and information cards distributed at meetings. The draft plan was presented at these meetings:

College Council ( March 7 )
College’s Senior Leadership (WONK) ( March 11 )
Marketing Council ( March 19 )
Foundation Board ( March 21 )
Classified Staff Meeting (Monday, April 1 )
Budget, Goals and Plans Faculty Governance Committee ( April 4 )
Student Association and Residence Hall Student Association executive committees (April 11)
Administrative Council ( April 15 )
Chair’s Forum (April 17)
Business Council ( April 19 )
Meetings open to all campus community members (Monday, April 1 and Tuesday, April 2 )

There’s still time to comment on the draft plan. The Strategic Planning Steering Committee is meeting on Monday , April 29 , to review feedback. If you have comments, please send them to strategicplan@zmail.newpaltz.edu by noon on Friday , April 26 . The draft plan and video introduction of the plan may be reviewed at http://strategicplanning.newpaltz.edu/ . The planning process is unfolding as anticipated. The plan will be finalized in May.

Best,
Pat Sullivan and Stella Turk, Co-Chairs, Strategic Planning Steering Committee

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College Council (March 7)
College’s Senior Leadership (WONK) (March 11)
Student Association and Residence Hall Student Association executive committees (March 19)
Marketing Council (March 19, 3:30 p.m.)
Classified Staff Meeting (Monday, April 1, at 9 a.m. in Student Union 100)
Budget, Goals and Plans Faculty Governance Committee (April 4, 3 p.m.)
Administrative Council (April 15)
Business Council (April 17, 7:30 am.)
Foundation Board (March 21)
Meetings open to all campus community members (Monday, April 1, at 3 p.m. in LC 100 and Tuesday, April 2, at 3 p.m. in LC 100)

Dear Colleagues,

The strategic planning process is on schedule. Pat Sullivan and Stella Turk, committee co-chairs, circulated a series of plan drafts to committee members to seek feedback. We appreciate the dedicated work of committee members who reviewed and offered feedback on the draft during the semester break. The Strategic Planning Steering Committee met on Friday, February 1, to review the latest draft of the plan, discuss revisions, and plan next steps. Committee co-chairs will revise the draft plan to incorporate recommendations from the February 1 meeting. Later in February, a draft plan will be circulated to the campus community for review and feedback. Members of the campus community will be invited to attend open forums to discuss the plan.We look forward to sharing the draft plan with members of the campus community.

Best,
Pat Sullivan and Stella Turk

Dear Colleagues,

The Strategic Planning process is unfolding as anticipated.  Pat Sullivan and Stella Turk, committee co-chairs, prepared a draft plan and circulated it to committee members to seek feedback.  The Strategic Planning Steering Committee met on Wednesday, December 5, to review the draft plan. Dr. William Weary of Fieldstone Consulting led the committee through a series of questions and exercises to identify next steps in revising the plan.  Committee co-chairs will revise the draft plan to incorporate recommendations from the December 5 meeting. The revised plan will be circulated to committee members for review and feedback.  The next meeting of the committee will take place in the middle of January.  At the beginning of  the Spring 2013 semester, a draft plan will be circulated to the campus community for review and feedback. During  Spring semester, members of the campus community will be invited to attend open forums to discuss the plan.

We look forward to next semester and sharing the draft plan with the campus community.

Best,

Pat Sullivan and Stella Turk
Co-Chairs, Strategic Planning Steering Committee

Dear Colleagues,

On Saturday, November 3, sixty-seven faculty, staff, students, administrators, alumni, and College Council and Foundation Board members gathered for a day-long strategic planning retreat held in the College Terrace. The participants represented a cross-section of the campus community with limited overlap with those interviewed in October; this effort was made in order to provide broad representation and perspective.

The goal of the retreat was to develop wide-ranging views and a shared sense of direction for the College. Dr. William Weary of Fieldstone Consulting led small and large group sessions utilizing a variety of planning exercises.  College concerns, issues and aspirations were discussed through a series of open-ended questions that grew out of Dr. Weary’s interviews in October with about 100 members of the College community.

The retreat captured strategic goals and objectives, and the specific efforts we must complete during the life of the strategic plan. The Steering Committee will now develop a draft plan based on the outcome of the retreat.  The plan will be available for review and feedback early in the spring semester, to be incorporated into a final plan by the end of this academic year.

Those in attendance on Saturday expressed enthusiasm for the process and the outcome of the retreat.  We wish to thank all of the individuals who have participated in these efforts and the many who have offered support.

