Southern Oregon University : President : Blog : Mission Statement and Planning

In a blog last October (click here), I wrote about the Strategic Planning Workgroup and the progress toward a new SOU mission statement. Since that post was written, we have had our visit from the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) evaluation team, and they stressed that we should finalize the mission statement and move forward with strategic planning.

Once we had the approval of the Academic Senate and the Student Senate, we took our draft mission statement to the Oregon State Board of Higher Education in January. They made a few suggestions but supported the general direction we are taking. I am hopeful that the Board will approve this mission statement at their meeting next week.

SOU Mission Statement

Southern Oregon University is an inclusive campus community dedicated to student success, intellectual growth, and responsible global citizenship.

Commitments

Southern Oregon University is committed to

a challenging and practical liberal arts education centered on student learning, accessibility, and civic engagement;
academic programs, partnerships, public service, outreach, sustainable practices, and economic development activities that address regional needs such as health and human services, business, and education; and
outstanding programs that draw on and enrich our unique arts community and bioregion.

As I had hoped, this is a succinct and realistic mission statement, not a visionary “wish list” about who we aspire to be: it summarizes where we are now and the primary directions in which we are moving.

Also, as I described in October, we are moving forward on “unpacking” or expanding the mission statement for the University web page. Dennis Dunleavy and his students are helping us create a dynamic, living mission statement using streaming video or other media.

We seek students, faculty, staff, alumni, emeriti, and community members who could speak effectively to one of the phrases in the mission (such as “inclusive campus community” or “responsible global citizenship”). If you have suggestions for individuals who might wish to participate, please let me know!

As the mission statement nears completion, we’re also moving forward on a number of plans that will eventually be prioritized within a strategic plan and a set of institution-wide goals.

Our planning process will be an ongoing, dynamic process. These are not the only plans that need to be created in coming years. However, they are projects that: (1) cross departmental/area boundaries, (2) have institution-wide significance, and (3) were in very early stages of development in fall 2006. Some of them reflect priorities listed by the NWCCU.

Planning Documents under the Provost

Medford Campus (Dave Harris, Joan McBee, Liz Shelby): Focusing on curriculum/programming, enrollment goals and academic staffing for Medford for the 2008–2010 period.
Online programs (Jan 15: Jeanne Stallman, Hart Wilson, Lee Ayers, Kay Sagmiller): Focusing on how we can assess need and market for online courses and develop consistent quality, training, assessment, and student support for 2008–2010.
Honors (March 10: Sherry Ettlich, Mada Morgan, Dan Rubenson): Focusing on how we can transition to a new honors model, including benchmarks for courses, marketing, and enrollments for 2008–2010.
International (Feb 10: Sarah Stevens, John Richards, Mark Botorff): Focusing on international enrollments, aligning offerings with marketing, and smoothing the enrollment process, 2008–2010.
Technology (March 10: Paul Steinle, Teri O’Rourke, Peg Blake, Kay Sagmiller): Focusing on how we can develop a technology replacement, a campus plan for technology work priorities, and a plan for integrating technology in teaching and learning, for 2008–2013.
Deer Creek (Joe Graf, Michael Parker, Echo Fields): Focusing on a business and academic plan for Deer Creek Center for 2008–2013.
Crater Lake (Karen Stone, Steve Jessup, Linda Hilligoss): Focusing on partnership opportunities, grant opportunities, and ways to make the efforts self-supporting and revenue-generating for 2008–2010.
Assessment and Program review (Ed Battistella, Kemble Yates, Josie Wilson, Dale Vidmar): Focusing on benchmarks for assessment in majors and general education, as well as the reestablishment of a program review process to monitor the viability of programs, 2008–2013.
College of Arts and Sciences (Josie Wilson and other team members): Focusing on benchmarks for the integration of old schools’ structures into the new college model. 2008–2010.
Graduate programs (Gregg Gassmann, Eric Levin, Dee Southard): Focusing on ways to expand the scope of graduate education, grow graduate enrollments and graduate programs, and reinvent the School Area Degree, 2008–2013.

Deferred

Summer Session as a fourth term: Focusing on benchmarks for the integration of Summer Session scheduling into the academic year, 2008–2010. CBA calls for task force.

Planning Documents under the Vice President for Finance and Administration: Updates

Budget process: Craig Morris will continue to hold campuswide forums. Written plan is forthcoming.
Staff Education, Training, and Development (April)

Planning Documents under the Vice President for Student Affairs: Updates

First-year experience (April 1)
Enrollment management (ongoing)
Diversity/campus climate (March 31: Jon Eldridge will bring in a consultant and establish a campuswide process.)

Planning Documents under the Vice President for Institutional Advancement: Updates

Fundraising/development (will be developed over the next eight to ten months)

Theatre expansion & fundraising (Chris Sackett, Deborah Rosenberg, Doreen O’Skea): Focusing on how we can build the case for the theatre expansion in term of enrollments and community need, as well as on the adequacy of current facilities plan for 2008–2011.

As these plans are completed, we will post them on the planning website and hold campus discussions as needed. A great deal of excellent work is already underway! My thanks to everyone who is working to bring our planning processes together in a way that will be useful for us all.

Mary Cullinan