Campus & Community

Nominations Sought for Academic Strategic Plan Implementation Working Groups

Monday, August 31, 2015, By News Staff

Syracuse University’s Academic Strategic Plan Oversight Committee seeks nominations of students, faculty and staff interested in serving on working groups to help support the implementation of the strategic plan.

The working groups will help inform the work of the Oversight Committee, which has been charged with several overarching tasks relating to the plan’s implementation, specifically:

  • developing specific objectives that result in actions to meet the identified goals within each theme;
  • determining criteria for achieving goals and objectives;
  • collecting evidence of effectiveness and progress toward achieving those goals and objectives; and
  • continuously assessing goals and recommendations in order to meet emerging challenges and opportunities.

The working groups, each of which will include faculty, staff and student representatives, will be organized around the six overarching themes identified in the Academic Strategic Plan. Those themes are:

  • The Student Experience—Promoting an outstanding academic and campus experience that prepares students for future success
  • Discovery—Advancing creativity and research
  • Internationalization—Fostering international experiences on campus and beyond
  • Commitment to Veterans and Military-connected Communities—Expanding engagement with and responsiveness to veteran-related needs and issues
  • Innovation—Cultivating and supporting an entrepreneurial campus culture
  • One University—Galvanizing institution-wide excellence

“This is a great opportunity for members of the campus community to get involved in helping us advance the goals laid out in the Academic Strategic Plan,” says Interim Vice Chancellor and Provost Liz Liddy, who chairs the Oversight Committee. “The planning process itself was highly collaborative and inclusive, and we want to sustain that same level of involvement as we work toward developing more specific, and measurable, objectives to help us achieve the plan’s goals. This is incredibly important work, and I urge all interested students, faculty and staff to consider being a part of it.”

Individuals may nominate up to three members, including themselves, from the Syracuse University community. Selection will be based on the number of nominations received as well as working group needs.

Deadline for the submission of nominations for the implementation working groups is Sept. 14 at noon. To submit nominations, click here and complete the requested information.

The Academic Strategic Plan is part of the University’s three-pronged Fast Forward Syracuse initiative. Subtitled “Trajectory to Excellence,” it culminates a yearlong effort to refine the University’s institutional vision in light of current and emerging needs and opportunities, and identify broad University-wide goals that will advance progress toward achieving that vision.

The planning effort was led by more than 100 members of the campus community, and more than 1,000 sources of feedback from faculty, staff, students, trustees, alumni and friends helped inform the process.

While the development phase of the plan concluded in July, the document will function as a “living plan,” with routine assessment of progress toward key objectives and the expectation that new ideas and priorities may emerge as opportunities arise.

The full text of the Academic Strategic Plan can be found online at http://fastforward.syr.edu.