Best,

 Patricia Sullivan and Stella Turk
Co-Chairs, Strategic Planning Steering Committee

Dear Colleagues,

The strategic planning process is progressing as anticipated.  Dr. William Weary interviewed approximately 100 individuals from the faculty, staff, students, administration, alumni and community leaders during the week of October 8 – 11.  A broad range of topics related to the college’s strengths and challenges was discussed.  The findings were presented to the Strategic Planning Steering Committee on October 12 during a 90 minute meeting. Plans were also discussed for the November 3rd retreat.  Approximately, 80 individuals from the broad campus and regional community will be invited to participate in an all-day retreat where planning exercises will be utilized to develop a consensus for the plan. Those invited for the retreat will represent a wide range of campus and community constituencies recommended by the Strategic Planning Steering Committee, the Cabinet and the President.

We are grateful for the expert guidance from Dr. Weary through each step of the process. We have received a significant amount of positive feedback about Dr. Weary and are looking forward to a productive retreat.

Best,

Pat Sullivan and Stella Turk
Co-Chairs, Strategic Planning Steering Committee

Dear Colleagues,

The inaugural meeting of the Strategic Planning Steering Committee was held on September 19. The committee met with the Consultant, Dr. William Weary. The first meeting was productive. Members introduced themselves. Dr. Weary then discussed the strategic planning process as outlined in President Christian’s introductory email along with his experiences on other campuses. He invited committee members to offer their thoughts and observations about the College, and its past, present, and future so he could begin to develop a sense about New Paltz and some of the strengths and challenges the committee members perceive. President Christian shared a charge to the committee and answered questions. There was a general consensus that this is going to be an exciting process. There will be a significant effort through interviews, a fall retreat, focus groups and meetings to involve the campus faculty, staff, students, alumnae as well as the community in the development of our strategic plan.

You will receive regular updates as the process unfolds. This web site has been developed to provide updates to the campus community. Dr. Weary’s biography and recent assignments and the committee membership are posted on the website. There are also some of the documents and other materials informing the committee’s work. Student governance has been asked to nominate student members. We will update the website when that information becomes available.

Please check this website frequently to remain up-to-date with the process.

Best,
Patricia Sullivan and Stella Turk
Co-Chairs, Strategic Planning Steering Committee

Faculty and Staff:

Background and Strategic Planning Website.  Patricia Sullivan and Stella Turk, co-chairs of the Strategic Planning Steering Committee, recently shared with you highlights from last week’s kick-off meeting and introduced you to the planning website (http://strategicplanning.newpaltz.edu/).  I encourage you to learn about the process by visiting the website and to participate in our planning, which will establish institutional-level goals or objectives to focus our improvement during the next 3-5 years, and 6-8 tasks or projects that the College will complete during that time to achieve those objectives.

The Importance of Planning.  I identified the importance of such planning in my letter of application for the presidency, and have referred to it in subsequent reports, meetings, and addresses (State of the College 2011 and State of the College 2012; inaugural address; other monthly reports).  The time is right for us to launch this process, to develop a plan that lays out clear priorities and action steps by the end of the academic year.

Campus Participation.  You may be contacted in the coming weeks to participate in interviews with the consultant October 9-12 or in an extended planning retreat on November 3.  The committee will provide regular updates, and the process will include abundant opportunity for community feedback on the draft plan during spring semester.

Steering Committee Membership.  I am grateful to all of the members of the Steering Committee for their willingness to guide this process, and to faculty governance leaders for their help in identifying members at the start of the year so that we can follow our timeline.  The membership of the Committee is as follows:

Academic Faculty:
Patricia Sullivan (Co-Chair), Professor, Communication & Media, Interim Director of Honors
Stella Turk (Co-Chair), Instructor, Communication Disorders, Associate Dean, LA&S
Mary Christensen, Associate Professor and Chair, Languages, Literatures & Cultures
Peter Kaufman, Associate Professor, Sociology
Paul Kassel, Associate Professor, Theatre Arts, and Associate Dean, F&PA
Stacie Nunes, Assistant Professor and Chair, Physics & Astronomy
Tom Meyer, Associate Professor, Secondary Education

Professional Faculty:
Lucy Walker, Senior Research Analyst, Office of Institutional Research & Planning
Stuart Robinson, Athletic Director, Department of Athletics, Wellness & Recreation
Mary Kastner, Director of Design, Print and Mail Services, Office of Communication & Marketing (and alumna)

Management-Confidential
Philip Mauceri, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Mary Hafeli, Dean, Fine and Performing Arts
Jon Lewit, Assistant Vice President of Institutional Technology

College Council and Alumna:  Bythema Bagley

Students(2):       To be Named

Foundation Board: Mary Etta Schneider

Classified Staff: Tegan Scism, Clerk 2, Records & Registration

I thank you in advance for your participation in this important planning process, and for your support of the Steering Committee in its work.

Donald P. Christian
President