2000-2010 Strategic Plan

Appendix B: Strategic Planning Process

The College of Education Strategic Planning Committee includes the following faculty, students, staff, administrators, alumni, and local educators:

1. The COE Millennium Commission worked from March 1998 to April 1999; it's 30 members represented current and retired faculty, students, staff, alumni, and other constituents (including the Dean of Arts and Sciences and the Provost). Their process was endorsed by Faculty Senate, Staff Council, Alumni Association, and school directors. The process was open and involved everyone who wished to add information, react, or discuss. Each draft was publicly distributed, a town hall meeting was held , and the final draft was presented face to face to the Faculty Senate, school directors, and Staff Council for further feedback.

2. The Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) solicited feedback from all departments on the principles and goals of the Millennium Commission report. The response indicated a high level of support for all the principles. The SPC then built on the vision, principles, and goals developed by the Millennium Commission

3. The committee examined the Institutional Goals and Presidential Themes, shared these with the college as a whole via email, and solicited the issues, goals, and priorities for the challenges facing the College in the next 10 years.

4. We studied departmental and school missions and strategic plans, the 1994 COE strategic plan, annual reports for "challenges," and other documents that schools or departments supplied us. We read national studies and reports (e.g., from The Kellogg Commission). The chair shared minutes and articles from the University SPC.

5. The chair attended a UGA meeting with Vice Presidents Eastman and Costello, and deans and SP chairs from other units. VP Eastman stressed several points: 1) learning what constituents, including potential funders, want; 2) that Dean Yeany was our best source for embedding the COE planning within the larger institutional picture; and 3) items selected by VP Costello and the university SP advisory group will be the ones they want to promote in the capital campaign, but that we need to develop a plan that we see as most useful in identifying major initiatives. VP Eastman assured us that the July 1 draft could be revised with Dean Castenell in the fall, after we get feedback from the University, examine additional data, etc.

6. We met with Provost Holbrook on April 26. She suggested that since some University initiatives were "givens" - cultural diversity and international opportunities - that we should develop on other major "aspirations" or goals. We will be clarifying this position in the fall to determine where our current Multicultural Initiative and an expansion of current international endeavors should be reflected in our strategic plan.

7. We held a day-long retreat April 29 to study all the data and generated a draft which we shared with the College for feedback via email. Wes Wynens from the Fanning Institute facilitated the meeting, as suggested by VP Eastman. Nearly all the SPC attended for all or part of the day. Small groups generated trends (societal, educational, demographic, financial, and others) and then considered what external and internal impact those trends might have in response. Charting these led to specific actions, which we grouped under five goal categories.

8. We emailed a draft of the rough goal categories and actions to the whole college, and solicited and received feedback.

9. We held a speaker-phone conversation with Dean Castenell. He had read the first draft of the plan carefully, and offered both overall comments and several item-specific suggestions. He was pleased with the general contents of the plan for several reasons: he saw it as a broad blueprint that together we will develop into more specific plans; this kind of document will help him in talking with legislators and other policy makers; it is consistent with important national conversations; it is consistent with the governor's focus on educational reform (accessibility, accountability, etc.); and it is consistent with his understanding of University priorities, based on his talks with Provost Holbrook and President Adams.

10. We revised and refined the Strategic Plan based on feedback from Dean Castenell, faculty members who responded to the first draft, and further reading and discussion.

11. The SPC met with Dean Castenell to solicit his input and to plan for further feedback during the fall semester. We held open two-hour meetings with each of the four schools in the COE in October to gather input on the revised draft.

12. We revised the document based on issues, concerns, and recommendations from the four school meetings, wrote an executive summary, and gave the document to Dean Castenell November 23, 1999.

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