Appalachian State University Strategic Planning

1. Appalachian State UniversityStrategic Planning A look at the Higher Education landscape November 2, 2012

2. Strategic Challenges for Higher Education

3. Strategic Challenges • Removing boundaries • Establishing Interdisciplinary Programs • Supporting Entrepreneurial Efforts & Technology • Redesigning & Personalizing Student Support Services • Emphasizing Connected & Lifelong Learning • Investing in Technologically Competent Faculty • Hanna, D.E. (July/August 2003). Building a leadership vision: Eleven strategic challenges for Higher Education. Educause. Academic Affairs

4. Strategic Challenges • Building Strategic Alliances with Others • Incorporating Learning Technologies into Strategic Thinking • Measuring Program Quality • Achieving Institutional Advantage • Transforming Bureaucracy, Culture & Assumptions Hanna, D.E. (July/August 2003). Building a leadership vision: Eleven strategic challenges for Higher Education. Educause. Academic Affairs

5. Appreciative Inquiry • For significant change to happen, three conditions must be present: • Enormous external pressures • People inside who are dissatisfied • Coherent alternative plan, model or vision • Appreciative inquiry is a process that involves discovering institutional strengths through creative conversations that focus on what people within the organization are doing well and on how they are achieving excellence. Hanna, D.E. (July/August 2003). Building a leadership vision: Eleven strategic challenges for Higher Education. Educause. Academic Affairs

6. National & State Level Trends, Opportunities & Threats

7. Political/Legal/Governmental • Increasing demand for accountability & effectiveness • Further shifting toward political conservatism • Increasing micromanaging by General Assembly & the Board of Governors • Growing public demand for tax reductions • Increasing use of performance funding for state agencies • Tightening of student loan policies & availability Academic Affairs

8. Economic/Occupational • Further resistance to increasing public funding levels to universities • Continuing shift of educational costs to students as tuition & fees • Growing competition for private & federal dollars • Continuing availability of jobs in health and business services Academic Affairs

9. Economic/Occupational • Increasing demand for job preparedness by university graduates • Increasing global interdependence • Increasing demand for workers to function in multi-lingual, multi-cultural business & social environments • Increasing pressure on universities to facilitate economic development • Declining support for public liberal arts education Academic Affairs

10. Social/Demographic/Cultural • Growing disillusionment of higher education by the general public • Increasing cultural & ethnic diversity in the population • Increasing aging of student and general populations • ?? High School grads • Substantial grown in central piedmont and coastal regions of North Carolina Academic Affairs

11. Technological/Scientific • Expanding demand for & capabilities for alternative instructional delivery systems • Increasing use of distance and on-line learning • Increasing demands for increased productivity, through technology, in education • Increasing availability of vast amounts of information • Increasing emphasis on knowledge of how to reach available information • Continuing job displacement due to technological advances Academic Affairs

12. Campus Level Strengths & Weaknesses

13. Internal Strengths • Tradition of teaching excellence and strong faculty • Location in the mountains within 3 hours of metropolitan areas • Excellent educational value • Excellent cultural opportunities & programs • Strong academic reputation Academic Affairs

14. Internal Weaknesses • Relatively low public funding levels • Discipline & organizational territorialization • Lack of ethnic diversity • Diminished concern for students’ interests • Incentive programs that emphasize the individual rather than department of college • Excessive decentralization resulting in inefficiency Academic Affairs

15. Potential Topics for Working Groups Undergraduate Education Graduate Education Outreach & Engagement Technology & E-Learning Resources Research Accountability Efficiency Globalization Diversity Work-Life Student Life Academic Affairs

16. Next Steps • UPPC members self-select a working group • Identify a team leader for the group • Invite other members of the campus community to participate in the working group • Identify areas of strength for the topic • Develop innovative ideas to further strength threads within the topic • Create 3 to 5 strategies for possible inclusion in the plan Academic Affairs

17. Conducting Strategic Planning in a LowTrust Environment • Low institutional trust is a significant issue on campuses • Every decision can become a debate • People tend to focus on day-to-day events and issues • Rumor mill is very active and often the most trusted mode of communication • Recommendation that UPPC develop guiding principles • Sanaghan, P. (June 2102) Strategic Planning: 5 tough question, 5 proven answers. Academic Impressions Academic Affairs

18. Suggested Guiding Principles • We are committed to make the meaningful engagement of institutional stakeholders the heart of the strategic planning process • We are committed to transparency • We will actively seek an external perspective • We are committed to dealing with the tough issues within our institution • Sanaghan, P. (June 2102) Strategic Planning: 5 tough question, 5 proven answers. Academic Impressions. Academic Affairs