May 15, 2003

University prepares to start next discussions on long-range plan

Concurrent with the release of the final Report to the Community on Implementation of The Highest Order of Excellence 1998–2002, Provost Lawrence B. Dumas and Vice President for Administration and Planning Marilyn McCoy announced the start of a new cycle of discussions designed to update the University’s long-range vision and planning framework.

“We have a number of brain-storming and exploratory conversations currently going on in discrete areas such as the life sciences, humanities, and fine and performing arts,” said Dumas. “By October we will convene a broad-based steering committee to help coordinate refinement of the ideas we expect these exploratory conversations to generate.”

Deans have been asked to help stimulate discussions among faculty in other focused clusters — for example, social sciences or engineering and the physical sciences — in order to find nodes of strong creative interactions that could become strategic thrusts in a University-wide plan. “We hope to have this updated vision articulated in a document by the end of summer 2004,” said Dumas.

Input on administrative operations — such as data management and information access, the research administration infrastructure, University space planning, alumni relations and student services — will come from a number of existing offices and task forces that have been gathering and analyzing data to help inform the work of goal-setting and strategy development.

“We are now seeking nominations for steering committee membership,” said McCoy, whose office will coordinate the appointment process. Nominees, she said, should be among the “most visionary thinkers, talented leaders, and skilled organizers in the community.”

For further information, contact McCoy (847) 491-4335 or director of planning Lisa Swanson (847) 467-3622.