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Strategic Planning Summit charts future course of Student Affairs

By Andy Elder, Student Affairs Writer

When most people hear about strategic planning or developing a mission statement, the first thing that springs to mind is a group of people sitting in a board room brainstorming for an afternoon.

But when the subject is a strategic planning summit for Penn State's Student Affairs, the process is a months-long, all-encompassing effort.

Perhaps the highlight of that effort came on a recent November day at Celebration Hall in State College.

“Our mission was to bring together Student Affairs stakeholders to be able to take a look at where we've come from and where we're headed, to develop our shared vision for the division,” said Stuart Spisak, special assistant to the Vice President of Student Affairs.

The seeds of discussion for that strategic planning summit were planted in a Student Affairs professional staff development day in August. Then, in September, “all of Student Affairs' directors had a retreat to think about the future and talk about overarching goals and develop some common themes,” Spisak said. “That was the first part of the process.”

One of the guiding principles of the summit was adhering to President Graham Spanier's theme of ensuring that Penn State is a student-centered university and how to humanize the experience for students.

Also, a planning committee, spearheaded by Dr. Vicky Triponey, vice president for Student Affairs, developed outcomes for the day, brought a consultant on board, and planned logistics.

On that November day, 96 people gathered. That group included administrators from across campus, Student Affairs administration, professional staff and support staff, members of the Board of Trustees, student leaders, and a number of students from the general population. Twenty of the 96 present were students.

“We thought it was very good representation. We thought it was very important to include that many students,” Spisak said.

The morning started with introductions and then the group was divided into 14 smaller groups, facilitated by volunteers trained by the consultant. Some of the questions the groups considered:

• What does Student Affairs look like at its best?
• What different things affect Student Affairs within and outside the university?
• What is a student-centered university and how can Student Affairs contribute?
• What does it mean to humanize the experience for students?

After an hour of small-group discussions, the groups convened and reported their findings to the entire gathering. Part of that was guided by the vision for Student Affairs.

“We were trying to find out where do we want to be or where do we foresee Student Affairs in five to 10 years down the road,” Spisak said. “How do we operationalize that? The mission is how you operationalize that.”

During the afternoon session, Spisak said, the group used the same format again, but the focus shifted.

“We looked at the core values of the division,” he said. “What are our major strengths? What opportunities are there, or what is lacking? What are critical trends that we need to be aware of? And what are some of the challenges facing Student Affairs?”

After the November summit, the next step was to identify a drafting committee.

“Its job is to choose information ascertained from the summit and start to really create a process for creating the strategic plan,” Spisak said. “It just started to work the week after Thanksgiving.”

That committee includes five people from the division and a student representative. Their job is refine the plan with an eye toward presenting it to the university in February.

“The committee will go through a review and drafting process. That will be shared with the entire division during the Student Affairs professional development day during the first week of January. Everyone who was at the summit will receive a copy. Then, after receiving feedback from the division and other stakeholders, the committee will continue to refine the strategic plan that will be presented to the university at the beginning of February,” Spisak said.

The first tangible effects of the strategic plan will be visible as early as mid-2005, Spisak said.

“I think it was highly successful. We were very pleased with the results. We were very pleased with the common themes. We do feel in Student Affairs it is very important to get that all-inclusive participation from all stakeholders, across the board,” Spisak said. “Strategic planning is always a process. If we didn't have a process, it wouldn't mean as much or be as effective.”

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