SETTING DIRECTIONS FOR EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY
Review of Planning Process

Faculty Senate Meeting
& November 7, 1989

Thank you for the opportunity to talk with you this afternoon about
East Carolina’s future and the method by which we will go about the
difficult task of determining what we want that future to be. Bob
Schellenberger and Jim Joyce have asked me to talk with you briefly
about our strategic planning process--both what we’ve accomplished over
the past 14 months as well as what we plan to accomplish over the next
6 months. As I prepared my for today I tried very hard to keep my
outline concise yet meaningful. I will do that.

In September of 1988 we commenced the planning process with an off
campus retreat, at which time Chancellor Eakin, the Vice Chancellors,
the Deans, about 15 administrators, the Faculty Senate officers, and
the chair of the Educational Planning and Policies Committee reviewed a
proposed model for planning at East Carolina. Over the course of those
two days, we talked about each and every aspect of that model. We

even simulated various exercises within the model to gain a deeper
understanding of what we were about to undertake as a University. After
much discussion and healthy debate we reached a consensus about how we

wanted to approach planning at ECU.

Within a month after that retreat, the planning model was presented to
the University community in the form of four University-wide forums and
000 brochures outlining the planning process. Invitations went out

ross the campus to all units, to student organizations, to the
Faculty Senate, and to EP squared.

Shortly thereafter, we started by forming four workgroups comprising
faculty, staff, students, alumni, board members, and community leaders.
These groups were to coordinate the early stages of planning.
Nominations were solicited from the Vice Chancellors, Deans, and the
Faculty Senate. In December, we were ready to begin.

One of these groups engaged in an analysis of the threats and
opportunities that exist in our external environment. The second group
went about the very difficult task of identifying our internal
strengths and weaknesses. A third group was responsible for perhaps the
most difficult task of assessing the values held by the people who make
up East Carolina.

Very early on in their work, these groups consulted with EPPC and
shared with that committee their plans for proceeding with their
task--that is, the process by which they would accomplish their charge.
These three groups completed their preliminary work in March and April
and presented draft reports to the University community for review and
comment. What resulted from that review process were revised reports
that reflected the findings of the committees, informed by individuals
and groups across campus. Again, faculty, staff, senators,
rina eet cape students, alumni, and board members were invited to
articipate, and did. As you recall, a special Faculty Senate meeting
was held to discuss the reports. The work group final reports were
distributed to all of the groups mentioned above in April and May.

 
During the first week in May, a second planning retreat was held to
discuss our progress to date and to set some priorities for the 1989-90
mcademic year. Senate officers participated in those goal-setting

@ scussions. Also during that week (in fact at the retreat), the
strategic planning advisory group met for the first time. Their charge
was to use the results from the preliminary analysis and develop a set
of recommended strategies to move the University into the future. They
too were advised by EPPC on their process for accomplishing their task.
The group was also fortunate to have as one of its members the Chair of
the Faculty along with one other senate member. All of you have seen
by now the draft SPAG report. As I understand it, you will be
discussing it in detail later this afternoon. Some of you have already
communicated with the Advisory Group about your concerns and/or your
endorsement either at the Universy-wide forums or in writing. You will
find that the Advisory Group listened to the comment from the campus
community, and they are here today to receive further advice and
comments from you. Their revised report will be completed within the
next few weeks and submitted to the Chancellor for his consideration.

Informed by the many, many hours of careful study and thoughtful
discussions over the past year, Dr. Eakin will draft a document that
articulates a vision of what the future should hold for ECU. He will
share that vision with all of you (the Senate), the vice chancellors,
deans, Board members, students, and others. He will talk with you at
your December meeting and after careful consideration of all comment
will present a mission statement and a set of university-wide goals to
guide unit planning, committee deliberations, management of the
university, and our day-to-day decision-making.

@.. of the initial steps toward implementation of university goals is
the development of implementation plans containing a series of
university-wide functional strategies. These plans address such areas
as fianancial strategies, facilities-related priorities, effective
management of our enrollments, faculty and staff development issues,
the structure of the organization, our information technology
environment, and our goals for public outreach. Seven planning teams
have been meeting for about two weeks now and will continue to meet
through the semester. Their draft reports will be circulated for review
in December and January, and these plans in final form will provide
further guidance to the units as they begin developing unit goals and
objectives to guide their activites and commitment of resources over
the next two years.

As we move into the final stages of the UNIVERSITY-WIDE process, we
have begun the initial steps in the UNIT planning process. This
semester, units have been looking at their own strengths and
weaknesses, environmental opportunities and constraints, as well as
their values as a unit (particularly how those values relate to those
of the institution as a whole). Once the university goals and
implementation plans are completed, units will then begin work on their
priorities for putting the goals into action. The guidelines,
procedures, and format for unit planning will be discussed with EPPC
before they are issued. The unit planning process will take place in
@: Spring semester and will result in a final comprehensive Strategic
Lan for the university this summer, in time to guide our request for
state appropriation for the next biennium. As has been the case
throughout the process, draft documents will be circulated for review

 
and appropriate revision prior to final approval by Dr. Eakin and the
Board of Trustees.

&. in July of next year, after a 20-month process, we will have a
strategic plan that includes university-wide goals, university-wide
implementation plans, and individual unit plans. This plan will guide
our decision making and policy setting. Planning at the department and
office level will be guided the plan. Essentially, the strategic
management of the entire university will be guided by the plan.
Mechanisms will be established to monitor our progress toward our goals
and to measure the institution’s effectiveness toward accomplishing the
University mission. The SACS self-study process will be predicated on
our planning efforts to date. All of these implementation, monitoring,
and update efforts will be closely coordinated with appropriate
University groups and, of course, the system of faculty governance.

Most all of us here at this university understand that planning is
vital and necessary in order for an organization to remain viable,
competitive, strong, and responsive. At a time of limited resources
and impending faculty shortages, it is a prerequisite for achieving
institutional excellence. Planning is intended to result in several
very important outcomes: increased institutional standing, increased
resources, and increased public and political support. Most of all, it
will better equip us to fulfill our mission and to serve our students,
the region, and the higher education community at large.

I have heard some describe our process as top-down. Others comment on

its collegial orientation. Still others see it as a decentralized
rocess. It is all of these things. Participatory because it involves
ndividuals throughout the university; Administrative because the
Chancellor sets the overall directions for the institution;
decentralized because units actively participate in the development of
their own unit plans, and collegial because it is structured to involve
the Faculty Senate literally every step of the way.

Planning is a very difficult thing. It makes us think about the future
at a time when there aren’t enough hours in the day to think about
eating lunch. It forces us to talk to each other about our own vision,
a vision that may not even be in clear focus in our own minds. It means
something is going to change, sometimes at a time when we where just
getting comfortable with yesterday’s changes. And it requires us to be
creative with our precious resources--our time, our money, and our
ideas--at a time when we might feel as though we just used up our last
ounce of creativity in the classroom or laboratory.

There is only one alternative to planning. That is no planning. And
from what I have observed over the past 17 months since my arrival on
this campus, no planning is not an alternative at all. The people here
care too much about this institution to take the chance that we can
continue to do great things without a thoughtful plan to guide us. We
care too much to turn our future over to fate or happenstance. So, as
we continue our planning efforts (and as many of you know planning is a
continuing process that doesn’t end), let us all be mindful that woven
hroughout our differing and sometimes divergent opinions about the
ature is the common unifying goal that we want East Carolina
University to have distinction as a truly fine public university. Thank
you.