The Academic Strategic Planning Committee was convened at the end of Spring 2008, and charged with developing, in collaboration with the campus community, an up-to-date and ambitious Academic Strategic Plan (ASP) to serve as a decision-making guide over the next five years. When completed, the plan should help us focus resources and energy on key issues, provide a solid foundation for our upcoming accreditation visit, and, most importantly, help us build an even more effective university. Since last spring, the committee has been hard at work. Over the summer, the committee collected data to answer a series of environmental scan questions. This included exploring system-wide published strategic plans, trends and expectations for higher education in Montana and beyond, and unit operating plans form 2007. The staff in the Office of Planning, Budgeting, and Analysis provided extensive data related to student affairs (e.g., enrollment, retention, cost of education), the workforce, diversity, research and creative activity, demographic trends, and so on. Moreover, the Committee met with many individuals who had expertise in areas related to the environmental scan. Finally, targeted campus stakeholders were asked to respond to a short survey that asked about what makes UM unique, surprises over the last five years, what they would most like to change, and how they hope UM will be described five years from now. After extensive review of the data collected, the Committee has summarized the aspirations that emerged and the issues that will have to be addressed in the coming years to ensure we can meet these aspirations. You can learn more about the aspirations and issues identified by the committee in the January 26, 2009 newsletter. Link to it at http://www.umt.edu/asp/newsletters.html. We look forward to a lively campus conversation.
Best regards,
Carol Brewer
Chair, ASP Steering Committee
