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College Strategic Plan 200825 September 2008 Dear Faculty, Staff, and Students,
In the past months, I have attempted to convey to you my profound sense not only of the exceptional quality of the College—of its faculty, staff, and students—but of the unfortunate reality that too few people across the country are aware of our continued excellence and our commitment to get even better. Slowly, but surely, this latter fact will change, and not merely for the reasons reported in the recent Wall Street Journal article that promoted IU as an institution of choice for many New York high school seniors: the “cozy” small-town feel of Bloomington, its natural beauty, and so on. These descriptions, of course, are accurate but they are hardly the only or most important reasons students decide to enroll here. The opportunity to learn from world-class faculty, to participate in such innovative programs sponsored by the College as the Collins Living Learning Center, LAMP, and the Global Village, and to obtain a first-class liberal education must surely rank at the top of this list. One of my jobs is to make sure the country—and the world—know this. As I write this letter, the University and College are embarking upon one of the most sustained and significant capital campaigns in the history of the institution. The opening of Simon Hall and the General Classroom Building will be followed, as many of you know, by the completion next fall of the Multi-Disciplinary Science Building--2. We are also beginning to design the International Studies Building and the Second Classroom Office Building. These new buildings for research and teaching provide just a glimmer of the many ways that we are growing to meet the demands of a new century. We are opening a new Office of Advancement to combine Development, Alumni Affairs, and Marketing in one place, further extending the reach of the College into the community, the country, and the world in which we hope to play an increasingly vital role. “We need to pause and assess where we are today and in what directions we hope to move in the future.” At the same time, in the midst of these exciting projects and innovations, we also need to pause and assess where we are today and in what directions we hope to move in the future. For this reason, I am appointing a set of committees to assist the College in writing a Strategic Plan, a flexible, living document that will provide a guide for the future and the myriad challenges it presents: How do we recruit and retain an outstanding faculty? Where will we find the resources necessary to support ground-breaking disciplinary and interdisciplinary research? How can we better prepare our undergraduates for the global workforce they will enter, while at the same time preserving the education in the liberal arts and sciences that resides at the heart of the College’s mission? How can we provide sufficient funding and educational opportunities for our graduate students? How can we honor the University’s commitments to diversity, to the education of an ethical and informed citizenry, and to the improvement of the state in which we live? These goals demand thoughtful deliberation, the formulation of strategies to achieve them, and the careful construction of instruments of assessment to make certain we are moving purposefully and effectively to these ends. Writing such will be a difficult, time-consuming labor, but it must be done, for without such a guide, how can decisions be made about meeting current challenges and those that lie ahead? “Some achieve greatness. For the College to do so, we must plan carefully.” You might recall that in Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night a character considers the topic of greatness, noting that some are born great, while others have greatness “thrust upon ‘em.” But he also knows, as I think we all do, that some achieve greatness. And for the College to do so, we must plan carefully. I am pleased to announce again that this initiative will be spearheaded by Associate Dean Steve Watt and Director of Strategic Planning Bob Patterer, and is already underway. I am equally pleased to announce the Chairs of the seven committees deliberating issues associated with the plan:
These chairs and their committees will begin discussions in the coming days, and by the end of the semester submit a report containing data collected, as well as a discussion of strategic goals and recommendations regarding how to achieve them. From these reports, the College will prepare a draft of the Strategic Plan and make it widely available for your comments and suggestions. This is an important step in the process, as your commentary will motivate one or more revisions of the draft before it is finalized. I wish to thank the chairs and members of their committees in advance for the valuable service that they will provide to the College. I hope the rest of you will also commit to participating in this strategic planning initiative by reading and commenting upon draft documents as they become available next semester. Sincerely,
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I would like to inform you of some very recent news and to announce a new initiative to begin this fall semester. To say that I am excited about both topics would be to understate the case, as both are of immense importance to the College, the University, and the State.
