Strategic planning continues to involve students, faculty and staff

USI’s first-ever strategic plan not only has administrators, but faculty, staff and students providing input.

The plan was examined in three open forums this week with sessions on Monday from 2:30 to 4 p.m., Tuesday from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. and Wednesday from 1 to 2:30 p.m.

On Tuesday, USI President Linda Bennett began by providing an update on the strategic plan with a power point presentation in which each dimension of the plan was discussed.

The core values of the plan are a sense of community that, according to Bennett, was a value that “emerged so strongly from everybody,” quality education that was second on a student survey only to affordability, engagement and a focus on learning.

The environmental scan, which contains USI data and comparisons to other universities, was discussed.

"Graduation rates is a topic I hear about a lot. I hear it every time I go to Indianapolis. It’s an important topic,” Bennett said.

The SWOT analysis provided USI’s top strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

The top strengths were academic quality, community service and engagement, affordability, a sense of community among faculty, staff and students and a beautiful campus with quality facilities.

“The setting of our campus is a tremendous advantage we haven’t marketed,” Bennett said.

Listed among the opportunities were things such as marketing USI and becoming the “Go-to Expert Resource” for information.

The top weaknesses were the failure to market USI, limited academic programs and course offerings, especially distance education and employee concerns about pay, communication and low morale.

Low tuition was also marked as a weakness because Bennett said some think USI is under funded, and that a possible perception is that low cost equals low quality.

“But that’s not the situation here and we know it,” Bennett said.

The state receives 60 percent of budget from state funds, 35 percent from student tuition and fees and 5 percent from other sources.

The top threats were funding reductions, competition for students, technology changes and state legislation’s increased involvement with education standards for college credit.

After the SWOT analysis update, Bennett mentioned benchmarking where two teams visit other campuses. The universities decided upon were Truman State University in Missouri where there is an assessment of learning, student success and opportunities and marketing Bennett said. According to Bennett, the University of Central Florida has diversity and technology that USI is interested in.

While we’re learning from these universities, “they could just as easily come here and learn from us,” Bennett said.

After President Bennett’s presentation, the audience broke into four groups to discuss the proposed vision statement, strategic directions and goals.

The current vision statement is “Engaging the future through learning and innovation.”

Some have suggested that ‘engaging’ be changed to ‘shaping’ Bennett said.

Strategic directions and drafted goals that ask “How might we…”: increase the graduation rate, provide leadership in the region, increase diversity in faculty and student body, become a 24/7 campus and ensure a high percentage of students have internship, study abroad and community engagement experience were a big focus point.

The groups were led by Dean of the College of Business Mohammed Khayum, Senior Research Associate Joe Wingo and Research Associate Jake Williams of the Office of Planning, Research and Assessment (OPRA) and Extended Services Grant Writer Jane Friona.

Katherine Draughon, executive director of OPRA and associate professor of sociology, said that about 85 people showed up Tuesday and 63 on Monday.

“(It was) exactly the same thing each session to fit schedules,” Draughon said.

She added that those who were unable to attend will be able to see a video on the web and provide feedback.

Students, faculty and staff can provide input via the strategic plan’s Web site on the university’s Office of the President page.

According to Bennett, the final strategic plan should be in place by July.