Welcome to the November 2003 issue of First Friday. This report is about the strategic planning process underway at the ASU-Jonesboro campus. This planning effort is to update the directions for the university that were developed in 1991 and 1996, and is an attempt to chart the course for the institution for the foreseeable future. Dr. David Cox, professor of Education, is leading the planning process with assistance from Dr. David McFarland, a consultant with Penson Associates, Inc. Information about the planning process is archived in previous First Friday reports, and may be accessed through the link on this page.

The current strategic planning process has been joined by scores of participants representing the faculty, staff, and students of the university, and many representatives from constituencies external to the campus. Participants are organized into a planning council, task forces to address topical issues, and subcommittees. These groups have begun their meeting schedules, and each reports that discussions have been open, candid, and thought-provoking. Several important data gathering activities have supported the planning effort.

Stakeholders Conference

A significant meeting of many of the planning participants occurred October 20, 2003, in the Stakeholders Conference. A summary of that meeting is linked as an attachment to this report. Participants shared the following information:

# An overview of the planning process, the organizational structure for the process, timelines for various activities, and how the plan will be put into action.

# A set of observations about the university given by representatives of the external community, and especially their perceptions of driving forces which would influence the future of ASU. The representatives responded to questions posed by participants.

# A set of observations from Dr. John Moore (a second Penson consultant) about driving forces which have influenced other universities and which also may be pertinent to ASU.

# A list of driving forces identified by stakeholders as those which present internal and external opportunities, threats, or concerns.

Participants at the Stakeholders Conference met in small groups to identify internal and external driving forces they felt would affect the future of ASU; which of these forces would have the greatest impact, positively or negatively; and what should ASU do to take advantage of, or minimize the disadvantages of these driving forces. Some 25 forces were identified. Each participant was asked to identify the top five forces felt to be most important. The cumulative tabulation of the responses is listed on page 6 of the summary of the meeting, linked as an attachment.

Those issues that rose to the highest frequency of identification, out of 458 indications, were:

# University image (59)

# Finding new resources (51)

# Absence of a sense of cooperation and community (46)

# Communications - community (43)

# Internal pride (42)

# Who we are and who we serve (34)

# Appropriate balance between teaching, service, and scholarship (31)

Several observations may be made on the basis of these results. First, most of these issues are about ourselves, rather than those things outside the university, and are more focused on the institution as it is seen internally, rather than directed externally. Second, these are things we can do something about, and more to the point, no one else can address these things for us. Third, the issues depicted above are perceived to have greater importance to the university than those issues which were further down the list, but it is often the lesser things that we talk about most often. We might want to change our focus as we develop our planning activities to look at these Abig idea@ issues. Finally, several of the top-rated issues on this survey also were identified as important in the 1996 planning effort. Granted, a lot has changed, but some important things apparently have not changed. Perhaps our plan this time may help us identify how we intend to produce better image, community, and pride in Arkansas State University.

Electronic Strategic Planning Survey

During the period from October 8-22, 240 respondents, including 105 faculty, 54 staff,

40 alumni, 19 administrators, 13 community members, 5 students, and 4 Emeritus faculty members, completed an electronic survey.

Respondents were asked to answer questions about Arkansas State University. The questions and responses that numbered ten or more to each question are as follows:

1. What 2 or 3 core values would you like to be associated with ASU? (224 respondents)

$ Quality education/quality teaching/student-centered learning (131 responses, the greatest number throughout the survey)

$ Fairness, honesty, and respect (39)

$ Service to local, state, or national organizations, or all (39)

$ Quality research (21)

$ Multiculturalism/diversity (18)

$ Academic integrity (18)

$ Strong academic reputation/high standards (15)

$ Quality at a reasonable price/affordable/accessible (15)

$ Family atmosphere/feeling of community (12)

2. What are 2 or 3 distinctive strengths or attributes for which ASU is known and respected? (223 respondents)

$ Specific academic programs, such as Communications (30), Education (23), Nursing and Health Professions (23), and Fine Arts (15)

$ Faculty (48)

$ Service and community relationships (48)

$ Commitment to students (42)

$ Location (37)

$ Nothing is distinctive (26)

$ Size (23)

$ Affordability (19)

$ Teaching (17)

$ Undergraduate education (14)

$ Vision (11)

$ Friendliness (11)

$ Students and alumni (10)

