To: ASU – Jonesboro

Members of the Strategic Planning Council, the Deans’ Council, and the Governing Ideas Task Force were invited to attend the Monday, April 26 Strategic Initiatives Conference. In absentia ideas were also solicited from the ASU community at large prior to the conference. The stakeholders who were able to attend generated 140 ideas for initiatives (see attached Excel file).

The initiatives are organized under the nine strategic directions. They are not in any particular order. Each initiative was given an index number in the order it was presented. For example, 2.04 represents initiative # 4 under strategic direction # 2. The first stage of the strategic planning will give special attention to 3-4 initiatives under each strategic direction. It will be awhile before we know which ones those will be. As some initiatives are undertaken and accomplished, others may then move up on the list. The strategic directions may be organized into two tiers. We are not exactly sure what the final “plan” will look like, but we do know two things. It will be outdated the minute it is printed, and implementation will be the ultimate accountability criterion.

The process now moves to some “sense making” by a writing team from the Strategic Planning Council. Now is the time to hear from lots of other stakeholders, take some time to make sense of everything, look at collapsing some initiatives without losing their meaning, and engage in some back and forth consultations with the full Council and President Wyatt.

If you have any observations regarding the initiatives you would like to share, your comments would be most welcome.


David Cox, on behalf of the Strategic Planning Council

dwcox@astate.edu