January 2013 update

You may be wondering what has happened with the WSU Strategic Planning process since the kickoff meeting hosted by President John Bardo on September 5, 2012. I’m going to give a quick update.

President Bardo formed a Strategic Planning Steering Committee and invited Ed O’Malley (President and CEO of the Kansas Leadership Center) and me to co-chair the process. The Steering Committee membership consists of a mix of WSU faculty, staff, and students, as well as others from the Wichita community. A full list of the members is available on our website: www.wichita.edu/wsustrategy.

The committee meets once a month, with homework and subcommittee work occurring between these meetings. The agendas for these two-hour meetings are packed. Some of the agenda items include: familiarizing members with the inner workings of WSU; updating members on data gathering activities such as meetings, surveys, and student engagement opportunities; and developing initial drafts of various parts of the strategic plan. Thus far, we are working on a draft mission statement and a long list of core values for discussion. The meeting notes for all of the Steering Committee meetings are listed on our website: www.wichita.edu/wsustrategy.

During the first four months of this planning process, the Steering Committee has been singularly focused on data gathering—e.g., campus and community town hall meetings (see the town hall notes at wichita.edu/wsustrategy), a survey sent to the Alumni Association members, and meetings with various groups. We think it is critical to a successful process to hear from all those interested in the future of WSU. Therefore, we plan to continue this data gathering process for a few more weeks.

In late February you can expect to see a draft mission statement and core values. These will be presented at another set of town hall meetings for feedback (see town hall meetings schedule).

Watch this space for updates. I’ll tell you more about our data gathering activities (especially the Steering Committee’s trip to Topeka next week to visit with the Kansas Board of Regents).

Until next time …