$ Athletics (10)

3. What are 2 or 3 strategic planning directions in which you think ASU should be moving over the next five to six years? (215 respondents)

$ Enhance/increase research support (24)

$ Focus on undergraduate/select Masters/Specialist programs (13)

$ Technology in teaching/learning (12)

$ Increase salary and perquisites (12)

$ Tougher standards/selective admissions (11)

$ Enhance recruitment to students from the state and nation (11)

$ Involve students in direction setting/be student focused/care for students (10)

$ Find our unique role/niche in our region (10)

4. What is the single most important thing that needs to be done for ASU to rise to the next level in terms of reputation and stature? (224 respondents. Items with seven or more responses are listed as there were many single items.)

$ Focus on academic excellence (11)

$ Increase state funding/funding equity (11)

$ Continue to support and improve development of athletic programs (10)

$ Place academics above athletics (8)

$ Increase number of PhD programs (7)

$ Increase faculty salaries/equity (7)

$ Provide better incentives to attract and retain high quality faculty (7)

$ Promote improvement of faculty scholarship (7)

$ Improve communication from administration (7)

5. As you envision ASU in the year 2009, for what would you like it to be widely known and respected? (240 respondents. Items with seven or more responses listed.)

$ Academic excellence (79)

$ Highly-qualified graduates (44)

$ Outstanding teaching (30)

$ Outstanding research [in selected areas] (21)

$ Outstanding faculty (16)

$ Student friendly (16)

$ Affordable (14)

$ Athletic competitiveness/excellence (9)

$ Arkansas leader (9)

$ Well-rounded college experience for students (9)

$ Outstanding service (7)

6. Please list any other ideas or issues you would like to share with the Strategic Planning Council. (240 respondents)

$ Better communication with administration (21)

$ Mutual respect/trust needed (14)

$ Take the strategic plan seriously (14)

$ Academics over athletics (11)

$ Unhealthy adversarial relationship between administration and faculty (7)

The Stakeholders Conference gave evidence that we need to address some important internal issues before we can hope to address the aspirations of the electronic survey results. Our consultants, Dr. McFarland and Dr. Moore, have advised that it is not unusual to have such a range of internal concerns, especially in universities which have experienced recent and rapid changes as ours has seen, but that we should take an opportunity now to bring these concerns to be shared more deliberately than we were able to do in the last Stakeholders Conference.

In order to focus our collective attention on these issues, an additional meeting of the Stakeholders has been planned. The meeting will be held Thursday, November 13, from 3 p.m. until 8 p.m. (or conclusion) at the Chamber of Commerce building on East Nettleton. Transportation from campus to the Chamber and back to campus can be arranged for any participant by calling Dr. Lynita Cooksey at ext. 2030. A meal will be provided for participants. All persons who were invited to attend the Stakeholders= meeting October 20 are also asked to attend the November 13 meeting. Dr. David McFarland will moderate the meeting, and I hope to join discussions about these central issues of concern. These conversations may very well pave the way toward a more productive planning effort.

What will be the issues we want to address at the November 13 meeting? It will be possible to combine the topics which emerged in the last Stakeholders Conference into four general and significant topical areas:

# Sense of cooperation, communication, campus community, and internal pride.

# Who we are and who we serve, including the balance between teaching, scholarship, and service, i.e., clarification of our mission and a president=s perspective of our vision.

# Finding new resources.

# Enhancing the university image, both externally and internally.

It may be important to recall why this planning process is important. Each of us wants a better university. Each person at ASU wants to feel that his or her daily effort will be valuable toward achieving that goal. The strategic plan, thoroughly publicized, can make each of us aware of the importance of our individual effort.

Each of us is important to realize that goal, and no one person alone can make it happen. We all need to work together to achieve the goals of a better university. The strategic plan can shape our collective efforts.

This will be a plan from and for all of us, and will be a guide for the present as well as for the future of the institution. Our successors will benefit from the thoughtful and thorough attention we give to this task, and it is to them that we owe our best effort.

I invite all within the university and its constituents to join this effort to define our future. I believe that our future will be better than we are today, but that all of us must make it so.

I would be pleased to have your thoughts on this material, or to respond to any other inquiry. I can be reached by email at president@astate.edu.

Les Wyatt, President

First Friday, September | First Friday, October | ASU Home Page | Strategic Planning