For the first message of the new year, I thought I’d take a moment to update you on what is happening with SUNY’s strategic planning efforts. Three of us from MCC are on the SUNY 200 (Board Chair Kenneth Goode, Student Malcom Cohen, and myself), and this past week, the group of 200 students, faculty, staff, and community members met for the fourth time. The meetings have been taking place at SUNY campuses across the state to allow for varied public comment—from Long Island to Delhi, from Plattsburgh to Buffalo, and many stops in between.
Topics thus far have been Ensuring Economic Vitality and Quality of Life, Education Pipeline, Arts and Culture, and Diversity in the World. Upcoming meetings will focus on Energy and Sustainability, Quality of Place, and Health Affairs. Each meeting sets the context with a keynote speaker and follows with small group tasks centered on the topic and SUNY’s role in this issue or area. The materials generated at each meeting are being analyzed by staff to discover key points of agreement across the 200, and those offering public comment, on direction and goals. After the SUNY 200 discussions end, this process is not over. Smaller working groups comprised of subject matter experts inside and outside of SUNY will be convened by the Chancellor to flesh out the emerging goals to help craft the larger plan.
All SUNY 200 discussions are framed by the “Core Mission of SUNY,” which encompasses four themes: Research and Innovation, Student Access and Completion, Innovative Teaching and Learning, and Engagement in our Communities. Chancellor Zimpher has encouraged all colleges to use this core mission and the eventual system strategic plan as a guide map for their own strategic planning efforts. With the exception of research, each of these mission emphases definitely resonates with MCC’s own mission and goals. Given that our own strategic plan is reaching the end of its life, it will be interesting to see the direction that SUNY’s system-wide plan takes and how it may serve as a starting point for our future planning work.
Recognizing that many folks have an interest in SUNY’s future, the Chancellor has also made a concerted effort to provide access via the virtual world through Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube (all linked from the SUNY site: https://www.suny.edu/), so I encourage you to follow the activities and provide input throughout the process.
What do you think SUNY’s strategic directions should be? What do you see as SUNY’s role in the future of New York? Share your ideas both with SUNY via their website and with me via the Wednesday Message blog (https://www.monroecc.edu/blogs/).
Anne Kress
President's Office
01/13/2010 |