August 29, 2005
To: Doane College Campus Community
From: Jonathan Brand
Re: Strategic Planning Process
During the course of the interview process last year, I heard from several of you that you hoped that we would revisit the Doane College strategic plan. From these comments and then wider discussions during this spring and summer, it became clear that reopening the planning process would have value for the College. At one level, this will confirm that we are strategically allocating our resources toward our highest priorities with the goal of better achieving our mission. At another level, it will also ensure that we share a collective and clear sense of our institutional priorities and direction.
Revisiting the Doane College strategic plan does not suggest any shortcoming in the current long-range plan or failure of the previous process. To the contrary, many of you worked hard to produce a very good 2004-09 plan, which contains several major initiatives that I hope will be incorporated into the next plan.
At the heart of the upcoming planning process will be a central planning committee that will ultimately develop a comprehensive strategic plan. Initially, this multi-constituent central committee will be charged with producing an overarching document that will guide six task forces as they plan in their respective areas. The task forces, which will be composed of members of the central planning committee and others with a particular expertise in a particular area, will address the following subjects:
- The student experience
- The curriculum and the faculty experience
- Admissions/tuition and financial aid
- Diversity
- Facilities
- Doane Lincoln/Grand Island
To be sure, some subject matter areas not mentioned above, such as information technology, will still need to be considered within the planning process. In addition, other issues such as our priorities within advancement, our institutional message, and marketing plan will need to be reviewed once the strategic plan is completed.
There will likely be some overlap among the strategies and tactics produced by these task forces. Thus, it will then be the responsibility of the central planning committee to receive the recommendations of the different task forces and harmonize them in producing one coherent strategic plan, ultimately to be reviewed by the Board of Trustees. This plan, when completed and approved, will also need to be financially feasible.
The central planning committee will be composed of the following members from among the Doane College community:
- Jill Bale, Chair Business and Economics
- Amanda Bennett, StuCo Treasurer
- Jonathan Brand, President of Doane College
- Alec Engebretson, Chair, Science, Mathematics, and Information Science and Technology
- Maureen Franklin, Vice President for Academic Affairs
- Lyn Forester, Chair, Education and Dean of M.Ed.
- Rebecca Gonzales, Director of Institutional Research
- Janice Hadfield, Dean of Undergraduate Studies and the Master of Arts in Management Program, Lincoln Campus and Grand Island Campus
- Troy Haenfler, StuCo President
- Kay Hegler, Professor of Special Education, Assessment Officer and Chair of the Central Planning Committee (CPC)
- Kim Jacobs, Vice President for Student Leadership
- Ken James, Vice Chair of Board of Trustees (Lake Forest, IL)
- Donna Jurena, Chair, Academic Information Services
- Pappy Khouri, Vice President for Financial Affairs
- Dan Kunzman, Vice President for Admission
- Lesley Nordhausen., Administrative Assistant to Mr. Brand and the CPC
- Rod Peters, Chair, Social Science
- Allison Petersen, Trustee (Walton, NE)
- H. Peter Reinkordt, Chair, Fine Arts and Humanities
- Kim Robak, Trustee (Lincoln, NE)
- Roger Sheffield, Vice President for Advancement
- Earl Wright, Trustee (Greenwood Village, CO)
While it is always difficult to predict the timeline for a planning process, many of us hope that we can conclude this process over the course of one year so that we don't lose momentum on campus. The central planning committee is scheduled to meet for the first time on Wednesday, October 12, 2005. In principle, this committee will produce a guiding document by the end of January for the task forces so that they can begin their work.
From the end of January until the end of April, the task forces are scheduled to engage in their planning work, reports of which will then be submitted to the central committee. In early May, the central planning committee will meet to review and begin to pull together into one coherent strategic plan the reports of the different task forces.
At this stage, depending upon the progress made, the central committee could either continue to work through the summer on the plan, with submittal to the Board for its approval at its October/2006 meeting OR the committee could submit the plan in draft form to the Board so that the Board could discuss it during the summer of 2006 (assuming that central planning committee completes its work in time).
I am very enthusiastic about this upcoming planning progress and look forward to working with everyone in the development of the plan. When completed, we should have a document that will guide our major expenditures for the foreseeable future as well as our fundraising and marketing efforts. Thank you.