About the Strategic Planning Process
at Slippery Rock University
FROM THE PRESIDENT:
During the 2011-12 Slippery Rock
University implemented its strategic
plan: Reaching for 2025 and
Beyond. This plan represented a
bold and innovative approach toward
planning for the future. Unlike other
institutional plans that describe how
the institution will be preserved,
exalted and rebuilt, SRU choose a far
more serious and challenging path.
We examined the global trends
expected to have the greatest impact
on transforming the world, and then asked how we could develop globally competent graduates that would have the knowledge, skills and commitment to respond to the global realities of 2025 and beyond.
Why 2025? We believed that by 2025 our graduates would be at the place in their personal and professional lives when they could lead significant changes in their communities, profession and even the world. We believed our graduates could be agents for change if we provided them an education that delivered the knowledge, skills and values around the most pressing issues of our times.
We began the process by investigating four questions: 1) what was the University's current status; 2) what challenges would our future graduates be likely to face; 3) how could we better prepare our graduates to be engaged leaders in a global society; and 4) how would we know we had achieved our goals?
The Seven Revolutions, developed by the Global Strategy Institute at the Center for Strategic and International Studies inspired and informed our work. Five global trends were adapted from that treatise and served as the focus around which the original plan was developed. A sixth trend was added during the first year of implementation. The six trends we adopted were:
- Population dynamics,
- STEM leadership,
- Cultural awareness,
- Education as access,
- Sustainability, and
- Health and wellness.
These trends, along with strategic business strategies for achieving institutional effectiveness, academic excellence and financial self-sufficiency, propel this plan.
As with all living documents, the University continues to assess Reaching for 2025 and Beyond to insure that it remains responsive to institutional, PASSHE and commonwealth needs. PASSHE performance measures have been incorporated as key components of the document.
Reaching for 2025 and Beyond remains rooted in our commitment to excellence, civility, integrity, diversity and accountability. It reflects Slippery Rock University's mission to provide high quality undergraduate and graduate academic instruction and our vision of creating a caring community of lifelong learners connecting to the world. As we translate this plan into action, monitor our progress and meet the challenges identified, we continue to secure our position as the regions premiere, undergraduate, residential University.
Cheryl J. Norton