News > August 23, 2007

By Molly Nevola | Staff writer

The university’s strategic planning process is right on target for time and is scheduled to be completed this fall semester, according to Provost Jill Tiefenthaler, professor of economics and co-chair of the planning process.

The process began in the summer of 2006 with a review of the university’s vision and mission statements and the decision to improve upon these ideas regarding the future of the university.

Originally headed by former Provost Bill Gordon, the University Planning Council was established to oversee the totality of the process, create a situation analysis, recommend strategic priorities and draft a university-wide plan.

The UPC is a 19-member council that represents various campus groups and is now chaired by Tiefenthaler and Nancy Suttenfield, senior vice president and chief financial officer.

The initial step was the situation analysis, a process led by the UPC to establish Wake Forest’s current strengths, challenges and opportunities, while also discussing the major global and societal trends that are likely to affect the university in years to come.

Next, the council established the university’s strategic priorities by means of campus-wide discussions.

The university Web site outlines the five priorities as enhancing faculty distinction, building academic programs of nationally recognized excellence, attracting a talented and diverse student body, creating a richer sense of community throughout the university and strengthening the connections to communities beyond our campus.

In the spring of 2007, individual units such as departments, programs and schools, and cross-functional teams developed their plans to support the five strategic priorities.

This past summer, the UPC and administration read the units’ strategic plans and used them to begin formulating a university-wide plan.

As for the future of the plan, Tiefenthaler said that this semester she and the UPC will give feedback to the individual units on their proposed ideas and then ultimately create a university-wide plan.

This large-scale plan will be a compilation of the major points in the situation analysis, the vision, mission, values and strategic priorities, as well as the individual unit plans.

“We are on schedule to complete the university-wide plan by the end of the fall semester,” Tiefenthaler said.

She said that the council will be sharing drafts of the plan throughout the fall and will hope to improve it through community input.

However, for the whole strategic plan process, the hardest part is yet to come.

“We are still in the planning stage,” Tiefenthaler said, “but implementation, the most difficult part of any plan, will begin in the spring.”